Thank you very much. About 6,000 people, many readers of this blog, donated $400,000 over 24 hours to Planned Parenthood to make up for the loss of funding from Susan G. Komen for the Cure breast-cancer foundation. That is roughly in the range of the annual donations Komen was making to Planned Parenthood before they pulled out their support under false pretenses.
Now, here’s what has to happen.
1) If you were planning to run in a Komen race or otherwise engage in activities pursuant to their fundraising, ask yourelf this question: “Do I hate women, and/or do I think poor women don’t mind dying of cancer?” If the answer is yes, put on your pink ribbon and knock yourself out. If the answer is no, then cancel your engagement with Komen and do something else.
2) If you’ve recently given money to Komen, send them a note and ask for it back. It was obtained under false pretenses. If you are a a group of people and one or more of you is a lawyer, get out that legal stationary and make threatening motions with it.
3) If there is a Komen Race in your neighborhood any time soon, considering organizing a protest. Line part of the race route with poor women with breasts, carrying signs that say “we have breasts too!” or words to that effect.
4) If you are involved in any sort of #occupy activity, remind your fellow #occupiers that this is a 1% vs. 99% issue.
5) Consider making a regular donation to planned parenthood, just a few bucks a month, or once a year on your birthday, or once a year on the day you had your last Chemo, or whatever works for you.
6) Stop wearing pink to signify solidarity with cancer victims. Maybe pick a color off of the Planned Parenthood site and wear that. I don’t think Komen “owns” pink but they do use a lot of it.
7) If you have Komen merchandise such as a teddy bear, earrings, clothing, etc. take it to someplace appropriate and throw it over the wall. Like the vets threw their service medals over the wall at the Pentagon and the White House. Or just mail it back to them. Or, better yet, mail it to Planned Parenthood with a check.
Personally, I will not be satisfied with a detente, or a compromise, or a retraction, or a continuation of funding by Komen of Planned Parenthood. Komen has done something very very bad and they need to go away. It should be the case from now on that anyone who does not hate women should never give Komen a penny, ever, from now on. Komen is not necessary. There are other charities. There are other things for you to do with your energies, money, and time that will help women beat breast cancer.
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Allegedly responsible is newly appointed VP to Komen, Karen Handel, a zealous anti-abortion republican who ran for Governor of Georgia. The catholics have been heavily lobbying Komen and other groups in a concerted effort to block women’s health care. http://abcnews.go.com/blogs/health/2012/02/01/breast-cancer-charity-giant-cuts-ties-to-planned-parenthood/
I cannot prove it but I suspect the catholics are working in league with the LDS, who if their candidate gets elected, will reverse many women’s rights issues. This is an orchestrated effort.
The catholics are up in arms about the health care mandate for all groups receiving government funds to provide contraceptives, and have publicly criticized Obama for this issue (MSNBC Hardball 1 Feb 2012).
Thanks for reminding me to throw away my pink breast cancer themed scrub tops…
All of these ideas are awesome, Greg. Thanks for being a vocal part of the opposition to Komen. SO impressed by how much money has been raised in 24 hours!
Organizations like Koman need to figure it out. This is not the world as it was even ten years ago. We have a tool to help us organize and join together to express our feelings in a way we never had before. It is wrong to hold cancer victims and future cancer victims hostage to religious “purity”. Fuck them. I’ll be sending my money elsewhere and encouraging others to do the same.
Note: Atheists and freethinkers are no longer the silent minority and we will no longer tolerate behavior based on religious dogma that leads to harm (for the religious people as much as anyone) without loudly causing a fuss. Deal with it.
Second-best tactic: send it back to Komen postage due.
I’ve put a recurring $20/month automatic donation to PP on my credit card. And, written to Komen, saying that their action was nothing less than shameful.
Thanks so much, Greg, you’ve been wonderful.
Exactly this.
I recently received an e-mail message, asking me to sign a petition asking SGK to reverse its decision.
I looked it over, thought about it, then closed the page. I decided not to sign it for this very reason… even if Komen did reverse its decision, the damage has been done, as far as I’m concerned. Ditto my husband, who has contributed to workplace fundraisers in the past.
From here on, Komen is dead to us. In addition, we will be avoiding any Komen-related commercial products. Although we’ve always been Planned Parenthood supporters, any additional $$$ we might have given to Komen will now go to PP (I’ve already sent a donation to PP’s fund for breast cancer services).
Members and allies of Vietnam Veterans Against the War threw their medals “across the wall” (over a low crowd-control barrier) at Congress, not the WH or the SC.
Pierce, I know guys who threw medals at the pentagon and the white house over various walls or fences. But they did it before the Internet do we cn not google it today.