Why One Woman Committed a Felony Just to Breathe

Just issues, news, and other stuff that matters to you [Fusion]( March 21, 2017 As the noise of new travel restrictions and Supreme Court confirmation hearings begins to ratchet up, consider escaping for just a moment today into a poem. It is International Poetry Day, after all. This collection of [poems about immigration]( is stunning. Or, if home feels like a disorienting place, linger on these lines from Somali British poet, Warsan Shire: “At the end of the day, it isn’t where I came from. Maybe home is somewhere I’m going and never have been before.” [—Anne Branigin]( TODAY IN... AIRPLANE MODE 📱 The White House launched a new set of travel restrictions targeting Muslim countries, and it has many worrying about [privacy and data violations](. BACK IN THE SHADOWS 👥 ICE’s aggressive detainment tactics have caused at least [four undocumented women]( in Colorado to drop their domestic violence charges. WHERE IT HURTS 💊 Fusion’s Katie McDonough talks to an uninsured young woman whose asthma got so bad, she had to [commit a felony]( just to breathe again. REVENGE SERVED COLD ❄️ A judge claims that a recent immigration raid in Austin was [an act of retaliation]( for the city’s sanctuary policy. PROFILED 🚨 Wyclef Jean was detained by LA cops in an apparent case of mistaken identity—and [there’s video]( of the whole thing. THE READ [How Marvel’s ‘Iron Fist’ Missed Its Chance to Tell an Epic Story About White Privilege]( by Charles Pulliam-Moore It’d be easy to dismiss the scathing critiques being leveled at Iron Fist as misplaced anti-Trump hostility. But that argument doesn’t hold up when you look at all the other uber-rich white guy heroes that critics and fans still love. As a global, superhero content-consuming culture, the world has continued to embrace stories about white billionaires like Batman, Iron Man, and the Green Arrow who turn to lives of heroic vigilantism. They’re a tried-and-true narrative template. They’re also primed for an innovative rethinking. As progressive as an Asian American Iron Fist would have been in terms of Hollywood representation, the show also missed an opportunity to use a rich white man as a vehicle to unpack and explicitly address whiteness and privilege. When you ask diehard fans what it is about Danny Rand that requires him to be a white man, you often hear something along the lines of: “Danny’s supposed to be an outsider.” That argument refers to his origin story as a young white orphan being raised by Asian kung fu masters in the magical city K’un L’un. His being an outsider helps him build strength and character in his journey to becoming the Iron Fist. It’s a story of an Exceptional White Man who, despite competing against other students who’ve trained for their entire lives to become Iron Fists, somehow manages to become the Chosen One. Left unchallenged, that story is played out at best and offensive at worst. But what if Iron Fist had made a point of recognizing and criticizing Danny’s privilege? [Read more](. LET’S TALK ABOUT AFRO-SURREALISM You might have seen Alim Smith’s artwork popping up in your timeline—abstract paintings of memes like [Jordan’s crying face](. The Root’s Yesha Callahan [talks to Smith about his work]( why he chose to depict memes, and how he plans to capitalize on his internet fame. The Latest [UCLA just showed that March Madness trumps standing up for LGBTQ people]( [Read More]( --------------------------------------------------------------- [U.S. pays $1 million to family of late Mexican teen made to chug liquid meth by border agents]( [Read More]( [Facebook]( [Twitter]( [Vine]( [Instagram]( [Youtube]( Remember, you can always [click here to unsubscribe]( and never see another one of these emails until the apocalypse (at which time it'll be nothing but emails). [Unsubscribe]( This email was sent to {EMAIL} Fusion · 419 Lafayette St · New York, NY 10003 · USA