#including the racism I benefit from as a white person in this country

[dreaminginthedeepsouth]

The Daily Don

* * * *

President Biden to name national monument for Emmet Till and his mother.

          The brutal torture and murder of Emmett Till followed by his mother’s decision to hold an “open casket” funeral changed America. In 1955, a young Black teenager, Emmett Till, was abducted and killed because a white woman accused Till of “whistling” at her and grabbing her wrist. (The woman later recanted the accusations during an interview for a book.) Till’s nearly unrecognizable body was pulled from a river, where it was weighted with a 75-pound cotton gin fan secured to his neck by barbed wire. Nearly 250,000 people walked past his casket, and hundreds of thousands more saw photos of Till’s mutilated body in his casket.

          Two white men were charged with the murder and acquitted by an all-white jury. The defendants confessed to the crime a few months later in an interview given to Look Magazine—for which they were paid $4,000, a hefty sum in 1956. Having been previously acquitted, they could not be tried again for murder because of the Constitution’s double jeopardy prohibition.

          Emmett Till’s murder and his mother’s bravery in holding an open-casket funeral galvanized the nascent civil rights movement and helped to inspire a generation of civil rights leaders, including Rosa Parks and Martin Luther King. On Monday, President Biden announced that he is declaring three sites as a national monument to Emmett Till and his mother, Mamie Till-Mobley. See NYTimes, Biden to Name National Monument for Emmett Till and His Mother. (This article is accessible to all.)

          President Biden’s actions come at a moment of renewed overt racism in America. Florida’s new history curriculum includes prompts asking students to consider ways in which slavery “benefitted” enslaved persons by giving them skills they could use after emancipation. See Florida’s State Academic Standards—Social Studies, 2023. The linked document includes the following “benchmark” standard (on page 6):

Benchmark Clarifications: Clarification 1: Instruction includes how slaves developed skills which, in some instances, could be applied for their personal benefit.

          The proposed “benchmark clarification” is a stunning revision to an institution where white owners profited from forced labor by enslaved persons. To suggest that any part of that forced labor was “beneficial” is a cruel and dishonest whitewashing of a vile institution. But Ron DeSantis nonetheless defended a “pro-slavery” curriculum that his culture war unleashed in Florida. See The Independent, DeSantis defends Florida curriculum that suggests slaves benefited from forced labor.

          But the Academic Standards linked above are far worse than the media portrays. The issue is not a single snippet—the language quoted above—it is the entire approach to teaching the history of slavery in the United States. I invite you to review pages 5 through 10 of the Academic Standards, and you will discover that much of the curriculum is devoted to describing slavery in Africa, Europe, and Asia—apparently to make the disgusting point that “everyone else was doing it.” For example, the “benchmark clarifications” on page 9 include the following:

Benchmark Clarifications: Clarification 1: Instruction includes how trading in slaves developed in African lands (e.g., Benin, Dahomey). Clarification 2: Instruction includes the practice of the Barbary Pirates in kidnapping Europeans and selling them into slavery in Muslim countries (i.e., Muslim slave markets in North Africa, West Africa, Swahili Coast, Horn of Africa, Arabian Peninsula, Indian Ocean slave trade). Clarification 3: Instruction includes how slavery was utilized in Asian cultures (e.g., Sumerian law code, Indian caste system). Clarification 4: Instruction includes the similarities between serfdom and slavery and emergence of the term “slave” in the experience of Slavs. Clarification 5: Instruction includes how slavery among indigenous peoples of the Americas was utilized prior to and after European colonization.

          All of the above smacks of a white-racist defense of slavery in the US. Thankfully, Joe Biden is resisting the effort by the right to erase America’s shameful history of slavery and Jim Crow laws that enforced a system of apartheid for nearly a century after the Civil War.

[Robert B. Hubbell Newsletter]

#Emmett Till #The Daily Don #Robert B. Hubbell #Robert B. Hubbell Newsletter #racism #Benchmark Clarifications #Academic Standards #monuments

[mrs-lockley]

it really annoys me whenever makeup companies release new products and when the models are light-skinned east-asians, everyone in the comments are saying "can you please put poc in your marketing campaign?/stop ignoring poc"

there are a couple reasons why this upsets me, and i just need to get this off my chest

rant under the cut. tw/cw anti-asian racism, colorism

colorism - i understand the frustration because as a medium, tan-skinned southeast asian woc, more than half the time, makeup companies use models who are on the pale to light-medium spectrum. i'm smack in the middle on medium and their swatches aren't accurate to me, and if i'm having a hard time finding swatches for someone who is medium-skinned (and i'm not even that dark to begin with), then i can only imagine how much harder it is for someone who is tan, dark, and deep-skinned. there's a reason why i don't wear foundation anymore. aside from it being a personal preference, it's hard to find the right undertones and shade for southeast asian skintones (even when the company is found by a woc, and don't get me started on the colorism in the asian beauty market). they're either too cool, neutral, or too yellow/orange if it's warm. there's a severe lack of brown asians and other tan/dark-skinned poc. poc come in all colors- there are dark-skinned asians, light-skinned asians, white passing poc, but no matter their phenotype, they are still poc. which leads me to my next point

anti-asian racism - for some odd reason (which is not odd at all!), in my personal experience, both white people and non-asian poc are quick to dismiss asians when talking about racism. when people complain (and i've seen non-asian poc and white people say this) in marketing campaigns with light-skinned poc (typically east asians) featured, they're quick to say "it would be nice if you included a poc." i'm getting so angry and frustrated writing this because this triggers me to think of the 20 years of casual racism i experienced in my life. when an east-asian or light-skinned asian poc is used as a model, you're essentially saying asians are not poc. ASIANS ARE POC, EVEN IF THEY ARE LIGHT-SKINNED. yes, there are light-skinned asians and yes, the asian/asian-american experience is different from latino and black experiences, and yes, i am aware that asian/asian-americans have privilege. and this is a topic for another time about the model minority myth and how it's used to pit asians against latinos and black people, but when you dismiss asians as poc, you're erasing their experience with systemic racism. not all of us are doctors, lawyers, and engineers. as a southeast asian, i never benefited from the model minority because i am not the "right" asian. a lot of south and southeast asian countries have painful histories of imperialism, colonialism, and in some cases, genocide. to blanket all asians as "model minorities" and implying that asians are not poc or "poc enough" is downright disrespectful, hurtful, and painful. when you are complaining about light-skinned asians as models in makeup marketing campaigns, do not dismiss us and say "oh i wish they used a poc as their model." ASIANS ARE POC! i understand the frustration as a tan southeast asian woman, but you're being dismissive about the asian experience. it triggers me because i think of all the casual racism i experienced throughout my childhood and when talking about it to my poc friends, 95% of the time, my non-asian poc friends have told me, and i quote, "you don't experience racism. asians are doing better than white people too, you have nothing complain about. you're the good stereotype!" is downright hurtful when my teachers have looked down on me for not being as academically smart as my east asian classmates and ignore all the hard work, blood, sweat, and tears i put into my assignments, when my classmates have casually asked me if i eat dog, when in college my white professor and white classmate were talking about the winter olympics and said it was weird that asians eat dog and i told them that it's not your domestic dog, but a dog farm similar to how there are chicken and pig farms, to which my professor looked me dead in the eye in front of the whole class, said "well how are you gonna know the difference when you see the dog down the street?" and have the ENTIRE CLASS laugh at you when you are the only asian in that class. when covid started, a non-asian poc looked at me and the asian girl i sat next to and said "I guess you can't eat dog anymore huh with covid." when in my online class, a classmate of mine posted a drawing of a bat that wrote in very loud letters, "WHO ATE THE BAT?" when an older non-asian poc that i considered a friend said they'd recognize my sister by how she looks and pulled their eyes at me, when my classmates said i didn't look "asian enough" and proceeded to pull their eyes at me. when attending research conferences in higher education talking about students of color in their retention rates, representation, and academics, being told explicitly and when i asked why asians aren't included when they talked about poc, they said "there is no data included or provided on asians, we didn't find it necessary to include them" despite showing data that they had a good amount of asians in their student demographic when other research shows that southeast asians tend to have high rates of dropping out of college.

when complaining about the lack of darker skinned models when a light-skinned asian is used, then say "please use a darker skinned model" instead of "please use a poc." BECAUSE ASIANS ARE POC!!!!!!!!!!! I cannot stress this enough! i understand that people mean well and don't mean any harm by it, but again, it's downright hurtful to ignore and dismiss asians as poc. just say "use a darker skinned model/poc." at best, this is a colorism issue.

i apologize if my post comes off as rude, but i'm frustrated at being dismissed and having my experiences ignored or erased. i am not making this a competition on which group experiences the most amount of racism.

i understand people mean well, but i am so tired of being dismissed and not included in activism, and when i do speak up, i'm ignored. i am a poc, i deserve to take up space and talk about my experience. i deserve to exist

[genadelikesships1233]

A random rant about American politics

I'm not American. For my own privacy I won't say exactly where I'm from but all you need to know is that I’m not American so take what I say, with a grain of salt.

I’m not the most educated person in the world, not by a mile.

But I can say that I’m gifted with the ability of not being American and having no real bias with their politics.

So, to explain, vie been seeing so many people in America say, they don’t know for who to vote for.

Trump or Biden.

Both are terrible options

Biden a genocidal asshole

And trump, is well trump.

And I can’t say that if I was in the position of the American working class. I’m not either a democrat or a republican.

Because believe, choosing sides in these situations are dangerous, either way.

With Leftists, so many people have what I call, a Taught Victim complex. Where, people take their real and horrible experiences, that they or others face, as a way to control. You can see it in many ways.

Now to give a disclaimer, I am White. So, I can’t really speak on issues like racial discrimination against, POC by I’m not. But I can speak on my experience as someone from a POC dominated country. With that I have faced some discrimination by I’m white, and they also have this Taught Victim complex where they use very real, terrible things like Apart time, as a way to get what they want.

But then it also gives white people an excuse to be racist and ignore problems like White on POC racism.

It’s a vicious cycle that can be broken by, being more self-aware and breaking down these toxic ideals.

That nobody except, politicians and the rich benefit from.

With the Right-wings, they are mostly just Racist, sexist and all that fun stuff. They have bigoted opinions and use the fact that practically they can solve economic problems with "practicality" but then people ignore the obvious human rights violations. When their “practical" ways, ignore the working class, the POC and the LGBTQ+. And only benefit, Rich white people.

Now with trump, he believes what Israel is doing, is wrong. Which is good, but he's also, Trump, with very terrible bigoted opinions.

With bidden, he used all the buzz words to manipulate leftists, by we and I am including myself, thought that just by someone says all the things you want to hear means that they would be good at running a country, now America is in shambles by of what a terrible president Biden is.

A big problem with the internet today, is that if you are not "woke" enough, or "conservative" enough, you are a bad person either way. And again, it’s just to divide people and give power to the people making America such a joke.

So, all I can say, is learn nuance.

Know, that nobody is all bad and all good.

Nobody is going to agree with everything you say, and they can’t make you happy all the time.

And yes, some people are awful but remember in their minds, they were completely correct. And by nobody told them no, they were able to hurt a lot of people.

Because nobody can learn, that picking sides will always make this cycle of harm, to everyone.

So, I beg everyone who comes across this post, pls learn nuance. learn to not be manipulated by buzzwords.

Because the only right solution is, Peace for everyone, and that peace will only by required when bad people, get out of power.

And Peace seems unattainable, but it isn’t. Peace can by real.

When people who want to divide you, are gone.

America has a racism problem, like all countries.

America has a human rights problem, like all countries.

As an example, Cole Brings Plenty, was murdered and he is not getting justice, Palestinian people are getting murdered, and they are not getting justice.

Because the people profiting are in power.

Because they don’t want peace. They don’t want their countries to be safe, and good for everyone. Because they get to much money out of not.

The Taught Victim complex is rampant and has affected everyone by most people have an eye for an eye mentality.

And most people just want simple justice. And real problems get overshadowed.

Humans are so complex that every opinion, possible, someone has it.

So just, I want everyone who read this whole thing.

To do one thing for me.

Learn to be central, not right left.

But Central.

Look at every viewpoint.

See what point their making. And ask always. Is this harmful to anyone?

If it’s a yes, try and educate them, show them your point of view, try to teach them nuance.

Ifs it’s no, just ask why they think so, ask yourself, why it makes you angry.

Remember it’s a choice. For them and for you.

Hold you head high, and know, you are making the world a better, safer place.

A place where Peace is truly attainable.

And if you disagree with anything I just said, Tell me in the comments, what I could say differently, what your opinion is, why you think so, and what wording I could have changed, what do I need to do differently.

Thanks for reading.

#america #us politics #politics #joe biden #cole brings plenty #palestine #my opinion #conservatives #leftism #nuance

[possessionisamyth]

Since that person said to ignore or block them for their post if there's disagreement, I will respect that and just make my own post.

Why is RE5 labelled racist and not RE4? Well, there's two things going on here. First, the original RE4 was kinda racist too. There's Ada Wong's depiction, the people in Spain weren't speaking Spain Spanish but Latin American Spanish and some of it was just gibberish. There's the "mexican yellow filter" layered on top of the village segment. Yet, the word we're actually looking for when it comes to the issues of Resident Evil 4 is xenophobia not racism. Everything is going under the cut because there's a lot here. Pardon for any typos, and there are links attached.

I genuinely think an RE5 Remake would be a reboot due to it's issues and the story direction changes RE4 Remake has made. If that helps get an idea of my thoughts before you click that button, you've been warned.

What's the difference? Let's look at the dictionary terms according to the merriam-webster dictionary.

Xenophoba- Fear and hatred of strangers or foreigners or of anything that is strange or foreign.

Racism- A belief that race is a fundamental determinant of human traits and capacities and that racial differences produce an inherent superiority of a particular race.

A further example of the difference here is a French white person can be xenophobic to a Polish white person showing that same hatred, but it's not racism because both parties still benefit from the privileges provided to them due to the color of their skin and lack of ethnic features.

So what's the difference between the RE4 and RE5 depictions, and why is RE5 labelled as racist? Starting with the setting, RE4 is set in Spain. It's not set in Mexico, or Brazil, or Cuba, but it is in Spain. Spain is a colonial power who colonized huge areas of South America. The reason there are so many english speakers in North America is the same reason there are so many spanish speakers in South America. Which is the brutalization and murder of the people and their cultures to force assimilation into another culture. Here is the Britannica article [X] and a list of a colonies Spain exerted control over if you scroll to the bottom [X].

Spain as a country and a culture have the same foot to stand on when it comes to being turned into mindless zombies and being killed as US Americans, British, French, Canadians and so on from a world perspective. There are very obvious classism themes going into play for this village Leon has stumbled into and proceeds to shoot his way through including how the houses are built and what the bridges are made from.

The most important distinction is that RE4 has villagers, soldiers, monsters, cultists, a man dressed as a priest, and another man cosplaying as a Spanish colonizer. You know what they don't have? They don't have enemies dressed up in luchador outfits, fiesta outfits, or wearing big sombreros. The only blonde woman they're seen trying to steal and infect is the character you have to save, get to know as a person, and get to play as in a game segment. Plus the person pulling all the strings is another white man looking for power like the Spanish did when they killed all those people historically speaking.

On the other hand, what colonizers did to the entire continent of Africa was so awful many labeled it The Rape of Africa. Historians later labeled it The Scramble for Africa, yet the history remains as bloody and grotesque regardless of the title.

Spain did have it's own tragedies, but you don't want to read all of that history junk. You want to know why RE5 is labelled racist specifically! It's just a video game. Sure there was the tribal costume for Sheva, but that's the worst of it. I mean RE5 is just RE4 with a setting change and with Chris instead of Leon, right? Yes and No. Let's list the similarities first and bleed into the differences.

Evil white guy seeks power and discovers a resource he can use to gain power. (Saddler with the plaga in amber, Wesker with the sonnentreppe flowers for Uroboros)

Heroic white guy comes on the scene based on a tip they received so they can find a particular woman. (Chris for Jill, Leon for Ashley)

Both groups that the player has to kill are infected with parasites.

Both protagonists deal with an infected population where the line between their humanity and inhumanity is questioned due to their ability to communicate and use tools to further their goals to kill and infect.

Both games have the player enter a village where it's clear the place isn't the richest and- wait a minute. Wait a minute!

The town we enter in RE5 is being occupied by the military on the hunt for terrorists. It looks like it used to be in pretty good shape, but based on the random plumes of smoke and what appears to be previously bombed rooftops, it's clear this place has been through some shit which can be based on the amount of damage these buildings have. The houses in the village in RE4 look as though they were falling apart due to age and negligence not outer forces. In RE5 we also keep seeing the imagery of killed livestock unlike in RE4 where the player is responsible for most dead livestock. So Plaga Type-1 can take care of their animals but Plaga Types 2 and 3 don't care? Well, that probably has nothing to do with the location.

Speaking of location, did anyone else notice whereas in RE4 the locations get more modern and/or expensive you can visibly see where the money has gone, but in RE5 the locations get more ancient and tribal themed until you have to deal with Wesker? Just me? Okay, back to the similarities.

Both the plaga amber and the sonnentreppe flowers have been there for hundreds of years, and the- hold on a second. Ramon's family was responsible for making sure the amber never got out. They sealed the place up because they knew it was dangerous. The sonnentreppe flowers were used by the Ndipaya tribe in West Africa to determine who would rule them and their king would then become super human. They fled when their empire fell, labeled it as sacred ground and sent men of their tribe as soldiers to guard it, and then later lost that sacred land to a corporate militia. Ramon opened up the amber caves to Saddler willingly after his parent's "mysterious death and disappearance." Hmm.

Ramon is a descendant of a famous colonizer. The Ndipaya tribe was doing some messed up eugenics tests as The Right of Kings, stopped doing that to turn the zone into holy ground, and then were removed from their own land by a foreign power. Hm. This is starting to sound familiar in a bad way.

Okay, but no one cares about that stuff! No one thinks that deep in the lore or set pieces. The people claiming racism are "blowing up" about RE5 when it comes to the visuals. All right. Let's talk about those because you are right! The visuals are the meat of the racism label.

Remember how I said RE4 doesn't have ganados running around in sombreros and luchador or fiesta outfits which would actually be racist? Let's look at the majini.

Both the ganados and the majini are being used by their specific higher ups, (Saddler's cult and Tricell) to act as a militia force in order to protect foreign interests. As a result both parties are hostile and murderous to outsiders.

Both games gives distinct costuming to differentiate stronger enemies. For RE4 you have Salvador, El Gigante, J.J. the gatling man isn't great imagery for Spain not going to lie. There's the bella sisters. The group that has the most distinct costuming due to them being bags are the cultists as the soliders just line up with Krauser's choice in wear.

Now the majini are- oh. Okay, gattling gun majini and gattling ganado cancel each other out. The rest though... Okay, Executioner is probably supposed to be like Salvador, but we get a chainsaw majini segment so the Executioner must be like the Bella Sisters? Okay, there are two of executioners so that's what we're going to claim. Big Man Majini? They didn't even give him shoes or a shirt. He's just in short pants. I can't think of a ganado comparison that would even this out. Giant maijini? Why do they have those masks on?!?! Why are they running around with rope loincloths?!!! Stop being so tall!!! Get down from there! Yeah but El Gigante was, no no, RE5 also gets their own El Gigante, the Giant Majini were a different enemy. Okay but the rest of the Ndipaya are supposed to be like the cultists and- hello? What do you mean there was a letter written by a dying child in that village that the surviving Ndipaya men put on the ceremonial outfits before they started their killing activity?

But the cultists also wore ceremonial outfits! Okay, but I don't think I need to explain the visual difference between wearing a long black dress versus putting on ceremonial clothing and body paint used only for special occasions. If you need a comparison, the cultists dressed that way to show dedication to their religion similar to nuns so they wore it everyday. The Ndipaya tribe wore normal clothes up until infection where they then dressed up in their special formal costumes so they could look more tribal for the section where the player gets to kill them all. That's not great. At all.

I think the overall reception for this game being labelled as racist or not racist has to do with people just wanting to enjoy the game and ignore the issues, and people talking about the issues in a way that isn't exactly concise. We know black people were on the development team according to an MTV interview with RE5 Producer Jun Takeuchi [X]. According to him, the team valued the opinions of their black members during development and were constantly checking with them.

We know many people writing articles trying to debunk the racism label were running to Glenn Bowman who is an anthropologist and Sue Clark who at the time was the head of the British Board of Film Classification wherein both parties stated the game was not racist. [X] But when it comes to Glenn's comments, it turns out he wasn't an expert on race relations at all. [X] I tried digging deeper into the source, but the blog post exposing videogamer.com is now gone. Yet, I can look up Glenn Bowman and see that he's a retired professor. A retired white professor who was an expert on international relations like in Palestine, Israel, and Yugoslavia. [X] Not race relations. So the fact that everyone was referencing these two people as sources for the game not being racist does concern me.

Look, RE4 dropped in 2005. The conversation about it's racial and xenophobic issues were held mostly between the small RE circles people managed to find and other people of color who played the game at the time of it's release. This is also if those circles even brought up the topic because it was such a game changer for the genre, the issues it had were an afterthought until later on.

RE5 dropped in 2009. Social media was just getting it's foot in the door outside of forums. The first black president had been in office for a year, and conversations about race were finally being brought back to the table in a way that wasn't immediately humorous or dismissive because "things had gotten better". The US cultural consensus during the 2000s was a situation where the middle class felt like everyone had a seat at the table when it came to discussions of race. That's one of the reasons why looking at that decade of films you'll see things about race that would never pass into a final script today. I mean Tropic Thunder came out in 2008, and the negative reception it received still didn't "blow up" as understood public knowledge until a couple years after the fact. Some black people thought it was a hilarious when it dropped, and those were the voices being highlighted.

When and why people are saying RE5 is racist is because like many things of the 2000s, there are concepts in there that have aged like milk. They are offensive, outdated, and based on negative stereotypes given to an entire continent of people and the people who are descendants of the slaves reaped from those countries.

Yet, the scene that people bring up the most in this game other than th Ndipaya tribe is the classic racist fear mongering image where we see a dark skinned black man violently yank a blonde white woman away from safety while she screams for help. Does this remind you of the "Mad Brute" poster by Harry R Hopps. Or "America’s desire — Europe’s fate" from the Fliegende Blätter. Or the assumed excuse a lot of black men got lynched for? I understand this town is supposed to be horrible and the majini the victims, but I have to ask why it was specifically a white woman with blonde hair instead of a black woman being yanked into that building while she screamed for help. That is such a strong visual decision to make in the middle of this town in an African country where we also see a black woman walking by carrying a basket on her head at the beginning of the game. So the black women are still here, but they're not even cast into the role of a throwaway victim in this game?

To answer why is RE5 racist and not RE4, I've said a lot here. If the story is set in Africa, of course Chris is going to be killing african zombies. That's what we're going to see. That's not the racist part when here are other zombies who are not visibly black in those crowds that mob the player. What is racist is seeing the racially charged tribal imagery to frame these victims of this tragedy as monsters. What we need to see in instead if we get a remake is a concentrated effort to focus on Tricell and Wesker and the last tendrils of Umbrella as the bad guys.

These are places being occupied by corporate interests, and people being experimented on and tortured for corporate profits. Yet we have a location where something sacred was not only thematically framed in a way that justifies the extinction of an ancient tribe, but their descendants are then punished for it through being lied to and tricked under the promise of receiving healthcare.

RE5 is racist not because a white guy is killing african zombies in an african country. RE5 is racist because it tries to take a story about colonialism and racism and the structural failings of the government and doesn't execute it well. And we know it doesn't because people are still having these conversations long after it's release despite it's financial success.

#resident evil #resident evil 5 #re5 #long post #please delay a re5r and give me code veronica remake first #remake only fans dont know or appreciate chris

[onesettleronebullet]

Hi! I think you're very smart but I'm shy... I had a real question I don't understand so I wanted to ask you what settler means? I'm latina so I know europeans settled my country, but here it's always treated like history. I never heard about settlers in a modern context before I followed your blog. Here we just talk about racism about color and sometimes culture, like for indigenous people. Would I be a settler because I'm white skinned? I don't know where my family really comes from because one of my parents was adopted. My parent thinks they're half black but they pass as white too so we don't know. I think white politicians are the only people I could call settler today because most are from plantation owner families that only married europeans? But it doesn't make sense to me to call white people in the street settlers because I don't know their family history. Unless settler means just everyone who is white? Or is it different in South Africa? I know I'm missing some kind of nuance but I can't understand it. Sorry about the bad English.

So when I refer to a settler, it refers to a distinct class of people who benefit from the exploitation of another group of peoples (the colonised). A settler does not have to be the descendant of the original settlers, whether it be Pilgrims, Conquistadors, or the VOC; a Polish immigrant to South Africa is as much a settler as a Boer who's family has been in the nation since 1652.

Both benefit from the colonisation process because colonisation is an ongoing project and not just a thing of the past. The only difference is, is that the as the Boer is the engineer of this project, they are much more secure in their status, whereas the Pole, the Greek or the Italian, has little to no political power and only benefit as much as they do from colonisation due to their proximity to whiteness. Memmi, in the Coloniser and the Colonised, argues that these other groups represent another strata of society separate from the "true" coloniser, but I argue that while that was true of the settler-colonies of the 19th and 20th centuries it's less true now where these groups have essentially assimilated into the settler class even if their situation is a bit more precarious than that of the "majority".

Similarly, the economic migrant of colour, oppressed as they are, represent the lowest substrate of the settler class. Yes, people of colour can be and are settlers. Although they may not benefit from colonisation in the same way Cortes, van Riebeeck, or Smith do, they still benefit and have more upwards mobility than the indigenous peoples of the nation do.

In short, a settler is any white person within a settler colony but not just any white people but also any person who is not indigenous or a member of the colonised.

P.S, in the settler colonies of the "New World", indigenous identity includes all descendants of slaves just so we're clear. But there is a caveat - if you are white passing and other settlers view you as white and you benefit from that settler status, you are a settler. This is not a moral failing or a sign of you as an individual being a bad person, but you benefit from the current colonial status quo. Again, it's a more precarious situation than that of the "original" settler as you only benefit so long as people are unaware of your family background, but there's a reason people have made concerted efforts to pass in the past. There's benefits, plain and simple.

#newpad.txt #theres more but this is a short version #ask away #anons

[girlcalledwhatsername]

Okay so I'm seeing a lot of people lately (and some older theorists of course) talk about how cis men as such are Not an oppressor class, and that misogyny is the fault of patriarchy not of cis men and therefore they should not be considered the oppressor class in terms of gendered oppression. I respectfully disagree with this on a political level.

Let me preface by saying I am a brown disabled genderfluid person from a "third world country", so this is informed by the many intersections I have experienced and the political understanding I have built thereof.

1) The oppressive system of "patriarchy" is responsible for gender oppression and not an oppressor class - this can be said of any kind of oppression if one wants. I have heard people talk about how it's racism that is the problem and not white people, and that is true, but that doesn't change the fact that white people are the ones (in Western countries particularly) who have created laws and enacted behaviours and benefitted from and upheld social structures that oppress people of colour. It is white people who colonised my country and spread racist rhetorics which they still continue with and benefit from, and therefore even though all white people aren't gonna be racist, they very much are the oppressor class because they hold that power over coloured people. And much like with the patriarchy, our freedom struggle has stories of white people who supported poc and were punished for it by their own kind, the way men who don't adhere to ideas of patriarchy are punished by the setup. Likewise the way that women often also uphold patriarchy: there is plenty talk in freedom struggles and outside that too of brown people (and I'm sure other poc but i can only speak for brown people) who upheld racist setups because they got some small benefit from it. Or like rich queer people siding with Republicans (this one's for the Americans mwuah). That does not change the fact that men have historically made laws keeping women oppressed and continue to uphold systems that oppress us.

2) Coming to the other intersection real quick, people argue that men aren't the oppressor class because women often hold positions of privilege over men: this is also true of other intersections. The rich gay man holds position of power and privilege over all his working class employees, including the straight ones. The white queer person possibly holds power over the brown cishet guy. A rich brown man also holds power over his working class white employees btw, still doesn't mean white people are suddenly not an oppressor class. It seems to me that these situations are a lot easier to understand when race plays in so I bring it up because not once ever have I had a progressive person tell me it's Not All White People when I make a general statement about the power white people hold and exploit.

3) The matter of the Cis woman. I will bring up again here the fact this is my political opinion and my political framework for understanding intersectionality, and I understand that a lot of people think there is gonna be One True Politics to stick to but I don't believe i have to agree with all leftist political ideas in order to have the "right opinion". So here is mine: cis people have long oppressed and continue to oppress trans people in the exact same way that cis men oppress women. Cis and perisex people in general are also an oppressor class holding privilege over trans and intersex people, cis and perisex people have made laws and upheld systems that oppress trans and intersex people. The fact that cis people hold power over trans people does not erase the fact that cis men still hold power over cis women and other oppressed gender and sex classes. Both can be true at the same time. Men being oppressors doesn't suddenly mean that a trans man is the oppressor class for women too because 1) cis women hold power not by virtue of being women but by virtue of being cis and 2) trans men are not oppressing other queer people, lateral aggression aside we aren't oppressor classes for each other we are in the same fucking boat.

4) It absolutely is not bioessentialism to say this the same way it isn't bioessentialism to say that white people have been oppressive. White genes didn't make em do it, it was a choice, the issue is that they continue to make that choice because it's easier for them. Same with cis men. Masculinity doesn't make them do this. Masculinity isn't inherently anything and I appreciate both masculinity and feminity as a genderfluid person myself. It's about the inherent power that men hold over women in any society but also particularly the one I've grown up in which a lot of Westerners will easily ignore.

TL;DR: When I say "men are an oppressor class" I do Not mean that cis men will never ever be in a position where they are oppressed because that's the point of intersectionality. I do not mean that trans men are also an oppressor class - because they are also oppressed by cis people (including cis men) and in terms of gendered oppression cis men are still upholding systems of oppression that directly benefit them and oppress women.

Note: if you have are gonna argue with me the least you can do is read the whole thing first though, I can't fit nuance in the tldr

#misogyny #I've been meaning to write this a while now but I was having too many breakdowns to also handle anon hate earlier #here it is finally #transphobia #racism #colonialism #gender discourse #politics

[opinated-user]

Can you give examples of LO having a colonialist mentality?

her whole Cherokee appropiating act without any relation to the actual Nation or allowing them to decide who gets to be part of their Nation or not, which robs them of their agency, on top of inventing out of thin air the reasons why she's Native (including having a misterious "native gene", a mere concept that is more racist the more you think about it), is already peak colonialism. LO wants to be an "indigenous woman" and so she is, and this can be seen by how many "native" decorations or things she has around the house or even by the feathered earring she put on her brownfacing sexualized avatar, rather than because she has participated on their culture, has knowledge of it or she was embraced by the Nation as one of their own. the way LO has treated her "identity" has been of a shiny "exotic" shield to conveniently take out when it suits against criticism or actual allegations, not a source of pride, joy or with any other purpose. all the while she is a white passing person who openly admits has never lived actual racism or oppression related to being non white. there has been a lot of instances in which she ignored actual Native people calling her out for something (including the brownfacing) or directly spoke over them because she didn't feel like listening to them in the first place. this is what colonialism is actually like. an outsider taking out from a culture they don't understand whatever they feel like for their own benefit.

the way she talks about the sub vs dub discourse can be summarized as "English is an inherently better language than Japanese and Japanese has no value anyway, so English can replace anything on the Japanese language without losing anything significant".

related to that, when someone tries to tell LO that something on the Japanese language is valuable and can't be translated directly to English without losing it's entire meaning, LO always resort to calling those people weebs and insist that they have a fetish about Japan's culture or language... implying that the only value there can be about such culture or language is of a fetish, as a provider of sexual pleasure, rather than something that can be just as valuable as the English language.

"I said anime was shit" is already a pretty damming thing to say when you consider that anime is an entire medium, a style if you want to go a bit further, but not an genre, whose main recognizable trait is... being made on the non English speaking side of the world. anime is actually as diverse as western animation can be but it all sucks the same for LO, someone who already has no respect for the culture or language, except for the extremely rare exceptions that she can use just to keep bashing the western shows that didn't give her enough underage sapphics being cute.

noticed how most of these points only relate to LO bashing on anime and nothing else? that is because LO has never even looked at any productions from any country that didn't speak English, be it Africa (from where she thinks all Black people come from), Latin America, Russia or any other place. the closest thing that LO ever came to interacting with another culture was Encanto... a Disney production made on the USA and filtered through that lens, only to then make a video that heavily whitewashed the story itself. this is extremely rare among cartoon reviewers, especially ones that have been posting for as long as she has. all of them at least once spoke about some French production or a SEA one or from anywhere else in the planet. LO has never even tried because she doesn't think other cultures can offer her anything significant worth talking about... except anime, that she hates already.

#lily orchard

[daemonhxckergrrl]

you think you know someone and suddenly they're all "we have to be respectful. she was a mother/grandmother and had a family and devoted her life to the country".

the incredibly racist family, including a literal paedophile she bailed out for £12 million ? the family who have an incredible amount of wealth while people here starve ? that family ? the one whose legacy is built off slavery and stealing ?

she devoted her life by... waving ?? being a mechanic once ?? making herself exempt from laws such as wealth transparency, hiring equality (iirc the late queen could turn down people working on her estate for being non-white). where was her devotion to queer people during the AIDS crisis ?? where was her devotion to struggling families when she tried to claim heating benefits for her palaces/castles ??

I'm not gonna go start fights over this, and there's people whose friendship I value enough to avoid this topic with (my respect is for them and not her bc she did fuck all to earn it), but it's disappointing to see.

I just don't get it. if someone has genuinely done awful things, and stood by while others happened, why should I refrain from speaking the truth ? why should I lie and only say positive things, or even just keep quiet, for an undisclosed amount of time in some pretense of "being respectful" ??

that's dishonest. it's also pointless. and yes,, I'd be upset if my parents died and stuff came out about them being terrible people, but I'd also be pissed at them for keeping that shit quiet. for pretending. and grieving is always messy so there's never a "right" time but I think if my parents had tried to hide the colonial source of their wealth or their active racism then I'd want to know. also I'd want to know where the fuck they got that money from considering we're a working class family.

my parents aren't, to my knowledge, terrible people and they haven't down anything like that. so it won't come up. bit like the royal family know exactly what they've done. what their legacy is. what she's done. it's not a surprise to them. like I think the nonce knows he's a nonce. on account of committing actual noncery. and if the kids don't onwo their legacy, perhaps it's a good thing if they find out.

tbh most of this is just people who the royals don't know exist and don't give a shit about getting all het up w/ other people the royals don't know or give a shit about. like it's the weirdest white knighting. Steve from Portsmouth she ain't gonna shag you bro. mostly bc she's dead. but also she didn't know or care.

whole thing is fucking stupid. sorry that this got long, I'm just tilted over the weird culty fetishisation around the monarchy (even from supposed anti-monarchists) and the absolutely scuffed social rule that we shouldn't talk shit about objectively bad dead people. if you don't want your family to deal w/ that then maybe don't be a shit person during your life

there's just gonna be some people I don't speak to for a few days until they've had their little mourning phase

#daemon.md #fuck the monarchy #fuck the weird monarchist cult #fuck the UK

[sakebytheriver]

Okay.

So to be completely candid and honest with you all, I don't really care too much about this particular twitter drama going on about the left and disaffected white men and boys and how better to appeal to them, I think it's petty and kind of dumb and most of the people weighing in on it are the same that attacked that person for cooking for their neighbors, because ultimately this issue is about being neighborly and about how capitalism has separated all of us, including white men, from our sense of community and building good relationships/allyships with the people around us, but you know what, here it is, my two cents

The system is set up in such a way that falling into this alt-right stuff is the default for all human beings, when we talk about how there is systematic racism and patriarchal constructs ingrained into our societal structure we mean that they are so embedded that they have basically become the systems themselves, resisting them is out of the norm, resisting them is supposed to be hard, it takes even people they directly oppress years to dismantle the racist and misogynistic beliefs they've subconsciously absorbed into their own minds and biases, so for white men who seemingly reep all the benefits going against these systems is especially difficult and these alt-right pipelines target them when they're young and they're brains are still squishy and moldable, it's hard to break away from something you learned to believe as a kid, but it's not impossible and anything that can be done to pull them back is something we should do. That's what diversity of tactics is supposed to mean, for the time being we have to work within these systems and so yeah that means pretty much the only way these kids will get deradicalized is by some dumbfuck leftist streamer, I'm real sorry, but the revolution is not going to come to dismantle these systems in the blink of an eye and fix everything, the leftist movement in America and in the world in general is still so small, there's basically no mainstream leftist news channels, but Fox News is considered one of the most reputable sources of information while actively employing scare tactics, openly lying, and even encouraging genocidal ideologies straight into the brains of over half the population of the entire country, the enemy is so much bigger than us, guys, at this point we dont even have one foot to stand on, we have to engage in guerilla warfare here, our methods are not their methods, we do not want to exterminate or punish, we want to rehabilitate and unify

The fact of the matter is the way these systems are set up is meant to look glamorous to white men in particular while they subjugate everyone else, but at the same time they are absolutely debilitating to those same white men and we need to be able to reach those white men/boys and show them how their lives would be better without them and at the same time talk about the way these systems compounded with the late stage capitalism we are living under means that they're lives suck even more, because corporations are taking away all sense of community and ramping up the division between all groups of the working class to make it easier to exploit them, hence the disaffection, and look, let's be real with ourselves here, when one side is telling you that you're the cream of the crop and it's everyone else who is the problem while the other is seemingly blaming you for every problem it's not exactly a surprise that some dumb fuck teenagers fall down an edgy alt-right youtube rabbit hole and grow up into even worse men.

These systems are the way almost everyone has lived for centuries the dismantling of them is going to be hard and it can't be done without unity, to steal someone else's words who was a much better speaker than I am,

"We're going to fight racism not with racism, but we're going to fight with solidarity. We say we're not going to fight capitalism with black capitalism, but we're going to fight it with socialism." ~Fred Hampton

We must appeal to every person in the world on the left, a better world must involve everyone, and that includes white men, I'm gonna be real I don't really care to police any leftist in the way they talk about white men as a force for oppression, but I do think sometimes talking directly to them in particular is good too, we need to talk to every single group of people on this god's green earth directly and show them the ways escaping from the systemic oppression inflicted by racism and patriarchy and dismantling capitalism will be a net good for every single human being, including white men, that the feelings of disaffectedness these white men and teenage boys in particular are feeling is coming from these systems and their lives would be better without them, not by becoming a pawn in service of them

It is so easy to reduce white men/boys to The Enemy, but they're not, part of leftist ideology is dismantling the prison/justice system's emphasis on punishment which often boarders on cruel and unusual and has been proven to only make the problem worse and cause more reoffenders rather than letting people reintegrate into society to lead healthy productive lives (of course we need to talk about how to reinvest in our underfunded communities and social service programs to combat the prison system problem but that's a different post), we cannot state to want to build a united and kinder world where we focus on rehabilitative justice while turning our noses up on a group of people who need just that kind of rehabilitation

Are white men's issues the biggest issues the left should be focusing on?

God no.

But that doesn't mean it isn't one of the problems that should be on the list, just because it's not high priority doesn't mean we ignore it completely, the world exists in shades of grey, no issue is ever as black and white as you think it is, allow nuance into your life or we will never reach the perfect leftist utopia you so desparately say you want

#ignore me #long post #politics

[dataanxiety]

Trifecta

Yes, she's black, Jewish, and female. And she feels VERY oppressed! In actuality, she is the winner of the grievance lottery, a trifecta, as one can infer from this excerpt that I LEGALLY reproduced here from the increasingly left-leaning (Jewish) Forward. They don't like to call themselves the Jewish Forward anymore. Kind of like the Jewish Anti-Defamation League is now the ADL and defames Jews regularly unless they are woke enough.

Note that emphasis is mine in what follows. I could have included exasperated comments, but you'll get the idea.

"Can Jews Be White?"

by Nylah Burton, July 02, 2018

A couple of nights ago, I was walking to my apartment in my aggressively white neighborhood. This particular night, my noticeable blackness could have been deadly. There were helicopters flying above my apartment and police stationed at a couple of streets right by my front door. Police can punish anyone who fits the suspect’s description, which is usually black. My friend and I felt both terrified and relieved: terrified of me being questioned or shot from above, and relieved that she could use her whiteness to shield me.

It made me reflect on a topic: Can Jews Be White? After Alma published the Jews of Color roundtable discussion, I encountered a lot of indignation from “white-passing” Jews who took great issue with our use of the terms “white Jew” and “whiteness” in describing the intra-community racism we had experienced. I was pretty furious. Policing the terminology and feelings of Jews of Color was pretty much the antithesis of all we had discussed. And furthermore, many Jews actually are white.

For the record, I strongly feel that de-assimilation and the dismantling of whiteness is critical to both the eradication of racism and the survival of the Jewish people. But here’s the salient point: White Jews aren’t white passing. They are functionally white.

“White-passing” implies the need to hide. For example, a white-passing Latinx person may be deported if their immigration status is revealed. A white-passing black person may get some privilege due to their appearance, but will still be subject to systemic economic disparities. Most systemic benefits of whiteness will not be taken away from white Ashkenazi Jews who possess them if someone discovers their Jewishness. No doubt, prejudice and anti-Semitism may remain, but their loan rates will stay the same and the police won’t be more likely to pull the trigger.

This is not to say that being Jewish isn’t incredibly dangerous in this country. But at this point in time in America, anti-Semitism is not comparable to systemic racism. All Jews will be a target of white supremacists, but many Jews may not ever experience racism. White supremacy is an extreme ideology that asserts the superiority of Western European Christian whiteness with violence and murder. It can spread like wildfire, but it is rarely coded into every aspect of our lives. Racism is.

In this country, to access the benefits of whiteness, different European immigrant groups had to shed parts of their individual cultures and seek shelter under the big tent of “white” culture. But this is an empty existence, for white culture has no value beyond power and privilege. Being willing to acknowledge when whiteness applies to us isn’t assimilation; it’s an acknowledgement of a fucked up system.

The views and opinions expressed in this article do not necessarily reflect those of the Forward.

#black jewish privilege #white jews #jews of color

[slowpoke272]

“white women: everything you already know about your own racism and how to do better” by regina jackson & saira rao

finished: june 21, 2023

there was some irony getting a hold of this audiobook as it was in my queue for several weeks, maybe even a couple months by now; this was the first instance on the libby app, for me, where the maximum number of people had “loaned out” the audiobook and i had to be on a waitlist to wait my turn for access to it. unfortunately, the first couple times it was my turn on the waitlist, i was notified at times where i was unable to react right away (once i think i was asleep, the other time i was busy with work) and so the notification slipped my mind for the hours-long window of opportunity i had, and i lost my place in line. on my third attempt, i was at last able to gain access and i’m happy to report this was well worth the wait.

this is a masterfully written piece that does not hold back, and i think it’s exactly what we need. although it’s addressed specifically for white women, i think any white person will benefit from hearing from these two ladies. this is one of the few circumstances where i also highly, highly recommend the audiobook over traditional physical copy as hearing from regina and saira directly made this hit even harder for me.

this book was written for me and i have gained a lot from hearing it. i needed to hear it. i learned about how, first and foremost, we are so reluctant to being labeled racist because we are so afraid and feel so bad for not being perfect, but by striving for perfectionism, i’m not only hurting myself but my community of white women. this harm also contributes to feeding the machine that is white supremacy. it’s not enough to just detest white supremacy, i have been made to understand my part and how someone like me keeps these racist systems going. unfortunately, i have been silent when i should have spoken up. i am continually looking for opportunities to speak up within my own community. i have also struggled with exceptionalism, that is the desire to separate myself from the extremists (white supremacists) that exist all around me, not understanding my role and contribution to their hate. i don’t need to be perfect or the best, and i’m not in competition with fellow white women, or any women.

it wasn’t my choice to be born white skin, contributing to the white supremacy of america, but this does not make me exceptional as nobody is ever able to make a choice of their skin color, ethnicity, or culture. instead of detesting others in my community for their indoctrination of the worst parts of our society, i am choosing to lead with love. i love myself and i love others, including fellow white women. i do not need to separate myself with hate, but look for opportunities to share with other white women. maybe i won’t be able to change someone overnight, but by planting ideas and making a lightbulb go off, i can contribute to an overall understanding that is long overdue. i didn’t ask for this role but BIPOC didn’t ask for their roles either and to be silent when evil is occurring is an evil on its own.

i understand the way my actions and emotions are perceived is of little relevance to this battle, and i accept that i have made and will make mistakes in the future. i am committed to understanding and being a part of the change because although this country was founded upon racist ideals and authority, i will not allow it to continue on my watch.

this is a very powerful read and i will certainly reflect on it for some time and continue to reference it as needed. the writing is equally concise as it is informative, and it was a relatively quick read but the concepts are heavy. i hope the relentless queue and waitlist is representative of the desire for my community of white women to read and digest this book. reading some of the negative reviews of the book (which there are few!), i understand why some people shut down and are unable to accept these concepts. i can see my own intentions and previous resistance at play, but i’m certainly better equipped now to dismantle that resistance and i’m looking forward to trying it on other white women.

white women, please read this book. if you don’t think you need to, you especially need to. if you get stuck on an idea or specific part, talk to me about it. let’s discuss. i feel very strongly about the contents of this book. we have a lot of work to do, but the sooner we look to each other and are able to be honest, the sooner we get through the beginning stages of the work. let’s progress forward, and let’s not leave anyone behind.

rating: 10/10 this deeply resonated with me, i will re-read it again numerous times and recommend it to anyone i know, the story and characters will stick with me forever; crave discussing it all the time and bring it up unprovoked

#white women #regina jackson #saira rao

[anayasorrells]

Chapter 5 Fieldwork

Institutional Racism: racism that is institutionalized and practiced on a regular basis against individuals or groups based on their race, ethnicity, or country of origin is known as institutional racism. It happens when institutions, systems, or organizations treat people of color unfairly, which frequently leads to inequities in access to resources, opportunities, and services. Discriminatory laws, procedures, and standards in the fields of housing, employment, and criminal justice are examples of institutional racism.

I chose this picture because it shows people putting labels on a black woman. People automatically put you in a category based on race or appearance.

Microagressions: often unconscious words or deeds that send hateful or discriminatory messages to one person or group of people based on that person's or group's race, gender, sexual orientation, religion, age, or other traits. Microaggressions include, remarks that minimize someone's life experiences or identity, presumptions made about someone's skills or interests based on their demographic group, and actions that make a place unpleasant or unwelcoming for particular people or groups.

I chose this picture because it's someone asking her if she's actually where she is from. They are asking because they are assuming she's from somewhere else based on her looks.

Miscegenation: describes the mixing of several racial groupings through procreation, cohabitation, marriage, and sexual activity. Historically, the phrase was used to describe interracial partnerships, especially those involving persons of various skin tones. Miscegenation has been a contentious idea throughout history, and for a variety of social, cultural, and religious reasons, it was outlawed or despised in many civilizations. The phrase is now frequently used to characterize the historical and social dynamics of race mixing as well as the ways in which these dynamics have been controlled and debated over time in academic or historical contexts.

I chose this picture because it shows a interracial marriage.

Phenotype: describes the observable physical and behavioral characteristics of an individual that are the outcome of the interplay between their genotype and environment. In other words, it is the way a person's physical and behavioral qualities represent their genetic traits. Physical qualities like height, eye color, and hair texture are examples of phenotypic traits. Behavioral aspects like temperament and personality are examples of phenotypic traits. Numerous elements, such as the environment, diet, and way of life decisions, as well as genetic mutations and variances, can affect the phenotype. Numerous branches of biology, including genetics, evolution, and medicine, depend on an understanding of phenotypes.

I chose this picture because height is an example of a phenotype since it is an observable characteristic.

Racial Ideology: set of beliefs, attitudes, and values that shape how individuals and societies view and interact with people of different races.. Racial ideology can include viewpoints on the inherent superiority or inferiority of different racial groupings, convictions regarding the traits and behaviors connected to specific racial groups, and viewpoints regarding how racial disparities should be handled or addressed in society. The way that people are regarded and treated in society in connection to their race, as well as how they have access to resources, opportunities, and power, are all influenced by racial ideology.

I chose this picture because the belief in the concept of white supremacy, which posits that white people are inherently superior to people of other races and justifies racial discrimination and violence against non-white individuals and groups. This is racial ideology

White Privilege: refers to the institutionalized advantages and benefits that white individuals have in cultures that are characterized by racial discrimination and inequality. It is the notion that white people enjoy benefits and opportunities that are not extended to people of color merely because of their race. These benefits might be overt, like favorable hiring or promotion treatment, or covert, such not having to worry about racial profiling or discrimination in regular interactions. White privilege is frequently difficult for white individuals to recognize and admit since it is perceived as the standard rather than an advantage.

I chose this picture because white people saying "all lives matter" is an example of white privilege. Understanding white privilege is essential to addressing and dismantling systemic racism and creating a more equitable and just society.

[ccpvnguyen]

The Space Traders by Derrick Bell Blog Post

Derrick Bell’s short story, The Space Traders, is a fictional story that incorporated Afrofuturism of a dystopian America, where the prospect of enslavement of African Americans continued in the future. I found this short film extremely fascinating because Derrick Bell expressed the implications of racism on the future and brought light to important theories, including Critical Race Theory and Interest Convergence Theory. 

In The Space Traders, Bell incorporated Black history with science fiction. The short film begins with aliens from space proposing a trade with Americans on earth. In exchange for African American people, the aliens will offer the country riches, such as gold and precious metals, and new technology that would drastically improve the standard of living of everyone. One fascinating aspect about this short film was that the space traders and their offers bore very similar resemblance to the United State’s past. The people in the film were quickly in favor of accepting the trade, which was the exchange of Black Americans for advancements in technology and economic prosperities.  Albeit the history of the United States, there is an uncanny repetition. In America’s abhorrent past of slavery, white people had committed unspeakable crimes against Black Americans and exploited them throughout history. In The Space Traders, this mistake and racist heritage was seemingly going to continue. When the offer was made by extraterrestrial life, the only people that demonstrated immediate opposition to the offer were Black Americans. This part of the story exhibited Derrick Bell’s theory of interest convergence. In this dystopian future, the lives of African Americans are jeopardized and are put on the trading table. Since the lives of white people are not in danger, they were able to accept the offer with ease and no hesitation because it merely benefited them and selfishly harmed Black people. In the short film when the cabinet were discussing the trade offer, every person was looking at the trade through the lens of economic and environmental pros and cons. Golightly, a black politician, who proclaimed himself to be a conservative, was in disagreement with the trade because it was not morally right. This shows the repetition of history where white people viewed Black people as a commodity for their own benefit. In this case, the white politicians are considering accepting the trade offers from the aliens for economic and environmental benefits and framing their mistreatment of African Americans as a necessity for the ‘greater good.’

[highpri3stess]

genuine question, have you seen many woc activists were called "terf" by WHITE queers just because they fought against FGM (which is sex-based oppression) or they believed other forms of sex based oppression or they spoke about their own experience of misogyny? Who are the center of queer activism? Whose voice is most heard? Has any woc in Western history got as much attention as white queer people do now? Has the authority worked as quickly in favor of woc as they do in favor of white queer?

(Psa: I am not saying that these events I will mention are not horrible. However, you cannot deny the fact that people are more likely to talk about white issues. I was forced to learn about 9/11 and the holocaust in primary school, whereas grown ass white people do not know if Africa is a country or a continent.)

*sigh*

Okay, first and foremost I need you to understand that I never said white queers weren't the center of attention. Whether we are talking about feminism or queerness, or any issue at all, more people would rather hear out what white voices have to say about the issue than what other poc have to say about it. I mean, whenever black people or native americans want to talk about genocide or war or slavery or colinalism, white people jump at us and tell us things like "it was so long ago.", whereas issues such as the holocaust, 9/11 and recently, the war in Ukraine are more talked about and sympathized with simply because it is white trauma. Nigeria, my country has had numerous terrorist attacks since 2012, somali is a war torn country and yet people simply do not care because we are african countries.

As a black queer person who is afab, I know that a lot of white people always try to make things about themselves. As someone who lives in Africa, specifically Nigeria and as someone who grew up there, I have seen first hand misogyny, had people around me who had been mutilated in the name of culture, especially girls and seen my fellow queers get killed for being queer. I have been assaulted multiple times and brushed off about it. I've seen a classmate of mine get married off at a young age in secondary school because her father felt he was wasting his money on her.

I am not here to bash white queers but, white queers still have privileges of never experiencing none of these things simply because they are white. People misusing terms such as terf when it comes to issues that they don't know about is stupid and honestly, it is not unique to just the queer community. At the end of the day, it's their whiteness and colourblindness that refuses them to see the issue, not necessarily their queerness.

Any Nigerian, queer or not or any African queer or not, in fact anyone living in or has an ancestry from a non-western country obviously have more knowledge about things like fgm and sex based misogyny. Calling someone a terf for talking about such is just as stupid as calling a black person racist for saying black lives matter.

Now, what makes someone a terf is when a woman refuse to acknowledge that transwomen are women and transmen are men.

They also love assuming if a certain woman is trans or not, especially when that woman is black or has masculine features. Now, for the record, the whole notion of masculinizing black women (cis or trans) stems from the racism of white men and women and it has been propagated in the american black community, especially amongst black men. This was done to objectify and villainize black women (misogynoir. Everyone is capable of it and it was brought about by racism, not transwomen)

Some traits of terfs include their hatred for men and their fear of being assaulted by a transwoman in the bathroom. Honestly, I used to be the 'I hate men' type of feminist because I hated misogyny, but now I realize that misogyny is a system that requires both men and women, and that a lot of women promote misogyny because it benefits them. I hated the fact that I had to experience a very traumatic event to get that wake up call and at the end of the day, I shifted my hatred towards the system and the people who promote that system. While I actively do my part in educating anyone that cares to listen to me. Hating men is not the solution to anything at all really, and that's what a lot of radfems and terfs actively think - a lot of, I did not say all.

Secondly, the bathroom issue. I'm going to try and be as sympathetic as possible, but no assaulter need to dress up as a woman to enter a women's bathroom and assault them.

They MAY chose to do that, but many times they can find their way into the bathroom without doing that. Assault is a very serious issue, but tackling transwomen as the problem when 1) they are also very prone to assault and 2) they are really just trying to use the bathroom and go, is just... extremely ridiculous. Transmen also should not be forced to use the female restroom because their nether regions are afab -it is emasculating for them.

There is so much to talk about but I've tried my best in saying all that needs to be said in a respectful way. I'm Nigerian, so my knowledge on western issues might be limited.

If you are a terf, you do you; I have never sent an ask on why someone is a terf or sent death threats to terfs about their beliefs because I know how to read and research.

I advise you do the same.

#anons ♡ #trans #the way t*rfs use woc as placeholders for their hatred #stop doing that #woc deserve better

[autunimediapolitics]

The point of view expressed by this social media text is funny, and ironic, yet it is ultimately the truth in every sense. The text states ““I don’t do politics” Well baby, politics is going to do you, regardless.” This is commenting on many factors in our society including people who don’t vote as they believe “it won’t make a difference, so why bother?”, people who also believe that not picking a side means that they are uninvolved in politics when not being involved is essentially the same as picking sides for many cases, and how ultimately no one wins in democratic politics. The first point this brings up is in reference to people who do not vote, they may have their reasons for not doing so yet they still choose to not fulfill their civic duty of voting. They may think that they can’t make a difference so what’s the point, or they don’t find a candidate that represents them so why vote for someone? This is what leads to in the United States of America, a recently 62% voter turnout, with almost eighty million people not voting, this is the highest it has been in recent years too. In 1996 less than half of all eligible voters did vote, there are many reasons for the low turnout, but a very common link is the fact that people believe that nothing really changes even if they do vote. According to NPR, 53% of non-voters in the United States believed that "It makes no difference who is elected president – things go on just as they did before." This has nothing to do with them not being able to vote, however, this is also a problem with three-quarters of this demographic saying they don’t believe it’s difficult to vote this is a very common sentiment that their vote means essentially nothing in the face of America and democracy so to them, because regardless of if they do politics or not, politics does them. The second point this brings about is the illusion of being uninvolved if you don’t choose a side, this logic is a very naïve point of view and is typically held by those with the ability to not care about politics as they benefit from society regardless, straight white men are typically the biggest perpetrators of this as if they are able-bodied individuals and are able to work then whoever is in charge and is running a country, it does not affect them as policies to do with change typically only affect those who aren’t. Issues like the Black Civil Rights Movement, rallying for LGBT rights, and recently Roe vs. Wade have been issues that have uninvolved straight white men and therefore they have the luxury of claiming that these things do not matter to them and that they’re on the fence, these days you cannot afford to be on the fence as being on the fence is similar to not speaking out against these issues, a very memorable quote I’ve heard is that nowadays it is not enough to be not racist, you have to be anti-racist. What this means that it is fine to not be racist, however, to make a difference and not perpetuate negative stereotypes about disadvantaged groups, you must do something to make a difference, trying to let people know when something is racist, educating people on these issues and having discussions and if all this fails, removing the racist people from your life. This doesn’t just fall under racism though, you can also apply this to issues like transphobia, sexism, ableism, and more issues that affect those in disadvantaged groups in society. The final point this social media text brings up is more of a personal reflection when looking into this post is that in the democratic society we have set up, no one wins besides the people on the top. I’m not saying this to dismiss democracy as a whole, I believe the basis of democracy is essential and voting and exercising our rights as a citizen should be encouraged, however, the current system we have is flawed. There are many reasons for this, the most standout reason is the benefit straight white men receive and how they are the status quo. Since forever straight white men have been at the top, they are the ones that decide what happens, in the 1800s, only men were allowed to vote, until 1964 segregation was still legal in the USA, what many consider to be the most forward country in the world, and only in 2011 in New Zealand was gay marriage legalised, all of this has never affected the straight white man, and because of this, they have held power since the beginning, deciding what is allowed and what isn’t. this doesn’t sound like democracy, rather it sounds like a society focused on the success of capitalism, one where the rich get richer, and the poor get poorer. This isn’t what the original idea of democracy is, the current face of democracy has molded over the past 300 years since the birth of the United States to have the people who have been in charge ever since being the ones that do not have to face systematic oppression and are the ones who were able to dish it out with little to no consequences ever since.

The second social media text brings an important reminder about the wording of people in power and the wording that many use to avoid accountability. It also informs us on how our perception of things is so fragile that 1 or 2 words of a headline can change everything it means, with this also being a commentary on the news and how important things are reported on to present a narrative that fits what those in power believe to be the best action. Humans control what happens in society, that is a known fact, and this also includes the economy and the news that reports on these facts. The first point made by this is how altering what is reported changes our perception of what is reported, a big example that many of us can understand how it works is fake news. News that is false or misleading, while not having one static definition, any reports that are fueled by false information are constituted as “fake news”, being popularised in recent years through social media posts on sites like Twitter and Facebook, typically by political groups used to paint one group as the aggressor or the ones in the wrong. This isn’t specifically a political issue though, this includes anything with the intent to redirect attention, blame, or misinform the public. The wording of reporting on the topics mentioned in the social media text is what could be considered “misleading” therefore making it in a sense fake news even if what they’re reporting isn’t entirely wrong, mentioning things while excluding others and not including the full context skews the publics view of what is truly going on. Not mentioning landlords when talking about rent going up, not mentioning corporations when talking about the increase in inflation, not discussing employers when talking about wages being stagnant, and not mentioning the purposeful understaffing of hospitals by the hospitals themselves, regardless of if it is true or not, absolves those who are guilty of wrongdoing, reporting on the news changes us as people, even if it’s true, reporting things in a negative light or things associated with negative stories can seep into our subconscious or even increase the chance of having a heart attack according to this BCC article. Changing just 1 or 2 words changes the context and what the report truly means, with things like the way mental health is reported on and the language used is historically a stigmatized topic and is prone to featuring many negative stereotypes because of how the media reports on things, not necessarily being the news but radio, tv, and movies are all guilty of this. The second point of this post although not specifically mentioned, is the news and hidden agendas. Everyone is prone to bias, that is a fact, although I’m not saying this is a bad thing, it is a truth that we live with and the beliefs we have been influenced by those around us, media knows this and does what they can to control what they want us to believe that goes with the narrative that suits them, as I explained earlier by doing things such as changing just a few words to change the context of the entire story and to fit what they want to report, rather than the whole truth as they have the statistics of what their viewers want, they understand their audience and the biases they have and play into those to boost their viewership and to maximise profit, they turn News into a business, the most notable groups in the US politics and News sphere is CNN and Fox News who represent liberal and conservative groups respectively. They are guilty of having bias, reporting on what their group wants to hear and attacking what they don’t like, while neither is 100% correct neither is 100% false it depends on how and what they present as both have lists of controversies and allegations of bias that are easily researchable. The most important point brought up by this social media text is that there is a person controlling these things, as said earlier the news does not report on the individuals responsible for the things listed, rather choosing to leave out context and have it be a mystery as to who is responsible because these are controlled by people, everything is, rent is, inflation is, wages are, staffing is, and most importantly the economy. There is no mysterious reason as to why these things happen, there is always a person behind the wheel, very much like how there is a so-called “Big Six” controlling the American media. Newscorp, AT&T, CBS, Comcast, Disney, and Viacom. These six are the ones that control 90% of the media in the United States and most importantly they are companies, living under and controlling a capitalistic society, the news, and the media. It is difficult to find a media company not directly related to these groups, they work as cogs in a society governed by those in power, those with the most money. I believe that this should not exist, the news should be reported and covered with a lack of bias from the ones above, we must carefully and with discretion choose what we believe and what we share online, in person, or however we share the news. We must not have a bias towards one group over others and be objective with whatever we do, if we can truly act in that way, I don’t know but we must do what we can. Reporting the full truth instead of trying to avoid facing the consequences is essential for anyone, especially companies that control what or who we believe.

[king7christian]

Ch 5. Fieldwork

Jim Crow

The segregation laws in the south during 1877 till 1950 were called Jim Crow laws. A set a of laws that placed restrictions on colored people to segregate them even further. The image I chose is just one of the many examples of Jim crow laws, this picture was taken in the south in 1939. Usually with having a place only for colored people the place would be run-down and in poor condition because no one cared for them as they were thought of as lesser.

2. White Supremacy

The belief that being white is a superior race is all what white supremacy was about. The picture chosen emulates this term perfectly. The Ku Klux Klan or the KKK is a known terrorist group that would go around murdering any colored person simply because they were white. They would even hold public execution for all to see what would happen if you were of that race. Even now some members or descendants of the klan still exist till this day in the southern parts of the US. In some places in the south, there are sundown towns meaning that when the sun goes down and you're of color you will get hunted down by white people purely because they think that your of a lower social standing and that the only way to be okay is to be white.

3. Individual Racism

This picture can illustrate what individual racism means. Having personal assumptions, beliefs, and being prejudice is what individual racism is. The term "implicit bias" describes the attitudes or stereotypes that unconsciously influence our perceptions, behaviors, and decisions. These biases, which include both positive and negative judgments, are unintentionally activated and happen without a person's knowledge or conscious choice. As in, "I'm not racist, I don't see color," people frequently invoke colorblindness to refute claims of racism. In the struggle for racial equality, this kind of thinking, however, can potentially cause more harm than good. We develop views and feelings about other individuals based on traits like race, ethnicity, age, and appearance due to the implicit associations we hold in our subconscious.

4. Whiteness

This quote from this book titled "White Fragility: Why It's So Hard for White People to Talk About Racism" by Robin DiAngelo explains the meaning of whiteness in America is. Non-white people are viewed as substandard or unnatural due to whiteness and the normalization of white racial identity throughout America's history. Because they can navigate society by feeling normal and being perceived as normal, white people also benefit from this white-dominated culture on a social level. Since whiteness has been normalized in their culture, people who identify as white rarely have to question their racial identity.

5. Colonialism

Using this image to help provide a vivid thought on how colonialism was conducted. The act of one nation assuming complete or partial political control over another nation and settling there to exploit its resources and economy. The UK and other european countries would go around to different parts of the world and exploit the small countries knowing that they couldn't fight back since they weren't moving as far along technology wise. They would continue to plunder resources and force the natives to work for them to produce more materials.

6. Miscegenation

This poster perfectly explains how people felt back then about interracial marriages also known as miscegenation. Being seen with a white person while you were black is something you should be careful of. You'd get looks from everyone and based off the flyer/poster they would even go to the lengths as to harm the black person because they are tainting the white person so they would seem as impure and no one wanted their kids seeing two people of a different race being happy.