The More Things Change...Part 2

Really, NY Post? Do we have to go through this again???

One of the first No Spoon posts dealt with the rather racist ever-classy New York Post cartoon of two white cops shooting a chimpanzee to death over the stimulus bill...the connection being the chimpanzee story in Connecticut at that time, and of course, a black American president being depicted as a chimp. No racism there. None. Have a look at the post here. Well, guess what? The Post is at it again, this time with a cartoon covering the controversy surrounding the New York Police Department (NYPD) spying on Muslim across the Northeast. Really funny stuff. And by funny, I mean the xenophobes who draw, write, and connect with this stuff are laughing, while the rest of us are saying...wtf is wrong with you?

MLK: More Than Just "I Have a Dream"

(This oldie-but-goodie is reposted from our archives. Oh, and don't forget to check out this MLK-related post, either) Another year, another MLK day. While many people enjoy this as an extra day off from work or school, a lot of us enjoy to reflect on the legacy of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. That legacy is pretty impressive, but is often reduced to a ridiculously simplistic "black and white people living in harmony" angle by the press and political leaders. In fact, this year, the DoD suggested MLK might understand America's participation in wars today. I'm not even making that up. Seriously. Go read the thing for yourself...it is one of the more insane things I've ever heard.

Podcast Episode 10: The Occupy Movement

Photo Credit: Jen Palacio 2011

On this episode of the There is No Spoon show, we discuss the Occupy movement, which has spread from Occupy Wall Street to hundreds of towns and cities across the United States and the world in the past 1.5 months. Topics include: our own experiences with Occupy, police brutality at the protests, the movement's messages, macro and micro level impacts, and discussions about the movement's next steps. Hosted by Fouad Pervez, the No Spoon team of Joe Soler, Reggie Miller, Junaid Ahmad (joining us from Lahore), and Shahid Buttar (joining us from Oakland on the night of extreme police violence) welcome guests Al Butler and Annabel Park to the episode. Al is the host of the "Al B! in the Afternoon" radio talk show on WURD in Philadelphia, and Annabel is a founder and coordinator of the Coffee Party, an alternative to the Tea Party.

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Follow us on Twitter: Al, Shahid, Fouad, and Reggie.

Podcast Episode 9: Troy Davis and the Criminal Justice System

On this episode of the There is No Spoon show, we discuss the recent execution of Troy Davis, the criminal justice system, and the death penalty. Hosted by Reggie Miller, the No Spoon team of Jen Palacio, L'Heureux Lewis, and Fouad Pervez welcomes guests Al Butler and Aisha Mohamedi Richard to the episode. Aisha is a criminal defense attorney and immigration specialist, and Al is the host of the "Al B! in the Afternoon" radio talk show on WURD in Philadelphia. We discuss the incentives in the criminal justice system to prosecute for harsher sentences, the effect of the changing media structure on enabling a move towards tougher punishment, the politics behind the death penalty, the privatization of the prison system, and some of the specifics of the Troy Davis case, along with similar cases of high visibility.

To get more involved in these topics, check out: the Innocence Project, the Campaign to End the Death Penalty, Amnesty International, the Bill of Rights Defense Committee, the NAACP Legal Defense Fund, and Malcolm X Grassroots Movement.

Follow us on Twitter: Al, Aisha, L'Heureux, Jen, Fouad, and Reggie.

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Music Credits:
Start of the episode, excerpt from: Strange Fruit (For Troy Davis) mixed from Billie Holiday's Recording by LolasChildMusic
Close of episode: Troy Davis Lives Forever by Rebel Diaz.

A Morning at Occupy Philly - Guest Post by Ally Nauss

It's a cool autumn morning. The hussle and bussle has yet to begin. I sit on a cold granite slab and sip at my coffee, rub my eyes, and look up through the trees toward the towering building in front of me. Here I am, starting day eighteen in protest against what this building has come to represent. What was once a place to symbolize freedom and a voice for the people now serves as a bitter reminder of what greed has done to our political and economic environment.

A group from Occupy Wall Street has come to see us, pass on information from OWS, and see how we are running things. Word has spread of our growth and of the lack of resistance we have seen from the police and the mayor. Although tension exists, we have remained peaceful and respectful. The police have been amicable and hardly seem a necessary presence here. They nod as we pass, tell us good morning, and carry on with downing their burnt coffee and smoking their cigarettes.

My daughter plays in the children's area.