ASAN Calls for Federal Hate Crime Prosecution for the Murder of Alex Spourdalakis
Last week, Alex Spourdalakis, a 14-year Autistic boy living in River Grove, Illinois, was murdered by his mother and godmother. After failing to kill him with sleeping pills, they stabbed him in the chest repeatedly before slitting his wrists. This murder was premeditated and motivated entirely by Alex’s disability.
The Autistic Self Advocacy Network condemns unequivocally and without qualification the murder of Alex Spourdalakis and calls on the United States Department of Justice to prosecute his murder under the Matthew Shepard and James Byrd Jr. Hate Crimes Prevention Act of 2009. The law allows the federal government to prosecute as a hate crime acts of violence when “the crime was committed because of the actual or perceived religion, national origin, gender, sexual orientation, gender identity, or disability of any person.” Alex’s murder clearly fits within the intent and purpose of that law.
Many in the media have attempted to excuse Alex’s murder or sympathize with his killers, citing the challenges of his disability and the need to improve the quality and availability of service-provision. Such justifications are not unusual in the aftermath of such atrocities and they remain as inappropriate as ever. Alex Spourdalakis’ murder is the latest in a long strand of similar killings by family members and caregivers. His death is not about services, nor is it about the difficulties associated with his disability. Prior to murdering him, Alex’s mother was offered and refused services from the Illinois Department of Children and Family Services. In truth, Alex’s murder is about a reprehensible and repulsive ideology all too common within our society that preaches that it is better to be dead than disabled. As long as our society treats the lives of disabled people as worth less than those of the general population, more disabled children and adults will be subject to acts of violence and murder. As a result, we call for the prosecution of Alex’s killers to the fullest extent of the law.
(via youneedacat)
Upside to the Navy giving us twin size beds. I get to shop in the kids section. Superman bedsheets. Hehehehe. I’m not even sorry.
i am regularly baffled by the expectation that women of color, especially black women, owe people explanations for everything. tumblr is an easy microcosm to point to, but it’s pervasive damn near everywhere.
- wanna be treated like a human? you better have a nice academic jargon-filled justification for that because last we heard, women of color were just breathing cadavers!
- don’t like it when someone calls you the n-word? your discomfort isn’t enough! you better give them a crash course on american racism, history, and language in one easily digestible soundbite!
- racism in the media? HAVE YOU SEEN EVERY MOVIE EVER CREATED? IF NOT YOU CAN’T SPEAK! YOU BETTER HAVE RECEIPTS! WHERE ARE YOUR FOOTNOTES? LEMME SEE THE CITATIONS! BUST THEM OUT NOW!
of course this is DOUBLY insulting because the people demanding answers are usually those with disproportionate access to knowledge, education, and other resources that would enable them to easily find the answers to their questions if they would actually look instead of demanding that women of color sweat answers into their palms.
(via chauvinistsushi)
“louis is gay because of his gay wrist!!”
you better hop off your fucking high horse motherfucker
he isn’t gay because of his “gay wrist”. he’s gay because he likes cock.
I’m glad to know you met Louis and you too had a private conversation where he admitted he likes cock, but I’m pretty sure it didn’t happen
Here, ladies and gentlemen is a prime example as to why grammar is actually important. ’ you too had a private conversation where he admitted he likes cock’ you too. Therefore you imply you have had a conversation with Louis beforehand where he admitted to being gay… Unless you meant you ‘two’ ?
Either ways you just destroyed your own input with bad grammar. Sucks doesn’t it?look we all fucking know what she meant so dont try to pretend that she “destroyed” her own input with a grammar mistake. if you dont know how to read in context than thats a bigger problem than a fucking typo
I don’t even like Louis and here I am taking up for him. Y’all need to chill with this larry bullshit. Both Louis and Harry have said time and time again they’re not together. Even if they are in the closet (which they ain’t) you can’t go around pulling people out of the closet. Their private lives belong to them not your homoerotic fantasies
if you really want to help the gay community try talking to an actual gay person and ask them what you can do to help the cause, donate to your local homeless gay youth shelter, write your governor about gay rights issues please go do anything else.
thank the fucking lord for your post
im gonna lay down, someone else answered the call this time
war kills people from the inside out sometimes
“In war, there are no unwounded soldiers.”
i think i’ve posted this before but it’s so powerful
(via mermaidofspace)
Karli Kloss at Elie Saab haute couture backstage :)
wedding dress train ideas
or you know, how I’ll dress every other day i spend secluded in my manor house (mansions are tacky) with no one to impress but myself
(via chauvinistsushi)
…up to 200,000 people angry with high costs and poor public services took to the streets. Protesters in Rio de Janeiro burned cars and looted buildings as police attempted to disperse them with teargas and rubber bullets. Aerial images showed thousands of people attempting to storm the congress building in Brasilia. The rallies…are some of the biggest ever seen in the country…
more.
Major protests have begun in Brazil. Is America next? Is it America’s turn to wake up
(via ashlbnn)
J. Cole’s “Dollar and a Dream” Tour;
Each of these shows are only a $1 to enter and first come, first serve. Cole performs classic songs from the Warm Up to Born Sinner.
(Source: rantsomnotes, via ashlbnn)
![victoriousvocabulary:
AMBULATE
[verb]
to walk about or move from place to place; stroll; wander.
Etymology: Latin ambulātus (past participle of ambulāre - to walk),.
[J. Slattum]](http://25.media.tumblr.com/918a6896622ce6ec202ec8568a018847/tumblr_mmcpc87o8g1r47bczo1_500.jpg)
AMBULATE
[verb]
to walk about or move from place to place; stroll; wander.
Etymology: Latin ambulātus (past participle of ambulāre - to walk),.
from the kickstarter page:
The “Because of Them, We Can…” project started out as a photo campaign that I launched during Black History Month. The goal was to inspire and empower our kids to be great by connecting the dots between them and the individuals past and present who have blazed and continue to blaze trails.
As the month progressed, what I once believed was confirmed - 28 days wasn’t enough.
As such, I extended the project for a full 365 days. Each day a photo is released via social media - Facebook, Twitter, Instagram.
The feedback has been amazing, but the biggest request has been for a book that includes all 365 images. I could go the publisher route, but I truly believe that we can fund this movement. Here’s where the Kickstarter comes in. Funding this project would allow me to self publish a high quality, hard cover art book that will serve as a source of inspiration and education for all who come across it.
Funding ends in 5 days! Signal boost or donate what you can!
(via theuppitynegras)
there comes a moment in every girl’s life when she says to herself
i read some fucking weird fanfiction
the fact that I don’t know if this is ‘read’ or ‘read’ presents two very different thoughts here
one of past regret and one of ongoing concern
(via theuppitynegras)
Evil Minion
this is the only sponsored shit with a right to be on my dash