fuckyeahmarxismleninism:

MOVE massacre: On May 13, 1985, 11 people, including five children, were burned alive after police, acting on orders from Democratic Mayor Wilson Goode in collusion with the Feds, dropped a powerful incendiary bomb on the Osage Avenue home of the largely Black MOVE commune in West Philadelphia.

The firebombing followed a 12-hour siege during which the cops unloaded over 10,000 rounds of ammunition into the house. Firefighters on site were held back, and cops shot at anyone who tried to escape the burning building. The inferno spread, destroying 61 houses and leaving hundreds homeless in the African American neighborhood.

rapcat:

laylalicious-is-so-vicious:

stfuconservatives:

okwhatnow submitted: “Typical.”

—-

Unf. DAT RESPONSE. I’ve always wondered why dental work is a sign of an alleged poor person’s secret riches. Gold fillings are usually cheaper than amalgam ones. Or should poor people let their teeth rot out of their mouths before they accept government assistance?

In addition to being the worst kind of poverty-policing, this is just ignorant of, like, how buying stuff works. A poor person might have already had a decked-out SUV or jewelry before they needed food stamps. Blargh.

-Jess

In addition to that, I would like to add that it has been proven over and over again that SNAP benefits (food stamps) are a boon to stimulate the economy. The less cash people have to shell out for food, the more they have to spend on other things (like rent, utilities, clothing, etc) which has a cyclical effect of KEEPING THE ECONOMY GOING!

SNAP benefits = Good  for the economy

Assholes who bitch about it = not helping anything!

• white people use welfare more than any other race in the USA
• how closely are you looking at these people’s earrings because seriously their “diamonds” are probably glass or CZ. Or, you know, fucking gifts. 
• OH and by the way diamonds lose practically all of their worth when bought so even if you have like, a fucking bucket of old diamond jewelry you generally won’t get shit for it.
• getting a gold tooth is actually a cheaper alternative to other dental work like crowns or “natural looking” false teeth, and gold fillings are much cheaper and better lasting than porcelain.
• it cost exactly zero dollars to turn up the volume of a car radio
• give me an example of one person with a job who doesn’t have a cell phone. 
• pay-as-you-go cell phone plans are a thing

this is aside from the fact that you can go from wealth to poverty, the things you own don’t necessarily show what kind of money you make, extravagance can be a symptom of poverty,  and the very important point of fuck this guy because seriously poor people don’t need this shit

shimozu:

eyes of wood: Female to Male: Seeing Gendered Privilege

hyenaboy:

I’m currently feeling conflicted about writing this post, because the intent was to direct it at cis men who don’t believe male privilege exists. However, there are hundreds of thousands of women out there who have the same experiences that I did when I was female-presenting…

Look at the pictures above.

The person on the left felt uncomfortable when in a situation in which there was the potential that men might make an unwanted advance on them. (Note: nearly all of the time.)

The person on the right feels secure in their ability to say no and not be bothered about it afterward. The person on the right does not suffer from society’s expectation that they owe the advancing man something.

The person on the left rarely wore a skirt in public, but the few times they did, they spent the entire time looking around making sure they weren’t being eyed or judged by someone.

The person on the right has never had an issue with what they wear in public. Probably because the person on the right doesn’t have to worry about being told they “asked for it”.

The person on the left was catcalled and harassed when on busy streets. 

The person on the right is able to walk down the street with the expectation that they will be left to their own business.

The person on the left was approached by a strange older man and invited to share his taxi. The person on the left got into said taxi because the man was wearing a business suit and looked respectable. The person on the left was then subjected inappropriate questions about their sex life. The man in question was literally shocked when said person told him they didn’t want to have sex with him. (Thank God this was only a three minute ride.)

vampirefinch:

Light Skin Privilege and African Americans

siddharthasmama:

wretchedoftheearth:

Light skin privilege equals to:

1. Being standard of beauty in the Black and Latino community.
2. Being called Black based on the antebellum era one drop rule.
3. Being racially ambiguous.
4. People automatically assuming you are mixed and that is seen as a positive attribute.
5. Being allowed to recognize the variety of your racial/ethnic heritage without ridicule.
6. Within African American culture being called a “redbone” is regarded as a compliment while being called “darkskin” is considered derogatory.
7. Telling you that someone prefers your skin color instead of dark skin is a compliment.
8. Having light color eyes and no one assumes they are contacts.
9. Can color, dye, relax, or weave your hair without it being seen as an act of self-hate.
10. The assumption that your relaxed hair and chemically processed curls are your natural texture.
11. Tanning and when the tan fades and not being accused of skin bleaching.
12. Going to a makeup artist and having no problem matching your skin tone.
13. Not being told that, “You are pretty for a dark skin girl.”
14. Not being told to stay out the sun.
15. Your skin color being valued by some who purposely wants to erase their ethnicity and hates their own skin color.
16. Being able to marry someone of another race because it is a product of love and not being accused of racial disloyalty.
17. Be recognized as a symbol of post racism.
18. Having the ability to deny that colorism exists.
19. Having the ability to deny racism exist because your skin color is proof of it.
20. It is assumed that you are race neutral when issues of race are raised.
21. It is assumed that you are more enlightened on issues of racism because of your racial and ethnic background.
22. It is automatically assumed that you are more intelligent than members of your racial group.
23. Not being seen as angry.
24. Being considered less threatening by the Eurocentric mainstream based on the color of your skin.
25. People not making the assumption that you grew up poor unlike your dark skin counterparts.
26. The belief that a dark skin person marrying you is considered marrying up.
27. Taking advantage of skin color privilege depending upon the situation. For example, applying for scholarships for African Americans and Latinos and later passing for other than a minority.
28. You have a better chance of landing a job than a darker person with the same credentials.
29. Your relatives had access to Black sororities, fraternities, and other organizations that promoted intraracism.
30. Images are reflected in all forms of Black and Latino owned media.
31. People who look like you rarely portray the stereotypical maid, downtrodden, Sapphire, and dysfunctional Black women roles on television.
32. You always play the Black and Latino wife on television.
33. Being able to be biracial, multiracial, or light skin and still play a Black, Asian, Latino and White person on television when people of a darker hue cannot.
34. Not being reminded all the time that you are not valued.
35. Not having people in entertainment making songs or comments disrespecting your skin color.
36. If you are light skin Latino you don’t have to prove it.
37. If you are a light skin Latino it is automatically assumed that you speak Spanish.
38. You or your family have much more likely have immigrated to America leaving your darker skin counterparts behind.
39. You have better opportunities for education and jobs prospects.
40. You will see that light skin Latinos are recognized in every aspect of life while Afro Latinos, who are the majority in some countries, are ignored.

All of these are 100% accurate except, #14 to me, HAS been an issue.

People saying because I am light, I shouldn’t go out in the sun or else I’ll get ‘darker’ (insinuating I’ll be less attractive). Hell, I myself was afraid of that at one point in my life.

But yes, bless this post.

Light skinned people — do not deny any of this, or else you need to check yourself.

#23 is a point of contention for me, because anytime I show emotion around white folks I get tagged as “angry” or “sassy.” I tried embracing that shit, tried to own the “sassy” label, but it just felt like I was playing up to stereotypes like some sort of performance monkey. Then, I tried to be cold as fuck, an ice-cold bitch with little to no emotions… that’s working out alright, but I’m already starting to thaw in public. I have emotions and reactions, shit. On top of everything, being a light skinned person means whiteness tries to make an example of me, like “this is what real Latina women do, this is how they are” and this is just plain bullshit. I’m me, I do me. I’m not a representative of anything… except when I’m the only latina in a group. Which is often. And then I feel the pressure not to do anything that is going to embarrass us all.

Fuck that, though. I recognize how easy it is with light-skin privilege and good english. I am, unfortunately, guilty of using my ability to pass to my advantage, and that is not something I’m proud of. So I am reblogging because this shit is important. We need to recognize how we passing POC pay into a system that disenfranchises our brothers and sisters, and we need to work against whiteness as a standard for anything.

sonofbaldwin:

http://jezebel.com/5905291/a-complete-guide-to-hipster-racism

There’s been a lot of talk these last couple of weeks about “hipster racism” or “ironic racism”—or, as I like to call it, racism. It’s, you know, introducing your black friend as “my black friend”—as a joke!!!—to show everybody how totally not preoccupied you are with your black friend’s blackness. It’s the gentler, more clueless, and more insidious cousin of a hick in a hood; the domain of educated, middle-class white people (like me—to be clear, I am one of those) who believe that not wanting to be racist makes it okay for them to be totally racist. “But I went to college — I can’t be racist!” Turns out, you can.

People benefit from racism—hell, I benefit from it every day—and things that benefit powerful people don’t just suddenly get “fixed” and disappear because Halle Berry won an Oscar or whatever. Modern racism lives in entrenched de facto inequalities, in coded language about “work ethic” and “states’ rights,” in silent negative spaces like absence and invisibility, and in Newt Gingrich’s hair. And in irony.

When people are trying to be sensitive about race but they don’t know what to say, they usually go with, “Well, race is a complicated issue.” Except, no, it’s not. Race is one of the least complicated issues that there is, because it’s made up. It’s arbitrary. It’s as complicated as goddamn Santa Claus. Oh, that guy’s mom was half-black, which makes his skin slightly more pigmented than mine, which therefore means that he’s inherently 12.5% lazier than me? Science! Um, no. What’s actually complicated is our country’s relationship with race, and our utter ineptitude at talking about it. We suck. I mean, I work on it every day, and I’m still a total fuck-up. But this new scheme someone came up with—where we prove we’re not racist by acting as casually racist as possible? Not our best, white people. Not our best.

Racism is like a wily little bacterium. It doesn’t just roll over and die once we swallow our antibiotics—it mutates and evolves and hides itself in plain sight, and then all of a sudden, fuck, my arm fell off. Dickhead bacteria. (Sidenote: arm for sale!)

A long time ago (not really!), it was socially acceptable to own people. Then it wasn’t, but it was socially acceptable to murder people if they looked at your wife. Then it wasn’t! Yay! But it was still okay to say that people whose skin color you didn’t like weren’t allowed to be around you. And so on. Eventually we arrived at the point (now) where it’s socially unacceptable in mainstream culture for white people to say denigrating things about people of other races. But just because the behavior has been suppressed, that doesn’t mean people’s prejudices have simply disappeared. And white people haaaaaate being told what to do in our own country (fun fact: not actually “ours”)!

So racism went underground. Sure, you can’t say racist things anymore, but you can pretend to say them! Which, it turns out, is pretty much the exact same thing. There are a couple of strains of “ironic racism” making the rounds right now, and a couple of typical defenses.

1. “Tee-Hee, Aren’t I Adorable?”
This category includes things like wide-eyed acoustic covers of hip-hop songs, suburban white girls flashing gang signs, and this Tweet from Zooey Deschanel: “Haha. :) RT @Sarabareilles: Home from tour and first things first: New Girl episodes I missed. #thuglife.” See, it’s hilarious, because we aren’t thugs—we are darling girls, and real thugs are black people who do crime! Oh, hey, can I call you back? I need to sew more ric-rac on my apron. I hope a black person didn’t get into my ric-rac Kaboodle and steal all of it! JK, LOL. RIP, Whitney.

(Now, I’m obv not saying that Zooey Deschanel is some terrible racist. I don’t know her, although I did sit next to her at a restaurant once, and she ordered “olives.” She seemed lovely, and she didn’t call anyone the n-word for the entire meal. But I’m saying that we are all kind of bizarrely cavalier and careless these days, throwing our most deeply-considered morals under the bus for the sake of a few cheap jokes. It’s weird, and we owe the world a little more critical thinking.)

2. “Recreational Slumming.”
Wherein privileged people descend for a visit inside the strange, foreign spaces of othered groups. Like, I don’t know, IHOP. Or that “scary” bar in the south end. Then they go home again. Catchphrase: “It’s soooooo ghetto, but I actually totally like it!”

3. “Ummm, I’m a Writer and I’m Trying to Write in Here!”
This is Lesley Arfin crowing about the majestic power of the n-word, and white kids whining that it’s “unfair” that black people “get” to use “it”. You know, because words are powerful and words are Arfin’s craft and would you take the color red away from the best painter on Twitter??? And besides, don’t you just find Arfin to be so RAW and DELICIOUSLY NAUGHTY? It’s all tied up with the deliberately obtuse people who conflate “freedom of speech” with “immunity from criticism.” You “can” say the n-word. Go ahead and say it if you want, Skrillex. And I will go ahead and give you the world’s most sidewaysiest eyeball forever. Because it hurts people. Why do you want to hurt people?

4. “God, Don’t White People Suck?”
Okay, I get what you’re trying to do here—having some fun at the expense of the oppressors while setting yourself up as one of the “cool” white people—but mainly what you end up doing is implying that black people don’t like informative radio or TED talks. Stuff White People Like: having the best brains! Isn’t it great that we can make fun of ourselves while still reminding you that we’re better than you?

And the thing is, when these things get called out, there really is no defense. But they try:

“No, don’t you see? I’m just showing how I’m so down with [minority group] that it’s totally cool for me to make jokes at their expense. Because we are just that kind of tight bros now.”
No. You cannot unlock some secret double-not-racist achievement by just being regular racist. Otherwise Bill O’Reilly would be president of the NAACP.

“But it’s a JOOOOOKE.”
Here’s the thing about jokes. They only work when they’re aiming up. I wrote this in another piece recently, but I’m just going to plagiarize myself: People in positions of power simply cannot make jokes at the expense of the powerless. That’s why, at a company party, you never have a roast where the CEO is roasting the janitor (“Isn’t it funny how Steve can barely feed his family? This guy knows what I’m talking about!” [points to other janitor]). Because that would be GROSS, and both janitors would have to work late to clean up everyone’s barf. Open-mic comedians, I know you think you’re part of some fresh vanguard in alternative comedy who just discovered that a lot of black ladies don’t like it when you touch their hair, but pleeeeeeease just stick to stuff about how your stupid girlfriend is a bitch. (Just kidding. Please never speak again.)

“So I’m not allowed to have a genuine interest in another culture?!!?!??!”
First of all, privileged dickweeds wearing Urban Outfitters “Navajo” panties, I didn’t realize that you excavated those in your anthropological field work. My bad. Carry on. And second of all, again, you “can” do whatever the fuck you want. You “can” wear whatever you want, say whatever you want, and think whatever you want about whatever you want. All the time! Yaaay! But if a group of people comes to you and says, “This thing that you are doing is hurting us,” and you keep doing it for fun, then you are a dickweed! Like, you know we had an actual genocide here, right? A deliberate extermination of human beings? Right where your house is? So maybe just err on the side of sensitivity.

“Yeah, but we have a black president! Isn’t racism over?”
Okay. That’s probably the most racist thing you’ve said all day, imaginary amalgam of all the careless hipsters in the world. You know how you can tell that black people are still oppressed? Because black people are still oppressed. If you claim that you are not a racist person (or, at least, that you’re committed to working your ass off not to be one—which is really the best that any of us can promise), then you must believe that people are fundamentally born equal. So if that’s true, then in a vacuum, factors like skin color should have no effect on anyone’s success. Right? And therefore, if you really believe that all people are created equal, then when you see that drastic racial inequalities exist in the real world, the only thing that you could possibly conclude is that some external force is holding certain people back. Like…racism. Right? So congratulations! You believe in racism! Unless you don’t actually think that people are born equal. And if you don’t believe that people are born equal, then you’re a fucking racist.

But you know what? At least that’s sincere. And at least sincere racism isn’t running around Brooklyn wearing artisanal suspenders and masquerading as enlightenment. Give me sincere racism or give me no racism at all, but enough with this weaselly shit.

Image by Jim Cooke and elenabo/Shutterstock

spicyobsession:

dumbthingswhitepplsay:

black-ink-on-pink:

Okay, so, recently, I came across this blog: DAMN, LAY OFF THE BLEACH. It’s a blog dedicating to calling out artwork that has whitewashed characters that are originally darker/dark skinned and generally not white. There…

ironyatitsbest:

My Son Is Gay

Or he’s not. I don’t care. He is still my son. And he is 5. And I am his mother. And if you have a problem with anything mentioned above, I don’t want to know you.

I have gone back and forth on whether I wanted to post something more in-depth about my sweet boy and his choice of Halloween costume. Or more specifically, the reactions to it. I figure if I’m still irked by it a few days later, I may as well go ahead and post my thoughts.

Here are the facts that lead up to my rant:

1. My son is 5 and goes to a church preschool.
2. He has loved Scooby Doo since developing the ability and attention span to sit still long enough to watch it.
3. Halloween is a holiday and its main focus is wearing a costume.
4. My son’s school had the kids dress up, do a little parade, and then change out of costumes for the rest of the party.
5. Boo’s best friend is a little girl
6. Boo has an older sister
7. Boo spends most of his time with me.
8. I am a woman.
9. I am Boo’s mother, not you.

So a few weeks before Halloween, Boo decides he wants to be Daphne from Scooby Doo, along with his best friend E. He had dressed as Scooby a couple of years ago.  I was hesitant to make the purchase, not because it was a cross gendered situation, but because 5 year olds have a tendency to change their minds. After requesting a couple of more times, I said sure and placed the order. He flipped out when it arrived. It was perfect.

Then as we got closer to the actual day, he stared to hem and haw about it. After some discussion it comes out that he is afraid people will laugh at him. I pointed out that some people will because it is a cute and clever costume. He insists their laughter would be of the ‘making fun’ kind. I blow it off. Seriously, who would make fun of a child in costume?

And then the big day arrives. We get dressed up. We drop Squirt at his preschool and head over to his. Boo doesn’t want to get out of the car. He’s afraid of what people will say and do to him. I convince him to go inside. He halts at the door. He’s visibly nervous. I chalk it up to him being a bit of a worrier in general. Seriously, WHO WOULD MAKE FUN OF A CHILD IN A  COSTUME ON HALLOWEEN? So he walks in. And there were several friends of mine that knew what he was wearing that smiled and waved and gave him high-fives. We walk down the hall to where his classroom is.

And that’s where things went wrong. Two mothers went wide-eyed and made faces as if they smelled decomp. And I realize that my son is seeing the same thing I am. So I say, “Doesn’t he look great?” And Mom A says in disgust, “Did he ask to be that?!” I say that he sure did as Halloween is the time of year that you can be whatever it is that you want to be. They continue with their nosy, probing questions as to how that was an option and didn’t I try to talk him out of it. Mom B mostly just stood there in shock  and dismay.

And then Mom C approaches. She had been in the main room, saw us walk in, and followed us down the hall to let me know her thoughts. And they were that I should never have ‘allowed’ this and thank God it wasn’t next year when he was in Kindergarten since I would have had to put my foot down and ‘forbidden’ it. To which I calmly replied that I would do no such thing and couldn’t imagine what she was talking about. She continued on and on about how mean children could be and how he would be ridiculed.

My response to that: The only people that seem to have a problem with it is their mothers.

Another mom pointed out that high schools often have Spirit Days where girls dress like boys and vice versa. I mentioned Powderpuff Games where football players dress like cheerleaders and vice versa. Or every frat boy ever in college (Mom A said that her husband was a frat boy and NEVER dressed like a woman.)

But here’s the point, it is none of your damn business.

If you think that me allowing my son to be a female character for Halloween is somehow going to ‘make’ him gay then you are an idiot. Firstly, what a ridiculous concept. Secondly, if my son is gay, OK. I will love him no less. Thirdly, I am not worried that your son will grow up to be an actual ninja so back off.

If my daughter had dressed as Batman, no one would have thought twice about it. No one.

But it also was heartbreaking to me that my sweet, kind-hearted five year old was right to be worried. He knew that there were people like A, B, and C. And he, at 5, was concerned about how they would perceive him and what would happen to him.

Just as it was heartbreaking to those parents that have lost their children recently due to bullying. IT IS NOT OK TO BULLY. Even if you wrap it up in a bow and call it ‘concern.’  Those women were trying to bully me. And my son. MY son.

It is obvious that I neither abuse nor neglect my children. They are not perfect, but they are learning how to navigate this big, and sometimes cruel, world. I hate that my son had to learn this lesson while standing in front of allegedly Christian women. I hate that those women thought those thoughts, and worse felt comfortable saying them out loud. I hate that ‘pink’ is still called a girl color and that my baby has to be so brave if he wants to be Daphne for Halloween.

And all I hope for my kids, and yours, and those of Moms ABC, are that they are happy. If a set of purple sparkly tights and a velvety dress is what makes my baby happy one night, then so be it. If he wants to carry a purse, or marry a man, or paint fingernails with his best girlfriend, then ok. My job as his mother is not to stifle that man that he will be, but to help him along his way. Mine is not to dictate what is ‘normal’ and what is not, but to help him become a good person.

I hope I am doing that.

And my little man worked that costume like no other. He rocked that wig, and I wouldn’t want it any other way.

katelynrichelle:

stfuandlistenwhitepeople:

anticapitalist:

(high-res)

Five Myths About Crime in Black America—and the Statistical Truths

In the wake of Trayvon Martin’s death, we’ve seen a lot of discussion of the larger societal issues that play into how and when people are perceived as criminals. There were hoodies, there were marches, and there were frank talks from parent to child about how to minimize the danger of being a young person of color. On the other side, there were justifications of George Zimmerman’s actions: a smear campaign against Martin’s character, and plenty of writers explaining that statistically, blacks are simply more dangerous to be around.

That framing ignores the realities behind the numbers. Here are five myths about crime and people of color.

CC: Click on the photo of the third myth in order to see the fourth one (perhaps this is just my pc, but it isn’t showing).

Five Myths About Crime in Black America—and the Statistical Truths

f-igment:

misery-fucking-loves-me:

whiskeyandcigarettes:

i don’t think we have enough face palm.

needs more facepalm.

i

what

really?