On Wednesday, in what advocates are saying is a significant step in the ongoing attempt to decriminalize sex work nationwide, the Manhattan district attorney’s office announced that it would no longer prosecute prostitution or unlicensed massage. Cyrus R. Vance. Jr., the district attorney, asked a judge to dismiss 914 open cases, as well as 5,080 cases charging people with loitering for the purpose of prostitution — many dating back to the 1970s and ’80s when “New York waged a war against prostitution in an effort to clean up its image as a center of iniquity and vice,” as reported by The New York Times. 

The request highlights a significant shift in how New York City law enforcement is approaching sex work. Last month, Chirlane McCray and her husband, NYC Mayor Bill de Blasio, demanded the end of state penalties for sex work “The communities hit hardest by the continued criminalization of sex work and human trafficking are overwhelmingly LGBTQ, they are people of color, and they are undocumented immigrants,” McCray said. “Sex work is a means of survival for many in these marginalized groups.”

But other advocates say that the request is lip service and that more must be done to fully decriminalize sex work and make sex and body work safer. While the district attorney will no longer prosecute prostitution cases, law enforcement can and will still “prosecute other crimes related to prostitution, including patronizing sex workers, promoting prostitution and sex trafficking, and said that its policy would not stop it from bringing other charges that stem from prostitution-related arrests,” as reported by The Times. 

“This is a good first step as DA Vance is looking to dismiss 5,944 cases involving sex work,” Udi Ofer, the Deputy National Political Director of the ACLU and Director of the ACLU’s Justice Division, tweeted. “Now on to full decriminalization. The police should not be arresting people in the first place. Sex work is work and must be decriminalized.”

Currently, prostitution is illegal in all 50 states, except 10 counties in Nevada. Nine states have harsher penalties for those seeking sex work services, while two — Delaware and Minnesota — actually have harsher penalties for those who offer sex work. Until all states follow suit, and more is done in even the most progressive cities to decriminalize sex work, those who engage in consensual body work still face high rates of police abuse, harassment, and unsafe work conditions. 

By continuing to prosecute those who patronize sex workers, as well as those who promote sex work, those in positions of power lift up and perpetuate the narrative that those engaged in sex work do not choose it but are rather coerced or trafficked. That is hardly the case. A look into often regurgitated child sex trafficking statistics shows the numbers and information to be incredibly skewed or entirely false. It’s often reported that there are 100,000 to 300,000 children “locked in sex slavery in the U.S.” But in truth, that number comes from a 2001 study which actually refers to youths up to age 21 at risk of sexual exploitation — not trafficking. While trafficking is considered in that figure, it’s the least prevalent form of exploitation, according to The Washington Post. The person who conducted the study also said in 2011 that the number of minors trafficked was closer to “a few hundred.”

Also, the majority of sex workers do not have pimps, nor do they “work the streets” as is often depicted in media. And if a sex worker does work with a pimp, that pimp often works as the sex worker’s employee — not the other way around.

To truly make it safer for body workers to engage in consensual sex and massage work, advocates say complete decriminalization is the only true path forward. Not only would decriminalizing sex work make it that much harder for people to engage in sex trafficking — one 2008 study found that after New Zealand legalized sex work in 2003, there were “no incidents of trafficking” — it also protects sex workers from police officer harassment and abuse. A reported 30% of sex workers say they have been violently threatened by police officers, according to a report from the Sex Workers Project. A reported 27% actually experienced violence at the hands of law enforcement. 

“If our goal is to make it safer for all people in general, victims of trafficking an adult consensual sex workers, then prosecuting people who are seeking sex workers still makes it less safe,” Jill McCracken, co-direct of SWOP Behind Bars, told Rolling Stone. “It pushes sex work into the shadows, it discourages people from coming forward. It basically says this is an illegal act that should be criminalized and maintains all the stigma.”

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On Tuesday, after deliberating for 10 hours, a Minneapolis jury found former police officer Derek Chauvin guilty of second-degree murder, third-degree murder, and second-degree manslaughter in the killing of George Floyd. The verdict came in the aftermath of multiple police killings in the past month, including the shootings of 20-year-old Daunte Wright and 13-year-old Adam Toledo. And just minutes before the verdict was read, a police officer in Columbus, OH, shot 16-year-old girl Ma’Khia Bryant four times, killing her.

Many shared mixed emotions about the Chauvin trial outcome and the ongoing fight for true police accountability. “The very least George’s family deserved was the accountability the system allows. I am holding them close. ‘Cause justice is them hugging their George. And nothing else. Dismantle the system that killed him,” Brittany Packnett Cunningham, an activist and co-founder of Campaign Zero, tweeted.

“This verdict is not justice. Frankly, I don’t even think we call it full accountability because there are multiple officers that were there,” Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY) said during an Instagram Live. “Wasn’t just Derek Chauvin. And I don’t want this moment to be framed as the system working, because it’s not working.”

In fact, the system has protected officers like Chauvin for decades, with very few cases of officers even losing their jobs, let alone facing federal charges or monetary reparations, for killing Black and brown people. Police officers kill around 1,000 people a year, according to a database compiled by The Washington Post. Data from Mapping Police Violence, a group that tracks deadly police encounters in lieu of a national database, shows that police have killed more than 6,800 civilians between 2013 and 2018. Since Chauvin’s trial began on March 29, police have killed at least 64 Americans — more than half of them Black and Latinx.

And yet, since 2005, only 121 officers have been arrested on charges of murder or manslaughter after killing someone while on-duty, according to data compiled by Philip M. Stinson, a criminal justice professor at Bowling Green State University in Ohio, as reported by The New York Times. And of the 121 officers arrested, only 95 of their cases concluded, and only 44 were convicted, often of the lesser charge, per the same report. Four officers were convicted of murder.

In other words, out of the officers arrested for murder or manslaughter, only about one-third are ever convicted of a crime. 

“Police know what to say and what to tell a jury and what to tell a judge to make those folks believe that they were reasonably in fear,” Kate Levine, a professor at the Benjamin N. Cardozo School of Law in New York, told The New York Times. “Even if there are other witnesses, those witnesses just don’t get the same amount of credibility determination from prosecutors, judges, juries.” 

Of course, charges and convictions represent a very rare method of so-called police department “accountability.” What’s far more common is an officer resigning and/or stepping down, as was the case in the death of Rayshard Brooks. After Brooks was shot and killed by a police officer while sleeping in his car in a Wendy’s drive-thru, Atlanta Police Chief Erika Shields stepped down, a police officer was fired, and another officer took leave. Louisville, KY, Police Chief Steve Conrad was fired after officers shot and killed Breonna Taylor in her home, and then police killed restaurant owner David McAtee amid protests. But no one was ever charged for Taylor’s death, and it’s more common than not that police aren’t ever convicted of shooting and killing a person the way that regular civilians are.

Even when a police officer isn’t forced to resign or relieved of duty, they’re often handed down nothing more than a disciplinary slap on the wrist. In 2019, USA Today led an effort to obtain and publish the disciplinary records of police officers. The investigation found that more than 85,000 law enforcement officers have been investigated or disciplined for misconduct over the past 10 years, including 22,924 investigations of officers using excessive force; 3,145 allegations of rape, child molestation, and other sexual misconduct; and 2,307 cases of domestic violence.

Another consistent form of “accountability” is payments to victims and/or their families in cases of police brutality and wrongful deaths. After obtaining public records from 31 of the 50 cities with the highest police-to-civilian ratio in the U.S., FiveThirtyEight released an early-2021 report that found cities have spent more than $3 billion in misconduct lawsuit settlements in the past 10 years. It was reported that George Floyd’s family agreed to a $27 million wrongful death settlement from the city of Minneapolis prior to Chauvin’s conviction. And yet, $27 million will not bring George Floyd back.

“The guilty verdict does not bring back George Floyd,” President Joe Biden said as he addressed the nation in the wake of the verdict. “But through the family’s pain, they are finding purpose to George’s legacy will not be just about his death, but about what we must do in his memory.” 

Police have killed 319 people in 2021 so far, according to Mapping Police Violence. Many of these officers will never see the inside of a courtroom or hear a judge’s gavel. But members of over-policed communities — especially Black communities, since Black people are more than three times more likely to be shot by a police officer than white people — will continue to be forced to live with the lasting ramifications of police violence until true accountability and reform take precedence.

“The evidence in the case overwhelmingly showed that Chauvin committed this horrendous murder,” James Kilgore, media fellow at Media Justice and author of Understanding Mass Incarceration, tells Refinery29. “While it is gratifying that the jury was able to see through the veil of fabrications that were put forward in Chauvin’s defense, at the same time, as soon as the jury pronounced the verdict in this case, we were mourning the death of a young Black woman killed by police gunfire in Columbus, Ohio. And we are yet to bury another Black man, Daunte Wright. We cannot build enough prison and jail cells to meet these challenges. We need to dismantle the racialized systems of policing and incarceration and explore possibilities for using the billions of dollars we spend to police and cage people on building healthy, thriving communities, devoid of hatred, violence, and despair.”

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On Monday — in what is perhaps the most chaotic good energy we’ve felt in a long time — McDonald’s announced that the company is partnering with BTS, the world-renowned Korean band, for its next celebrity meal. And it feels like two kingdoms are uniting in beautiful, harmonious solidarity.

McDonald’s announced the partnership on Twitter, via just six words: “Coming this May: The BTS Meal.” The already-famous meal includes 10-piece Chicken McNuggets, medium fries, and a soda option (Sprite, if you’re J-Hope), as well as the introduction of two dipping sauces — sweet chili and cajun flavors — both inspired by McDonald’s South Korea recipes, per the burger chain and as reported by CNN. (Unclear as to why they didn’t include a mochi-inspired dessert, but hey, nobody’s perfect.) The meal will be available in at least 50 markets worldwide starting on May 26.

Other celebrities to partner with McDonald’s on its menu collaborations recently include singer J Balvin and rapper Travis Scott. BTS, however, is by far the most hotly anticipated collab to date: In 2019, BTS became the third group in 50 years to have three number-one albums on the Billboard 200 charts in less than one year, according to CNN. Let’s just say that BTS might be the only band more famous and accomplished than the Chicken Nugget.

And their fans could not be more excited about the collaboration. “Get in loser we’re going to mcdonalds to get the bts meal,” one fan wrote on Twitter, accompanied by a picture of BTS band members inside a car. “So if you work for mcdonalds during the bts meal collab that means you indirectly work for bts,” another tweeted. 

Here are a few of the major highlights:

john cena at mcdonalds asking for the bts meal with a jhope photocard pic.twitter.com/asOhgUw56O

— darcy (@babyratplushie) April 19, 2021

‘get in loser we’re going to mcdonalds to get the bts meal’ pic.twitter.com/9yzwx73097

— 엠미 Emmie⁷⁰³²⁵✜ 🎫 (@jeonjungkuromi) April 19, 2021

family funeral going to get bts
meal at mcdonalds pic.twitter.com/UnZXSv5mkb

— ITS BAKUGOS BIRTHDAY (@skaterhobi) April 19, 2021

me eating the bts meal like i aint never had mcdonalds fries before pic.twitter.com/e2r0MsCvgz

— hourly 2seok 🌊 I love yuo 👉👈 (@hourlyseokseok) April 19, 2021

the mc donalds employee at the grill having to make their 30th bts meal pic.twitter.com/J8EDG6XXXa

— bea 𓆏 JAY (@leminhunny) April 19, 2021

so if you work for mcdonalds during the bts meal collab that means you indirectly work for bts pic.twitter.com/QP9PLgJvy0

— a⁷ ⟬⟭ᴮᴱ (@kiiotae) April 19, 2021

when McDonalds launches The BTS Meal
Army: pic.twitter.com/Iwo3MXtIeK

— ᴮᵉLee ⁷ wanna cuddle namjoon (@BEM00NCHlLD7) April 19, 2021

Several other brands also chimed in on the collab: “Our fav record breakers,” the Guinness World Records’ Twitter handle posted. “We’re lovin’ it,” UNO — yes, the card game UNO — tweeted. “BUT WILL THERE BE PUPPUCCINOS?” Petco tweeted, in a sentence that makes total sense in the year of our lord 2021. 

Here’s a sampling of the many brand reactions, probably borne out of some very real, “Ugh, why didn’t we think of this first?!” vibes: 

our fav record breakers

— Guinness World Records (@GWR) April 19, 2021

Can we get seven 💜 to go?

— Samsung Mobile US (@SamsungMobileUS) April 19, 2021

Forgive me, Chef.

*casually marks calendar for May 26*

— Hell’s Kitchen (@HellsKitchenFOX) April 19, 2021

Can’t wait💜

— Barbie (@Barbie) April 19, 2021

L💜VE

— MATTEL (@Mattel) April 19, 2021

we’ll be hitting the drive-thru 💯

— Hot Wheels (@Hot_Wheels) April 19, 2021

Truthfully, this collaboration is the reprieve we all needed right about now, and we will gladly engage with all McDonald’s x BTS content. In the words of Jeon Jungkook: “Shoes on, get up in the morn’, cup of milk Oreo McFlurry, let’s rock ‘n’ roll.”

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On January 6, Jess Watkins, an alleged member of the anti-government militia movement the Oath Keepers and a former Army ranger, can be heard from the Capitol talking over Zello, a popular walkie talkie-like app, to her fellow insurrectionists and MAGA sympathizers. “Police are doing nothing,” Watkins says as Trump supporters storm the Capitol. “They’re not even trying to stop us at this point.” 

From a known number of active-duty law enforcement officers who participated in the deadly insurrection, to images of Capitol police taking selfies with insurrectionists, to a recent report that Capitol police were told to stand down and avoid using crowd-controlling tactics against a violent mob, it’s no secret that past and currently serving members of the military and law enforcement have supported — or are actively engaged with — organizations like the Oath Keepers.

In a recent interview with 60 Minutes, a leader of the Oath Keepers gave a chilling account of just how much help the group alleges they are getting from active-duty police officers. 

“Our guys are very experienced. We have active-duty law enforcement in our organization that are helping to train us,” Jim Arroyo, vice president of the country’s largest Oath Keepers chapter in Arizona, told 60 Minutes’ Sharyn Alfonsi. “We can blend in with our law enforcement and, in fact, in a lot of cases, our training is much more advanced because of our military backgrounds.” Law enforcement officials have not confirmed that they are working with the Oath Keepers or any other vigilante conspiracy groups. Refinery29 reached out to Arizona police for comment, but they did not respond by time of publication.

As of now, more than 400 people have been charged with federal crimes in connection with the January 6 insurrection, according to 60 Minutes. Of those 400, 13 are believed to be associated with the Oath Keepers — a well-armed conspiracy group that believes in an impending — if not already occurring — civil war. When Alfonsi asked Arizona Oath Keepers members if they truly believed they were living in the middle of a domestic battle, Cathy York responded: “I think that we are. You’ve got good versus evil right now going on in our country.” 

Still, some of the Oath Keepers interviewed tried to argue that some of those who stormed the Capitol wearing Oath Keepers emblems were actually imposters trying to sully the organization’s reputation. 

“Some of those people with Oath Keepers could have been BLM. They could have been,” York said. “It could have been a false flag as far as I’m concerned,” Mike Rice, also a member, chimed in. “They’re stupid people. It’s stupid,” York added. “We don’t do that. That’s not Oath Keepers.” 

Arroyo shared similar sentiments with 60 Minutes, telling Alfonsi: “That goes against everything we’ve ever taught, everything we believe in. It was pre-planned. It was pre-staged. Ten guys go and do something stupid and suddenly, we’re the devil.” 

But what took place that day — the reports of fully-armed insurrectionists carrying zip ties, wearing tactical gear, and moving as a coordinated, well-trained unit — is exactly in keeping with the Oath Keepers’ ethos.

The group was founded in 2009 by Stewart Rhodes in response to the election of President Barack Obama. A key component of its ideology, according to the Southern Poverty Law Center, is “that its members vow to forever support the oaths they took on joining law enforcement or the military to defend the Constitution.” Currently, it’s believed that more than 30,000 people consider themselves Oath Keepers, most of whom claim to be current or former military, law enforcement, or emergency first responders. 

When they’re not taking part in an attempt to overthrow the government and subvert fair and free elections, Oath Keepers spend their time training and traveling to local or out-of-state Black Lives Matter protests, usually under the guise of “protecting property.” During his 60 Minutes interview, Arroyo claimed armed Oath Keepers coordinated with local Arizona law enforcement during a September 2020 Black Lives Matter demonstration to “keep the peace.” The same sheriff’s department told 60 Minutes they “didn’t ask for their help.” 

After 17-year-old Kyle Rittenhouse traveled to an out-of-state Black Lives Matter protest and shot and killed two people, injuring a third, the Oath Keepers’ Twitter account hailed Rittenhouse as “a hero, a patriot” while Rhodes labeled protestors as “well-funded Marxist and racist agitators,” as reported by The Washington Post. Both Rhodes’ and the organization’s Twitter accounts were suspended in September 2020 after predicting “open warfare” in the wake of the 2020 presidential election, per the same report. 

At least one Oath Keeper has pled guilty in the wake of the Capitol insurrection and agreed to cooperate with an ongoing investigation — which may lead to charges against Rhodes and the organization, according to 60 Minutes.

As the country continues to grapple with the near-constant police killings of Black and brown people, it remains to be seen what will come of these growing threats of domestic terrorism.

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On Thursday night, a 19-year-old gunman named Brandon Scott Hole opened fire at a FedEx Ground facility near Indianapolis, killing eight people and wounding several others before reportedly taking his own life. Hole was a former FedEx employee according to a Friday afternoon press briefing from Indianapolis Police Deputy Chief Craig McCartt. While details continue to emerge regarding a possible motive — the gunman is said to be “known to federal and local authorities, and a relative reached out to authorities warning about that person’s potential for violence,” according to CNN reporting — a clearer picture of what happened is also coming to light. Law enforcement officials are beginning to detail what is the country’s deadliest mass shooting since 10 people were gunned down at a grocery store in Boulder, CO… a little over three weeks ago. 

McCartt said that the shooting began almost immediately after the gunman exited his vehicle outside the facility. Police believe four people were shot and killed in the parking lot before the shooter went inside and began to open fire again. Two FedEx employees told CNN affiliate WISH that they heard around 10 gunshots inside the facility. Four additional people were shot and killed inside, before the gunman shot and killed himself. Five others were taken to a local hospital to be treated for gunshot wounds, while two were treated at the scene and released, requiring no additional medical attention. 

Currently, there is not much known about Hole, and police are refraining from releasing the victims’ names until all their loved ones have been notified.

The shooting marks the 45th mass shooting in the United States in the past month, and it is at least the 147th mass shooting in 2021 so far. Earlier this month, a gunman who was targeting Asian-owned businesses shot and killed eight people, six of whom were Asian American women. (According to the Gun Violence Archive, a mass shooting involves four or more people dead, excluding the shooter.)

Several harrowing details seem to have been overlooked so far by media coverage. At least some of the victims were members of the Sikh community, adding to the list of Black and brown communities targeted by gunmen and reeling from the impact of gun violence. CNN also reported that FedEx employees were banned from using their cell phones inside the facility, and therefore were not able to call their loved ones or, presumably, for help. FedEx released a statement on Friday afternoon that it is currently reexamining this policy.

The shooting also occurred the day before the 14th anniversary of the third deadliest mass shooting in U.S. history, when a 23-year-old student shot and killed 32 people at Virginia Tech.

Politicians quickly responded to yet another instance of mass violence, as the country continues to grapple with the police killings of Daunte Wright and 13-year-old Adam Toledo. Indiana Gov. Eric Holcomb said Friday is “another heartbreaking day” and that he is “shaken by the mass shooting.” President Joe Biden tweeted, “Vice President Harris and I have been briefed on the mass shooting at a FedEx facility in Indianapolis. God bless the eight individuals we lost and their loved ones, and we pray for the wounded for their recovery. We can, and must, do more to reduce gun violence and save lives.” And FedEx released a statement saying the company is “deeply shocked and saddened.”

But in the absence of real, legislative, systemic change, mass shootings can — and will — continue to plague us. And thoughts and prayers from elected officials won’t impact the continued gun violence that is coursing through the country.

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On Thursday, Chicago officials released bodycam footage of the fatal March 29 shooting of 13-year-old Adam Toledo. The graphic video (which Refinery29 is not linking directly to in this article) shows a police officer chasing the 7th grader down an alleyway. The officer is heard yelling, “Stop right there!” then cursing as he screams at Toledo to show him his hands. Toledo then stops, turns towards the officer, and puts his hands up. Not even two seconds later, the officer fatally shoots the child in the chest.

The bodycam footage that was released includes a series of 17 videos, which together show exactly how Toledo was killed. And these videos are circulating rapidly in the wake of the fatal police shooting of 20-year-old Daunte Wright and during the ongoing trial of Derek Chauvin, who killed George Floyd. Prior to the release of the bodycam footage, Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot attempted to quell the justifiable outrage of the shooting of a child by a member of law enforcement: “We all must proceed with deep empathy and calm, and importantly, peace,” she said. “No family should ever have a video broadcast widely of their child’s last moments, much less be placed in the terrible situation of  losing their child in the first place.”

However, no family should be lied to about the death of their child, either — and it seems law enforcement and the District Attorney (DA) were not forthcoming about the events that took place late last month before the footage was released.

Toledo was chased by police after local officers were dispatched and alerted of gunfire in the area around 2:36 a.m. on March 29. The teenager ran from officers, who were also chasing (and eventually captured) 21-year-old Ruben Roman. At 2:46 a.m., only ten minutes after the initial dispatch, Toledo was pronounced dead.

In the aftermath, officers and public officials painted Toledo as an armed threat. During a bond hearing for Roman, Cook County Assistant State’s Attorney James Murphy claimed Toledo had “a gun in his right hand” when he turned toward the officer. But the now-released footage shows otherwise: Toledo was unarmed, had his hand raised, complied with the officer’s order to stop, and was still gunned down so quickly, he wasn’t even given a chance.

In response to backlash toward Chicago police and officials for concealing details, Sarah Sinovic, a spokesperson for Cook County State’s Attorney Kim Foxx, told Chicago news station WGN Investigates that “an attorney who works in this office failed to fully inform himself before speaking in court.”

But the alleged mistake here raises additional questions as to how far police officers, district attorneys, and others in positions of power will go not just to avoid holding police departments accountable for the continued murder of Black and brown people, but the efforts they’ll make to cover for one another.

The shooting also calls into question how even bodycam footage fails to hold law enforcement accountable for their use of violence. “The police officer was put in this split-second situation where he has to make a decision,” Timothy Grace, a lawyer representing the Fraternal Order of Police in Chicago, said. Despite Grace’s statement, the fact that there is footage of a 13-year-old child being gunned down by police appears to, at this moment, be of no consequence.

Whether or not Toledo had a gun in his hand at the point of confrontation is irrelevant. Possessing a firearm, even illegally, is not an offense punishable by death, and police officers are not meant to be judges — or executioners. And if he did have a weapon on him at that moment, what he needed was support and safety — help to address why he would feel the need to supposedly brandish a firearm; accountability on behalf of those who helped him allegedly obtain a weapon; more common-sense gun laws that would close any loopholes that make it possible for young people to get their hands on deadly weapons. 

What the 7th grader — who was goofy, curious, and loved zombie movies, according to his grieving mother — did not need, was a bullet in his chest. 

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After an unsuccessful 2020 presidential campaign, entrepreneur Andrew Yang has set his sights on becoming mayor of New York City. And while the mayoral field is a crowded one, Yang has gained undeniable popularity, for better or worse, in part due to a slew of questionable, at best, tweets. But in the wake of the last disastrous four years overshadowed by a president who was able to ride his outrageous tweets all the way to the White House, Yang’s tweets aren’t just comically foolish: They’re dangerous. 

Sure, making fun of the clearly out-of-touch millionaire can be a source of reprieve after a year of police brutality protests and COVID-related lockdowns. On Jan. 15, Yang professed his admiration for New York City bodegas, tweeting, “New York City loves its bodegas! The 14,000 bodegas are vital to our city – let’s support them and keep them open.” The problem? The tweet was accompanied by a video of Yang walking through a store akin to a Whole Foods or Walgreens rather than a neighborhood bodega. On Feb. 13, in a full-on Michael-Scott-proudly-labeling-nationwide-chain-Sbarro-his-favorite-NYC-pizza-place move, Yang tweeted, “Does Shake Shack still count as an NY restaurant? My boys say yes.” And on March 1, Yang tweeted a picture of himself taking the A train to the Bronx. The problem? The A line doesn’t go to the Bronx. 

Then, of course, there was his now-infamous tweet on #NationalPetsDay. In a move that would only make sense to somebody who tweets about his wife on National Wife Appreciation Day (yes, it’s a thing), Yang tweeted, “On #NationalPetsDay celebrating our dog Grizzly who we raised as a puppy but had to give away because one of our boys became allergic to him. Miss you Grizz! #dogsforyang.” The tweet immediately sparked backlash regarding the morality of rehoming a pet.

But the real problem with Yang potentially becoming the next mayor of New York City is not his questionable social media presence, but some of his actual policies — and how easy it has been to overlook his problematic stances in favor of a good, old-fashioned public roasting. 

For example, in February 2020, when Yang was still a candidate for president, he called abortion a tragedy and said, “I think we have to get back to the point where no one is suggesting that we be celebrating an abortion at any point in the pregnancy” during a presidential forum hosted by reproductive rights organizations. This came at a time when the right to abortion is under direct attack, and a historic number of states are introducing legislation that would ban the procedure outright. And, it came at a time when one out of every four women will have an abortion in their lifetime, as well as many trans men and nonbinary people.

Yang is also arguably the most anti-teacher union mayoral candidate, at one point blaming teacher unions — which have fought to make sure teachers stayed safe during the pandemic — for the slow re-introduction of in-person school during COVID-19. Studies have shown that children are key to the spread of COVID-19, and, as of April 6, 919 teachers have died from complications related to coronavirus.

On top of this, Yang has advocated for increased policing of New York City street vendors, the majority of whom are women of color, military veterans, and low-income immigrant workers.  “You know what I hear over and over again – that NYC is not enforcing rules against unlicensed street vendors. I’m for increasing licenses but we would do more for the retailers who are paying rent and trying to survive,” Yang tweeted on April 11. “I’d like to bring more unlicensed vendors into the legal market. Education for immigrant/non English speaking vendors on rules of vending, opening more spaces for legal outdoor vending working with small businesses to broker tensions all would help.” 

The nation faces a long-awaited reckoning on police brutality against Black and brown people, studies have shown increased police presence doesn’t lead to less crime, and street vendors have already been forced to endure decades of police harassment — so, to put it mildly, this is not a good idea.

Yang would be an awful New York City mayor not just because of his terrible tweets, his lack of expertise as a politician, or his inability to understand New Yorkers who have spent the last year in lockdown as a result of the pandemic. (“We live in a two-bedroom apartment in Manhattan,” Yang told The New York Times in 2020. “And so, like, can you imagine trying to have two kids in virtual school in a two-bedroom apartment, and then trying to work yourself?” He later moved his family from the city to a four-bedroom second house in New Paltz, NY.)

He would chiefly be awful because of his abortion-shaming, anti-union, pro-policing ideologies that are in no way in keeping with the future of the Democratic Party nor the needs of the vast majority of Americans. The fact that he is seemingly using his incendiary tweets to avoid necessary scrutiny is just another red flag — and a terrifying reminder of another self-serving entrepreneur-turned-politician who used social media to ascend to power.

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On Wednesday, former congresswoman Katie Hill, who at one time represented California’s 25th congressional district before resigning in November 2019 in the midst of an ethics investigation, was dealt a blow to her ongoing efforts to hold those who participated in a “revenge porn” scandal accountable. Hill’s lawsuit against The Daily Mail, a British tabloid that ran naked photos of her in 2019, was dismissed by a judge, who argued that the photos were a “matter of public issue or public interest.” 

“I sued The Daily Mail for their publication of my nonconsensual nude images. Today, we lost in court because a judge — not a jury — thinks revenge porn is free speech,” Hill tweeted. “This fight has massive implications for any woman who ever wants to run for office, so quitting isn’t an option.” (Refinery29 reached out to Hill for comment, but did not hear back at the time of publication.) 

The lawsuit was one of many that Hill filed after reports surfaced that the former congresswoman had engaged in a relationship with one of her campaign staffers and hundreds of nude photos and intimate text messages, provided by her allegedly abusive ex-husband, were published online in the fall of 2019. Hill also filed lawsuits against her ex-husband, Kenny Heslep, Salem Media Group Inc., and RedState deputy managing editor Jennifer Van Laar, among others. In Hill’s resignation letter, she wrote that “having private photos of personal moments weaponized against me has been an appalling invasion of my privacy” before vowing to join the fight to “defeat this type of exploitation that so many women are victims to and which will keep countless women and girls from running for office or entering public light.”

“Dismissing Katie Hill’s case on anti-SLAPP grounds sets a dangerous precedent for victims of nonconsensual pornography everywhere,” Carrie A. Goldberg, Hill’s attorney, tweeted after the case was dismissed. “Anybody who dares enter the public eye should now have legitimate concern that old nude and sexual images can be shared widely and published by any person or media purporting to have journalistic intentions.” 

Comparing revenge porn to free speech toes a dangerous line for victims. An ongoing 2020 study out of the U.K., New Zealand, and Australia found that as many as one in three people have been victims of revenge porn — partners or past partners sharing nude or intimate images and/or videos of them without their consent. That number is up from the reported one in five people who have been victims of revenge porn in 2016, according to the same study. And the commonality of revenge porn is being highlighted on the national stage even now, as current Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-FL) has been accused of sharing nude photos and videos of women he claimed he had sex with, with other members of congress — sometimes on the House floor. 

This is just one of the many reasons why the judge’s dismissal of Hill’s case against The Daily Mail is so disturbing. Not only did Judge Yolanda Orozco of Los Angeles County Superior Court argue that the photos were protected under the First Amendment, the judge argued that they were well within the rights of the publication to post because “they spoke to [Hill’s] character and qualifications of her position.” 

In 2021, a woman deciding to engage in consensual sexual activity is somehow a mark against her morality, but a man sharing images of women without their consent on the House floor is not grounds for his immediate removal from office or resignation. (Gaetz has denied all allegations and has said he will not resign, and there have been no calls from leading members of the Republican Party for him to resign.) In 2021, a woman agreeing to taking private nude or explicit photos that are then used against her is insight into her character, but a man sharing those images is still invited to speak at a conservative women’s rally as a “fearless leader.” 

The hypocrisy would be laughable if it weren’t horrendously cruel or indicative of the way women’s bodies and their sexuality is weaponized against them while simultaneously used by men as shameless fodder to boost their egos. The argument that revenge porn is protected under “free speech” and necessary in order to decipher the characters of women, is just another painful instance of how sexuality is used against women to boost the public perceptions of men. 

Goldberg shared via Twitter that Hill plans to appeal the ruling, tweeting that her firm believes “an appellate court will disagree.” 

“We’re up against a deeply misogynistic system that has to change,” Hill tweeted, “and it won’t until we force it to.”

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South Dakota Gov. Kristi Noem had her Christian sensibilities offended by Lil Nas X’s latest music video for the single “Montero (Call Me By Your Name)” and, most recently, his unofficial “Satan” sneakers. Noem has been spending her free time — of which she seems to have plenty these days despite an ongoing pandemic, record-breaking job losses disproportionately impacting Black and brown women, and a historic recession — clutching her pearls on Twitter, pontificating on the importance of kids’ “god-given eternal soul” all because of a pair of limited-edition sneakers.

Lil Nas X launched the now controversial pair of “Satan shoes” in collaboration with the New York-based art collective MSCHF. The altered Nike Air Max 97s feature a bronze pentagram, an inverted cross, and a drop of real human blood — and, yes, they sold out almost immediately, according to CNN. 

Since the launch, Noem has entered into an apparent Twitter feud with the two-time Grammy Award winner. “Our kids are being told that this kind of product is, not only okay, it’s ‘exclusive.’ But do you know what’s more exclusive? Their God-given eternal soul,” she tweeted. “We are in a fight for the soul of our nation. We need to fight hard. And we need to fight smart. We have to win.” (One could ask what is “smart” about spending your time as an elected official attacking the artistic expression of an award-winning musical artist, but I digress.) 

Lil Nas X handled the negative attention with all the unapologetic grace and brashness often required of those within the LGBTQ+ community, especially Black and brown LGBTQ+ people with a platform. “Ur a whole governor and u on here tweeting about some damn shoes,” he responded via Twitter. “Do ur job!” Of course, the governor took the slight against her mixed-up priorities as an invitation to continue the conversation, quote-tweeting Lil Nas X’s response with a Bible verse. “What good will it be for someone to gain the whole world, yet forfeit their soul? -Matthew 16:26.” Okay! 

But as Lil Nas X explained after the release of his now-viral music video, he’s used to being condemned by people like Noem. “I spent my entire teenage years hating myself because of the shit y’all preached would happen to me because i was gay,” he tweeted on March 27. “So I hope u are mad, stay mad, feel the same anger you teach us to have towards ourselves.”

Multiple studies have shown that stigma, shame, judgment, and the conscious choice by family members, friends, church leaders, and other community members to refuse to accept and support LGBTQ+ folks have deadly consequences. One 2016 study found that family rejection increases the odds of substance abuse and suicide attempts in transgender and gender-nonconforming people. And one 2009 study found a clear link between rejection of gay, lesbian, and bisexual youth and negative health outcomes. 

A gay Black man taking the near-constant messaging from conservative Evangelicals that he’s going to hell, that his soul is doomed, that he is somehow “evil,” and turning it into art is hardly the demise of the country. And for a Republican lawmaker to spend her time perpetuating dangerous messages about the innate worthiness of LGBTQ+ people is not only damning, it’s laughable. As COVID-related restrictions are rolled back across the country and the U.S. returns to its regularly scheduled programming of mass shootings, perhaps Noem’s time would be better spent passing common-sense gun legislation that would lessen the chances of the country witnessing seven mass shootings in seven days. As the AAPI community endures a rise in hate crimes that are the result, in part, of GOP rhetoric, perhaps the governor should focus on holding her fellow Republicans accountable for calling COVID-19 the “China virus” or “Kung-Flu.”

We should all take a page out of Lil Nas X’s book and call this by its name: cruel hypocrisy.

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For survivors of sexual assault, it’s difficult if not impossible to be plugged into the news and not come across a triggering story regarding gender-based violence. This is equally true for those working inside the newsroom, tasked with covering such stories. But it is their job and one that those of us who have both experienced and covered sexual assault, harassment, or rape take seriously. 

This is why The Washington Post‘s decision to bar Felicia Sonmez, a national political reporter, from covering sexual assault or harassment is so troubling. It’s particularly appalling as it comes at a time when The Washington Post is simultaneously being applauded for defending White House reporter Seung Min Kim from racist and sexist online attacks. 

“The racist and sexist attacks have been vicious — and typical. She and other minority women endure vile, baseless tracks on a daily basis, no matter what story they are working on or tweeting about,” Steven Ginsberg, The Post‘s national editor, said in a recent statement about harassment toward Seung Min Kim. “The attacks on her journalistic credibility were wildly misguided and a bad-faith effort at intimidation.”

But that level of support and trust do not seem to have been extended to Sonmez. After the death of Kobe Bryant, Sonmez was briefly suspended for tweeting out that Bryant had been accused of raping a woman. Sonmez was eventually reinstated, but only after more than 300 of her colleagues signed a letter in her support, urging The Post to rescind the suspension and provide Sonmez with protection following a slew of death threats in the wake of her viral tweet.

Now, more than a year later, reports have surfaced that Sonmez has been barred from covering sexual assault and harassment stories due to her past experience as a sexual assault survivor. According to a recent report from Politico, the ban came “around the time that sexual misconduct allegations surfaced against Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh” and has since included stories surrounding the recent allegations levied against New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo and news that Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY) is also a survivor of sexual assault. Even as recently as last Monday, Sonmez was reportedly asked to take herself off a story regarding allegations of sexual assault and blackmail against former Missouri Gov. Eric Greitens. 

“They continue to prevent me from fully doing my job, by barring me from covering sexual assault — an action so harmful that I haven’t been able to work for much of the past two weeks,” Sonmez tweeted on Friday. “[I] am taking sick leave next week and have experienced a recurrence of the same debilitating symptoms that I had when I came forward about my assault 3 years ago.”

Refinery29 reached out to both The Washington Post and Sonmez for comment. Sonmez declined to comment and The Post did not respond back by the time of publication.

This is hardly the first time a newsroom or publication has considered those with certain experiences, backgrounds, or ethnicities to be fundamentally unqualified to cover a story. In the aftermath of the mass shooting in Atlanta on March 16 that left eight dead, including six Asian American women, a question surfaced as to whether or not Asian reporters were “too biased” to cover it. Alexis Johnson, a reporter at the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, says she was banned from covering Black Lives Matter protests for a perceived “bias.”

But rarely are these same bias concerns extended to white people when covering white supremacy, mass shootings carried out by white domestic terrorists, or any other story that centers the lived experiences of white people. To argue that a person’s lived experiences — especially if they are traumatic or not rooted in white patriarchy — somehow diminish their capacity to cover a story adequately and with nuance is to argue that you have to be a white, cis, male reporter in order to be a good reporter. 

According to survivor activists, severely limiting the job of a reporter because they have experienced sexual assault further harms not only that reporter but survivors as a whole. 

“I am grateful to see The Washington Post supporting Seung Min Kim. I hope this pattern continues and other outlets do the same for staffers who share their stories,” Alison Turkos, multiple rape survivor, activist, and writer, tells Refinery29. “However, The Washington Post must name and repair the harm they caused Felicia Sonmez. We cannot value one survivor story over another. We must lift up and value all survivor experiences. The world cannot value survivor-victim silence over our safety.” 

When one in five women and one in 71 men experience an attempted or completed rape in their lifetime, chances are high that every newsroom in this country has women — and men — who identify as either victims or survivors. To hold the trauma inflicted upon them by others against them does not just stifle them professionally, but continues to allow reporting of sexual assault to de-center the victim and perpetuate a culture of silence, shame, and stigma. Furthermore, it stops survivors from being able to do what many of us couldn’t or chose not to do for ourselves: help bring stories of gender-based violence out from the shadows and into the light of day.

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On Nov. 25, 2017, Yang Song, a massage worker in Flushing, Queens, fell four stories to her death during a police raid. New York Police Department officers were attempting to arrest her for alleged sex work, and she had climbed out of a window while trying to flee law enforcment. In the aftermath of Song’s untimely death, her family shared that she had allegedly been sexually assaulted by an undercover police officer, and NYPD officers were harassing, blackmailing, and coercing her into becoming an “informant.” 

Immediately, protestors and community organizers rallied out of the 109th precinct and held vigils for Song. And it was at the inaugural vigil that mutual aid organization Red Canary Song was born, with the immediate goal of providing legal and financial support for Song’s family. 

Now, Red Canary Song works to support and assist Asian American and migrant massage workers and sex workers in whatever way they need — be it providing information about their legal and civil rights, finding ways to organize and unionize, advocating for workers’ rights, or working toward relevant policy initiatives to decriminalize sex work and defund police departments nationwide.

“Currently, we have between five and ten core organizers and we work in coalition with other sex working organizations and organizations that deal with migrant labor,” says Wu, a sex worker and core organizer with Red Canary Song. “We also work with organizations that deal with massage labor and other sex worker organizations based in New York. We also have a rotating group of satellite organizations that dip in and out based on their capacity as well.” 

After the recent mass shooting at three Asian American-owned massage parlors in Atlanta, Georgia that left eight people dead, including six Asian American women — as well as a year of increased hate crimes towards Asian and AAPI people — Red Canary Song has seen an influx in both public attention and financial donations. But the issues facing massage workers, nail technicians, acupuncutirsts, Asian sex workers, and other AAPI women, queer people, and immigrants who engage in labor of the body has existed long before the previous administration labeled the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic the “China virus,” and a 21-year-old white man murdered eight people with an AR-15-style weapon. 

“When we think about the conditions of the first Chinese immigrants into America, it was to replace cheap labor after the abolition of slaves,” says Esther Kao, an organizer with Red Canary Song. “So already Asian bodies were seen as expendable. In a lot of ways, they’re always seen as not of this country.”

Other damaging tropes and stereotypes about Asian women and immigration laws such as the “mail order bride” narrative, or the Page Act of 1875, which banned Chinese women from immigrating to the United States under the assumption that they would work as prostitutes, have contributed to the idea that Asian women use their sexuality for nefarious reasons. They’ve also particularly endangered those who work in massage parlors and other such spaces. 

“I think hyper-sexualization is a problem for women of color in general — Black and brown women have to suffer through similar if not the same thing or parallel experiences being hyper-sexualized and having that hyper-sexualization being codified into law and then being hyper-criminalized by the fact that they were sexualized in the first place,” Wu explains. “But there is a very specific racism that Asian American women have to experience that’s at the intersection of hyper-sexualization and immigration.” 

Kao says the narratives that swelled in the aftermath of the shooting, which is still being investigated as a hate crime, highlight the deadly impact of hypersexualizing Asian women’s bodies. Assumptions were made about the women targeted and murdered based on the shooter claiming he has a “sex addiction” and targeted the businesses not because they were Asian-owned, but because they were sources of “temptation.” 

“The majority of massage businesses are legitimate businesses that don’t provide sexual services,” Koa explains. “The reasons why there’s so much opacity around whether or not these women were sex workers or providing sexualized services is because they don’t disclose, and they often don’t disclose among each other. And this is not just due to the criminalization factor, but also the stigma around it.” 

“But this becomes a sex workers’ issue beause they’re viewed as sex workers and that’s a unique kind of racism that Aisan women face,” she continues. “We are viewed as these hyper-sexual objects and we are killed for that.” 

It has been estimated that women who engage in sex work are 60 to 100 times more likely to be murdered than those who do not. And, the risk of being killed is exponentially higher for sex workers of color and those of varrying immigration statuses. Erroneous sex trafficking narratives that work to form policies and pass laws that criminilize sex work and increase policing of sex workers or spaces assumped to house sex workers only increases the risk for violence and death, Wu says. It’s also continued and an ongoing threat, especially now that police departments across the country are vowing to increase their presence in AAPI communities as a result of the shooting.

“It has been proven time and time again that police response to violence in marginalized communities and police ‘intervention’ in marginalized communities is not an effective mode of ‘curbing the violence’ that is occuring in that community,” Wu says. “And in actuality, the police force is the one that is instigating a lot of the violence that they claim to be curbing.”

A 2003 analysis of police violence against street prostitutes working in New York City found that 30% of sex workers interviewed had been threatened with violence by police, and 27% had actually been assaulted by police. These numbers are undoubtedly higher, because most instances go unreported, especially by Asian Americans as language barriers and prevailing stereotypes already make it unsafe for them to report hate crimes carried out against them, nevermind the consequences of reporting crimes perpetrated by those with power and authority.

“I know my fellow organizers and I are going to do our very best to make sure that as people on the ground working closely with massage parlor workers, their voices are heard and that their needs are met,” Kao says. “Especially when so much of this conversation is detached from their lives. This includes the police. This includes non-profits who don’t have relationships with these women. And to be honest, in my experience, the fight is always uphill and it’s always difficult and there’s always very few wins.”

Still, it’s a fight Wu, Kao, and the organizers at Red Canary Song are dedicated to — no matter the personal cost.

“I wish that people would pay attention before somebody had died,” Wu says. “Unanimously, across the board, everyone on the team could just describe this moment as overwhelming. Like, ‘Oh, f*ck. There is so much happening all at one time and it’s really, really intense.’ Luckily, we are really structured very intentionally to do slow, sustainable work so that when crises like these show up we have the energy to engage in them.”
If you would like to support the ongoing work of Red Canary Song and the organizations they work with and alongside, you can donate here, volunteer here, take a free bystander intervention training here, contribute to the aid funds to support the families of the victims — all listed here —  and continue and/or start to support community-led solutions and resources, such as in-language support for mental health, legal aid, employment services, immigration services, and “know your rights” services.

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As the country continues to reel from the mass shooting in Atlanta that left eight dead, including six Asian American women, another upsetting detail is emerging. The husband of one of the shooting victims, who is Latinx, says that police harassed him following the attack. In an interview with Mundo Hispánico, a Spanish-language news outlet, Mario González claimed he was handcuffed and detained for hours by Cherokee County Sheriff’s deputies in relation to the shooting. He also claims he was not made aware of his wife Delaina Ashley Yaun’s death hours after law enforcement officers knew she had been killed.

“Maybe because I’m Mexican, I don’t know,” González told the outlet. “Because the truth is, they treated me badly.” González then showed the outlet the handcuff marks on his arm.

González says the couple decided to visit the spa because his wife was “tired of working so much, she was working every day.” They had finally found a babysitter for their 8-month-old daughter, per additional Jezebel reporting. Yaun was in the spa when 21-year-old Robert Aaron Long, a white man, came in and opened fire.

The shooting came after a year of increased hate crimes directed toward Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders. In the past year, there have been a reported 3,800 hate crimes against the AAPI community, 68% of which have targeted Asian American women. Authorities have not yet categorized the March 16 mass shooting — which was carried out at three separate Asian-owned spas — as a “hate crime,” despite the shooter targeting Asian businesses. Long blamed his “sex addiction” and claimed he was targeting “a temptation for him that he wanted to eliminate.” Police also claimed that Long having a “bad day” was a reason that he shot and killed eight people.

AWKWORD, an artist, activist, and co-founder of Ten Demands For Justice, an organization advocating for the defunding and eventual abolishment of police departments and prisons, tweeted: “If the police response to the Atlanta shooting wasn’t racist enough: Mario Gonzalez, a Latino man, was in the spa where 8 were killed, and — instead of being comforted — was treated as a suspect and handcuffed for 2 hours. His wife was 1 of the women murdered.”

It’s horrifying that in the wake of a racially motivated attack, police treated a victim’s husband like a criminal — but it’s not surprising. This country has a long history of ignoring Black, brown, and Indigenous voices when they experience racism and race-based violence, and even blaming victims for the crimes committed against them. After a man walked into an El Paso, TX, Walmart and murdered 23 people, specifically targeting Latinx people and mirroring the former president’s racist, anti-Latinx, and anti-immigrant rhetoric, there were still people who debated whether his motives were racist.

And, Black people continue to be asked to prove the existence of white supremacy and anti-Black sentiments pervasive in this country. One would have hoped, though, that officials would give a little more consideration to a man who had just lost his wife — an experience far worse than just having a “really bad day.”

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