Dear friends, Companeras and allies working for a better world,
I want to share with you the common thread that ties together... the Christian Bale injustice... the brutal rape and murder of Social Justice Activist Sali in Oaxaca, Mexico... over 500 women raped and killed in Juarez Mexico... and an Awesome Social Justice Song made by a Punk Band. By now many people already know how Christian Bale, Star of Batman, American Psycho, and many other movies, flipped out and went completely ballistic on an employee in July 2008 with a hostile tirade and even worse, tried to use his multimillionaire celebrity power to demand to have the man fired. Unknown to Bale, the entire tirade was caught on audio and remixed into one of at least three Popular songs and remixes and released widely around the beginning of February 2009. On Tuesday, February 3rd, I posted a story titled "Social Justice In Hollywoood- Very Rare, But Very Good When It Happens-3 Different Remixes of Christian Bale caught on tape going ballistic."[1] and I, along with many other people worldwide, encouraged other people worldwide to circulate the story, the audio and the music. By people worldwide circulating the audio, news of the incident grew very fast, and yet there were still literally countless, outspoken fans and supporters of Christian Bale throughout Hollywood [3] and even numerous people on popular feminist forums [2] of all backgrounds who still felt that Christian Bale's actions were somehow excusable.
That was to be expected because he has a huge fan following since he is a male in a world ruled by patriarchy where such inexcusable behavior and outbursts by men are incorrectly accepted and justified as a sign of their rational frustration and such outbursts by women are incorrectly diagnosed as irrational mental instability.
I thoroughly explained how circulating those Christian Bale remixes were a a social justice issue, related to censorship, celebrity/millionaire hierarchy and domestic abuse as well as related to the power of exposing the truth using audio and Music to bring buried and forgotten issus to the public attention. Those of us who felt that Christian Bale's actions were inexcusable and out of order beyond belief and who circulated that music without end were vindicated and justified in doing so less than 4 days later on Friday, February 6th.
News Reports state: "It was on the morning of February 6th, 2009 that Christian Bale [after listening to DJs replay snippets of the tape -- in which Bale loses his temper at Hurlbut, director of photography, for walking in his sightline while he was in the middle of shooting a scene -- and mock him about it all week]....that Bale called into FM radio station KROQ with a mea culpa."
"I was out of order beyond belief," a contrite Bale told KROQ disc jockeys Kevin Ryder and Gene "Bean" Baxter. "I acted like a punk. I make no excuses for it. It is inexcusable."
"On the tape, Bale threatens to have Hurlbut fired, but the actor apparently [????] 'later' [???] backed off on this demand. Bale summarized the threat as "hot air" during the KROQ interview. He also added pointedly, "I heard a lot of people say I think I'm better than anybody else. Nothing could be further than the truth."
Wonder how they got that impression? It probably was that now infamous Christian Bale piercing scream of anger yelling: "Do you know who the fuck I am?...I am the Mayor of Fuckington" that gave people the 'wrong' impression!
So Christian Bale issued a full apology... and, in addition... backed off from his recorded threat and 'demand' to have an employee fired and potentially ruining the man's entire career with his celebrity power... but it took over 6 months from the date when that injustice occurred in July 2008. Yet it took less that 7 days of people circulating the audio and music before there was justice and he issued a full apology on February 6th, 2009.
So people are slowly becoming aware of the power of people have when they spread information and spread audio and music! You can now see how powerful circulating a social justice issue on the Internet can be and how fast justice can be achieved in regards to a long forgotten issue. The incident with Christian Bale spotlighted an injustice that took place in July 2008, over 6 months ago, and yet saw the light of justice within 7 days with information, audio and music circulated.
This brings me to the subject at hand. It was less that 6 months ago, in September 2008, that well known social justice activist Marcella Sali Grace, known to friends as Sali, was brutally raped and murdered in Mexico and authorities are trying to cover it up despite numerous witnesses. This is inexcusable and even worse, it is inexcusable that mainstream media throughout the world and especially here in the USA (where we all have the ability to influence the media) are ignoring the story. More and more evidence suggests that authorities in Mexico are not only ignoring the crimes... but taking part in these crimes [4].
So now there are new songs [4] that has been created about a far more pressing issue... that has been buried for far too long... that we need everyone to circulate so that we can see justice not only for Sali, but for the hundreds and hundreds of Mexican women and increasing numbers of American activists women being killed in Mexico! The term Femicide was coined in the 1820's and is defined as the mass murder of women simply because they are women. It is now being used to vividly describe the brutal rapes and murders of over 500 young women [citation 4 in English] and [citation 5 in Spanish] in the U.S.-Mexico border in the city of Juarez, just across the border from El Paso, Texas. Sali's brutal rape and murder took place in other parts of Mexico outside of Juarez but that only makes this issue that much more of a crisis because we can clearly see how the femicide is expanding and increasing!
We also need hop-hop DJ's and creative musicians to create more and more and more art, music, skits and more songs of protest about the mass murder of the women of Juarez and about Sali! If you know of more art and music and videos about the women of Juarez please add it to the comment section here:
http://savethepoorbrownchildren.blogspot.com/2009/02/i-will-remember-marcella-sali-grace-you.html
If you know of more (Spanish language) art and music and videos about the women of Juarez please add it here:
http://savethepoorbrownchildren.blogspot.com/2009/02/en-espanolme-acordare-te-acuerdas.html
Thanks you everyone for you time. I know you are all busy with a worsening economy but taking a few moments to circulate this can truly save the lives of many people!
I Will Remember, Marcella Sali Grace. [Me Acordare, Marcella Sali Grace.]
Remember, Marcella Sali Grace. [Acuerdate, Marcella Sali Grace.]
I Will Remember, Juarez, Mexico, Women. [Me Acordare, Juarez, Mexico, Mujeres]
Remember, Juarez, Mexico, Women. [Acuerdate, Juarez, Mexico, Mujeres.]
The lack of investigation into these murders and the lack of justice for these women is inexcusable and and out of order beyond belief. Now that the Mexican government has shown that they won't investigate, pressure needs to be placed on people throughout the world, in your local towns, in your media contacts, to cover the story, by TV, radio, Internet, blogs and much, much more until there is justice. And just like the incident with Christian Bale, we look forward to the glorious day when the Government Officials in Mexico (and the mainstream media throughout the world and especially in the USA) admit that their lack of investigation and attention to these increasing rapes and murders is "inexcusable and out of order beyond belief."
Solidarity for a better world,
Love for the people,
-T. Love
p.s.
The links to this article were not covered so that you can easily forward this article by emails! Remember, we must place the Spotlight back on Social Justice Issues before they become worse! Solidarity for a better world. :)
This article was first posted to the Peace Communities Solidarity Blog
< http://savethepoorbrownchildren.blogspot.com/2009/02/christian-bale-injustice-marcella-sali.html >, found at http://www.SaveThePoorBrownChildren.org - a public group blog with an emphasis on feminism, women's empowerment, financially disadvantaged children and marginalized people's voices and direct action worldwide. The Peace Communities Solidarity Blog is the Media Outreach branch of the Peace Communities Online Community
< http://www.PeaceCommunities.org a not-for-profit project started by the Mutualist project, created at the Z Media Institute (founders of Z Magazine) T. Love is a Black Feminist writer whose social justice writing have been featured in Street Roots, the current issue of Natural Learning, the current issue of Slingshot and many more radical activist publications worldwide.
[1] http://savethepoorbrownchildren.blogspot.com/2009/02/social-justice-in-hollywoood-3.html
[2] http://shakespearessister.blogspot.com/2009/02/bale-remix.html#disqus_thread
[3] http://www.aintitcool.com/talkback_display/39984#comment_2479351
[4] English version: http://savethepoorbrownchildren.blogspot.com/2009/02/i-will-remember-marcella-sali-grace-you.html
[5] Spanish version: http://savethepoorbrownchildren.blogspot.com/2009/02/en-espanolme-acordare-te-acuerdas.html
[Late edit - I used to have a song here by a band I won't even name that I found on the Angry White Kid's Blog (that's actually the name of his blog) but due to a strange, twisted series of the ongoing non-stop racism that we as Black people face from people.... I've removed that song. If I explained it to you, it would take the focus off of Sali and you wouldn't even believe it because I hardly believe it. Racism is one of those things that no matter how many times you experience it, you still want to try to believe it is just a misunderstanding. So instead I want to encourage you to check out a musician who dedicated an entire album to Sali and had a profound experience while staying at her families house.
I also want to encourage you to check out Sali's memorial site where you will find a lot of awesome music by people who cared about her.]
Sali, in the pic and seen in the video dancing below.
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