frenzypoetik:

viva-la-veda:

karnythia:

Speaking of telling people off for appropriation, I’m deep in my feelings lately about how much of American black culture is imitated, sold, & co-opted by people who are otherwise profoundly anti-American black people. I need someone to explain to me like I’m two why everything we create from food to music to fashion is only worthwhile after it’s been divorced from us. We do it & its ghetto/tacky/disgusting, but let someone (and I’m looking at other POC here too) who isn’t black wear the same clothes, rock the same looks, hell cook the same food & all of sudden it’s high end/avant garde/delicious. Our pain, our struggles, hell even deaths can be co-opted, but how dare we think we own anything seems to be the message. Run that down for me Tumblr. Come on, explain how so many people will imitate us & feel free to disrespect us. I’ll wait. What do you have to say for yourselves?

JUST wrote a post on this the other day that people unfollowed me for.  And I said in there that we’re expected to let everyone have a bite of our ish and if we try to keep some for ourselves, the whole world (not just White people) will talk about how “discriminatory” we’re being.  And the people who want to partake so bad don’t give a damn about us. 

Saw a girl on Asos Marketplace selling a pair of gold bamboo earrings and described them as “90s grunge style.” 

Some of the most influential bands (and I would argue the majority of them) ripped off their music from early Black artists but they still get the titles of “innovative,” “ground breaking,” and “one of a kind”

OWS starts acting a fool at Trayvon’s rally in NYC?

“We are ALL the 99%!  So was Trayvon!  This is a HUMAN rights issue meaning ALL OF US!  NOT JUST BLACK PEOPLE!”

UGH.  Let me get off of this topic, because I have way too much to say about it.

“Run that down for me Tumblr.” 

I go to school where all black everything is everything cool, everyone loves black fashion, black music (aside: if I stumble upon another groups of kids gushing over RZA, how much they relate to the “gritty, dark lifestyle portrayed by the Wu-Tang Clan even though I didn’t exactly go through that exactly” etc, I’m gonna be sick…), black food/culture/history…everything. 

But today I heard someone say “But of course they found a dead body on the dock. It’s…it’s the Harlem. It’s the Harlem. So of course they find dead bodies there all the time.”

And I’m sitting there like

REALLY NOW? 

-______-

YES, COLUMBIA STUDENTS - TELL ME HOW YOU LOVE BLACK CULTURE BUT HARBOR AN UNFOUNDED HATE AND FEAR THE NEIGHBORHOOD THAT WAS THE EPICENTER OF BLACK CULTURAL EXPLORATION AND INNOVATION IN THE 20s AND 30s. 

You love black things but are revolted by black people?

You don’t say? 

Edit: This has been a rant. I just needed to let that one go. I’ve been sitting on that “the Harlem” comment since 11:00 this morning.

You are a better one than me. I might have caused a scene with that comment.

poemsofthedead:

themindislimitless:

This ought to be common sense but apparently people don’t think of this so I’m actually going to have to make a post about this on my blog.

Look. If someone calls/ messages/ emails/ WHATEVER you, asking for contact details of another person, and doesn’t identify themselves, do not, I repeat, DO NOT give said anonymous person the contact info of whoever they’re inquiring after.

Instead, ask the anonymous person for their name and why they want the contact of your friend, and how to contact them back, and then YOU contact your friend and give then said (initially) anonymous person’s contact. Then your friend can call them back or not, it’s up to them. Even if the anonymous person is not anonymous and may identify themselves as someone who knows your friend (and who they know), or even if YOU know who the caller is, do NOT give them someone else’s contact information. That if not your place nor your right to do. It is up to your friend if they want other person to have their contact available.

Please. This is really important to the safety and well being of people.

Yes, this should be common sense, but it’s obviously not. I see this situation so often. I have a hard and fast rule about this: if they wanted you to have their contact info (or to know where they are & when they’ll be back) you wouldn’t be having to ask me! And I have had to lay this out for people in my life too! Call me paranoid. Call me unfriendly. Whatever. I call me STILL ALIVE. I especially run into this with old friends who know my legal name and get asked by classmates about me. I had to bluntly say for those lifelong friends I have - do not tell a soul that this is me, do not share my new name or anything about me. And I’ve been teased about this at work too, but after having my ex-husband show up at the office unexpectedly, they understood why I am the way I am about who has access to my people without them being prepared or able to say no. I know one co-worker’s husband thinks I’m a bitch but that fool has done some dirty stuff and no, he doesn’t get to know even if she is *in the office* much less to see her until I check with her if she wants to deal with him. And honestly, may God protect whatever jackass ever lets the high school reunion committee find me… I am not even joking.

neverwillstop:

I’ve been thinking about conversations with white people I’ve had about racism, and this desire they have for me to clarify for them that I don’t hate white people, or that not all white people are bad. In a conversation that should have nothing to do with their feelings, at some point I have to reassure them that I don’t hate them, and it becomes all about their feelings. The conversation is derailed and re-centered firmly on them and their comfort level. Which is fucked up. And honestly,

• I didn’t say ALL white people, but since that’s what you heard, yes, ALL white people.
• Yes, I do hate white people; that’s what you’re worried about all the time. You wanna make sure you’re well-liked even by the people you hurt who you usually have no trouble ignoring.
• I shouldn’t have to qualify any statements I make to make sure your feathers aren’t ruffled. Fuck off.
• Every time a convo starts, it’s, ”What about the white people?” What ABOUT them?
• No, it’s not okay for you to compare my oppression to any others.
• Yes, you should feel guilty, but you damn sure shouldn’t talk to me about your white guilt because I don’t wanna hear about it.
• No, I don’t care about your feelings.
• This ain’t reverse racism. You should think about the irony of that phrase.
• No, I will not stop talking about racism.
• No, you cannot say the N word.
• Yes, you are racist.
• Stop making it about you.
• This ain’t about you.
• This ain’t a social justice blog. I am not an “ally” to my own fucking issues. Majoring in my culture doesn’t mean you know shit.
• No, excluding white people from POC convos/spaces ain’t racist.
• No, this isn’t the time or place for your opinion.
• If you have to ask, yes, it’s racist.
• But really don’t ask me about white people and their opinions since you can get them literally any and everywhere, whether you want them or not. IDGAF.
• IDGAF, STFU, GTFO.

Honestly it’s not fair when “minorities” get all these grants and scholarships and yada yada

kyssthis16:

shescoolforcats:

I say “minorities” because I honestly don’t think of people that way.

Here I am, a super poor white girl in America

And because I am white, nobody wants to give me grants/scholarships.
Da fuck?
I don’t get it.

I don’t think it should depend on what fucking color your skin is to get money from the fucking government or from charities/sponsors or whatever. IT ISN’T EVEN RELEVANT ANYMORE. YEAH, AMERICA FUCKED YOUR GUYS’ GREAT, GREAT, GREAT GRANDPARENTS OVER WHOM YOU DON’T EVEN KNOW UNLESS YOU ARE AN INTERESTING PERSON WHO LOVES THEIR FAMILY HISTORY BUT AT THE SAME TIME YOU UNDERSTAND THAT IT’S SPECIFICALLY THAT; HISTORY, SO IT DOESN’T MATTER ANYWAYS.

JUST DUMB.

I don’t even put somebody’s skin tone as a factor in any sort of relationship, that’s just flat out nonsense, especially in this day and age.

In todays time we shouldn’t be giving specific skin colors, ages, sexual preferences or sexes special treatment. The special treatment should be going to ALL those people with: disabilities, low incomes, single parents, homeless families/children, and ANYBODY who is not given the same opportunities to education as anybody else.
Having a “black person association” where only grants and scholarships are given to black people seems just as… inappropriate as letting only white people use certain buildings, like about 70ish years ago. I just… Meh.

If this seems wrong to any of you guys, please just ignore. My intentions are good, I promise D:.
 

Bitch, are you really that simple? I mean, honestly. Are you serious? If I have to cite this official report from FASTWEB one more time, I will hurt someone. Look, simple bitch. I’ll give you the TL;DR version: WHITE PEOPLE, regardless of socioeconomic status, RECEIVE THE MOST GRANT AND SCHOLARSHIP MONEY BY AND LARGE. That means, maybe you didn’t meet the other criteria to receive said scholarships. You should work on that. Also, if you really think racism is over, leave the planet and take the longest flight to the farthest universe in your everlasting galactic seat. Don’t bother getting up. Not with young Black males gettin’ shot for looking “suspicious” being in major news outlets. Do you read? Hell, do you watch tv? What do you do in your life, homie? I just…..Also, until you can honestly prove that you lost money to a minority, shut the fuck up. Last time I checked, most universities “minority” levels are still low. Barely in the teens. Maybe you overestimated your intelligence. By this stupid ass post, I’d say this is the most likely answer. Grow up. Bye.

(Source: shescoolforkittens)

To the people defending George Zimmerman:

ladyatheist:

Let me break this down as simply as I possibly can. Trayvon was at his father’s house when he decided to go to the convenience store down the street to get skittles and iced tea. On his way back George Zimmerman called 911 because he thought Trayvon looked “suspicious”. The 911 dispatcher specifically told him NOT TO FOLLOW TRAYVON and that POLICE WERE ALREADY ON THE WAY. This 28 YEAR OLD, ARMED MAN decides to ignore the 911 dispatcher and follow 17 YEAR OLD Trayvon IN HIS CAR.

After following him for a while, George Zimmerman decides to get out of his car and confront Trayvon. They then (allegedly) get into a fight and George Zimmerman, the 28 YEAR OLD, ARMED, GROWN ASS MAN decides to SHOOT TRAYVON IN THE CHEST AND KILL HIM. When the police show up, HE ADMITS TO SHOOTING AND KILLING TRAYVON. THE POLICE LET HIM WALK AWAY, NO QUESTIONS ASKED.

How in the hell can you people defend that? He completely ignored the instructions of 911 dispatch, followed a kid in his car, and then shot and killed him in cold blood.  At the very fucking least he should have been taken into police custody for questioning. What happened to Trayvon and how the police handled it makes absolutely no fucking sense. Anyone with half a fucking brain should be outraged at the fact that they are letting this man get away with murder. If you are defending George Zimmerman, you are defending a murderer. You are condoning his actions. You are upholding the white supremacist system that says Black children are inherently suspicious and that everyone has the right to follow and kill them. 

deliciouskaek:

stfuapologists:

l-a-r-s-e-n:

If you don’t speak english. GET THE FUCK OUT. If you aren’t from america. GET THE FUCK OUT. If your parents came here illegally. GET THE FUCK OUT.

um…

what.

Also why would you tag this with racial slurs that don’t even apply? Most black people came here legally, even if it was a racist institution that brought them over.

Not to mention, America’s the land of the free, right? So speak whatever fucking language you want.

Not to mention, English isn’t a language native to these lands. Just saying…

Transethnic: No, You Fucking Disgust Me

curiouslycool:

Fuck you. Fuuuuuuck you.

I will not, nor will I ever, accept this form of serious fuckery. Keep dreaming about your “pending acceptance” cause it ain’t fucking happenin’.

You white folks spouting this transethnic bullshit need to fucking evaluate your life, your choices, and the extent of your stupidity and racism.

It’s not even funny anymore.

The fact that you think you can take something like MY ETHNICITY and adopt it as a second skin makes me sick to my stomach.

Ethnicity in itself is a social construct. It is society that will judge you accordingly on your appearance and lineage (And if you fuckers even think of doing blackface…).

I don’t give a flying fuck if you acknowledge all your white privilege or go on an anti-racism crusade, you can never fully identify with the struggles or the aspects and burdens that come with being a part of my ethnicity. It’s not as simple as reading a couple of fucking books, hearing a few accounts and empathizing with our plight. You do not EXPERIENCE our dehumanization nor do you COMPREHEND the full extent of our suffering. I know you don’t. The fact that you identify as such nonsense makes clear light of that. To blatantly claim that you can or that you do is beyond insulting.

What you are doing is the most offensive/nauseating form of cultural appropriation. You are offending the very same ethnic groups you’re attempting to co-exist with.

You are also flaunting your privilege in our faces.

I’d love to identify as trans-white.
I want for me and my succeeding generations to be able to enjoy the life you all accept as simple normality.

But no. Society would look at me and, at best, see a skinny mulatto girl. I would never be seen as white, no matter how crackerish I’d feel on the inside.

With you morons, the story is slightly different, yet the slight difference really fucking matters.

Sure, you won’t be seen as what you “identify” as. But you won’t be treated as LESS THAN what you “identify” with. If you’re white and trans-Black, people won’t treat you like you’re a fucking Black person. Don’t you fucking get it? Our oppression is deeply ingrained into who we are. YOU CAN BE “BLACK” AND STILL KEEP ALL THE GLORY OF BEING SEEN AS WHITE AND TREATED AS WHITE.

And don’t you dare tell me you want them to treat you as if you’re “Black”.

Don’t even go down that fucking road.

Where’s my Angry As Fuck Oprah meme?!?!?!

This bullshit fucking amazes me.

SMITE THEM ALL, BLACK JESUS, PLEASE LAWD.

(Source: crankycritic)

Irony of the Day: The local “OccupyShit” group has started to quote indigenous folks on all their stuff.

sapphrikah:

poemsofthedead:

assholeaspie:

velocicrafter:

poemsofthedead:

They didn’t take to an actual indigenous person telling them that there’s an issue with their choice to use the word “occupy” (and also telling them to stop saying they are slaves), and called me a reverse-racist who was trying to ruin their good work, but our quaint little sayings about sharing everything are worthy of their posting everywhere.

Tell me again how I’m supposed to be in solidarity with white people?

Tell me again how it’s because you respect us?

all of it, but esp. the bold

So ONE group of occupy-x-ers were rude assholes to you so that means all the white people in the occupy movements (even though white people aren’t the only people there and part of the occupy movements) are horrible indigenous-person-haters?

Yeah okay.

It’s shitty what they did to you - especially that bullshit ‘reverse-racism’ thing, what the fuck does that even have to do with what you said? - but it’s also shitty to act like they represent all the white people/occupy protesters of the USA/world.

Nope. STFU. ALL OF YOU ARE ASSHOLES, ESPECIALLY WHITE PEOPLE. Not just one group. Every single one of you. Just the fact that you use the word “occupy” is proof that every single one of you hate and disrespect indigenous people. You don’t get a pass or to tell me to view it as anything else. Your use of “occupy” after being told early on that it is an offensive term, and the consistent use of the imagery of slavery to describe spoiled fucking white people’s problems, proves your racism overrides any potential decency or value to what you are trying to do. As always, you are looking for your own freedom on the backs of POC. And “reverse racist” has everything to do with it because that’s what NUMEROUS white people across the country keep calling POC that critique the overt racism in your movement. Not just to me, but across the board. And yeah, frankly, the POC that I have personally known that are invested in the movement have also been assholes, more concerned with defending the intentions of the white people than actually doing anything worthwhile.

And anyway, guess what? NO1CURR about your fucking feelings. I can’t point to how fucked up ya’ll are without some cracker getting all personally upset instead of just acknowledging that there’s a lot of fucked up in your group. I DON’T HAVE TO TRUST WHITE PEOPLE.

I really hate that defense. “So one [x] person did something terrible and now all [x] people are bad?! YOU’RE AN ASSHOLE.”

Most of these things are NOT isolated incidents. And in this case, I too saw plenty of disrespect to indigenous folks going on at the Occupy Wall St. coming from white people with dreamcatchers hanging on their tents, meanwhile the actual Native was sitting at a table not far away, being totally overlooked.

These aren’t isolated incidents, this is a frequent and annoying this that think-they’re-progressive whites do. And your defensiveness is annoying. You come off like an Occupy-x-er yourself, assholeaspie, and responding in this way clearly doesn’t show how much you apparently care about the rest of us down here in the “99%.” Or was this just because you were a white kid with school loans and HOW DARE THERE NOT BE JOBS FOR WHITE PEOPLE?!

Seriously, this same shit is happening at Occupy sites all around the U.S & in Canada. Repeatedly. T lots of people. I’ve experienced it personally here in Chicago & seen reports from POC all around the country about Occupy & white privilege fail on multiple fronts. Somehow I doubt the veracity of solidarity claims from people who refuse to listen when POC speak.

We cannot be the only people who feel this way about our situation…

sapphrikah:

As I wrote recently, it was brought to our attention that our roommates (one of whom I know fairly well), told the little girl in the house that Malika and I are best friends. Not girlfriends. Not fiancees. Best friends.

This came as a shock to us because, well, up until then, besides the male of the house calling Malika my “friend” once, we thought we were being accepted. You know, as the world should be. We are gay. They are straight. We exist on the same face of the earth, neither more legit than the other, neither wrong, neither a deviation, just love on love.

The “friend” thing should have been a tipper but I figured a lot of people get nervous and don’t want to say the wrong thing and settle for something they think is less offensive, or idk, think we are aliens and don’t know if we use the term “girlfriend” because we’re different than them.

Anywho, so this came as a shock to us. Or more than a shock, it came like a slap in the face.

The thing is that, when she said this to us, she said it like she never even thought this might be an issue. As if, she had done us a favor this time and came up with the excuse for us, as if we hid ourselves all the time. I felt as if apparently we lived in some society where all the gays are hidden because queerness is illegal and this is a regular practice, to hide, and she did us some favor by helping us come up with the scheme so we could blend happily ever after!

I don’t think she knew that this automatically meant we needed to live in the closet. Which is exactly what it meant. I’ve never even really been in the closet. I never intended to be. We pay rent here, and we don’t want to question holding hands or cuddling on the couch because it might make a seven year old question how close we are.

There are so many things wrong with this:

• Perhaps, par example, they don’t show much affection in front of the girl for whatever reason. If they told us that that is how they roll and for that reason asked us not to, that would be a totally different thing. But in this case, we’re basically being told that we are too perversely advanced.
• Why was there an excuse created in the first place? Why couldn’t the girl have processed whatever she witnessed and been answered if she ever asked? Why did they need to come up with a story at all? Why did we need to be explained? Her learning about us by observing would be perfect, for that’s exactly how kids learn about every other kind of couple and that would have given her a good, non-biased foundation.

We have confided in certain family members of ours who failed to provide comfort. Their straightness and lack of understanding came through so brightly it was painful. We were told things like:

• They wouldn’t want their sons to see two gay men hugged up.
• We are living in “their house” so we should respect that.
• Some children are not ready to know about gay people.

But all of this is such codswallop, is it really that hard to understand that when you imply that a child cannot know about us like they know about the straighties of the world that there is something wrong with us? We were even told that these family members of ours wouldn’t want their child around gay people because if they turn out to be gay, that’s fine, but they don’t want them influenced towards being gay.

WHAT KIND OF SENSE DOES THAT MAKE? First of all, if your kid is gay, they’re gay. Second, what is wrong with a child learning that we exist? I assure you so many of them won’t even care. AND. AND. (This is my biggest point), even if I DID influence a child and they “became” gay, WHAT WOULD BE WRONG WITH THAT?!

Also, that whole thing about this being their house… They pay rent and we pay rent, they, specifically, don’t own this house, they need us like we need them. And this should have been discussed beforehand if they felt this way.

Why is it that not a single straight person can grasp what I’m saying? I think its simple. When you say you don’t want children exposed to us, it implies that something is wrong with us. Period. And we have gotten SO much shit from family members, from people on the street, when we have the MOST BEAUTIFUL love. We do not deserve this. All we want is to be happy.

Some of these people we talked to are conscious in other ways. How the intersectionality didn’t wake them up is beyond me. How do you expect anyone to hear your anti-racisms out if you can’t be a decent enough of a human being to listen to your queer brothers and sisters?! Respect our struggle like you want us to respect yours. Not tolerate.

I don’t even know how to move forward in this situation. I’m hurt. I’m exhausted. There is nothing wrong with us or our love. We don’t want to be tolerated. That is not good enough.

And on a last note, people need to deal with their fucking bigotry. If you don’t know how to “explain” this to a child, then you need to try harder. Don’t ask me to compromise my SELF for your lack of ability to explain this seemingly simple thing to someone of the future generation.

(Sorry that was long, and thank you if you read it.)

I’m straight & I get it. Well your end anyway, I’m not clear on why they bothered to lie to the 7 year old though, because kids that age (and any age) generally have one or two friends with LGBT parents, step parents, or whatever. They know homosexuals exist & unless taught otherwise they usually aren’t confused or upset by the idea. So, anything the parents or their supporters are saying to the contrary is bullshit. I’m sorry they’re doing this to you & to her.