May 2012
ALSO
that scene with the blowjob happened in the bath. So for her to take him ‘deeper and deeper’ into her throat, she would have to be submerging her head under the water.
Drowning is so hot you guys
The sex scenes in this series are possibly the most awkward & uncomfortable things ever written.
I reblog just for the tag. I DON’T KNOW WHY THAT IS SO FUNNY.
Also, I’m glad that the internets have warned me about this book, because if I’d just heard “oh, fanfic writer turned pro” I might have tripped, fallen, and actually read this thing. But gratefully, others have suffered so I might not have to.
To those who burned their retinas on this, I salute you.
More about white women
Seriously though, I am extremely cautious of white women and learned to keep them at a distance until I know they actually have a hold of their own whiteness, they can actually see me as a woman like them, and they can handle themselves and hold themselves responsible for their actions and results. Which really, is a big piece of feminism that a lot of white fauxminists conveniently leave out when it comes to race and racism.
This means, I’m pretty much cautious of about 99 percent of white women I talk to on a regular basis. I’ve been burned by y’all too much to know not to immediately trust you and think of you as a potential perpetrator until you prove otherwise.
Because a lot of you ARE perpetrators, DESPITE the fact that you’re victims of patriarchy. But a lot of you cling onto your victim roles, easily seeing how women LIKE YOU are victims of patriarchy. But ONLY women like you.
You’re very well a victim, but denying your privileges and pretending you can never be a perpetrator is outright delusional, not to mention irresponsible. And that’s why you might have heard time and time again that all you’re doing is trying to destroy the master’s house with the master’s tools, which in the end, will never work for you. But in the process, you shit on WoC and abuse us — usually emotionally and mentally.
That’s why I don’t have much sympathy for you when I see you act a fool.
So you still have to work to earn my trust. And a lot of you don’t trust WoC or other marginalized groups, so why should we trust you?
And I think this is why a lot of y’all are patronizing to WoC. You’re showing you don’t trust us, our experiences as women who are also of color, our perceptions of our own situations, or our reasons and feelings. You never try to see through our eyes, assuming your eyes are good enough. Again, you only think of women LIKE YOU as being victimized, usually never respecting women who are different from you.
So, you often talk to us like we’re 2-years-old.
If we say something in your spaces, you immediately talk down to us as if we don’t know the situation or what you’re talking about. If we talk in our spaces, you immediately give usually unsolicited, condescending advice. And you trap us here — you might be well-meaning, but you’re disrespecting us. If we call out your disrespect, you usually whine and complain, never seeing how we were seeing you. If we are polite to you, we’re giving into your disrespect, and your ego is stroked.
Hell, we can’t even be facetious or have fun without you coming in and talking to us like we’re children who just can’t handle ourselves.
A lot of white women think that they are some sort of moral authority and get very upset when they are told WoC have their own morals and authority that are not the same as theirs, nor are our experiences. Then, they never realize that different doesn’t mean inferior.
It’s VERY hard to have an honest dialogue, what white women cry they want with WoC, when you act like this and refuse to at least try to see through our eyes. You seem to think that you have to “lift us up,” like we’re wounded puppies. Or, you think what you have to do is “give voice to the voiceless” and play that white lady from The Help — trying to speak for us instead of listening to us and letting us speak.
And when you patronize us, you’re trying to keep us “in our place” in YOUR constructed hierarchy of women where you are put at the top. Again, you don’t even try to see things through other people’s eyes. You can never walk in our shoes, but you can at least gain some perception.
And the sad thing is, a lot of you act like this without even noticing it yourselves.
Your white supremacy is very subtle, just like patronizing, passive-aggression, and covert aggression usually is, but don’t think we can’t feel it when it’s there. You might act caring, and you might even believe you are being so, but that sense of superiority from you is there and will be there until you can dismantle it. Until then, WoC don’t owe you a a damn thing, especially not a discussion.
And if white women reblog this, you’re probably going to reblog with disingenuous commentary about how you “learn so much” from me, again, using WoC as a tool for your own understanding and growth.
No, I’m talking about my experiences as a WoC for my own benefit, not for yours. Again, you’re a potential perpetrator to me unless you actually PROVE yourself otherwise.
learning your place in anti racism as a white person must be hard.
i mean, society dictates that you are the forefront of everything and your voice matters always. when you hear that for once, your voice should be silent so that others who are ignored can be heard, that may be difficult.
but it’s the only way that is *actually* anti racist.
and continuously coming into conversation about race *between* poc is not okay. ever.
i wish more white people would get this this.
i know that selective sociopathy dictates that your pov is the most profound most accurate most worthy of being heard.
but that is a lie if i ever did see one.
because honestly, a white person’s silence in certain situations allows me to be much more comfortable with them than their loud, unwanted voices.
take notes white people
“Sweetheart,” this all started because Dion directly addressed white folk and told us to “collect your people” on his behalf. He addressed white people, and so this was a conversation with white people.
Dion made a post, and I reblogged asking sincere questions about how he “expects” me to monitor Tumblr all the time and fight every battle on behalf of POC, and I expressed concern about speaking for POC when I have white privilege, and I was met with nothing but disrespect, condescension, and sexist insults. Either Dion is lazy, or he’s talking out of his ass; your pick.
So, “sweetheart,” as your buddy Dion likes to say, fuck off. You want to tell me what to do, insult me when I ask questions, and then say I don’t belong in the conversation you started with my race? If you want to exclude people from the conversation, then don’t expect them to fight for your rights. “Collect” the garbage all by yourself, and see how that works out.
As for intersectionality, you know nothing about me, my background, my sexuality or my health status, but you want to play Oppression Olympics? Good job fighting racism by reducing someone you don’t know to the color of their skin.
Hi, girl-non-grata!
As a white person, I’ve learnt to stick up for PoC without talking from their P.O.V. Example: “hey other white person, I’ve read from so-and-so [a poc] on How To Not Be A Shit White Person. as a white person myself, I cannot say the n-word. It has nothing to do with ‘not being hardcore enough’, but because it dehumanizes them. *gives quote from Black Person on the n-word*”
It’s real easy, and White People are more likely to listen because they’re hearing it from someone who’s relatable! Haha1. Saying ‘sweetheart’ at the beginning to give a sarcastic snark to Dion was basically saying “let me address sexism before racism” - Dion has a right to be mad/disdained toward us. I’m sure he’d hear the same argument over and over again.
2. Us collecting our people is not on Dion’s behalf, but on all Black People’s. It wasn’t a conversation with white people, it was a show of emotion/outrage/discontent from a victim of racism to his blog. He is an individual who needed to let off steam, and when we act as allies, we should “collect” [haha] our own when it tires them. They get badgered 24/7. We’re basically saying the same thing they say once we learn (as much as any white person can) their points of view.
3. You don’t have to begin to collect white people straight away. You can begin to learn about the intensity and the detailed sections of racism. Then once it ‘clicks’ and you feel up for it, you can teach.
4. Dion does not want you, personally to fight every battle. To us, it isn’t a battle, it’s not personal, that’s why it’s sometimes more clearer in our minds and easier for us to deal w/ such people.
5. Although Dion did say words like “sweetheart” in a sarcastic/snarky way, he has every right to. Racism cannot compare. Being Black in this world does not compare to being a Woman. Look at yourself right now: fighting against the already-marginalized people.
6. Your reblogs were never ‘sincere’ from the beginning. You said the words “how do you expect—?” It’s not expecting: How can Dion expect the majority of White People to help him out when without asking, nobody did. People consisently assume Black Men can battle against Racism alone. I’m sure they can. But they do need and want support. Dion follows me: he treats me nicely. I’m a white woman, just like yourself. But I know the respectable boundaries. We’re not close, we don’t snuggle, but I know he’s decent.
7. Dion does not need to have a picnic with you, talk about your likes and dislikes and sing Kumbaya for him to see that you lack the know-how on intersectionality. As a woman/feminist, I’m sure you know that when another white dude comes into the picture and says “stop talking about feminism, you’re not fighting for anything imperticular, we will not change for you. If a male tells you you’re disgusting for having a cunt, we will not agree/be there for you. Have fun dealing with misogyny by yourself! Ha!” - compare that to Dion’s experience w/ you. Except times it by a million.
8. As for you being defensive when called a White Person: You’re defensive because you’ve had the privilege all your life as just being called a ‘person’. Your skin colour has never been put into a conversation before. Suddenly when you hear “white person”, you feel like how PoC feel everyday: you’re reduced to nothing but a skin colour. Except only for a quick second. These PoC are used to how this feels. Except I can guarantee that it’s worse.
You need to realize that you’re putting being called a White Person [A TEMPORARY PAIN] before being called the n-word [THE EVERLASTING STRUGGLE OF BEING BLACK IN THE WORLD OF PEOPLE LIKE YOU]
(it’s not just the n-word: there’s many words to dehumanize PoC.]I know you’ve gotten yourself into quite a pickle/mess right now on the interwebz, but it’s not too late to clean yourself up. Apologize sincerely, point out where you went wrong, and move on to be a better person.
slowly i think me and you brombie, is gone be frans
Quote of the year
“It’s weird how the definition of ‘ally’ has gone from ‘people outside our group who genuinely support us in our quest for equality’ to ‘people who will withdraw their support if they and their feelings aren’t centered in the discussion’.”
-electricsouls
For those that need to be caught up:
Ramarley Graham: Site. Petition.
Rekia Boyd: Site. Petition. Facebook.
Neng Yang: Petition. Facebook.
Shaima Alawadi: Petition. Facebook.
Vern Traversie: Petition. Facebook.
Naomi Whitecrow: Petition. Facebook.
These petitions need way more signatures, ya’ll!
Last week at the International Meeting of Black People...
- White person (bursting through the door): Don't worry everyone; I'm here! Sorry, I got stuck in traffic, but I finally made it. That's right. I'm a white person! Please, hold your applause. I'm here to help you in the fight against racism. That's just the kind of person I am. I'm sincere, caring, and enthusiastic and ready to help in any way I can.
- Black woman: Um, well I guess you could start by--
- White person: Hey, I've got an idea. Let's all dress up like Trayvon Martin and march down main street! We'll call it "One Million Hoodies" and we can all go out and by Skittles and Arizona Teas and make speeches about white privilege.
- Black woman: I don't... I don't think that'd be--
- White person: Hey, I noticed one of your pamphlets said "End White Supremacy." First thing's first, we need to change that. I don't know, the phrase "white supremacy" sounds like it might alienate white people. How are we supposed to end racism without white people's help?
- Black woman: You know white people created racism, right?
- White person: OH THAT IS IT. YOU PEOPLE WILL NEVER END RACISM UNTIL YOU LEARN TO BE NICE TO WHITE PEOPLE. HOW DARE YOU BE SO CRUEL TO SOMEONE WHO JUST TRYING TO HELP YOU? I AM SO OUT OF HERE. GOOD LUCK ENDING RACISM WITHOUT ME. YOUR FIGHT IS NOW FUTILE.
- Dion: Now watch white people argue with this post and successfully miss the entire point.
Sign Language BAN imposed on 12 years old deaf girl
I love how the school threatened to suspend the girl while refusing to address the audist bullies who bullied her and other girls for using American Sign Language.
Go fuck yourself, Stonybrook School.
Via ABC News:
School officials have threatened a hearing-impaired girl with suspension if she uses sign language to talk to her friends on the school bus, the girl’s parents say.
Danica Lesko and her parents say sign language is the only way to for the 12-year-old to communicate, especially while riding to school on a noisy bus.
But officials at Stonybrook School — which is not a school for the hearing-impaired — and district officials in Branchburg, N.J., apparently believe signing is a safety hazard. They have sent a letter to the Lesko family ordering Danica to stop using sign language on the school bus or risk a three-day suspension.
The March 30 letter from her principal that said Danica was “doing sign language after being told it wasn’t allowed on the bus.”
The Leskos may file a lawsuit over the sign language ban, claiming officials are violating Danica’s civil rights and violating the Americans with Disabilities Act.
“She has a hearing problem, and now she’s being punished for using sign language,” Mary Ann Lesko, Danica’s mother, told The Star-Ledger of Newark. “It’s absurd.”
Danica’s parents told the paper that other students who rode to school with their daughter made fun of her, and refused to stay in their seats as they teased other girls who were using sign language. They said school officials are singling out Danica and not addressing those who should really be reprimanded.
Schools Officials: Safety First
In a statement released through the school district’s attorney, David Rubin, the Branchburg Board of Education refused to discuss the details of Danica’s case, saying only that its version of events differs from the parents’ version.
However, the board insisted it has not violated anyone’s rights and is only trying to protect other students who must ride on the school bus.
“The Board is committed to providing reasonable accommodations to all students with disabilities, and is satisfied that there has been no violation of that policy in this case,” officials said in the statement. “The Board is also committed to assuring the safety of all students who travel on District buses, and will continue to take appropriate steps to accomplish that goal.”
One deaf-rights advocate said Danica’s parents have a strong basis for a lawsuit because sign language could be a considered a foreign language, and school officials could be violating the girl’s First Amendment right to communicate.
“Why should there be a ban?” asked Charlotte Karras, outreach coordinator for the Edison, N.J.-based Alliance for Disabled in Action. “It’s a violation of her communication rights. She’s said it’s the only way she can communicate with her friends … It’s [the ban] against the ADA and violates the First Amendment and her family can file a discrimination suit citing the Americans With Disabilities Act.”
Karras said her organization would be willing to help the Leskos with any legal action.
Danica’s parents say she began losing her hearing last November, when a classmate allegedly shot a bottle rocket near her ear. They have already sued the Branchburg School District over that incident.
wtf… a safety hazard? why, because folks are fuckin with her? and this AFTER a kid at the school fucked up her hearing in the first place?
Maybe if the bus monitors and and teachers told them lil muhfuckas to cut the shit it wouldn’t have happened in first place. and now they need to
tellmake those little assholestostfu and leave her alone.fuck is wrong with people.
“I’ve seen a ton on the facebooks about “thanking veterans for their service.” As a veteran let me just be very straightforward and honest with you. We didn’t “serve our country”; we don’t actually serve our brothers/sisters or our neighbors. We serve the interests of Capital. We never risked our lives or spent months on deployment away from our family and friends so they can have this abstract concept called “freedom”. We served big oil; big coal; Coca-Cola; Kellogg, Brown, and Root and all the other big Capital interests who don’t know a fucking thing about sacrifice. These people will never have to deal with the loss of a loved one or the physical and/or psychological scars that those who “serve”, and their families, have to deal with for the rest of their lives. The most patriotic thing someone can do is to tell truth to power and dedicate yourself to building power to overthrow these sociopathic assholes. I served with some of the most real and genuine people I’ve ever met. You’ll never see solidarity like the kind of solidarity you experience when your life depends on the person next to you. But most of us didn’t join for that; we joined because we were fucking poor and didn’t have many other options.”
—
An anti-capitalist veteran (via elitc)
Well heres a take on it not often uttered or shared
(via threezerooo)
8 year old girl of color gets a humiliating award from her teacher.
This is how children of color are treated in schools, people, especially brown children. How will this child trust teachers actually care about her again? Huh? Tell me that.
The teacher tried to brush this shit off and say it was “just a joke.” Yeah… because humiliating a child in a classroom full of her peers is just fucking hilarious. I’m willing to put money on the fact that she’d never do this shit to a nice little white child.
Motherfucking Arizona.
After reading the story, I think both the teacher and the mother of the little girl are at fault here, and I’m surprised that no one is calling out the mother for not keeping tabs on her daughter’s school performance. She states in the article that she was not aware her daughter had a problem with homework, and that the girl had been enrolled in an after-school homework assistance program. She knows her daughter is enrolled in a homework assistance program yet she didn’t know ehr kid had a homework problem? Well which is it?
The teacher shouldn’t have singled out one of her students like that. There was a far more mature way of dealing with the problem, like taking the girl aside and have a private conversation with her about not turning in her homework. The academic progress of student is nobody’s business but the student’s and the parents of that student. The teacher should have kept it that way. If the teacher had such a problem with it, why not call the girl’s mother and discuss it with her?
The mother is wrong for not doing more to help her daughter get her homework done. My mother raised me and my sister as a single parent. She didn’t have any help from anyone and worked from 6 in the morning to 7 at night. She still made time to make sure my sister and I got all our homework done and even requested that my sister’s teacher send weekly reports about her school progress since she too had issues with turning in homework. If there was a problem, my mother took off from work even though she needed the money, and went up the school personally and discussed it with the teacher. I don’t understand parents who don’t keep up with their child’s school performance. As wrong as the teacher was, the mother should be ashamed of herself. She knows her daughter has a problem, she must know because the girl was enrolled in homework assistance program. Yet, she didn’t take the necessary steps to ensure that the homework was getting done. That is lazy parenting and the girl suffered for it.
This is just another sad example of children suffering for adults who don’t do their jobs.
no one is calling it out because it’s a faulty assumption that is full of shit
But can we talk about the fact that the homework assistance program doesn’t mean Mom knew the kid (maybe) wasn’t turning things in? Every afterschool program around includes that line about homework assistance. That’s standard & really ought to have more people asking what the hell was up with the teacher & the principal.
On the Fetishization of Women-Presenting Asians
AKA get a new fetish. “I hear feet and urine are popular,” or so says a Youtuber who I follow, but whose name I forget.
Look, it’s not a compliment when white people say things like, “Asians are hot,” or “I want an Asian wife.”
Because let’s face it, you’re not actually attracted to us. You’re attracted to the delicate, China-doll, lily-blossom, submissive and subservient stereotype of what we should be. You’re attracted to the “traditional” values of male dominance, misogyny, and patriarchy you would supposedly enjoy with an Asian partner.
And that is very deeply racist (and sexist, but we’ll get to that later) not only because you are clumping an entire population of highly diverse and different individuals together, but also because of the historical context of it. And because of the way the sexualisation of FAAB Asians have led to all manner of things to be done to us, including a disproportionately high rate of sex trafficking. What’s problematic about fetishizing Asians (and other groups, like the Roma or Native Americans, but since this is a blog about China and pan-Asiatic issues, I’ll leave that to a more erudite & educated person to talk about, because I speak mostly from my experience and the experiences of other Asians) is that you are stripping them of their humanity. You are stripping them of their identities. They become objects to you — to own, the possess, to dominate, to treat however you wish.
And this comes from a long, long history of Western nations and people seeking to exert power and dominance over the East. As a direct result of this fetishization, we are seen as being Not Suitable for Things Like Marriage — we’re to be used and then dumped as the hero of our story shacks up with a more virtuous (white) lady — see Puccini’s Madame Butterfly and just about every film Anna May Wong was ever in. We’re not seen actual people. This leads to the complete removal of our agency (that’s not to say that any sex with an FAAB Asian is sex without consent — it is a different type of nonconsent in that our bodies have been sexualised and eroticised for us — that we have no say in the way we want ourselves to be presented — our bodies are not sexual when we want them to be sexual, they are sexual, in essence, all the time, and our bodies are not our own — they are seen, more or less, as public property), especially in the media.
(Honestly, I do want to talk about the virgin/whore dichotomy and how both stereotypes — the Lily Flower and the Dragon Lady — are severely sexist and racist, but I can’t quite gather my thoughts about it, nor can I write it in an organised manner and without a significant amount of cussing.)
Now, why is it sexist? Because it sexualises an entire population. A sexual individual is no problem whatsoever. But impressing sexuality on a group that may or may not want to be identified as such, that may or may not want to be sexualised is not, in any way, okay.
Because it is reaffirming the idea that in order to be desirable, one must be submissive and subservient to the men in their lives.
Because it tells FAAB Asians that their worth is not in their individual person, but rather in how they look and how much they can be defined by a sexual context constructed by outsiders who have little to no understanding or respect for their culture. Because it confines them to a sexual identity that is forced on them rather than one that they adopt for themselves.
Because it expects that FAAB Asians would actually be willing and accepting of these sexist and racist sentiments.
Because it maintains that we should be passive actors in our own lives, that we live to serve and please. Because it wants our mouths shut for everything but blowjobs. Because it demeans our sense of self, because to be called “exotic” is anything but an ego boost, because we’re not supposed to have brains or opinions of our own.
So to you, the Asian fetishist, I say, fuck you, fuck you, fuck all of you.
TW: Abuse, violence Dom Monaghan calls out Matthew Fox for beating women →
crazydaysandnights.net
From his Twitter:
does no one remember when he got arrested for punching a female bus driver in the chest last year?
http://today.msnbc.msn.com/id/44340786/ns/today-entertainment/t/matthew-fox-officially-charged-assault/
wow, no, I never heard that. what a bastard
Well, on the one hand, I now officially can never stand to see Matthew Fox again.
On the other hand, I feel better about Dominic Monaghan as a person. Thanks for sounding the warning, Mr. Monaghan.
i’ve seen several people reference monaghan as being questionable as a person—i know net to nothing about hwat is going on here, can somebody fill me in?
If there are references/links/evidence, then I’ll certainly amend my statement. I hadn’t heard anything about him being shady or questionable in anyway.
But what happened was that some fan asked about Matthew Fox on twitter to Dominic Monaghan’s account and he replied that he wasn’t interested because Fox “beats women”. There is at least one reported account where he struck a female bus driver on a party bus. However, it seems like Monaghan is referencing other incidents.
That’s about all I know.
TW: Abuse, violence Dom Monaghan calls out Matthew Fox for beating women →
crazydaysandnights.net
From his Twitter:
does no one remember when he got arrested for punching a female bus driver in the chest last year?
http://today.msnbc.msn.com/id/44340786/ns/today-entertainment/t/matthew-fox-officially-charged-assault/
wow, no, I never heard that. what a bastard
Well, on the one hand, I now officially can never stand to see Matthew Fox again.
On the other hand, I feel better about Dominic Monaghan as a person. Thanks for sounding the warning, Mr. Monaghan.
“Then, in August 2009, the C.I.A. director, Leon E. Panetta, told Mr. Brennan that the agency had Mr. Mehsud in its sights. But taking out the Pakistani Taliban leader, Mr. Panetta warned, did not meet Mr. Obama’s standard of “near certainty” of no innocents being killed. In fact, a strike would certainly result in such deaths: he was with his wife at his in-laws’ home. “Many times,” General Jones said, in similar circumstances, “at the 11th hour we waved off a mission simply because the target had people around them and we were able to loiter on station until they didn’t.” But not this time. Mr. Obama, through Mr. Brennan, told the C.I.A. to take the shot, and Mr. Mehsud was killed, along with his wife and, by some reports, other family members as well, said a senior intelligence official.”
—
President Obama and the Secret Kill List
Look at that Nobel Peace Prize winner. Executing people without trials and not even caring about collateral damage (or, as we might call them, murdered innocent civilians.)
(via fearandwar)
In case anyone was confused about how the Executive works (because apparently, according to Tumblr, Obama isn’t to blame but “institutions which can’t be changed”):
Mr. Obama is the liberal law professor who campaigned against the Iraq war and torture, and then insisted on approving every new name on an expanding “kill list,” poring over terrorist suspects’ biographies on what one official calls the macabre “baseball cards” of an unconventional war. When a rare opportunity for a drone strike at a top terrorist arises — but his family is with him — it is the president who has reserved to himself the final moral calculation.
“He is determined that he will make these decisions about how far and wide these operations will go,” said Thomas E. Donilon, his national security adviser. “His view is that he’s responsible for the position of the United States in the world.” He added, “He’s determined to keep the tether pretty short.”
[…]
In interviews with The New York Times, three dozen of his current and former advisers described Mr. Obama’s evolution since taking on the role, without precedent in presidential history, of personally overseeing the shadow war with Al Qaeda.
They describe a paradoxical leader who shunned the legislative deal-making required to close the detention facility at Guantánamo Bay in Cuba, but approves lethal action without hand-wringing. While he was adamant about narrowing the fight and improving relations with the Muslim world, he has followed the metastasizing enemy into new and dangerous lands. When he applies his lawyering skills to counterterrorism, it is usually to enable, not constrain, his ferocious campaign against Al Qaeda — even when it comes to killing an American cleric in Yemen, a decision that Mr. Obama told colleagues was “an easy one.”
Read that last sentence again.
(via mohandasgandhi)
Theft is ok when you’re a white guy in Silicon Valley
“He’d been living there for two months, hiding out at night on couches, eating the company’s food, and exercising and showering in its gym.”
Basically, this dude moves into the AOL work campus, lives on the couches, eats the food, showers, uses the gym, does laundry there - for two months straight to work on HIS startup stuff for his own profit.
Compare this to Tanya McDowell:
A homeless woman from Bridgeport who enrolled her 6-year-old son at a Norwalk elementary school has become the first in the city to be charged with stealing more than $15,000 for the cost of her child’s education.
Tanya McDowell, 33, whose last known address was 66 Priscilla St., Bridgeport, was charged Thursday with first-degree larceny and conspiracy to commit first-degree larceny for allegedly stealing $15,686 from Norwalk schools. She was released after posting a $25,000 bond.
“Though no one would ever think of using the term honor violence (we reserve that descriptor for brown people who live somewhere else, motivated by religious something-or-other or tribal something-or-other), one-third of women murdered every year in the United States are killed by their intimate partners. In 2005 that amounted to 1,181 women, or three women every day. To put that in perspective, the UN estimates there are 5,000 honor killings every year in the entire world. 5,000 in a world of 6 billion versus nearly 1,200 in a single country of 300 million. In other words, a woman in America runs a greater risk of being killed by her husband or boyfriend than a woman in Pakistan.”
—
A woman in America runs a greater risk of being killed by her husband or boyfriend than a woman in Pakistan.
How I Learned To Stop Worrying And Love Feminists. (via popmuslim)
A woman in America runs a greater risk of being killed by her husband or boyfriend than a woman in Pakistan.
A woman in America runs a greater risk of being killed by her husband or boyfriend than a woman in Pakistan.
A woman in America runs a greater risk of being killed by her husband or boyfriend than a woman in Pakistan.
(via silverqueen)
Let me reiterate that for you all …
A woman in America runs a greater risk of being killed by her husband or boyfriend than a woman in Pakistan.
A woman in America runs a greater risk of being killed by her husband or boyfriend than a woman in Pakistan.
A woman in America runs a greater risk of being killed by her husband or boyfriend than a woman in Pakistan.
(via dank-potion)
I think you’ve missed a crutial point though, let me point it out:
A woman in America runs a greater risk of being killed by her husband or boyfriend than a woman in Pakistan.
A woman in America runs a greater risk of being killed by her husband or boyfriend than a woman in Pakistan.
A woman in America runs a greater risk of being killed by her husband or boyfriend than a woman in Pakistan.
(via themindislimitless)
“Powerful people cannot afford to educate the people that they oppress, because once you are truly educated, you will not ask for power. You will take it.”
—John Henrik Clarke (via spartanbitch)
“Many men who harass women say their intent is to compliment them, but why do they usually not “compliment” women who are accompanied by other men and often only do it when a woman is alone? Why do they tend to object to other men “complimenting” their female significant other (if applicable), female friends, or female family members? Why do some men grow hostile and violent when women do not thank them and act flattered? Why do they feel compelled to compliment women at all? Rarely are they expecting a date. Many times they do not even wait to see a woman’s reaction as they fly by in their car or as they turn to start harassing the next woman. They are doing it to exert their power, to entertain their friends, to relieve boredom, or do demonstrate that they can evaluate a complete stranger to her face, just because she is a woman.”
—
Stop Street Harassment: Holly Kearl (via completelymoribund)
The thing that so many men need to understand is that women do not consider it a compliment when they are being harassed on the street. Women usually feel either embarrassed or terrified or a combination of the two. So stop fucking doing it.
(via sexytypewriter)
it’s so telling that men tend to do this when they’re in a group of other men. and i’ve never had it happen when i’m hanging out with dudes, especially not when i’m with my ginormous dad (most men don’t give a fuck about harassing me if i’m with my mom who is as small as i am). so if it isn’t sexual, or threatening, and you just want to ~make me smile~ then why can you only do it when i’m perceived as vulnerable?
(via hyper—ballad)
I would add that it rarely happens or when I am around men who know that I am dating someone at that time. Many men (certainly not all) are willing to lay off if they perceive that you are “owned” - otherwise, you’re public property, and they’re free to treat you however they like. Any competition that erupts is less to flatter the woman than to establish temporary rights to her, even if they must degrade her to do so.
(via desliz)
that or the nature of the so-called compliments will change if youre w a man. they will go from a respectful “you look beautiful this evening” when youre w a dude to some vulgar shit about your pussy, if youre alone. because youre not worthy of respect as just a woman.
(via baddominicana)
My sister got a flat tire in the freeway yesterday. She had nine cars roll down their window and yell how good she looked and how great her ass was, but not a single car stopped to help her.
Thanks for the compliments, you pieces of crap.
(via i-gloriana)
“Those who perpetrated this atrocity must be identified and held to account, and the United States will work with the international community to intensify our pressure on Assad and his cronies, whose rule by murder and fear must come to an end.”
—
Again, with no apparent sense of irony, Hillary Clinton condemns Syria massacre: Assad’s ‘rule by murder’ must end.
This is a random sampling of the last few months of the USG not ‘ruling by murder’ (honestly, it took a 3 minute search through my Instapaper).
NATO Airstrike Kills Six Afghan Children, Parents | Antiwar.com
U.S. Drone Attack Kills 4 in Pakistan - NYTimes.com
Back-to-back drone strikes in Pakistan test diplomatic standoff over supply lines
Pakistan: Suspected US drone strike kills 4 in Miranshah, North Waziristan | GlobalPost
US-PAKISTAN TENSIONS RISE AS DRONE STRIKES POUND TRIBAL AREASHUMAN RIGHTS REPORT AND TARGETED KILLINGS | MICAH ZENKO
US Drone Strikes in Yemen Kill Up to 12 Civilians
NATO admits to Afghan family slaughter | Al Akhbar English
US attack kills 5 Afghan kids - Salon.com
NATO airstrikes said to kill civilians in two Afghan provinces - The Washington Post
Children among 20 killed in ISAF air raids | Pajhwok Afghan News
Talks fail as U.S. refuses to apologize for killing 24 Pakistani soldiers — War in Context
and on and on.
(via theamericanbear)
Third genders are not inherently cissexist, and I don't mean your definition of non-binary people, either.
Third genders were ORIGINALLY made by, you guessed it, TWoC! It has been stolen by white people to insult trans people, but that is not its origin and numerous TPoC still live by its original purpose.
When you call third genders cissexist, you are essentially saying:
I piss on you, trans women of color, even though if not for your existence and original idea of community and safe spaces, I would probably not be able to walk outside at all, since the strict binaries enforced in many first world countries today were all basically white people’s idea. Oh and despite those white people eliminating your third genders in many parts of the world and making it harder for a lot of us, I’m going to help them by saying your narratives are against all trans folk!
We need some trans history lessons or something, cause. No one don’t know much of shit about trans people before last century and shit.
I also want to add that many TWoC identify as binary and third gender at the same time, so that should give you an indication.
All. Of. This.
And if anyone needs an example of how this plays out in the modern world, I refer you to Nepal, where it seems that the third gender includes what the west calls trans* people, gays, lesbians, bisexuals, etc.
‘Cause this isn’t just about history. As I know Riley knows, but I feel needs to be drawn further out, many of these cultures are alive today and negotiating their own ways through sexuality and gender.
What will you do if you ever meet one of the proud Nepalese cis gay or lesbian people who have been *fighting* for the right to be legally recognized as being third gender? Tell them they are appropriating? Being cissexist? What?
One day, I insist, you (white people) really, really need to start truly grappling with the idea that other cultures do gender and sexuality differently. And that every time you make some grand declaration about what is or isn’t anti-trans or cissexist in ways that erase this reality, you shift from what could be anti-oppressive politics into participating in colonialism.
I’m bolding this because I accidentally implied that it was indeed only history (though it certainly is in part history) but THESE COMMUNITIES ARE STILL AROUND IN FORCE!
And the other bold because hot damn yes, and that’s why I insist on sticking with LGBT, because for so many PoC…that’s a damn fucking true term.
just saw commercial for the hatfields and mccoys (with kevin costner on the history channel). and goddamn it, i’m probably gonna watch that shit. which makes me mad, cuz i hate hate hate hate kevin costner, even as he is the actor in two of my favorite movies of all time. I saw a doc on him one time where he laughed cuz he hit a horse with a fist, and the horse flinched every time kevin raised his hand after that. i’ve never liked that bastard since them
but yeah, i’m probably going to watch that shit. and i’m going to hate every minute of it. cuz yes, they have bad azz white women shooting guns and they have good looking men staring menacingly at each other and all these northerners with their fake appalacian accents. it’s that histrical docudrama shit on steroids. like—how everybody including robin hood and sherlock holmes all had ripped six packs and could chop people’s heads of with one fell swoosh from their ax.
basically, my worst nightmare.
and ya no, i’ve been doing tons of research on the Flint Sit Down strike, and the thing ive noticed—those old stories that all us poor folk hear from our relatives about the bad teeth of the olden days—they weren’t a joke. i got down home POOR ASS FOLK in my family who make jokes about how you could always tell somebody was from the hills cuz of their teeth.
and—the pictures that i’ve found in archives of the strike? yup. that shit was true. i’d say prolly 3 out of 10 of guys in the pictures have horrible teeth. as in black rotted teeth. and i know that access to dental care in appalacia is still an issue.
and so that shit intrigues me. that representation. of poor whites doing some bad ass fighting with their tuff azz women and their lovely bodies and their fabulous teeth.
and it makes me wonder what, exactly, all the rich folk are trying to get us to believe about whiteness these days. because those aren’t poor hillbillies or white trash or red necks or crackers playing those roles. those are well fed rich white folks who are playing what they *want* poor white folk to be.
all the rich white folk want to *claim* poor whites. but not the poor white with the bad teeth and the scrawny undernourished bodies. not the ones that they’ve been making fun of and calling backwards rednecks for the past however long (especially see: bugs bunny’s version of the H & M’s).
they want to claim *themselves*. and so they’re putting themselves in the roles.
and i’m just fascinated with the question—how does their usurption of “white trash” help to create narratives for poor whites that poor whites can finally be proud of? and how does that create a site of ‘solidarity’ between rich and poor whites? and are poor whites really being so stupid because they can’t figure out they’re being played at election time (as all liberal reformist media in the world looove to declare)—or is there something deeper going on? like they’re making connections (i.e. building a relationship) between poor whites and rich whites—while writing OUT the relationship that poor whites have had with other poor people of color? as somebody from in south east michigan and from flint—i *promise* you—poor white folk have *way* more of a relationship with black/mexicans than they EVER have with rich white folks. we share families, what limited resources we can get, friends, etc. not saying things are perfect—especially since i just read that flint was having KKK parties in local parks that my family used to frequent. but my experience is that rich white neighborhoods are solid blindingly white. and working class white communities (or poverty striken white communities) were actually highly mixed. lots of little mixed babies running around. lots of white folk negotiating the love of their mixed child, black best friend, mexican lover, etc with the—“not all of them are bad” sort of thing.
the first fight I ever saw outside of my home was between two white mothers. the white child of one of them had called the mixed child of the other one the N word. the fight included the flicking of burning cigarettes, punching and hair pulling. it ended with the mixed child’s mother threatening to burn their house down if the white kid ever came near her kid again.
maybe not exactly anti-racist, but why NOT anti-racist? what is with the classist bullshit that anti-racist means sitting in a classroom confessing privilege?
what would happen if movies/tv shows started getting made showing historical and current relationships between poor whites and poor communities of color?
what is so scary about making poor people of color visible in places like apalachia or the ozarks?
what is so scary about admitting that poor white folk fuck and love and are in community with poor people of color? why do all the rich white folks so conveniently leave that out of the narrative? and what are liberal (rich white) folks doing by buying *INTO* that bullshit narrative an calling poor whites stupid for not recognizing that they have political similarities with poor people of color? cuz yes, liberals ARE buying into that narrative assuming that the ONLY relationship that poor whites have with poor people of color is some sort of odd political narrative that liberal whites created that doesn’t even serve people of color.
you already sorta know the answer to these questions—but i thought i’d ask them anyway.
13 year old rejected from high school for being HIV+
Milton Hershey School in Hershey, Pennsylvania denied Tim (not his real name), a 13 year old boy, admission because he is HIV positive. From Change.org
Although discrimination against people living with HIV is in violation of the Americans with Disabilities Act, the Milton Hersey School doesn’t deny its reasoning. The school said in a statement, “we cannot accommodate the needs of students with chronic communicable diseases that pose a direct threat to the health and safety of others” — even though science and society have known for decades that HIV is not highly contagious.
Lawrence Stallworth understands how tough it is to be a teen living with HIV — Lawrence is 20, and he found out he was HIV-positive when he was 17. Lawrence teamed up with the organization Advocates for Youth to start a petition on Change.org demanding that the Milton Hershey School admit Tim. Please sign Lawrence’s petition today.
The Milton Hershey School purports to serve “children from families of low income, limited resources, and social need.” Tim is an excellent candidate to benefit from all the school has to offer. The school’s refusal to admit him not only hurts Tim, but spreads dangerous and prejudicial misinformation about HIV.
“It shouldn’t be the responsibility of a 13-year-old boy to teach the Milton Hershey School about the science of HIV or the moral obligation educators have to meet the needs of all students,” Lawrence says. “But this young man is doing just that — and we all have a responsibility to have his back.”
The Milton Hershey School is already receiving bad publicity for its discriminatory actions, but additional public pressure is needed to show them that they can’t just wait for this problem to blow over. Please sign Lawrence’s petition demanding that the Milton Hershey School end its discrimination against a 13-year-old young man living with HIV.
This is terrible that this young kid would be discriminated against! We all have a right to education.
Society wrongly associates certain types of “bad” people and behavior with HIV/AIDS, even though the disease can be spread in several different ways and anyone could get it. The marginalization (and sometimes criminalization) of HIV+ status is so ridiculously backwards.
High five, awesome fellow new yorker. How are you today? Summer plans?
I’m doing quite well! It’s been a good Friday and there’s been booze. I got a lot of stuff done, and I managed not to do any self harming despite having some anxiety issues and what not.
I do miss the big city on occasion, especially the ability to be able to walk around easily since NYC is very much designed to accomodate pedestrians in a way that Charlotte, NC is not. I also miss being able to hop on a bus and make my way anywhere I wanted without needing to drive or know specific directions. Oh, and bagels. Goddamn, but I miss bagels. And decent Chinese food.
I guess my summer plans are to write, go walking in the woods, and try to make money so I can pay for meds, rent, and other necessities without driving myself to another total breakdown.
Also, to be as awesome as possible and snuggle with the various creatures that roam around Casa de la Meg, including by not limited to The Girlie Dog and Mr. Orange Cat H. Kattington, Esq. MD. And also The Spouse.
And how are you, fellow New York person?
Kinsey Hope Can't Focus For Shit: Here's the thing about genital attractions too →
genderbitch.tumblr.com
A lot of these radscum and other cisfucks who’re like “we’re only into genitals that’s why we won’t fuck you” still won’t fuck a trans woman who has a vagina. Similar little inconsistencies float around among these people that really show the entire thing to be a lying liar cisfucks who lie…
What's your favorite painting? Or work of art?
Damn good question.
Uh…painting would probably have to be Judith slaying Holofernes by Artemsia Gentileschi, just because it’s so awesome that this woman had the last word when it came to what happened to her, and that even if her rapist did completely rob her of power for a moment, she turned the tables and murdered him for eternity.
Favorite work of art would be Diane Arbus’s photos, particularly those she took of patients from a psychiatric hospital. I think the one of them in Halloween masks leading each other hand in hand is the one that gets me the most. As a person with mental illness, it haunts, delights, and touches me in ways I’m not entirely sure how to express.
I'm not kidding.
I really would like to see some messages in my inbox. Anything, really. Questions, critiques, comments, TMI questions, anything at all. You want to vent? You want to say what’s on your mind?
It's friday night and the ask box is open
So talk to me, Tumblrverse. All you gotta do is drop a note. Anything goes.
Want to know TMI stuff? Want to vent? Want to tell me something, a secret, an announcement? Want advice? Want some silliness?
Also, I’m cool with answering things privately if that’s what you want.
WOWOWOW
This white woman on TV just said about her adopted daughter:
“I adopted her from Colombia. It was like ordering from a catalog I got exactly what I wanted. I used to call her Zoey Jean my little Colombian coffee bean.”
And yet people ask me why I don’t think kids of color are always better off being adopted by white people. OMFG.
Seriously, WTF?
“After the Earth dies, some 5 billion years from now, after it’s burned to a crisp, or swallowed by the Sun, there will be other worlds and galaxies coming into being - and they’ll know nothing of a place once called Earth.”
—Carl Sagan (via xassholeattakx)
the bau as the avengers
who would be who
prentiss = blackwidow obvs
garcia = maria (keeps everything running backstage)
strauss = fury (has to boss the team around and deal with other higher-ups wanting to interfere)
and rossi = stark (especially earlier seasons)
but the other are harder
Morgan is 100% Captain America in my mind. I just can’t even say it. I think I’d recast Gideon as Stark, because he’s got definite talents at his job, but he can be such a fucking obnoxious KNOB at time, yanno? And it fits with their clashing as far as personalities and styles go. Morgan is definitely more about being GOOD and decent and Gideon can be really selfish and think that he can outsmart the system. But they also come together and work well when they need to.
That leaves me thinking that Reid would be the Hulk and Hotch as Fury. I think Strauss would be one of the council that Fury has to answer to in the movie, the ones who don’t show their faces that much.
You know, I might actually cast Prentiss as Hawkeye and Rossi as Thor. Not sure who JJ would be. I’m running out of Avengers here! Actually, JJ might be Pepper. That seems a good match. Super competent, knows how to roll with punches, awesome as hell.
Not that your casting choices aren’t Grade A, because I would GIVE ALL MY MONIES AND WORLDLY POSSESSIONS to see Prentiss in the Black Widow outfit. Oh god. I WILL BE OVER HERE IN MY BUNK, THANK YOU VERY MUCH DO NOT DISTURB FOR THE NEXT CENTURY, THX.
Campaign to free CeCe McDonald continues →
workers.org
CeCe McDonald touches hands
with Leslie Feinberg,
WW managing editor,
author and LGBTQ leader,
through the plexiglass barricade
during a recent visit.WW photo: Leslie Feinberg
The second-degree murder trial of Chrishaun “CeCe” McDonald in Minneapolis started April 30 and ended May 2. McDonald’s situation highlights the anti-transgender bigotry and racism rampant in society, as well as the inability of the “justice” system to mete out justice for the oppressed.
McDonald, a young African-American trans woman, survived a racist, anti-trans attack in July 2011. As she and her friends, all of them youths, African-American and queer or allied, walked to a grocery store late one night, they were brutally set upon by a group of racist whites outside a bar. McDonald was hit in the face with a glass and her cheek severely punctured. She was jailed and was the only person charged after a melee that left one of her attackers, a racist complete with a swastika tattooed on his body, dead.
Originally charged with second-degree felony murder and facing a possible sentence of decades in prison, McDonald agreed to the prosecution’s offer of pleading guilty to a reduced charge of second-degree manslaughter, with a prison term of 41 months.
Katie Burgess, of the Trans Youth Support Network, stated in a press release: “The executed sentence will be reduced by one-third, for ‘good time’ and credit for the time McDonald has served pending this resolution.
“The plea agreement comes nearly a year after McDonald was arrested, interrogated, denied adequate medical care for a laceration she suffered during the attack and held in solitary confinement for a month for being a transgender person. During the pre-trial proceedings, supporters raised worldwide support for the charges against McDonald to be dropped. [In April], supporters delivered to Hennepin County Attorney Michael Freeman a petition for dropping the charges with over 15,000 signatures and dozens of letters of support for McDonald from organizations and prominent individuals from around the globe.” (supportcece.wordpress.com, May 2)
Criminalized for fighting back, surviving
Transgender people of color face violence, murder and injustice daily throughout the United States. For surviving her attack, McDonald is criminalized. Others are not so “lucky.”
On April 16, Paige Clay was found dead in Chicago’s West Garfield Park from a single gunshot to her forehead. Clay, 23, was a trans woman of color. No one has been arrested for her murder. Brandy Martell was shot and killed on April 29 in Oakland, Calif., as she sat in her car, talking with three trans friends. The killer fired even as she tried to drive away. Martell, 37, was a trans woman of color and a peer advocate for transgender people in need of psychological and medical assistance. No arrests have been made. (xojane.com, May 9)
The National Coalition of Anti-Violence Programs issued a report in 2011 on “hate” violence motivated by gender identity and expression, sexuality and HIV status. A whopping 70 percent of anti-lesbian/gay/bi/trans murders in 2010 were of people of color. Forty-four percent of these victims were transgender women. (colorlines.com, July 18)
McDonald, like other trans women, will most likely face threats of sexual and other violence when she is incarcerated in an all-male facility.
The struggle for justice for McDonald continues. Stated Burgess: “We know that this system is not designed to deliver justice to young trans women of color. We are going to continue to support CeCe as she goes through this process and continue to stand for justice for all trans people and people of color so that this is the last time a young trans woman of color has to go through this.”
Supporters in Minneapolis and surrounding areas are urged to attend her sentencing on June 4 at 1:30 p.m., in the courtroom of Hennepin County Judge Daniel Moreno. A petition urging Minnesota’s governor to pardon McDonald can be signed at change.org/petitions/gov-mark-dayton-pardon-cece-mcdonald. Visit supportcece.wordpress.com for more information on how to support justice for McDonald and other trans people and people of color.
(By Kris Hamel, Workers World)
Nope
This still isn’t sitting well with me
I am not liking this white man on my dash speaking of power relations and anti-Blackness
White people
I don’t give a rat’s ass what you’re studying
I don’t give two shits what white academia taught you
If you are using it to shut POCs down, regardless of how wrong they are, I want nothing to do with you
And people of color should not, in any instance, let white people speak for them
Between all of us, there is more than enough intelligence and EXPERIENCE
White people should be out there collecting their own and teaching their own
Not rounding up Asians who say anti-Black things. No matter how wrong they were, a white person had NO PLACE in the discussion
So this is really starting to grind my gears
I’m gonna have to unfollow him cause nah, that shit ain’t ever cute to me
And a big side eye to people who reblogged his analysis of Colorblinding’s post
Side eye so big my side eye has a side eye
THANK YEW. and i actually have no prollum with the kid, but no.
and it doesn’t sit well with me either. hence me NOT reblogging it. i mean, there’s nothing factually wrong with his post, but nah. why let a white guy speak for me?
not my style.
jumping in to say that i totally understand with where you’re coming from, but i want to be clear: me reblogging james-bliss is NOT me allowing him to speak for me. i reblogged his post b/c it was an excellent take down and i agreed with it. i’m really not sure how that can be construed to him “speaking for me” unless reblogging itself means allowing people to speak for you.
for the record.
“
Without Black Studies, what would we know of black protest of Jim Crow, slave revolts (and white suppression of records of these revolts), or the medical exploitation of black and brown bodies? Who would chronicle not just the struggle, but the achievements, creativity, and joys of black lives and experiences? Do naysayers really imagine white scholarship, on its own, has given an honest account on these topics? Or are such accounts simply irrelevant to them?
If anything is intellectually fraudulent, it’s scholarship that, consciously and not, excludes POC scholars or ignores race and ethnicity as categories of analysis. We all, white people included, need Ethnic Studies. Both academic scholarship and our understanding of the world are better, more honest, more robust with them than otherwise.
None of this is to say that black studies is perfect. Like many academic disciplines, it can be deeply bound to “traditional” approaches that marginalize scholarship from or about women, queer, and/or trans people. But it’s also the case that substantive critiques of Black Studies by scholars who take race and racism seriously (i.e., not Sowell and Steele) already exist. That critics are wholly ignorant of both the contributions and critiques of Black Studies is an example of what Spelman anthropologist Erica L. Williams describes as the “emotional labor” PoC scholars “must perform … beyond our job descriptions” and not just in the humanities. The considerable stresses of educating and producing scholarship are compounded by the suspicion and racial hostility PoC scholars routinely face.
PoCs are constantly expected to be emotional midwives to white people. Attempts to claim space or identity for ourselves—without deference to whiteness—are inevitably met with suspicion, anger, fear, and guilt (witness white anger over the President’s racial self-identification). We’re expected to have a conversation on race and racism that centers and assuages white emotions, to speak about race in terms and frameworks that are neither by, for, or ultimately about us. What little space we’re afforded in mainstream media is taken up with 101-level education, demands that we justify our existence, and prove the merit of our perspectives and accomplishments beyond the shadow of a doubt. White critics and, occasionally, other people of color, often feel a casual entitlement to pass judgment on PoC narratives of our own experiences, and on our scholarship, without putting in the effort to learn about or engage with either.
” —I don’t have enough church fans to wave my “Amen!” with what T.F. Charlton says it on the R today on how Schafer Riley’s attacks on Black Studies scholars Keeanga-Yamahtta Taylor, La TaSha B. Levy, and Ruth Hays decenters them and became (yet another) attempt for white society to (once again!) force Black folks to justify our humanity. (via racialicious)
[Image: A corrected graphic showing a square of the Confederate flag with the text: “If this flag DOESN’T OFFEND you, you need a history lesson” in place of “if this flag offends you you need a history lesson.]
Also, probably you are white. And almost certainly a howling racist.
If you basically go around stanning for a group of states who started a fucking war just to defend their “right” to own other human beings and treat them like animals, you either don’t know your history or you’re willfully ignoring it. “I reject your reality and substitute my own” is not a valid theory of historical studies, BTW, which is what any attempt to justify, defend, venerate, or otherwise honor this flag is.
I’m a U.S. Southerner. I’m also white. While this flag will never hold the same horrifying and bloody meaning for me as it does for PoC, especially those who are Black, it still is a symbol of everything I hate, everything that makes me ashamed (rightfully) of the history of my home.
To trot it around as though it’s not a symbol of evil - yes, a system based on treating other human beings worse than you treat COWS is evil and defending that system is evil - is offensive.
So if you go around with this flag and act like it’s okay? Like it’s not clearly showing that you regard Black people as not worthy of any respect, then you are EVERYTHING that’s wrong with this entire country. I’m calling you out, fellow white people. This is not okay. Stop doing it. Stop justifying it. It is beyond any justification.
this!!
I’m not offended by this. From what I was taught, the side that held this flag didn’t even start the war. The North started it over money, mainly. The whole slavery and state’s rights things were used to explain it. Not to mention that “a system based on treating other human beings worse than you treat COWS is evil and defending that system is evil” is incorrect in most cases. Those who were forced to be slaves were actually taken care of well if their owner cared about that. Yes, most weren’t allowed to read, write, learn, vote, ect. But they were not all treated horribly. They had housing, food, medical care, ect. Yes, they were used to work around the house, but that means that they were kept in good conditions. If they weren’t, what would have been the point? I’m not trying to excuse slavery for what ever reason, I’m just saying that comparing slaves to being treated like cows is a flawed comparison. And No, I don’t live in the South. I live far up North in the Mitten State. No, I’m not racist. I’m just merely stating what I learned and rambling in a place I probably shouldn’t ramble.
Yes, you are a racist. And obviously white as hell. And ignorant. And you’re not rambling, you’re ACTIVELY DENYING BASIC TRUTHS in a place where you ought to shut the hell up. Listen fellow white person, you need to take a seat and you need to actually learn some things. What you were taught is bullshit.
There is no such thing as being well taken care of if you are a slave, especially not in US-style chattel slavery, okay?
And I’m not sure how you think a system where slaves were given the worst clothing, worst food, often left to die of treatable illnesses even at that time, and beaten, raped, and sold off is somehow being “treated good”. You think it’s good treatment when you can be sold off from family, from what you view as your home if someone in the house wants extra money? You think it’s good treatment when there are many, many, many examples of slave owners raping enslaved women and having children by them who they then kept in slavery (Thomas Jefferson did this, as did about a shit ton of other white slave holders. Google Sally Hemmings, you ignorant fuckwad).
Being from Michigan doesn’t exempt you from being a willfully ignorant racist douchefuck, which you are.
Let me give you a few choice quotes from people who ACTUALLY LIVED THROUGH IT AT THE TIME:
““There were no beds given the slaves, unless one coarse blanket be considered such, and none but the men and women had these…They find less difficulty from the want of beds, than from the want of time to sleep; for when their day’s work in the field is done, the most of them having their washing, mending, and cooking to do, and having few or none of the ordinary facilities for doing either of these, very many of their sleeping hours are consumed in preparing for the field the coming day; and when this is done, old and young, male and female, married and single, drop down side by side, on one common bed,—the cold, damp floor,—each covering himself or herself with their miserable blankets; and here they sleep till they are summoned to the field by the driver’s horn.” Frederick Douglass, from The Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, 1845”
How about a general quote from a scholarly source:
“Work on these plantations was never-ending for slaves. Adult male slaves were primarily relied on to tend the fields, pastures, and gardens. Overseers on horseback equipped with whips monitored slaves, always threatening to punish “stragglers” with a flogging. Plantation owners also exploited the work of skilled slaves, such as blacksmiths and carpenters, for their own ends. Lastly, female slaves and young children usually served as domestics, tending to the master’s family as cooks, servants, and housemaids, and were often starved, whipped, and even raped.”
(from: http://americanabolitionist.liberalarts.iupui.edu/plantation_life.htm)
From a PBS site:
“The diets of enslaved people were inadequate or barely adequate to meet the demands of their heavy workload. They lived in crude quarters that left them vulnerable to bad weather and disease. Their clothing and bedding were minimal as well. Slaves who worked as domestics sometimes fared better, getting the castoff clothing of their masters or having easier access to food stores.”
“Unsanitary conditions, inadequate nutrition and unrelenting hard labor made slaves highly susceptible to disease. Illnesses were generally not treated adequately, and slaves were often forced to work even when sick. The rice plantations were the most deadly. Black people had to stand in water for hours at a time in the sweltering sun. Malaria was rampant. Child mortality was extremely high on these plantations, generally around 66% — on one rice plantation it was as high as 90%.”
(From: http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/aia/part4/4p2956.html)
Do I need to go on?
These are just a few quotes. There are mountains of evidence of the absolute cruelty that enslaved people endured at the hands of their White masters. And you know what? Not being allowed to “read, write, learn, vote, etc” as you say, IS BAD ENOUGH. Not being able to determine your own fate, to have someone tell you where you will live and die is BAD ENOUGH. And no, just because they throw some food at you and some clothes and put what passes for a roof over your head doesn’t make it better or justify or soften it in anyway.
The fact that you somehow think it’s not so bad because slave owners had financial incentive to keep enslaved people alive and working, that you think it mitigates ANY DAMN THING, including the ongoing consequences for those people and their many descendants here in the U.S. today? Shows that you obviously have a hole in your damn soul.
Why does someone have to get beaten, raped, murdered, and tortured before you think that maybe IT’S NOT OKAY IF SOMEONE OWNS THEM AND KEEPS THEM SOMEWHERE THEY DON’T WANT TO BE?
What is wrong you with you?
Tosh.0 steals intellectual property from Adipositivity.com
I’m horrified and disgusted by Comedy Central and Tosh.0 in a way that I can’t even voice- they have stolen an image from the Adipositivity Project, a website whose aim is to promote size acceptance and body positivity, and are using it to fan the flames of bigotry and hatred. I’m copying a blog post below from James Carter, which includes information on how to contact Comedy Central and ask that the image be removed, lest they incur legal action (action which is already underway, I might add).
I urge you to write to Comedy Central and add your voice to stop this hatred:
fat shaming and stealing: tosh.0 style
I want to let you know about Daniel Tosh’s theft of Substantia Jones‘ photograph that features my friend Janie Martinez. If you need to see the vitriol currently being spewed out onto it at the Tosh.0 website, go here.
Over and over, fat people are the butt of jokes, and it must stop. To add insult to injury, Comedy Central and Tosh.0 are using Substantia’s photo illegally. Substantia is a professional photographer who features professional models and every day folk celebrating their beauty and life.
To have Mr. Tosh or anyone steal these photographs for the explicit use of mean, snarky jibes continues a cycle of bullying culture. We wonder why people, especially women, have body image issues, yet the fat shaming entertainment industry encourages this belittling of people. It perpetuates a myth that one cannot be beautiful at any size, and it encourages trolls and bullies to believe what they write is actually funny. It’s not. It’s angry, spiteful and hurtful.
You can do something about this illegal, immoral activity. Please contact comedy central to protest Daniel Tosh’s theft of intellectual property:
Phone: (212) 767-8600
Fax: (212) 767-8592
Email:mail@comedycentral.comIt may not seem like a big deal in this day and age where we right click on photos and share them like toys in a sandbox, but Comedy Central and Daniel Tosh make money off stolen images like this. Reach out, stand up for artists, and help renounce sizeism.
Note: The actual “add a caption” page has been taken down, but their menu header still features a thumbnail of the pic and a link. As seen here:
[Image: A screencap of the current Tosh.0 site featuring a thumbnail of the stolen picture of a beautiful fat person as seen from behind in a gold bathing suit hailing a cab in the rain in NYC. Below is a small bar that says: “Not found. Return to Tosh.0 Blog”]
I’m not shocked by this. Most comedians as deeply unfunny and boring as Daniel Tosh eventually fall back on fat jokes, body shaming, and bullying in lieu of actually being hilarious or relevant to anything. It takes wit and talent to be funny. It takes about five seconds and no sense of empathy or style to start in on fat people.
It’s not just bullying, it’s really tired, trite, and cliche humor. Oh gee, making fun of fat people, especially fat femme people and fat women. NO ONE HAS EVER DONE THAT BEFORE. YOU HAVE DISCOVERED SOMETHING COMPLETELY NEW, DANIEL TOSH. *GASP*.
*smh*
“The plain fact is that the planet does not need more “successful people”. But it does desperately need more peacemakers, healers, restorers, storytellers and lovers of every kind. it needs people who live well in their places. It needs people of moral courage willing to join the fight to make the world habitable and human, and these qualities have little to do with success as our culture has defined it.”
—
David Orr (via sitasays) (via thebeldam, free-wilderness) (via voiceofnature)
Always re-blog, as a reminder to myself if nothing else.
(via journeyers-scrapbook)
(via nerdydyke)
(via deadlyjellybaby)
(via the-martyst)
(via bohemianarthouse) (via guerrillamamamedicine) (via eshusplayground)
(via queennubian)
(via crankyskirt) (via polerin)
Tartan
Why is it okay for non Scots (or rather non celts, but I’m focusing specifically on Scotland in this post) to appropriate tartan? I don’t get it!
That tartan belongs to a specific clan, a family, whose heritage (and my culture) is being reduced to a miniskirt in Hot Topic. I mean, we’ve had to fight for our national identity; we’ve had to fight to be freaking recognized as our own people; our culture was made illegal in our own country and we’ve been the subject to mass genocide in the past. We’ve got a lot of baggage as a country, so why are there no social justice warriors out there fighting to stop the appropriation of Scottish culture? Is it because we’re mostly white?
Seriously? It’s okay to appropriate some cultures but not others?
EXPLAIN!!!!!
Ok so. Whenever anyone says something along the lines of ZOMG PLAID APPROPRIATES SCOTTISH PEOPLE, I have to laugh. Because I know some stuff about plaid.
Firstly, that not all plaid is Tartan - Tartan being the specific patterns representing specific scottish clans. Most fashion is plaid, not tartan.
Secondly, that the whole tartan thing was largely invented in the 19th century.
“James Logan’s romanticised work The Scottish Gael, published in 1831, was one such publication which led the Scottish tartan industry to invent clan tartans.[28] The first publication showing plates of clan tartans was the Vestiarium Scoticum published in 1842.”
It’s true that the people of the British isles have been weaving cloth with a crosshatch pattern roughly since they worked out how to dye wool, but it was -just clothes- until some super-romanticized exotified fucking fad in the 19th century.
But that said, hey, I will totally back serious Scottish people who are petitioning for the removal of specific tartan patterns from popular use in fashion; to my knowledge any plaid that I buy and wear (generally in form of flannel shirts and PJ pants) is just plaid and not tartan, but if a Scottish person saw me wearing it and said ‘hey that’s actually [this specific tartan] and you don’t have the right to wear it’ you better believe that I’d actually stop wearing that garment. Because i do in fact make it my business not to hurt people if I can avoid it and it is not that important to me to be able to keep wearing a specific article of clothing.
But really, I’ve never heard a Scottish person bring this up. I’ve only ever heard it brought up by Americans of Scottish descent who are uncomfortable in conversations of cultural appropriation that aren’t focusing on them.
You’re upset that no one is being a legitimate voice about Tartan? Be one.
I don’t blog about tartan because I am not Scottish.
Oh, moniquill. How is it that you remain so quality and so awesome? I really just wish I knew the secret to your mighty powers because you. You’re just so wonderful and a treasure here on Tumblr, I gotta say.
Thank you for knowing your history and doing your research and sharing with the class.
Also, gotta love the assumption that Scottish will always equal white and that nobody of color could possibly EVER have Scottish heritage and therefore a right to wear specific clan tartans, and that you can just TELL by looking who is and isn’t Scottish or Scottish-descended!