#antiblackness discussion

[mogai-sunflowers]

MOGAI BHM- Belated Day 20!

happy BHM! today i’m going to be talking about the history of activism in Black disabled communities and Black disabled intersectionality!

General Information-

There is often a huge erasure of the intersection between the history of Black civil rights justice, and disabled civil rights justice. It’s not necessary to examine just because many key Black activists from history were also disabled, but because structural ableism has always had a disproportionate impact on Black disabled people.

First of all, Black communities have higher rates of disability. Disabilities that someone isn’t born with can be caused by many things- unhealthy living environments, injuries from unsafe working conditions, lack of access to quality healthcare, living in impoverished areas that don’t have consistent access to food or healthy water- and all of these things happen much more on a systemic level, to Black communities.

Black people have historically experienced much less safe working conditions due to white employers taking advantage of them. This can lead to work injuries that cause permanent disability. Another huge issue is that the redlining system, which assigned “value” to different zip codes, one of its “value” criterion being whether or not it was a majority Black/brown area, has led to a huge deficit between the amount of functioning businesses and healthcare centers in majority-Black areas, meaning that, to this day, many Black communities have much less direct access to healthcare. Environmental racism has led to many impoverished Black communities having few quality grocery stores, and the stores that ARE there, have incredibly high prices, leading to systemic issues of malnutrition and food-related chronic health conditions and disabilities having higher rates among Black communities.

Additionally, many disabilities which can develop from unsanitary living conditions, have immensely higher rates among Black communities- so gentrification drives many Black and brown people into poorer, less sanitary neighborhoods, causing increased risk of health problems.

Historically (and presently, for that matter), ableist concepts and structures like eugenics, have been extremely racialized. In examples like the Nazi regime, eugenics was employed because it was believed that disability was a “corruption” upon the “master Aryan race”. Disabled people were targeted, ESPECIALLY Jewish disabled people and non-white disabled people, for “tainting” whiteness. Eugenics has always been not just about eliminating disabled people, but eliminating Black and brown people. Eugenics history is just as racist as it is ableist. Programs carried out under eugenicist governments, like forced sterilization, majorly targeted Black and brown people- thousands of Black and brown people, both women and men, were forcibly sterilized because eugenicists didn’t want Black and brown populations to grow larger.

Another often overlooked aspect of Black disability intersectionality is how disability functioned during slavery. Not only did the physical and psychological horrors they faced cause enslaved people who had been born able-bodied and able-minded to develop disabilities, but already-disabled enslaved people were often valued even less than their able-bodied counterparts. Physical and mental ability, or “soundness”, was a huge factor in the transatlantic slave trade, so disabled enslaved people often were forced to ignore the limitations of their disability so that they didn’t get punished for not completing their work, and forced to hide their disabilities if they could, as many disabled slaves were not bought and instead were abandoned in the woods. Disability was often seen as just an excuse to be lazy, meaning many white plantation owners didn’t believe that Black peoples’ disabilities actually counted, they thought they were just being “lazy” to get out of having to do work. The history of claiming that disabled people are just “lazy and refuse to work”, is deeply rooted in anti-Blackness.

So, understanding the history of ableism is key to understanding Black history because they have always been intertwined. 

Black Disability Activism and Activists-

[Image ID: A black-and-white photograph of Brad Lomax, a thin Black man with a small afro who uses a wheelchair. In the photograph, he is smiling and wearing a fancy grey suit. He is holding a microphone on his lap and is speaking outside on a stage. End ID.]

Disability rights activism in America was heavily intertwined with and influenced by the Civil Rights Movement. Social change began to be at the forefront of the American consciousness, so even many white disability activists were inspired to action by the Civil Rights Movement. One example of success on the Black disability activism was when, after the forced sterilization of two young adolescent Black sisters, Mary and Minnie Relf, Black women activists worked with the Southern Poverty Law Center to file a lawsuit on behalf of the two sisters. This lawsuit resulted in the successful case of Relf v. Weinberger, which outlawed federal financial support for involuntary sterilization.

Another integral figure in Black disabled history is Fannie Lou Hamer, who suffered lifelong disabilities from having polio as a child, and who also spoke up against the forced sterilization of Black women and other women of color, after she herself was sterilized against her will during a medical procedure. She also experienced disability from injuries she sustained when she was violently beaten by police after participating in a bus sit-in in the whites-only section of a bus. 

Fannie Lou Hamer helped to found the Mississippi Freedom Democratic Party, which helped to counter efforts by the Mississippi Democratic Party to block Black voter registration. She helped organize the Freedom Summer for voting rights, and she openly protested against forced sterilization laws at a march in 1964, where she shared her own experience with being forcibly sterilized against her will. She co-founded the National Women’s Political Caucus in 1971. One thing she is known for is saying “I am sick and tired of being sick and tired”.

Another important Black disabilities advocate is Lois Curtis, who was also a self-taught visual artist. She confronted the ways that segregation impacted Black disabled people. She had intellectual disabilities and was schizophrenic, and for much of her early life, she was forcibly institutionalized despite wanting to live in her own community. In 1999, her lawsuit resulted in the landmark case L.C v. Olmstead, in which she argued against the forced institutionalization of people with mental disabilities. This case resulted in the declaration that forced institutionalization of mentally disabled people was a form of segregation and discrimination and therefore an illegal violation of the earlier landmark Americans with Disabilities Act.

A Black disabled woman named Johnnie Lacy was a huge part of the independent living movement that Lois Curtis represented, and she helped found the famous Berkley Center for Independent Living in 1981 and served for more than a decade as the director of a nonprofit called Community Resources for Independent Living. She worked to educate others about Black disabled intersectionality.

Jazzie Collins was a Black disabled transgender woman who served as an important member of San Francisco’s Senior and Disability Action group. Sylvia Walker was Director of the Center for Disability and Socioeconomic Policy Studies and the Howard University Research and Training Center. She also served as Vice-Chair of the President’s Committee’s on the Employment of People with Disabilities. She was a champion for disability rights and her research helped lead to the Americans with Disabilities Act. Donald Galloway was a blind Black man who served on many various disability councils and boards and made a huge impact. So many other Black Americans have made crucial progress in the disability rights movement- including Brad Lomax, who is widely hailed as a bridge between civil rights and disability rights movements.

Brad Lomax, who was a wheelchair user due to his history of multiple sclerosis, was a fervent civil rights activist who was a member of the Black Panther Party. This membership led to one of the most memorable and notable disability rights protests of American history: the capitol crawl, when disabled activists marched to the capitol building, abandoned their mobility aids, and began crawling up the steps to the capitol. This protest was huge- and it is widely considered that it would’ve failed without the help of the Black Panther Party who, at the quick direction and action of Brad Lomax, provided shelter, support, food, and water to the capitol crawl participants. Brad Lomax sustained one of the most important disability rights protests of history.

Black disabled history is not a thing of the past. It is ever-present and ever growing.

Summary-

Disability disproportionately affects Black people in America because of environmental factors, systemic racism in healthcare, exposure to more unsanitary living conditions, and many other factors

Eugenics, forced sterilization, and forced institutionalization has historically dramatically targeted Black and brown people

Black women’s activism led to the illegalization of federal funding for forced sterilization

Many Black civil rights leaders, like Fannie Lou Hamer, were disabled and combined Black and disabled activism

Lois Curtis and Johnnie Lacy were two Black women who were integral to winning more rights for mentally disabled people to live on their own without forced institutionalization

Brad Lomax was a disabled Black Panther whose crucial leadership of the BPP during the capitol crawl sustained its success and led to its completion

tagging @metalheadsforblacklivesmatter​ @intersexfairy​ @bfpnola​ @cistematicchaos​ 

Sources-

https://www.childtrends.org/publications/5-things-to-know-about-racial-and-ethnic-disparities-in-special-education#:~:text=In%20general%2C%20students%20of%20color,disabilities%20than%20are%20their%20peers.

https://www.nationaldisabilityinstitute.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/02/disability-race-poverty-in-america.pdf

https://ihpi.umich.edu/news/forced-sterilization-policies-us-targeted-minorities-and-those-disabilities-and-lasted-21st

https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/09687599.2014.931652

https://twu.edu/media/documents/history-government/Autonomy-Revoked--The-Forced-Sterilization-of-Women-of-Color-in-20th-Century-America.pdf

https://www.womenshistory.org/education-resources/biographies/fannie-lou-hamer

https://sdaction.org/about/disability-history/

https://psychnews.psychiatryonline.org/doi/full/10.1176/appi.pn.2020.7b27

https://digitalcommons.wou.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1283&context=his

https://the-art-of-autism.com/disability-history-month-lois-curtis-artist-and-disability-advocate-paved-the-way/

https://www.centerforlearnerequity.org/news/johnnie-lacy-an-advocate-for-independent-living/

#mogai bhm #mogai #mogai community #bhm #black history month #blm #black lives matter #ableism discussion #racism discussion #antiblackness discussion

[furbearingbrick]

you, a dumbass: heritage not hate

me, an intellectual:

#history #junk from my recommended #racism discussion #antiblackness discussion #historical revisionism #i hate america i hate america i hate amer #im tired

[orchidvioletindigo]

The thing I'm dwelling on today is how Amazon's "colorblind" casting for their live action Wheel of Time adaptation has led to characters who are described in the books as having pale skin and violent tempers repeatedly being cast with black actors. Kelly Valentine Hendry I just have a few questions about why you/the casting department keep making this choice specifically

#antiblackness discussion #sometimes colorblind casting just ends up being a license for casting directors/departments to let their racial biases run wild I think

[samwisethewitch]

TW: This post contains explicit discussions of white supremacy and the alt-right, including mentions of racism and antisemitism.

One of my most impactful recent library reads was Sisters In Hate by Seyward Darby, and I want to take a moment to encourage other white Americans to check it out as we prepare for next years' presidential election and all the shit it's going to kick up.

Sisters In Hate is a book about the role of women in American white supremacist movements and specifically in the alt-right. Darby does a really excellent job of showing just how critical white women are to these hate movements. The book also gives us a detailed look at what radicalization looks like and how that process can be different for different genders.

The book is divided into three sections, each of which follows a real woman through her radicalization into the alt-right. I especially want to draw Tumblr's attention to the story of Ayla, a self-proclaimed "polyamorous, raw foodist-vegan, feminist, pagan" whose radicalization started in college with natural living and homebirth and ended with her running a popular tradwife blog and speaking at the Unite the Right rally.

I think a lot of leftists and liberals feel that we're too smart, or too educated, or too savvy to fall for white supremacist recruitment schemes. We are not. Intelligent, college-educated, left-leaning people are radicalized every day. Some of them are less overtly hateful, like your college friend who starts voting Republican in their 30s. Some of them are like Ayla, and their radicalization takes them all the way to the other end of the political spectrum until they're openly and genuinely calling for a white ethnostate with the same passion they once used to advocate for feminism, racial equity, and queer rights. And we need to remember that any one of us intelligent, college-educated, left-leaning white folks could be in her position, which is why it's so important to learn about radicalization tactics so we can recognize and resist them.

I'm not gonna lie -- this book is hard to read. The text contains racial slurs, white supremacist rhetoric, antisemitism, and anti-Black racism. All of this is condemned by the author, but Darby doesn't shy away from showing just how vile this movement is. I had to take a lot of breaks from this book and read it over several weeks, but I'm very glad I did because I feel like I needed this information.

White supremacist recruitment efforts are going to pick up in the next year, especially if Tr*mp is the Republican nominee for president. Stay informed and stay ready.

#racism tw #white supremacy tw #antisemitism tw #antiblack racism tw #cults tw #antiracism #antifascist #anti nazi #us politics #us presidential election #us presidential race #politics #racial equity #racial justice #feminism #alt right pipeline #pagan #paganism #paganblr #yes the book explicitly discusses paganism as a WS recruitment tactic #the tags are on topic #heathenry #inclusive heathenry #antiracist heathenry #cottagecore #anti tradwife #not a tradwife #simple life #simple living #slow living

[bunabi]

no because why are people acting like saying "hey don't say that about a white guy" is a dismissal of the entire Palestinian cause? I've not seen a single person say like, ok i'm not gonna support Palestine because of this, or that it takes away from aaron bushnell's message. just asking people not to say that. and i saw a whole page long post about how that's like a psyop. ??? people can care about multiple things.????

Well now I've definitely seen some people say/suggest well if you guys don't care about us why should we care about you both online and in person

But when you're told your words have no purpose and their meaning doesn't matter, when your allies dismiss your perspective the moment its inconvenient, of course you'd lose belief in solidarity

That feeling of disappointment and abandonment did not appear from thin air, and maybe one day we'll reckon with that

Not in my lifetime and definitely not tonight though so in the meantime my advice is everybody do this

#something something radical empathy something something Bulletproof Coffee is this anything #theres never a good time to discuss antiblackness in any movement so we kinda always end up back here; it does suck im ngl #me personally I still believe in building a coalition of many people #though ultimately imma fight for my happiness no matter who comes with me (and did) (and will) #replies

[wasabijean]

Why do people treat Thrax and Osmosis like That? A Discussion About Fandom and Antiblackness

Happy black history month!

I’ve been considering making this post for a long time, and I wasn’t sure when, but I think now is a good opportunity.

NOTE: Let me preface this by saying that with a movie with a predominantly black main cast, the fanspace has been predominantly white/non-black, and I feel that has effected the conversations surrounding this movie for a long time.

Fandom, in general, continues to have white voices and perspectives highlighted, while black and poc voices are drowned out. Compare 2014 to 2024, and it’s obvious that there’s been a shift in diversity among all fanspaces, and I’m so very glad.

I want to continue this shift, by giving my own perspective as a black person who loves this movie, and I’d like to highlight the way the OJ fandom has treated these black characters (and spoiler, it hasn’t been great.)

Firstly, too many people are comfortable with portraying Thrax as this sexual r*pey monster, and I need it to stop. ESPECIALLY when he’s explicitly a black coded character.

From what I’ve seen observing and participating in this fandom over the past few years, is that Thrax and Ozzy is a very popular pairing, and honestly, I’m not a fan. It’s onesided, there’s not that much chemistry on screen except the dynamic of Jones being afraid and Thrax trying to kill him. I can’t control what people ship, but I absolutely can condemn the way people have paired these two up. Because… As a black person, I don’t like seeing these black characters in (oftentimes if not always) inherently racist dynamics.

Let me explain:

CW // mentions of racism, rape, grooming

Both Jones and Thrax are black coded characters. They use AAVE, have black VA’s, and Thrax literally has locs While Mayor phlemming is very much racist towards Jones in the movie (ie refering to him as “incapable”, treating Ozzy badly why Drix is praised, there’s obviously racial coding there). So, I can say with certainty that these characters are black, because of how theyre treated and also the cultural motifs in their story and character.

With that said, in the pairing of Ozzy and Thrax, so many people depict Thrax as this sexy controlling or possessive boyfriend that’s monsterous and the “top”, while Jones is the submissive scared stupid and sensitive “bottom”. I’ve seen this in fanfic, fanart, etc. It’s a shame that these characters have been boiled down into something like this, especially when I love Thrax as a villain, and I think Jones does a great job standing his ground as a hero even when he’s scared.

Thrax has high kill count and he wants to keep the killing going, and it’s refreshing to see a unrelentless villain like that in kids Animation; That’s one of the reasons why he’s so popular. But, everytime I bring up this character to people, its either “he’s so hot i need him” or “he should fuck osmosis”. Pushing aside the good writing of black characters in order to satisfy sexual fantasies via a ship is Certainly a Odd Choice. But, it happens anyway in a lot of fanspaces, and Osmosis Jones is no exception.

This type of dynamic of Thrax in particular just continues to perpetuate stereotypes of black men that are inherently racist. (ex: black men are rapists, are hyper sexual monsters, etc). Like, Historically, this stereotype has been used to dehumanize and incarcerate black men, And the stereotype in its self began with American slavery and the practice of “breeding” the enslaved. So, why do so many people continue to project this type of behavior on Thrax (particularly with Jones)?

Is it because he’s hot? Or that he’s just sexual in nature? Or was it that “big daddy thrax” line in the movie? Regardless of how Thrax was written compared to how he has been protrayed in fandom spaces, at the end of the day, thats fanon. Thrax isn’t a sex monster, he’s a egotistical virus with the intent to kill and win!

Themes of R*pe come up a lot with Thrax fancontent, for some reason. Maybe it was the choking scene, because it has sexual themes, but is not consesual in the slightest. Majority ozzy and thrax fanfics on AO3 have tags for Non-c0n and explicit. Sometimes, instead of fanfic it’s digital art, and it isn’t always tagged.

I vividly remember scrolling on tumblr when I was 14, looking for Osmosis Jones art, only to be flashed by r*pe and explicit content of Thrax, Jones, Leah. I remember Leah, a black woman character, often being pushed to the side and demonized. Little black kid me got so, so scared of the fandom, because of the racism and graphic content.

So, I kept lurking, holding my breath as I scrolled, and never interacting or posting my art, sharing my ideas, nothing. I felt alienated from the fanspace of a animated movie meant for kids, a movie that I loved. Online fanspaces are a great way for people to find other’s who have the same interest, but that wasn’t the case for me. I was deprived of something I should’ve had fun with, especially as an autistic kid who had no one else to talk to about the things I liked. I hated it; being uncomfortable and scared, because of something I loved, but feared the things that could come with it.

I tried overcoming that fear and branching out but it ultimately got me groomed by people who liked the movie on different occasions, and now that I’m 18, older, and wiser, I don’t want repeats to happen to anyone else.

There is no reason a animated movie, that’s meant for children mind you, has had such a racist and explicit fanspace.

There is no reason to not properly tag your content, not just for organization purposes, but for safety.

There is no reason why the most popular ship in this fandom is the one that has so much underlying themes of racism and SA, canonically and in fanon.

This is just my opinion, because I think black voices are important in fandom especially when so often overlooked, and I’m willing to discuss this further or answer any questions. It’s just tiring as a black person to keep seeing this happen with black characters.

#osmosis jones #yapping #rant post #discussion #racism #antiblackness #black history month #fandom #fanspaces #thrax #ozzy x thrax

[neechees]

Speaking of racist authors who's scalp I want decorating my home, but Rowling literally keeps pulling that thing where she backtracks the alleged meaning & intentions of her own work by saying "well actually I meant THIS the whole time" in the books to try make it look more politically "savvy" (in her mind) or steeped with meaning than it actually is, because she is literally too stupid and short sighted to actually write those things, & usually its also to try get out of some sort of criticism, & she's done this at least 3 times.

Like first was the whole "Gandalf is gay" shtick when this was her shallow, lazy attempt at trying to look "diverse". Second time was when she was like "well actually Hermione wasn't WHITE, I think she was Black" which, absolutely wasn't true considering she describes all her Black characters as being "tall" and athletic (which, Hermione is not) and she would've given her a stupid, obviously racist name if she always intended this.

But the most recent time was her allegeding that she based the death eaters off of trans activists? This obviously isn't true since she's already repeatedly talked about the specifically nazi & fash influence on the death eaters, and then when people critisized her for her antisemitism & lack of logic on how the death eaters operate, she attempted to "prove" this wrong by tweeting about visiting the auschwitz memorial museum (in relation to, again, it's specific influence on death deaters) to try insist she was sensitive to what she was referencing. If she intended this from the beginning, she would've brought attention to it because she literally just so stupid & knows it but tries to "prove" otherwise. So the whole thing example NOW is just her appealing to her fash t/erf clown crew to try seem more intelligent than she is.

#cw harry potter #<- block that tag if you do not wosh to see content discussing/critisizing this bigoted shitshow #i know this can all be very upsetting #we also knows she doesnt plan ahead & she says she NEVER retcons anything #like how she deals with the time turner problem with all the turners just very conveniently being destroyed randomly #& theres a bunch of other plot holes & inconsistencies in her work & shes just not a good author #& shes literally SO goddamn stupid she knows doing the backtracking thing sometimes makes her look smarter #to OTHER brainless idiots so she keeps doing it #transphobia tw #antisemitism tw #nazism tw #antiblackness tw

[aristotels]

Was trying to find the original Stardew post to hear the og take, but I immediately cannot take you seriously with how much you reblog from that massively antiblack islamophobe txttletale, lmao. Instantly clear that you are completely full of shit.

well ok then block me what can i say, marxist analysis exist regardless of what you think of someone, why are you even coming into my inbox w this. weird behaviour 🤨

#i feel like every global south communist blogger has been accused of being antiblack at this point lmfao #(it usually has to do with the discussion about The Imperial Core) #this site openly hates third worldism

[bingobongobonko]

holding my tonggue but sometimes i remember hetalia exists and i think of everything awful about it, not just the show and manga itself, but its surrounding fandom and i enter such a state of despair i can only start screaming, crying, and mewling, that anyone thought representing ww1-ww2 history for all that it is, into fuckshit tropes and character interactions, was a good idea. heal your heart. you know this isnt right. this cant be right. also the tact behind fan stufff.... whatt... ar eyou talking about.... why??????

#uuggrggghhh.... falls to my knees #i say this as someone whos first anime was hetalia #man u cannot be doing this.. how the fuck do u interact with history in this way. this is so disrespectful #oversimplifying history for goofs and gags what is ur problem #hetalia i hate you . may god kill you at once #this is not even discussing howww fuckingg antiblack and eurocentric the entire series is #NO SHIT THO RIGHT #fuckkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkk #how do u enjoy this!!!!! #these are not lighthearted goofy little men. this is not fun. you cannot make a show that wants to dissect history but does it in such a #disrespectful ass way and encourages that behavior

[constantvariations]

One of Hello Future Me's videos on revolution brought up an event from the Philippines back in the 80s: the dictator sent a battalion to crush a supposed revolt, only for the soldiers to be met with nuns and children offering food and water. The majority of the army defected as a result

I'm going to use rwby to try hammering this abstract concept into a coherent thought, but this incident got me thinking about how nonviolent protest is theater

If a similar event were to occur in rwby, for it to be successful, the protestors would have to be the cutesy faunus types: rabbits, cats, dogs, and the like because they're non-threatening. Attacking a sweet cat faunus would be akin to attacking a child or nun, paragons of innocence and virtue respectively. Only a monster could cut them down, and no one wants to be seen as a monster

A scorpion faunus, though? Their mere existence is a threat. That tail is dangerous, a weapon available at all times. Bull faunus have horns they can use to gouge out eyes and organs. Claim they attacked and most people would agree that killing them in self-defense is justified

Because nonviolent resistance relies on public perception, people who could possibly taint the image of the movement will get left in the dark no matter how important they are. Bayard Rustin was the one who taught Dr King about civil disobedience and was an organizer for many major events, but he opted to ride to events in the trunk of people's cars so his status as an openly gay man wouldn't harm the movement's image

There would be little wonder why the White Fang would be more popular with the "scarier" faunus. Public perception is already against them, so it's not going to change much for them if they join a violent organization, but this in turn will be seen as justification for discrimination against these types of faunus. A hellish self-perpetuating cycle

These faunus would also be far more likely to experience violence at a much younger age, akin to how black children are treated as adults even if they're literally six years old

The strategy behind nonviolent protest like the ones Dr King did is to show the world the mistreatment of the innocent, but when your existence is deemed a threat, there's little hope that you'll ever get enough support to change the system. This is why bigots constantly spew the "queer groomer" and black crime "statistics": by portraying someone's freedom as a danger to the innocent, any level of violence is justifiable defense. The police aren't attacking queers, black, and brown folk discriminately, they're attacking dangerous criminals, so it's okay!!1!

Theater can't save those already condemned and to try is wasted effort

#rwde #antiblackness tw #<- in the link #Claudette Colvin refused to give up her seat a whole 9 months before Rosa Parks yet wasnt the face of the movement #good choice considering she was only 15 and shoving a teen into the racist public eye is Not Good but her pregnancy was also a major factor #idk hopefully i got the point across #somewhat related is the trend of the privileged being the biggest advocates for peaceful protest #while the ones who've endured violence - both economically and physically - are the ones who call upon violence #which almost always means violent *self defense* #the few occasions ive read where there were actual attacks its been targeted like the BLA ambushing cops #cant say i blame them considering the mcfucking everything the cops had going on #the bpp was basically destroyed by the police and fbi at this point and that was probs a major factor in their decision #and targeted violence was exactly what the white fang was doing before cinder showed up and ruined everything #literally nothing the wf does in the show is actually for faunus liberation bc its all cinder/salems orders!! #and no one is allowed to have a brain or personality or anything so no one questions why theyre suddenly switching targets #gr8 discussion abt activism here shawluna. love that you reduced the anti racism movement to mercenaries to avoid saying anything at all #ffs they even fucked up weiss's side of the convo! obvs the fumbling of blakes ball is much worse but come the fuck on #'the wf may have assassinated company board members and family friends but were teammates now so who cares!! team rwby go!!' #fucking barf

[orchidvioletindigo]

Part of me is astonished that Nextdoor is a cesspool of people advocating for calling the cops on children for random mischief or beating black people who steal bicycles during a cost of living crisis and used car bubble because you'd think that an app to help people be more connected with their community would make people less hostile towards their neighbors, right? But another part of me is sadly accepting that you can't just take the Reaganite stranger danger culture out of suburban white people by giving them an app.

Especially an app that doesn't have an option to report people for threats of violence but does have a report option for talking about "politics."

#classism discussion #racism discussion #ageism discussion #antiblackness discussion

[2bu]

ending this year with one of my hottest takes: nonblack aroaces - especially white aroaces (mainly because y'all are the most guilty of this) - have no business headcanoning black characters as aroace and should refrain from doing so. i do not care the justifications or reasoning.

#ducky.txt #before anyone gets on me or whatever im a brown-black person who ids as aroace. #it's a label i have and sure it's complicated but regardless of that #i say this because yall are antiblack and racist esp in fandom spaces and more often than not these aroace hcs do more harm than good #depending on context of course #even if you don't think you're causing harm do still consider that you might be bc often times these hcs are headcanoned #so as to remove black charas from shipping spaces or potential to be shipped #or worse: so others can ship their white faves together #it's complicated but im sure ive a post lingering around on my blog somewhere discussing race relations + aroace community #and racism with headcanons #before you get mad seriously consider why im saying this lol

[angorwhosebabyisthis]

there really needs to be a name for the trope where a piece of media makes a very obvious fantasy stand-in for an irl marginalized group--or just straight up people from an irl marginalized group--so they can conflate them with their oppressors, whether directly or with sly innuendo and imagery to evoke it. this is never used as an opportunity to explore lateral violence, let alone done so with sensitivity; it's bait dangled in front of an audience who's just aware enough of political movements, structures, and ideologies to go Ideology Very Bad and instantly shut off any examination of the messaging behind it.

(which is, often as not, either shifting the blame to marginalized people so the audience can hate demographics they're already comfortable with hating instead of grappling with the discomfort of real privilege being called out or held accountable, 'so the horrific and violent bigotry leveled at that group irl is totally justified and we should Do More of That Actually,' or both.)

like. i keep seeing this over and over and over. don't get me started on how SF/F media in particular seems completely unable to restrain itself from having at least one black character in a setting that breathes anywhere near fantasy racism say and do just the most ungodly racist shit ever. every time, jesus fuck, it's awful.

this trope is not at all limited to racism or antisemitism--it shows up for pretty much any marginalized group you can think of, BOY i have rants in me about a lot of portrayals of abuse survivors in various media i'm into--but it seems to pop up most blatantly and obviously for those. and fascism in general, which, i HIGHLY recommend these excellent essays for a more articulate and in-depth analysis of than i could give in a paragraph of one post. they're fantastic go read them and come back. especially the second one.

more specifically, it's a special favorite of these fucking people to evoke this with nazism. so the closest term i've got to what i'm describing is naziwashing, which i think is still useful as a descriptor of a subset of that phenomenon but again does not nearly cover all of it. so i'm a bit stumped.

#tagging #sdmi #mystery incorporated #scooby-doo mystery incorporated #professor pericles #in this one because i have OPINIONS about that in a reblog but this is a general trope thing and pericles is very much fandom-specific #i also want to be clear that this is not an invitation to bring Certain Current Issues into it on this post #they are in some ways very much relevant to this and a lot of other media crit i've talked about before; and maybe i'll discuss that someday #but there's a time and place and i am super not going to make that about fandoms right now #for now this specific trope has been on my mind a lot for years but especially since i started revisiting sdmi recently #and have finally been really registering the ways in which i am incredibly pissed off about how both the show and fandom treat him #anyway. #nazi mention cw #racism cw #antisemitism cw #anti-survivor mention cw #queerphobia cw #antiblack racism cw #the salt files #the crit files #sdmi tag

[rjalker]

Weaponized Femininity:

[ID: A digital graphic that reads across the top, in large text in light pink and deep pink, "Weaponized Femininity", with a chain of pink flowers beneath it, followed by two boxes:

The first box is pale yellow, and reads:

"What they say it is: Wearing high heels and fucking eyeliner"

The second box is lavender, and reads:

"What it actually is: Cis women telling trans men, nonbinaries, and genderqueers they're being misogynists for needing equal rights to pregnancy-related healthcare White women getting Black and brown people killed by pretending to be afraid of them or in danger from them

so much more!!!"

End ID.]

No, someone correcting you when you're a bigot is not misogyny. You do in fact need to learn to shut the fuck up when the discussion is not about you.

#Weaponized Femininity #misogyny #feminism #racism #female fragility #is that a fucking term? it is now. cannot handle not being the center of discussion about reproductive rights for five fucking seconds #not calling this ''toxic femininity'' because that implies they're the ones being hurt by it the most LMFAO. #no this suits them just fucking fine. #transandromisia #antiblackness #antiblack racism #hate crimes #ask to tag #reproductive rights #reproductive justice #abortion rights #bodily autonomy #treimisia #exorsexism #trans #transgender #nonbinary #transnonbinary #genderqueer #equal rights #trans inclusive feminism #intersectional feminism

[fightclub1996]

didnt wanna say this in the tags of that post bc obviously it isnt my place as a tme person; but I feel like enjoying those movies wouldnt even be a problem if ppl would just think critically abt it instead of pretending its actually really revolutionary queer representation . or they pretend the issue is just transfems "being uncomfortable" or it being "in bad taste" but overall still queer instead of taking ir seriously as a harmful case of transmisogyny. but ppl just dont take misogyny and esp transmisogyny seriously and see any discussions of it as personal attacks bc they would havw to acknowledge that being trans/queer/whatever doesnt automatically absolve them of all bigotry

#imo it also comes from a lot of ''transmasc culture'' just being built on transmisogyny #and also from what Ive seen its a very similiar phenomenon to how white trans people treat discussions around antiblackness . #thinking that being trans absolves them of being white #and taking any discussions of anti blackness as a personal attack or attacking the sanctity of their queer representation or whatever #.txt

[deqdyke]

Cw: race, genocide denial, antiblackness

Just working through some thoughts after seeing the millionth annoying "Are x group white? Discuss" tweets.

Honestly I think like 90% of discourse around race and whiteness in leftist spaces could be solved by people saying "I don't know that history well enough". Like, people when they discuss race, have these competing internal desires to treat race as solely defined by current social standings, and also point to historical oppression as evidence. Neither works. If you go purely by current social standings, then we have absolutely nothing to build off of besides personal lived experiences. I've met Italians who have had old white people call them wops. Does that mean Italians aren't white? Are Polish people not white because of the existence of anti-polish sentiments? Are Russians not white because of how often they're portrayed as villains? Are Armenians white universally bc of the Kardashians?

But then if you base it entirely off history, then you have to accept that no Jewish person has ever attained whiteness. That race is a permanent and immutable aspect of someone's character - something that just... That's just racial ideology, same as it ever was.

The reality is whiteness is nebulous and difficult to pin down because it serves a social function. It needs to be fluid, but it needs to justify itself by appearing as if it's immutable. It also props up European nation-building myths. Like, if the question is "Are Italians white" the question should be "Well, who's an Italian?". Who's a Russian? I know Black Russians, and Black Ashkenazim. Is the understanding they're somehow less part of those groups due to their Blackness? Because I know they would take serious issue with that. Romans (as in, Italians from Rome) are a core part of the Western nation-building myth. You can't exclude them from whiteness without whiteness collapsing. But Sicilians were ruled by North African Muslims for hundreds of years - they're noticeably darker, and their culture is distinct. So Sicilians were denied whiteness, and they were used as a scapegoat for xenophobic sentiments during waves of Italian immigration. When they had sufficiently assimilated, then suddenly Sicilians were "Italians" and Italians are white, so Sicilians are white. So you've now managed to redefine whiteness across an era of immigration to build white unity and maintain a white supremacist majority.

White Fascism is self-destructive and suicidal because it maintains rigid immutable boundaries and requires constant expansion, which means eventually whiteness WILL be a minority. Liberalism upholds whiteness by redefining whiteness over time to maintain a White social majority. When whiteness needs to be mutable, there needs to be a population that can be used as the scapegoat. (Which is also why anti-Blackness is a core component of White supremacist racial ideology - it functions as a permanent fixed class to pivot other groups' whiteness around).

That's how it functions in America. But the rules of whiteness ARE mutable, and they change based on time and region. So the question of "Is x person white" really depends on time AND location, and how their identities exist in relation to nation-building myths. And it reaches a point where asking a question like "Are Armenians white?" or "Are Balkan Muslims white?" or "Are Jews white?" stops being useful, because the point shouldn't be to reify race, it should be to point out that people who fail to fit neatly within these national racial narratives are the best possible example to show how Whiteness contradicts itself. Is an Arab white? Is a Jew white? Is a North African white? It depends, when, where, and who are we talking about?

#this was prompted by the billionth annoying arab #posting about how al anfal was about purging whiteness from thr middle east #like my brother in Allah you ARE THE MAJORITY HERE #you are the whiteness here #we'll both be not white in Louisiana but you'll still have the money and backing of Arab nationalism #and if you fail and Kurds somehow form a nationstate we will inevitably become the whiteness of that state #and also like one of the most famous Kurds in history was a Black man freed from the Arab slave trade #you did it because your nationalism fails to account for the falsity of racial ideology #and you need to justify your continued existence and power #This is also why I've stopped really fully IDing as Kurdish bc like #im Shabak and a Kurdish Jew #both things ive seen the KRG fail to account for #so even if Kurdistan somehow becomes a nation state my family will still be SOL and stranded #also I only touched on it but it does need to be made clear that antiblackness is a core part of white ideology #even in supposedly post-racial ideologies like Anzaldua's Mestizx ideology #Blackness is positioned as something that needs to be solved to resolve the contradictions in post-racial nationalisms #the only people who have given me kindness about my complex familial history in the US are other nationless minorities and Black folks #and being allowed to sit in on an Anakarta reading group changed my life #if anyone is curious for more about the discussion of racial construction in the Middle East #read Nesting Orientalisms and The White Turkish Man's Burden #this is basically just me processing how coexist with my experiences + the knowledge I've gained from loved ones #also if anyone has issues with anything I've said here feel free to DM me but dont reblog this #I'm def open to discussing things and having my understanding corrected or challenged #but if you do it via reblogs ur getting blocked lmao