A Fantastical Journey Into My Mind

"I am a lesbian woman of Color whose children eat regularly because I work in a university. If their..."

Tue, 14 May 2013 18:20:08 -0700

“I am a lesbian woman of Color whose children eat regularly because I work in a university. If their full bellies make me fail to recognize my commonality with a woman of Color whose children do not eat because she cannot find work, or who has no children because her insides are rotted from home abortions and sterilization; if I fail to recognize the lesbian who chooses not to have children, the woman who remains closeted because her homophobic community is her only life support, the woman who chooses silence instead of another death, the woman who is terrified lest my anger trigger the explosion of hers; if I fail to recognize them as other faces of myself, then I am contributing not only to each of their oppressions but also to my own, and the anger which stands between us, then must be used for clarity and mutual empowerment, not for evasion by guilt or for further separation.”

- Audre Lorde, “The Uses of Anger,” Sister Outsider, p. 123 (via afrolez)

thepeoplesrecord: The troubling viral trend of the “hilarious”...

Wed, 08 May 2013 19:07:42 -0700

thepeoplesrecord:

The troubling viral trend of the “hilarious” Black poor person
May 7, 2013

Charles Ramsey, the man who helped rescue three Cleveland women presumed dead after going missing a decade ago, has become an instant Internet meme. It’s hardly surprising—the interviews he gave yesterday provide plenty of fodder for a viral video, including memorable soundbites (“I was eatin’ my McDonald’s”) and lots of enthusiastic gestures. But as Miles Klee and Connor Simpson have noted, Ramsey’s heroism is quickly being overshadowed by the public’s desire to laugh at and autotune his story, and that’s a shame. Ramsey has become the latest in a fairly recent trend of “hilarious” black neighbors, unwitting Internet celebrities whose appeal seems rooted in a “colorful” style that is always immediately recognizable as poor or working-class.

Before Ramsey, there was Antoine Dodson, who saved his younger sister from an intruder, only to wind up famous for his flamboyant recounting of the story to a reporter. Since Dodson’s rise to fame, there have been others: Sweet Brown, a woman who barely escaped her apartment complex during a fire last year, and Michelle Clarke, who couldn’t fathom the hailstorm that rained down in her hometown of Houston, and in turn became “the next Sweet Brown.”

Granted, the buzzworthy tactic of reporters interviewing the most loquacious witnesses to a crime or other event is nothing new, and YouTube has countless examples of people of all ethnicities saying ridiculous things. One woman, for instance, saw fit to casually mention her breasts while discussing a local accident, while another man described a car crash with theatrical flair. Earlier this year, a “hatchet-wielding hitchhiker” named Kai matched Dodson’s fame with his astonishing account of rescuing a woman from a racist attacker. But none of those people have been subjected to quite the same level of derisive memeification as Brown, Clark, and now, perhaps, Ramsey—the inescapable echoes of “Hide yo’ kids, hide yo’ wife!” and “Kabooyaw,” the tens of millions of YouTube hits and cameos in other viral videos, even commercials.

It’s difficult to watch these videos and not sense that their popularity has something to do with a persistent, if unconscious, desire to see black people perform. Even before the genuinely heroic Ramsey came along, some viewers had expressed concern that the laughter directed at people like Sweet Brown plays into the most basic stereotyping of blacks as simple-minded ramblers living in the “ghetto,” socially out of step with the rest of educated America. Black or white, seeing Clark and Dodson merely as funny instances of random poor people talking nonsense is disrespectful at best. And shushing away the question of race seems like wishful thinking.

Ramsey is particularly striking in this regard, since, for a moment at least, he put the issue of race front and center himself. Describing the rescue of Amanda Berry and her fellow captives, he says, “I knew something was wrong when a little pretty white girl ran into a black man’s arms. Something is wrong here. Dead giveaway!”

The candid statement seems to catch the reporter off guard; he ends the interview shortly afterward. And it’s notable that among the many memorable things Ramsey said on camera, this one has gotten less meme-attention than most. Those who are simply having fun with the footage of Ramsey might pause for a second to actually listen to the man. He clearly knows a thing or two about the way racism prevents us from seeing each other as people.

Source

Now that you know this is a thing, please stop sharing these memes. Poor Black people speaking candidly about various serious incidents isn’t a hilarious joke.

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Wed, 01 May 2013 19:29:40 -0700

bon-bon: The older I get the more I realise there are no grown ups and nobody knows what the fuck...

Wed, 01 May 2013 19:19:54 -0700

bon-bon:

The older I get the more I realise there are no grown ups and nobody knows what the fuck they’re doing.

I Must Speak.

Tue, 30 Apr 2013 21:03:33 -0700

Today at work I heard someone say that being gay was a choice. Like “choosing to jerk off.” It took all of my sanity to not respond to that comment. This person then continued to talk about how it was a lifestyle and so forth. The conversation was with someone who is on the same work team as me. The person on my team basically thought opposite of whatever homeboy was saying.

This all stemmed from the news that Jason Collins came out. Kudos to him. It’s a big risk to do so. Prior to that, Brittney Griner came out — save the fact that there was very little knowledge of this because the media hardly brings attention to women in general. Especially queer women of color.

There’s so much I would like to say about all of this. What I say is what I feel, and what I feel is stung. I felt pinched when I heard that person say those things. Sometimes I get so caught up in my own little world that I forget that some people don’t think that identifying as lesbian, gay, bisexual, or transgender is not a choice. I don’t choose that. I am that. And for that person to compare being LGBT to jerking off. What. The. Fuck.

There are no words to express how I feel right now. I’m mostly perplexed with a hint of annoyance. I know there will always be people that think that way, and sometimes you just have to move on from the situation. What can you do? What can I do? It took a lot for me to not stand up and say something… I really wanted to say something. But, I didn’t.

I have to show up to work and pretend that whole conversation didn’t affect me. It did in a small way. I know better than to dwell on such ignorant statements. I know it’ll pass. I guess I haven’t heard anyone talk about that subject out loud in a while. Maybe that’s why I’m stuck thinking about it longer than I should be.

callingoutbigotry: girlslikeusnews: (via Shelter drops ban on...

Mon, 15 Apr 2013 19:04:10 -0700

callingoutbigotry:

girlslikeusnews:

(via Shelter drops ban on trans women | LGBT News | Washington DC : Washington Blade – America’s Leading Gay News Source)

Lakiesha Washington triumphantly holding the court order requiring that a homeless shelter stop denying access for trans women. A great victory, from a wonderful woman.

This is awesome

some good news to brighten a really sad day

you rock, Lakiesha!

gaywrites: In which two men, Tshepo Cameron Modisane and Thoba...

Tue, 09 Apr 2013 18:45:10 -0700

gaywrites:

In which two men, Tshepo Cameron Modisane and Thoba Calvin Sithole, marry in the first same-sex ceremony in Zulu and Tswana traditions in South Africa. Lovely. (via Gay Star News)

courtney-summers: This is Coy Mathis, a transgender 6 year old...

Tue, 09 Apr 2013 18:39:59 -0700

courtney-summers:

This is Coy Mathis, a transgender 6 year old living in Colorado. It just so happens that my brother is in her class at Eagleside Elementary School in Fountain, Colorado. When I asked my brother how he felt about Coy he said, “She’s got really cool hair and we play on the slides at recess.” I asked what he thought about Coy’s decision to be a girl and he said, “She is a girl. She just got the wrong body on accident.” How is a 6 year old more understanding and accepting of her than many of the adults at Eagleside Elementary?

feminismfreedomfighters: dantepegasi: hey-assbutt-its-a-parade:...

Tue, 09 Apr 2013 18:38:58 -0700

feminismfreedomfighters:

dantepegasi:

hey-assbutt-its-a-parade:

finndicate:

vjezze:

Amsterdam is turning rainbow for a visit of the Russian president Putin. The council of the city of Amsterdam has decided to hang out the gay pride flag on all council owned buildings and offices, in protest to Russia’s new anti-gay law.

there’s several of these as well;

pretty sure Amsterdam is now the sass capital of the world

guess you could say amsterdam is really putin him in his place

Doh ho.

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Mon, 08 Apr 2013 18:16:41 -0700

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Mon, 08 Apr 2013 18:15:27 -0700

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Sun, 07 Apr 2013 14:13:45 -0700

tastefullyoffensive: [video]

Sun, 07 Apr 2013 14:13:12 -0700

tastefullyoffensive:

[video]

tastefullyoffensive: [via]

Mon, 01 Apr 2013 18:30:00 -0700

tastefullyoffensive:

[via]

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Sun, 24 Mar 2013 14:33:12 -0700

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Sat, 23 Mar 2013 09:51:23 -0700

politics-war: Protesting students at the Polytechnic University...

Thu, 21 Mar 2013 23:41:51 -0700

politics-war:

Protesting students at the Polytechnic University of Philippines created a bonfire of furniture to mourn a freshman who apparently committed suicide last week after she was forced to suspend her studies because of her inability to pay her tuition. According to the Philippine Daily Inquirer, classes were canceled on Monday to mourn 16-year-old Kristel Tejada and student organizations vowed to continue protests against school policies on tuition fees.

cestlabonita: Hail Mary.

Thu, 21 Mar 2013 07:06:28 -0700

cestlabonita:

Hail Mary.

whattheferch: “We met at the wrong time. That’s what I keep...

Wed, 13 Mar 2013 17:02:17 -0700

whattheferch:

“We met at the wrong time. That’s what I keep telling myself anyway. Maybe one day years from now, we’ll meet in a coffee shop in a far away city somewhere and we could give it another shot.”

reblogging because of the Eternal Sunshine shots… and well, just because.

Don Your Capes: Trans History for LGBT History Month - Marsha P Johnson (1944 - 1992)

Tue, 19 Feb 2013 22:05:58 -0800

Don Your Capes: Trans History for LGBT History Month - Marsha P Johnson (1944 - 1992):

genderedintelligence:

Marsha P Johnson was a trans activist, performer, and popular figure on the New York City gay scene from the 1960s to the 1990s.

She was on the front line of the Stonewall Riots in 1969. She was the “mother” of S.T.A.R. (Street Transgender Action Revolutionaries)…