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Yep, it’s been a while, but here we go:

• Police in Georgia arrested a 6-year-old girl for a temper tantrum. Ask the school to stop using police on elementary students
  

  Salecia Johnson is six years old. On April 13, her teachers say she had a temper tantrum in class — but instead of putting her in time-out, the school called the police.

  Salecia was handcuffed, charged with battery, and kept in police custody for an hour before her parents found out what was going on. Though all charges have been dropped, Salecia — a 6-year-old — now has an arrest record.

  Salecia’s mom, Constance, says that “Salecia has been traumatized by this experience. She’s afraid to return to school and recently woke up in the middle of the night saying ‘they are coming to get me.'” Constance wants to make sure that this incident won’t affect Salecia’s future, and she wants answers about why police officers were involved in the first place.

  So Constance started a petition on Change.org demanding that Salecia’s arrest be removed from her record and that Creekside Elementary pledge to stop involving police in school discipline.

  Click here to add your name.

• More than one-third of US executions took place in Texas
  

  The Economist maps out every American execution since 1976, when the Supreme Court announced the modern constitutional regime governing death penalty cases after effectively suspending all executions nationwide for four years. Over one-third of all executions during this period took place in Texas, for a total of 481 people killed by that state. Of

• Women Of Color Directed 1 Percent of TV Episodes Last Season, Make $23,325 Less Than Male Writers
  

  Between 2005 and 2009, the number of minority writers in television has fluctuated between nine and ten percent—as the report puts it, “it appears that minority writers are at best treading water when it comes to their share of television employment.” The median salary for white male television writers in 2009 was $108,000. For all minority writers, the median salary was $84,675. The pay gap between white male television writers and minority writers of both genders was $8,007 in 1999, $10,688 in 2007, and in 2009, rose to $23,325.

• Two Years later, BP’s Oil Spill Wreaking Havoc in the Gulf
  

  Two years later, BP insists the Gulf is well on the road to recovery. A PR blitz rolled out in late 2011 titled “Best Season” called on tourists to visit the Gulf, without even mentioning the Deepwater Horizon disaster. “The sun’s out,” the narrator says, “and the water’s beautiful.”

  But a new report by Facing South/Institute for Southern Studies [PDF] finds that the Gulf Coast is far from recovery–and many communities are still reeling from the aftermath of the disaster.

• Bodies Have Histories: Musing on Makode Linde and ‘that’ Cake
  

  Now I have questions. Where were the women who have experiences with FGM? Were they in the room? Why or why not? If they were not in the room, is this another example of the White Savior Industrial Complex? (shout out to Teju Cole).

  Quite simply, did he talk to any women who had experienced FGM, both those who see it as a cultural tradition and those who deplore it? If yes, what did they say? If no, why is he speaking for these women?

  What would have been the response of a woman who has dealt with FGM to Makode’s work? I don’t know, it isn’t my place to say. But as a Black feminist, it is certainly my place to ask.

• Near-death explained
  

  NDE studies also suggest that after physical death, mind and consciousness may continue in a transcendent level of reality that normally is not accessible to our senses and awareness. Needless to say, this view is utterly incompatible with the belief of many materialists that the material world is the only reality.

• Miss the days of 56K dial-up? What 10 Big Web Sites Looked Like 10 Yrs Ago
  

  The year was 1997. Apple was a struggling computer company, AOL was a booming Internet service provider, Microsoft was on the verge of releasing Windows 98, and the Web was a very different place. Through the magic of the Wayback Machine, we can travel back in time and revisit the past.
  Take a walk down memory lane with us as we journey back in time and take a look at what the Web used to be.

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