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July 8th, 2016 | Deeds Digest No. 7
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My fellow #ChangeMakers,
Last week we celebrated. But this week we mourn. The senseless deaths of Alton Sterling and Philando Castile at the hands of police this week are a chilling reminder of the mortal injustices many black Americans face. Representative of the most dangerous aspect of discriminatory impulses, these killings leave us all with a heaviness that we can’t and shouldn’t shake off. Instead, and as this week’s highlighted #ChangeMaker, Beyoncé, said so powerfully in her statement following the shootings, “[w]e all have the power to channel our anger and frustration into action.”
Let’s each of us commit to doing that. Here are links she provided where you can voice protest for the deaths of Mr. Sterling and Mr. Castile:
To contact your congressman or woman, click here.
To voice protest for Alton Sterling, click here.
To voice protest for Philando Castile, click here.
Channeling that anger should never result, however, in the tragedy that unfolded last night in Dallas. Five innocent officers were gunned down in what appears to have been, as President Obama stated “a vicious, calculated and despicable act against law enforcement.” This is not and will never be the answer. And of course, it does nothing to remedy past injustices. Instead, it compounds them. My heart breaks for the families of these, now seven, lives lost. We each have a responsibility to set a course of action that seeks what is just and right in the face of all of this. Much work ahead, #ChangeMakers. Your voices and your deliberate, civil actions matter, and they are desperately needed.
xo,
Wendy
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Born Beyoncé Giselle Knowles-Carter in Houston, Texas, this week's #ChangeMaker rose to fame as lead singer of R&B girl-group Destiny's Child in the late 1990s. Since releasing her solo debut, 2003’s "Dangerously in Love," she has been one of the world’s top pop stars. Besides her many musical successes, Beyoncé has been involved in numerous philanthropic endeavors.
In 2005, Beyoncé and Destiny’s Child bandmate Kelly Rowland created the Survivor Foundation to help Hurricane Katrina victims around Houston; the foundation has continued to work with that city’s charities. With her mother, she founded the Beyoncé Cosmetology Center, a seven-month cosmetology training course for men and women, at the Brooklyn Phoenix House. She reworked her song “Get Me Bodied” to support U.S. First Lady Michelle Obama and the National Association of Broadcasters Education Foundation’s campaign against child obesity.
In 2012, Beyoncé became an ambassador for the 2012 World Humanitarian Day campaign, and donated her song "I Was Here" and its music video to the cause. She has also lent her support to the female empowerment Chime for Change project, the Demand A Plan gun control campaign, the Miss a Meal food-donation drive and Goodwill’s job creation effort. Given the last 24 hours, it’s only fitting to also note that her lead single, "Formation," from her most recent album "Lemonade" is a call to arms for the #BlackLivesMatter movement.
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I was surprised to read about a college student who was blocked on Twitter by the chancellor of East Carolina University for voicing her concerns about university leadership. Maybe we should all tweet @ecuchancellor11 to let him know we noticed. Medium
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Meet Susan G. Finely, 79 — she began working on rockets before NASA existed. Ms. Finley is an engineering specialist for the Deep Space Network of radio telescopes, which monitors radio signals from the NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, California. New York Times
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Did you see 4 Badass American Women Who Fought for Birth Control And Sexual Freedom? Let’s join them in celebrating Margaret Sanger for fighting for women's use of birth control, Mary Calderone who pushed for sex ed, Katharine McCormick who funded the development of The Pill and Denise Oliver-Velez who fought against forced sterilization of poor women as well as equal rights for women of color. Mic
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The Supreme Court's decision in favor of Whole Woman’s Health has laid the foundation for pro-choice advocates to shred state-by-state legislation unfairly targeting the poorest women in our nation. Think Progress
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It's shocking to hear that maternal mortality rates in the U.S. have more than doubled over the past 25 years — with the U.S. being the only developed country with rising mortality rates in the world. Newsweek
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