August 2011
Locked Up and Left Behind: New York’s Prisoners and Hurricane Irene →
solitarywatch.com
“We are not evacuating Rikers Island,” Mayor Michael Bloomberg said in a this afternoon.
“There is nothing that annoys me more…and you can find this often on feminist blogs when the issue of race comes up…than when someone begins a comment by saying, “We’ll, I’m just a clueless white woman, but…” To this, I say…”No.” First, the constituencies of most of the popular feminist blogs prove themselves to be far from clueless on other topics. They talk of being PhDs and scientists and teachers and journalists. These are smart women. What this statement really means is, “I have the privilege of not having to educate myself on this issue, so I’m going to make a cutesy disclaimer before I speak in case I say something wildly offensive.” That’s a cop out. It’s an attempt to get around owning your mistakes. And it demeans me and you. If you think you really are “clueless,” do something about it.”
—
What Tami Said: From the vault: When allies fail (Pt. 1)
Indeed.
(via sisteroutsider)
From an interview with the director of the Help.
- Interviewer: Emma said you kept a calendar of everyone’s hormonal states?
- TT: Oh, yeah. Yeah, varying menstrual cycles and 110-degree weather in Mississippi could have been a time bomb, but it was not.
- OS: Let me just clarify …
- TT: It was not! Everybody was wonderful. She had some bad days …
- OS: He’s like my brother, and obviously I’m going to have bad days with him. But you know that’s the misperception though. That a group of women … is going to be crazy. But our hormones, while they can be problematic, I think there are so many professionals and such a good group that men will find—and I’m glad that he’s a person who has been around a lot of women in his life that that really wasn’t that daunting.
- TT: No, it really wasn’t. Everybody was fantastic.
- ...Wtf is this noise? Like The Help didn't have enough problems. (http: //www.artscriticatl.com/2011/08/film-review-the-help-a-feel-good-movie-for-white-people/)
I can totally understand when people say Michelle Rodriguez is a bad actress because she only ever has one expression - angry.
I mean, seriously.
Just look at her.
You can see the anger and frustration in her eyes.
It makes you wonder what scarred her.
All she wants is revenge.
I have no sympathy for her.
It’s as if she has no soul.
I think she’s gonna kill me.
I’m scared.
Hold me. :(
“The schools we go to are the reflections of the society that created them. Nobody is going to give you the education you need to overthrow them. Nobody is going to teach you your true history, teach you your true heroes, if they know that that knowledge will help set you free. Schools in amerika are interested in brainwashing people with amerikanism, giving them a little bit of education, and training them in skills needed to fill the positions the capitalist system requires. As long as we expect amerika’s schools to educate us, we will remain ignorant”
—Assata Shakur (via antarahhh)
When Lavender Brown was a black girl.
I was reading about Lavender Brown on the Harry Potter wiki, trying to figure out whether or not she was killed during the Battle of Hogwarts (my nerdiness knows no bounds, for real) I was reminded that between films 2 and 4 Lavender was consistently portrayed by black actresses. Then she became a more important character, started dating Ron Weasley and all of a sudden she was recast with white actress, Jessie Cave. I was a little bit shell-shocked when I realized this. What the hell? Lavender Brown’s ethnicity if never specified in the books; they could have easily continued to portray her as a black character. But nope! Can’t have one of our white main character date a black girl!
Before:
After:
Life Of A Nappy-Headed Fat Chic: Marcus Garvey Did Not Die So This Could Live →
lifeofanappyheadedfatchic.tumblr.com
A friend shared an image today that made me sick to my stomach. I am sharing with you in hopes that you do as I did and contact Nivea’s offices with a complaint
This is the image:
This is my complaint
How dare you suggest in this ad lockerz.com/s/130486212 that Black men who appear with…
Is this real life? STOP THE PLANET….
*speechless*
I officially quit earth. What the fuck.
“I remember my first women’s studies class at Stanford, when there was a conflict when one of the white woman students was talking about the Black maid at her home, and how much they loved her. And I raised the question, “But does she love you? What do you really know of what she says about you when she is home? What have you done to earn the right to talk about her?” Of course, I remembered that when my mother came home, the critique that she brought to bear on the white people that she worked for was fierce. They would not have been able to imagine it. She would come home and do a gendered critique, or do a critique of the idea of female freedom, of the white female leisure-class model in a way that the white people she worked for did not see because of their racism and classism.”
—
bell hooks, in homegrown: Engaged Cultural Critique in the chapter “Feminist Iconography,” p. 39.
Funny I read this this weekend after hearing and reading so much about The Help.
(via readnfight)
I kinda feel like this when white people tell me they had a black nanny. I know the bond between nanny and child can be heaps strong…but when white people mention this, they usually say it to show they have some kind of understanding of blackness or that they love blackness. No, you love what blackness can do for you. Not for what and who the black person is.
(via leonineantiheroine)
“No, you love what blackness can do for you.” - THIS
(via amaevis)
“Oh boy, the Vatican, no doubt patting itself on the back for being so generous to the filthy sluts of the world, has set up a six-day event in Madrid where ladies who’ve had abortions can come and confess in order to escape the automatic excommunication they otherwise would get. The reports don’t indicate if the Vatican is generously offering the same thing to murderers, rapists, or priests who molest children only to get transferred to a new parish where there’s fresh young people who haven’t learned to fear you yet, but that’s probably because none of those people are subject to the dogged excommunications of women who let penises near their vaginas for reasons other than producing more hands that can put money in the collection plate. Hey, don’t judge! They have to keep funding these $87-million (the estimated cost of the Pope’s trip to Madrid) Pope excursions, you know.”
—
Amanda Marcotte takes issue with the Vatican. The Guardian reports on the World Youth Day events that will feature the Get Out of Hell Free Confession Extravaganza. (via ilyagerner)
Why am I always so surprised that the Church has double standards?
(via proustianrecall)
Lol, guess who’s mom and sister are in Madrid right now to see the Pope?
(via fattiesinlove)
The amount of head shaking, eye roll inducing hypocrisy that comes out of the Catholic Church is just mind boggling. Honestly, I’m surprised the Pope hasn’t declared it a miracle that anyone puts up with this institution anymore.
Did the priests who raped countless nuns, then encouraged to have abortions (from which one even died) get excommunicated? Or will they be showing up to this festival of bullshit too?
(via stfusexists)
Glossylalia: My grandmothers and great-grandmothers were “The Help”, I have aunts... →
glossylalia.tumblr.com
My grandmothers and great-grandmothers were “The Help”, I have aunts who couldn’t finish the book or see the movie because it upset them so much.
If you’re going to do it, do right by it. Same goes for advertisers. That film shouldn’t have been promoted the way it was. The book and film are both…
When Ginny had a baby name idea:
i’m only reblogging this because i have been seeing a lot of confessions that feel the same way.
THIS.
Trying to actually write something
BUT THERE’S JUST SO MUCH DAMN TUMBLR!
In other news! In about a week I start classes and my new job, woot.
I’ve been watching a shit ton of tv-on-dvd and I’ve gotten really into It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia and Weeds. Tried to watch Dexter, couldn’t get into it at all. Got the first season of Pushing Daisies and Extras and Curb Your Enthusiasm should be coming tomorrow. Fuck yeah, tv-on-dvd.
I’m rereading the entire Harry Potter series and writing a seven(ish) part series on the things that confuse and anger me about the series: plot holes, character development, ridiculous relationships, J.K. Rowling’s odd problems with math and determining size, and reliving my realizations that Harry is a deeply boring main character. It’s pretty damn fun and allows me to reread a series I love deeply while venting out all of my frustrations about the books.
I’m also hoping to post my list of the past decade’s best horror films before the week is out. I was supposed to be working on that now while I’m at the library but like I said, SO MUCH TUMBLR!
I miss you tumblr. Soon we’ll be together. Soon.
Soy Dulce de Leche: while emma watson says she feels more like a fighter than a princess... →
soydulcedeleche.tumblr.com
while emma watson says she feels more like a fighter than a princess im sitting here thinking…when the fuck have black women had a choice as to being fighters? and when was i ever given the option to be a pampered, fragile, delicate princess? when?
i cant help but be sort of piqued by this. i…
I’ve never seen this movie but your points are so right. When was the choice there to be or even feel like a fighter when we fight daily to survive, if not materially, emotionally, etc. As for the tears, let them out. It’s funny, I’ve been called a cry baby a lot because I cry when I get emotional. It’s hard for me to hold back. But some of me thinks if I was a white woman, people wouldn’t be so damn surprised I actually fucking cry. Some girl wanted to insult the shit out of gays and I called her out and you know what, after I called her out, I cried. She just ran away and we haven’t spoke since. We were both black women. I dunno. Regardless of the results, let it out because it’s in there and wants to. These people might not fall all over themselves like with white woman tears but some people might see something they didn’t even want to know existed, our fucking pain.
“Apparently, according to Cirque Du Soleil, we Gypsies live in “a captivating forest inhabited by whimsical and enchanted creatures”. At least, according to their website advertising their newest show, ‘Varekai’. For those not familiar, the word ‘varekai’ means “wherever”. They claim the show is “an acrobatic tribute to the nomadic soul”.
Needless to say, as a Romani American, I am disgusted with Cirque Du Soleil’s blatant misappropriation of my people and our culture. What they claim is a celebration of nomadic life is actually an insult to a race that has suffered years and years of persecution (hence the ‘nomadic lifestyle’). Contrary to popular belief, the Romany people did not choose to move from place to place out of some invented, inherent ‘free spiritedness’ - they had no choice. They were forced out of every place and every country they went. Our “nomadic soul(s)” (as they call it) were not welcome anywhere, and still to this day have no proper homeland, and are considered Europe’s largest (and most hated) minority group. It sickens me that this kind of nonsense can be called ‘art’.
” —Gypsy Appropriations (via strengthofourlimbs)
“The idea of punk rock as some kind of beacon of open-mindedness is bullshit. Most white punk rockers like to consider themselves absolved of their privilege simply because they publicly denounce racism and don’t attend weekly KKK meetings. Let me reiterate: JUST BECAUSE YOU THINK RACISM IS WRONG DOES NOT MEAN YOU ARE NOT A RACIST. Whites will always have that underlying residual racism, and that applies as much to the punk rocker as it does to the redneck.”
—
Black Invisibility and Racism in Punk Rock by Tasha Fierce | HipMama.com
This is a great article.
(via awesome-everyday)
Struggling To Be Heard: A Black President is the best thing that could have happened to this country. →
strugglingtobeheard.tumblr.com
Why? because black (& brown) people were getting a tad too comfortable - affirmative action, titles like African- American and Equal opportunity employer, post racial society.
Yep. America really had y’all thinking y’all were on the same page as your white majority counter parts….
Fox & Friends Outraged Crayola Recognizes More Than One Skin Tone. →
mediamatters.org
Crayola releases crayons that represent skin colors outside of the Nordic white to Georgia peach range, Fox News calls it “liberal pandering” and “PC gone too far.”
How is it that usually when the right complains about political correctness, they’re actually just complaining about regular-ass correctness?
These crayons have been around since the early 90s. Late freight, anyone?
“We here at Fox & Friends just discovered that schools are FORCED to be integrated. This is an outrage! Liberal PC agenda!!!”
“
(TW for violence/homophobic slurs)
The report says the two suspects began to “flirt” with two of the women. It says one of the women responded by telling the men she wasn’t interested and she was with her girlfriend.
“Suspect 1 became enraged and stated, “You fucking dyke bitches, I will kick that bitch’s ass,” the report says. “I will take that dyke bitch into the alley and kick her ass,” the report quotes suspect 1 as saying.
According to the two women who spoke to the Blade, the suspect was referring to Morse, who is the girlfriend of one of the two women that the two suspects approached. Morse said she walked over to the men to find out what was going on.
The police report, which lists Morse as Complainant 1, says suspect 1 punched her in the left eye. “Complainant 1 staggered back and Suspect 1 punched C-1 twice more with a closed fist. It says that when the other women tried to assist C-1, they were hit by both suspects.
The suspects punched each of the women in the head and face, the report says.
(…)
The victim who asked not to be identified said the officers on the scene gave no explanation for refusing to take a report. But she said some of the officers told them they were too agitated.
“They were telling us if you guys don’t calm down we’re going to lock you guys up,” the woman said. “One officer said I’m not talking to you because you guys don’t know how to act,” she said.
“And yes, we were panicking. Yes, we were crying. Yes, we were going off,” she said. “But the fact is these men had just hit us.”
” —In DC, after the recent killing of a transwoman, the near shooting of another transwoman in the same area, five lesbians are assaulted by men and police refused to take a report. (via love-resist)
Do Women [& POC] need more degrees than Men? →
huffingtonpost.com
The study’s other main finding is that a woman generally needs more degrees than a man in order to earn the same amount of money. For example, the average woman must obtain a Ph.D in order to keep pace with the average bachelor’s degree-holding man.
“The women’s story is grand and dismal,” concluded Carnevale. After scanning all 171 majors included in the study, he found not one major where women consistently out-earn men.
The report also found similar gaps by ethnicity and race. For instance, African Americans and Latinos earn less money than their white peers — even those whites with less education. Further, the average African American or Latino with a master’s degree doesn’t exceed the lifetime earnings of white bachelor’s degree holder. Finally, the report concluded that Asian Americans with graduate degrees earn more than all other races, including whites.
Color me SHOCKED.
This is generally my response to the, “But women are getting MORE degrees, it’s MEN who are disadvantaged!”. Yeah, they’re getting more degrees and less work. Kind of defeats the purpose of a degree.
They are getting more degrees and getting paid less for MORE work.
“I remember everyone asking when I was doing press for the movie, ‘What did you do to look so thin? You looked great’ and I’m like, ‘I looked emaciated’ … It’s a form of violence, in the way that we look at women and how we expect them to look and be — for what sake? Not health, not survival, not enjoyment of life but just so you could look pretty. I’m constantly telling girls all the time, ‘Everything’s airbrushed, everything’s retouched. None of us look like that.”
— Rosario Dawson on receiving compliments when she lost weight to play a drug addict in Rent. (via mollix)
It's 4:30 in the morning, I'm still awake.
Been writing shit, which is cool. Feels really nice and therapeutic. I’m at my friend’s house tonight; my friends take such good care of me when I need them. Tonight I wrote extensively about this summer; it’ll be posted on the big blog tomorrow by noon. It was nice to just get it all out in one place. I’m feeling pretty good, all things considered. I still miss Andreas but that’ll never change. Until we’re living indefinitely in the same state, it’ll always be like that. I came to terms with that a long time ago, it’s just part of my relationship. And it’s okay. He’s still my goose and we still have each other, even if it’s different now.
I got about three weeks till school starts. I’ve paid my part of the rent for this month. I got a little food. I can relax, a little. Hopefully I can use the time to do really creative stuff; stress tends to sap all my creative energy. So maybe if I can relax a little, I can do something artistic before summer’s end. We’ll see, I guess. I miss you Tumblr. This year, Imma get internet in mah damn apartment and then, Tumblr, THEN we will never be apart.
Yay.
“Whether libraries should continue to exist has almost nothing to do with what format the information comes in. It has everything to do with free public access to well-curated, well-organised, unbiased information; it has everything to do with libraries as part of the local community; it has everything to do with libraries as a source of entertainment that doesn’t presume everyone’s lives are an endless race to acquire wealth and possessions. Librarians aren’t out to sell you anything.”
—Are Public Libraries Obsolete?: The Shelf Life of a “Dream Vision” - seattlepi.com (via infoneer-pulse)
Teen Dies in Jail After Being Arrested for Marijuana →
tokeofthetown.com
An 18-year-old Florida man has died after suffering a medical emergency while in jail on a marijuana charge. Records show that Superintendent Anthony Flowers of the Palm Beach Juvenile Detention Center instructed staff not to call 9-1-1 as young Eric Perez lay dying.
What the fuck.
stop the Earth. i want to get off.
Andromeda & The Milky Way: My racism sense is tingling. →
eclecticalexandria.tumblr.com
Honestly, my reaction to the new spiderman thing wasn’t, “He’s black and latino?!?”. It was, “They killed off Peter Parker?!?!”. But then I remembered that I don’t even really care about comic books.
Edit: Comment Spotlight!
OH MY GOD WHAT ARE WHITE PEOPLE GOING TO DO WITHOUT SPIDERMAN
HE WAS ALL WE HAD
I have no words for this bullshit. None.
saw this bafoolery floating around, but didn’t want to say anything. i keep asking myself every time i go to the grocery store why my face breaks into a frown when i look around and see white people all over the place! i keep trying to tell myself that i am only imagining them cutting their eyes at me or snatching their children close afraid my braids may whip them in the face….lmao…ok i stop, but that was a funny thought.
ATTENTION WHITE PEOPLE MOST OF YOUR “ORIGINAL” SUPERHEROS WERE STOLEN FROM INDIGENOUS “MYTHOLOGY”….SO GTFO
I’m not tryin’ to sound racist BUT…..
Hahahahahahahahahah!! Seriously - this shit makes me laugh my ass off!
I am lovin’ it! I am going to be HUGE supporter of Blaxican Spider-Man. Huge!
Man, I want to collect all of these people’s tears in little vials and sip them.
How fragile our sense of comfort is…boo hoo! First a Black Prez and now Spider-Man?????
LOLOLOLOLOLOL
EAT IT, SUCKAS!
Amerikkanstories, you totally made me lmao and smile. Thanks cause I needed that.
sexgenderbody: If a Married Lesbian Couple Saves 40 Teens from the Norway Massacre and No One Writes About it, Did it Really Happen? →
sexgenderbody.tumblr.com
By this point, most of you have heard about the tragedy in Norway a few weeks ago when a Christian Fundamentalist murdered 92 people and injured another 96. The story has been well-covered by International media and the mainstream press here in the US.
What you probably have not heard about is the married lesbian couple who rescued 40 teenagers during and after the bloody event. Several blogs and gay and lesbian publications are now picking up the story, but the heavy hitters who usually kill for hero stories like this, have remained silent.
The Finnish capital city’s largest daily newspaper, Helsingin Sanomat, published this account (translated from Finnish):
Hege Dalen and her spouse, Toril Hansen were near Utöyan having dinner on the opposite shore across from the ill-fated campsite, when they began to hear gunfire and screaming on the island.
“We were eating. Then shooting and then the awful screaming. We saw how the young people ran in panic into the lake,” says Dale to HS in an interview.
The couple immediately took action and pushed the boat into Lake Tyrifjorden.
Dalen and Hansen drove the boat to the island, picked up from the water victims in shock in, the young and wounded, and transported them to the opposite shore to the mainland. Between runs they saw that the bullets had hit the right side of the boat.
Since there were so many and not all fit at once aboard, they returned to the island four times.
They were able to rescue 40 young people from the clutches of the killer.
“We did not sleep last night at all. Today, we have been together and talked about the events,” Dalen said.
Please share this story and make sure people know the heroism of Hege and Toril.
Fucking beautiful human beings.
Oie! I feel your pain, you are right, thank god for pasta lol. *sending my love* I think we can make it through, fingers crossed!
Seriously! If I can say one positive thing about growing up without money is that it got me really ready for living on my own! Sending you lots of love and luck as well!
“Someone firebombed a Planned Parenthood clinic in McKinney, Texas, late Tuesday night. Because it was so late, no one was hurt. The clinic doesn’t provide abortions, but there had been protesters there earlier that day anyway. You might’ve read about the news on Twitter or on a liberal blog. Probably not in a newspaper or on a cable new channel. Definitely not at any right-wing blogs. Which is a bit odd, actually, considering how much attention terrorist attacks generally get in this country. Oh, sorry, how much attention possible Islamic terrorist attacks get.”
—Planned Parenthood firebombed, right wing silent - (via becauseiamawoman)
Struggling To Be Heard: Financial shit →
strugglingtobeheard.tumblr.com
Woo. I feel a bit better today. I had defaulted on my gas bill and owe a total of $305 bucks but I so can’t pay that now. I called cause they said they were going to shut me off. They wanted to make a new payment plan and I told them I couldn’t pay the $77 they are asking for to start. Then I…
Mannn, I feel you so hard. I’m also depending on a financial aid refund. I just took out nearly all the money in bank account, all of which was lent to me by friends/boyfriend to cover my half of the rent. I got about $16 for the rest of the month. Luckily, spaghetti noodles are cheap, filling and tasty with some butter and grated Parmesan. Money stuff sucks.
Fox News Turns Its Laser-Like Journalistic Focus on Spongebob for Siding with Science →
politicususa.com
“…Clearly Nickelodeon is pushing a global warming agenda, and while there’s no disputing the fact that the Earth is getting a little warmer the big question is, is it manmade or is it just one of those gigantic climactic phases you know phases that were going? For a while we’re cold and then we get warmer and then we colder and then we get warmer. Which one is it? The science on both sides, there are a lot of scientists who say it’s this, others say it’s that.” - Steve Doocy
“Minorities are typically less than 18% of the population, but they seem to get nearly 100% of the history. Why should white children not have a comic book hero that they can identify with?This”
—
http://www.bleedingcool.com/2011/08/02/fear-of-a-black-spider-man/ (via mostlyhazel)
“WHY SHOULD WHITE CHILDREN NOT HAVE A COMIC BOOK HERO THAT THEY CAN IDENTIFY WITH?”
“WHY SHOULD WHITE CHILDREN NOT HAVE A COMIC BOOK HERO THAT THEY CAN IDENTIFY WITH?”
How someone wrote this with a straight face, I’ll never know.
(via palaceoffunk)
……………. are they being serious
(via korrathelastswagbender)
Wait, what?
(via kyssthis16)
This twitch in my eye…it can’t be healthy. I think I’m going to lay down.
(via karnythia)
I’m sorry. I’ve reached my stupidity levels for the day.
(via xicacha)
……
Where the fuck has this fool been!?
(via bitchwhoyoukiddin)
I totally am missing this whole spider-man ordeal, I don’t know what’s going on. But it’s funny to read the panties in a bunch white folks comments that are so inaccurate as a result.
(via strugglingtobeheard)