fullmiddle-malcolmist

[fullmiddle-malcolmist]

the government "checking in" on disabled people to make sure were still disabled is one of the most demeaning and humiliating things out there, how is there no checkbox that says "this persons disability is lifelong and incurable" why do you think people's amputated limbs will grow back, are you on the hunt for the return of jesus christ and your way of catching him is hoping that the blind will see again????

#literally havent been able to find a job #about to lose my disability which is my only source of income because they decided im not disabled enough anymore

[fullmiddle-malcolmist]

People are claiming that sending police after University of Alberta students is okay because the University grounds are private property and the students were thus trespassing.

As a law professor, let me state that this is a gross mischaracterization of the law.

University grounds are essentially considered public property for the purposes of student protests. The Alberta Court of Appeal has ruled that the regulation of student expression on campus property is governmental in nature and subject to the Canadian Charter (2020 ABCA 1).

As the Court explained: “The ability of students to learn and to debate and to share ideas is not only a central feature of the core purpose of the University but also the grounds of the University are physically designed to ensure that the capacity of each student to learn, debate and share ideas is in a community space.”

This means that the University’s decisions to trespass people are subject to the Canadian Charter, and must conform with the rights of freedom of expression, peaceful assembly, association, and life, liberty, and security of the person. It should be noted that courts have previously held that temporary structures can play an expressive role and thus fall under freedom of expression.

The university simply cannot use its ownership of the grounds to suppress student speech or in a way that violates their rights. It is little different from a protest on, say, legislative grounds.

For more on the right to protest in Alberta, see this blog post by three esteemed law professors at the University of Calgary. I also recommend this blog post on student encampments and freedom of expression in Canada.

[fullmiddle-malcolmist]

This is Not Okay.

(I see your asks and I am working through them, promise)

In the last few years, I have generally kept quiet on the amount of unpleasantness that has come bearing the title of Haitian Vodou. I am not the Vodou Police and people have a right to be wrong and make (sometimes terrible) mistakes. Additionally, people genuinely do not want advice or feedback when their mind is made up and they have found what they think is the real deal for them, and that's okay. I don't need or even want to get involved since folks are presumably adults making adult decisions, and I don't need to invite myself to any/every fight where my name is not invoked...or even when it is!

And yet.

Sometimes, it's too much to stay quiet because silence can get people really hurt, or worse. While folks are entitled to their mistakes and entitled not to educate themselves or do due diligence on the people they are granting access to their heads, there's just something that doesn't sit right with me when it's egregious. Long time followers know I have only spoken directly once or twice.

This is egregious, and it's going to get someone killed:

I have received this at least 5 different times today and have had folks genuinely seeking the lwa ask if this is a solid option. I do not know the person behind this and I would hope this is some sort of massive misunderstanding on their part. However, even so, this is awful.

Let's break this down a bit.

Advertising an initiation right off the bat with how many spots you have available says that you are not concerned with who comes in the door or why they are there. Advertising initiation as something to buy is weird even without the bargain basement 'FIVE SPOTS AVAILABLE'. Sosyetes do not need to advertise and recruit; folks come by reputation and general attraction to what the sosyete does.

The fact that there is no information about what sosyete is mounting this is a red flag. No one can undertake initiation alone. It's impossible because the very mechanics of initiation require folks from outside your lineage to come and verify that the work is being done completely and in accordance with the general principles of the religion.

Trying to cast doubt on other places as a way to build credibility is gross, and it is super ironic that they are advertising this as an answer to scams and people who do gross things. Do those things happen? Absolutely. Is this the way to solve it? No. Grift cannot neutralize grift. This is grift.

The big blinking neon red flag sign is the kwakwa/asogwe hybrid initiation. This is not possible and communicates several things, the largest of which is that this person has not received appropriate guidance in either rite because even the most barebones education tells you that this is not possible and could never be done.

Further, this communicates a lack of respect for both rites. The balls it takes to decide that you are going to take it upon yourself to change a religious practice and throw a bunch of stuff in a blender to come up with something new is WILD. This is outright spiritual arrogance that ignores the place of elders, culture, history, and the actual revolution that birthed these things.

Claiming that a person will receive everything they need in one step is lacking in clarity and breaking from the culture of Haitian Vodou, tchatcha and asogwe lineages alike. That is not how initiation works; the process of initiation unfolds over days and weeks and the process of becoming a competent manbo or houngan unfolds over years and even a lifetime. No initiation is a drive through endeavor and should not be treated as such.

'Without the worries of ties to a spiritual house' tells me this person lacks rootedness and perhaps ties to a spiritual house of their own, which is sad. It is not possible to be a manbo or a houngan in any lineage without ties to a specific lineage/spiritual house. It's not possible. Every lineage of Haitian Vodou is based on the lakou, or the compound or yard that a family and community is built around.

What lakou we are associated with tells our stories and gives us our roots, whether we are Haitian or not, or related to our lineage head or not. These stories are vitally important, we cannot function without them and we cannot take Haitian Vodou out of the context that it exists in. We are collectively built from the story that our spiritual ancestors told themselves when they dreamed of liberation and undertook the truly revolutionary action of revolt against French colonizers.

Trying to undo that to package initiation as something unrooted and without community is a slap in the ancestral face and is impossible. It's not Haitian Vodou. We do not stand alone. If you have no community, who will endorse you as a houngan or manbo? How will anyone know you actually are one? I can give you the names of a dozen priests who were active participants in my initiation and can confirm that I have the right to hold the asson. If you have no spiritual community, you do not have that...and you do not have the right to hold the asson.

Learning is different in Haitian Vodou; we learn as we develop and there is no initiation that grants you the immediate access to the inside of your initiator's head. Info farming is not a thing. We learn as we develop, which is why relationships and community are so important. Going through an initiation doesn't give you all the knowledge. Initiation doesn't even teach you things, you learn after because during the process you do not have the right yet to know. Framing all of this as withholding information shows a lack of cultural fluency. Do people withhold in ways that can be harmful? Sure, because there is fault everywhere....but this is not how you solve that, at all.

Most asogwe receive their po tèt; some take it home and some choose to keep it in the temple they were initiated in. Some houses have specific regleman around that, and there are individual circumstances that would keep someone from having theirs but those are instances that people would work out ahead of time. Further, if someone is not comfy with what the lineage they are initiating into does with po tèts, that it something to work out before they initiate, which is why discernment is so, so important.

There are not multiple kolyes given during initiation. In an asogwe lineage, a kolye is made during the initiation process for you specifically and it is large and worn on the body in most places. We do not receive kolye for individual lwa nor are they consecrated in separate ceremonies; this is directly taken from Orisha traditions.

A kwa kwa and a bell are not an asson, and genuinely only a fool would try to bring that to Loko, the progenitor of all asogweman. You cannot mash things together and say they are an asson because you want them to be, or that Loko will give it. I can't even be charitable about this, it's straight up wrong and completely unethical. No one does this. No one.

'Head seals' is wild and someone is going to get hurt. The job of protecting the head is with the lwa, not in the hands of someone doing work. Further, a correct and complete initiation precludes the possibility of problematic possession because the lwa are there to sort that out. Additionally, taking it upon yourself to 'seal' the head a child of Ginen in the name of Ginen is awfully arrogant...are you really going to say you can overstep the lwa and/or do a better job than them?

The work of initiation is incredibly delicate because you literally have someone's head in your hands. People can die when things are done incorrectly, either in the moment or in a long and winding road of calamity. Every single manbo and houngan I know has a story about this. We know what happens when things like this are undertaken because we've either watched the fallout or had people come to our doors in deep suffering because incorrect and inadvisable things have been done to them.

Paying for any initiation through Etsy should speak for itself. That is not how houngans and manbos do business.

What is unsaid in this blurb is that this is undoubtedly happening in the US, because it would never be allowed to happen in Haiti. This says a lot and it's a giant can of worms to open, but when have I avoided that? Initiation does not happen in the US for a lot of reasons. Some folks want to say it can, but it really can't. This is not the post to get into why and I can write more on that later, but that's the long and short of it.

Perhaps finally, my friend Sankofa made a really astute point in another forum: beware anyone in any African Traditional or African Descended religion trying to sell you something ceremonially unique. Our ceremonies are largely the same for big reasons, and an individual saying they are doing something new, like mixing tchatcha and asson or initiating you to your dead ancestors and putting ancestors on your head, is a massive red flag. This is not how culture and traditional religion function. This is not what the ancestors built for us, and this is not what we pass down.

Please, please be careful with your heads. I meant it when I said that people will die because of stuff like this. Please be discerning about who you trust with your head and your life. Take your time and see lots of ceremonies. Pray. Listen for the voice of the lwa which can sound a lot like your intuition. And, for the love of Ogou and Metrès Danto, don't buy initiations on Etsy.

I hope the person behind this post can reflect on what they are doing and re-evaluate their choices. In a perfect world, they would consult with their elders and their mama/papa kanzo for guidance and really, really listen. If they don't have elders and/or an initiator, they should refrain from offering things like this until they do. Different choices can always be made, but spiritual work done out of ignorance, malice, or greed that harms someone can never be taken back.

[fullmiddle-malcolmist]

there’s an online mobilisation effort called “blockout 2024”, where people are en masse blocking influencers/celebrities who have been silent so far on palestine to make them lose followers and income. and it’s been making celebrities and streamers start posting links to gofundmes and the PCRF, which is great. But after 7 months of silence, I simply can’t look at many of these creators the same way, and the idea that these people with so much wealth and influence only started caring when something materially forced their hand and affected their social standing should disgust you too.

so accept the meager good these people are doing by posting links, but remind yourself that all of them could’ve been talking about palestine this whole time. sharing resources is truly the bare minimum. remind yourself that your faves aren’t exempt from the criticism attached to attending the met gala because they’re your faves. and never forget how many lives they could’ve saved if they spoke up sooner, and bothered to put any of their own money on the line.

#too many people are specifically calling to block black celebrities #even the ones who have been open about supporting palestine #but then praise mackelmore #celebrities dont have as much power as people think #and they shouldnt be the focus anyways

[fullmiddle-malcolmist]

never let the haters get to you

[fullmiddle-malcolmist]

soundless love song.

[fullmiddle-malcolmist]

cmon child safety lid you know it's me

#richard nixon

[fullmiddle-malcolmist]

[fullmiddle-malcolmist]

From TIME’s Top 100 Photos of 2022: Israeli police confront mourners as they carry the casket of slain Al Jazeera veteran journalist Shireen Abu Akleh during her funeral in east Jerusalem, on May 13. Abu Akleh, a Palestinian-American reporter who covered the Mideast conflict for more than 25 years, was shot dead during an Israeli military raid in the West Bank town of Jenin. Maya Levin-AP

[fullmiddle-malcolmist]

first tweet is felt deeply by me everyday. retweet with comment under big ship - brian eno is going to make me fall to my knees

[fullmiddle-malcolmist]

wildest part of the folger's incest commercial is still when the brother mentions coming back from west africa and says "ahh, real coffee"

[fullmiddle-malcolmist]

the current trend of "tumblr users embarrassing themselves by proudly announcing why they don't listen to any music made by black people" is really astounding.

i cannot help but think this is a direct result of liberal White Guilt and how people have interpreted "anti-racism" as form of cultural self-segregation - the kind of person who thinks trying to cook chicken curry is cultural appropriation, or sends white people anon hate for wearing a kimono (yes, this kind of discourse happened). like, "oh, no, i could never participate in this culture, i'd get my evil white hands all over it! it would be more Progressive if I only did White things."

if you're a poc you've seen this, i'm sure - this deer-in-the-headlights stare you can get from white people when you play music / show art / share a story / anything that is Racially Coded, this total refusal to actually engage with it out of fear that it is in some way Wrong for them to have any opinion on it. because they read somewhere that it's bad to use AAVE but the only lesson they actually learned from that is "gotcha, white people are not allowed to interact with other cultures as punishment for my White Crimes. this helps to fill up the gaping pit of my white guilt and makes me one of the Good People." this transforms their discomfort around non-white cultures (black culture, especially, i should add) into a kind of virtue

anyway if you are white and reading this. go listen to some fucking haliu mergia. ethiopian jazz. will knock your dick right off. go listen to rap or reggae or bollywood and have a genuine reaction to it - like, an actual, from-the-heart reaction. you are allowed to not like some of it. but you will definitely like at least a little. yes, you can compare it to lemon demon (or whatever) if that helps you get into it and that's your only point of reference. maybe don't say that part out loud. but don't, like, separate yourself from it, like you are seeing it in a museum and the only polite thing to do is go "ahh, huh, very interesting, so much culture here."

[fullmiddle-malcolmist]

My writing tip to any cis person wanting to write trans characters: trans people just exist. like over focusing on dysphoria and the "pain" makes a really hollow character cuz trans people are not smearing lipstick on their face before breaking the mirror all day. Trans people can just do normal shit or go on adventures. Don't fall in the pit of "I must show how they're in such pain" cuz it comes off cheap and tends to bore actual trans people. Also give your trans character a sword.

[fullmiddle-malcolmist]

In honor of mother's day I think it's nice to once again mention how fucking weird the people on this site treat motherhood. When I had mom in my url I got harassed by tons of people nearly daily over it. Openly being called mom on this site gets you pedophile accusations, accusations of child abuse, weird misogynistic shit, and being trans and being called a mom on here really amplifies this shit like crazy. Someone legit had a whole fit trying to figure out who I was so they could call CPS on me? I get a lot of y'all have strained relationships with your own mothers, but mothers on the internet are not your terrible mom and it's time you learn to show some respect for other people.

[fullmiddle-malcolmist]

more fucking petitions because this clown car country cannot stop with the bigotry for 30 seconds

uk people it takes 5 seconds and you checking your email to verify

everyone else: rebloge please

[fullmiddle-malcolmist]

The University of Alberta is offering a new free online course to highlight the history and accomplishments of Black Canadians.

Called Black Canadians: History, Presence, and Anti-Racist Futures,the course will explore topics like systemic racism and unconscious racial bias in Canadian institutions.

The course became available Friday.

Course director Andy Knight, a political scientist at the U of A and provost fellow in Black excellence and leadership, spoke with Radio Active host Jessica Ng about the four-module course. [...]

Continue Reading for interview.

Tagging: @politicsofcanada, @vague-humanoid

[fullmiddle-malcolmist]

Why The US Won't Leave Haiti Alone