Reasons for the Riots

Camila Batmanghelidjh: Caring costs – but so do riots (The Independent)

London has woken up to street violence, and the usual narratives have emerged – punish those responsible for the violence because they are “opportunist criminals” and “disgusting thieves”. The slightly more intellectually curious might blame the trouble on poor police relations or lack of policing.

Nina Power: There is a context to London’s riots that can’t be ignored (The Guardian)

Those condemning the events of the past couple of nights in north London and elsewhere would do well to take a step back and consider the bigger picture: a country in which the richest 10% are now 100 times better off than the poorest, where consumerism predicated on personal debt has been pushed for years as the solution to a faltering economy, and where, according to the OECD, social mobility is worse than any other developed country.

Socialisimo: London Riots

The youth have no jobs, and their are no jobs. Especially if you’re from the Afro-Caribbean community where kids are routinely stopped, you’re more likely to go to jail and there is rampant poverty. Why then should these people care about the places they live? it’s pretty obvious the government, the police and anyone outside London doesn’t give a damn about these people unless they have a backdrop of violence.

things I’ve learned from growing up asian-american

newwavefeminism:

chichaaang:

1. On the list of words I’ve learned to hate, ‘exotic’ has come to feature pretty prominently. As a corollary to the previous point, I have also learned that exotic is not the same thing as attractive. It is also often not a compliment.

2. On the list of things I don’t believe when people say them to me, ‘beautiful’ features pretty prominently. I spent years feeling self-conscious for not looking conventional-anything. I can no longer tell if people call me beautiful(/pretty/hot/cute/etc.) because I am or because I’m asian and therefore “different” and “interesting-looking”. This is not to say I am insecure about how I look. I just never know if other people think I am attractive in the same way I know I am attractive.

3. “Hey baby. Ni hao ma” is not an effective pickup line. I know. I was surprised too.

4. I am seen as either completely asexual or as a sexual fantasy waiting to be fulfilled. I am slowly learning otherwise in college, but this figured so prominently in my identity when in high school it’s still sometimes hard to shake.

5. My culture is a commodity. My language is a novelty, though Chinese doesn’t quite rank as high in terms of sex appeal as European languages. My American-ness always, always comes as a surprise to people. And if I don’t act how one thinks Asian-Americans should act then I’m ‘white-washed’.

6. Somewhat related to the above, in the plus/minus categories for being a hipster, my race should never be used as a factor. There are quotation marks around this whole point, by the way.

7. I have come to accept (accept, not condone, not like) that some people keep me around because I provide that much-needed diversity while still being ‘American’ enough that it’s socially acceptable. I guess it’s the first (or maybe the final) hurdle of friendship for me - if you can look far enough past my race when it comes to friendship to determine whether or not I’m a worthwhile human being or just a pleasant non-entity so you can check off the diversity box on your friendship checklist. Either way, I have grown so so tired of being the token Asian.

8. I am tired of needing the ‘Asian’ qualifier when being described. ‘Asian hipster.’ ‘Pretty Asian friend.’ ‘Cute Asian girlfriend.’ ‘Favorite Asian on campus.’ ‘Asian best friend.’

—-

Being Asian-American has made me unsure when dealing with others. I am always cautious in my relationships and, with some people, I am never quite sure if it is fascination or fetishization of my race that sustains those relationships or fascination of and interest in my person. This has made me insecure in strange ways, and yet I am not at all good when it comes to talking about this insecurity - how could I ever fully convey to someone, especially someone who is not a person of color, just how close, how prominent this concern always is? Being Asian is not weight I can lose or hair color/clothes I can change or education I can receive or money I can earn.

I bring nothing new in my list to the usual complaints/insecurities. I hesitated when deciding where to post this, especially when considering who will read this. There are people I admire and people whose intentions I’m not sure about who read this tumblr. I am not sure I am ready for either group of people to read something I consider so personal. I guess I could’ve just saved it as a sticky on my computer, or at least posted it on a much less public venue (then again - lol self, get over yourself. No one probably reads your tumblr as much as or as often as you seem to think). There’s a certain level of narcissism involved in posting this on my public tumblr, but there’s a certain level of bitterness as well. I take a weird satisfaction in even the remotest possibility of someone who has ever made me feel any of the ways enumerated in this list reading this and maybe understanding how his or her idea of an offhanded comment has and will haunt me my entire life

Bolded emphasis, mine. I talk about gendered racism a lot and how it affects women of color. This is another example, speaking from the experiences of an asian american.

Source: cmao

**Trigger warning for colorism, racism, privilege denial, self-harming**

Dark Girls Trailer

This documentary trailer gives perhaps a better view of colorism than Wikipedia. I also recommend the original blogpost I saw it on, which contains similarly grim details of the phenomenon which are similarly triggering.

Again, this is via theartfulodger.

Source: mikkikendall.wordpress.com

Colorism - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Colorism is prejudice or discrimination in which human beings are accorded differing social treatment based on skin color. The preference often gets translated into economic status because of opportunities for work. Colorism can be found across the world. The term is generally used for the phenomenon of people discriminating within their own ethnic groups.

The term colorism refers to when lighter skin tones are preferred and darker skin is considered less desirable or darker skin tones are preferred and lighter skin is considered less desirable. In the United States, the phenomenon also occurs in other populations, such as among Chicanos and other Latinos, Indian immigrants and Caucasian Americans.

The name pigmentocracy is given to a group-based social hierarchy based largely on colorism. Also labeled as colorism, which is more discussed than others, is the phenomenon of lighter-skinned people discriminating against darker tones within the same ethnic group.

Wikipedia may not be the best source, but I was unaware of colorism until shown to me by theartfulodger. I felt the need to pass the term on to others who are unaware of it, especially white people whose privilege separates them from the experience of marginalised races.

**Trigger warning for racist privilege denial** Stevie drops some knowledge

steviemcfly:

Okay, first of all, the child who posted this is not even white. That little piece of delicious deep-fried irony should be addressed before I begin eviscerating this little piece of idiocy.

bowbeforeme:

Proud To Be White

Someone finally  said it.
    How  many are actually paying attention to  this? 

People have said it before. They were called white supremacists. Stormfront says that shit all the time. The Hammerskins do. So does the Klan. Maybe you want to look into some of those groups. OH WAIT YOU’RE FILIPINO THEY WOULD MURDER YOU.

    There are  African Americans, Mexican Americans, Asian  Americans, Arab Americans, etc.  
    And then there  are just Americans. 

This is part of the problem. The rest of us aren’t considered real Americans. You get the privilege of being considered real Americans whereas the rest of us are considered lesser varieties who don’t have a real claim on our citizenship (see the birther nonsense for that principle in motion).

    You pass me on  the street and sneer in my direction.  
    You Call me  “White boy,” “Cracker,” “Honkey,”
    “Whitey,”  “Caveman” … And that’s OK.

I bet you a hundred dollars nobody has ever called you any of those things, and if they did, that they didn’t hurt you at all. None of those insults are in common use or have any power because white people control EVERYTHING. To paraphrase Louis CK, “Oh no, you called me a cracker! Way to remind me of owning land and people!”

Also, who calls white people cavemen? I’ve literally never heard that before.

    But when I call  you, [list of actual racist slurs] … You call me a  racist.

Well, if the shoe fits, caveman.

But seriously, if you’re not a racist, why do you want to use those terms at all? Think about that on the tree of woe.

    You say that  whites commit a lot of violence against you,  
    So why are the  ghettos the most dangerous places to live?

Poverty and desperation cause violence. The worst-funded schools are in the hood. The worst roads. The worst parks. You take people who have to focus too much on survival to have time to escape the cycle, put them in Section 8, and treat that shit like District 9. What the fuck do you expect? It has nothing to do with skin color and everything to do with the fact that ghettos even exist.

    You have the United Negro College Fund. You have Martin Luther King
    Day. You have  Black History Month. You have Cesar Chavez Day. You  
    Have Yom  Hashoah You have Ma’uled Al-Nabi You have the NAACP.  
    You have BET. 

  If we had WET  (White Entertainment Television)  … We’d be  racists.  
    If we had a  White Pride Day .. You would call  us racists.   
    If we had White  History Month .. We’d be  racists.   
    If we had any  organization for only whites to “advance”  OUR lives  ….
    We’d be  racists.

Jesus, Mary, and Jerome, you’re an [ableism redacted].

You have the vast majority of the wealth, privilege, and all kinds of historical benefits that make it far more likely for you to be able to fund your education. Plus, when UNCF started, things were a lot worse than they are today, which is a scary fucking thought.

You have White History Month. It’s called All Of The Months Except February.

You have President’s Day, which has only been honoring a black man on any level since ‘09 and is still 43/44 (approximately 98%) about white people. You have Thanksgiving. Columbus Day. The Fourth of July.

The NAACP is necessary because of institutional racism that still exists in our society. NAAWP is not necessary because you can’t advance past controlling everything and being considered the default.

BET was created at a time when there were almost no black people on TV and the few there were played servants who shucked and jived. WET is called every other channel on TV.

    We have a  Hispanic Chamber of Commerce, a Black Chamber of 
    Commerce, and  then we just have the plain Chamber of Commerce.  
    Wonder who pays  for that?

Where are there minority Chambers of Commerce? I haven’t heard of them. And Chambers of Commerce are private sector organizations, not government organizations, so who gives a shit who pays for them? It’s not through our taxes as you so ignorantly intimated.

    If we had a  college fund that only gave white students scholarships  
    … You know we’d be  racists.  There are over 60 openly proclaimed  
    Black Colleges  in the   US , yet if there  were “White colleges” ..
    THAT would be a  racist college.

There’s no need for a whites-only scholarship. It’s not like a majority of white people are in poverty. When you have the money and power, you don’t need extra money and power because an effort is being made to share it with others.

HBCUs are not, as you imply, black-only colleges. They were founded when black people weren’t allowed in the white colleges (read: every college but those “black colleges” you mention). They allow anyone to apply, and on top of that, at some of them, white people can get minority scholarships!


    In the Million  Man March, you believed that you were marching  
    For your race  and rights. If we marched for our race and rights,  
    You would call  us racists.

What rights would you be marching for? You have always had all of the rights! From the time this country was founded, you have had every right.

    You are proud  to be black, brown, yellow and orange, and you’re  
    Not afraid to  announce it. But when we announce our white pride  …
    You call us  racists. 

Think about everyone you’ve heard yelling, “White pride!” Now think about everything else those people said surrounding that. Now consider why we might associate that phrase with racism.

    You rob us,  carjack us, and shoot at us. But, when a white police officer  
    Shoots a black  gang member or beats up a black drug-dealer running  
    From the law  and posing a threat to society  … You  call him a racist.  

Are you seriously implying that all minorities rob, carjack, deal drugs, and shoot white people all the time? ARE YOU MOTHERFUCKING KIDDING ME? ARE YOU GODDAMN MOTHERFUCKING KIDDING ME?

    I am proud.  
    But, you call me  a racist.

No. You’re a racist, so I call you a racist.

    Why is it that  only whites can be racists?

Racism == power + privilege. White people, having the power and being considered the default (and thus having the privilege of always being represented, respected, and considered normal, beautiful, safe, etc.), are thus the people in this particular country who can be racist. Black people can be racially prejudiced, but the ability on an institutional, society-wide level to affect people through that prejudice is nonexistent.

    There  is nothing improper about this e-mail.  
    Let’s  see which of you are proud enough to send it on



There are many things improper about that e-mail. And I know who will be proud enough to send this bullshit on. They’re on the Stormfront forums. They watch Fox News. They have swastikas, Confederate flags, and the numbers 14 and 88 tattooed on them. They like to goose step and Skrewdriver is one of their favorite bands. They have countdown clocks on their computers for when Prussian Blue turns eighteen. They really like acid washed jeans and suspenders. Oxbloods are their jam. They totally missed the point of American History X. There is exactly one type of person that yells, “White pride!” at the top of their lungs, and I’m sure they loved that e-mail.

(via stfuracists)

Source: bowbeforeme

When we were working with the International Women’s Day, we were ‘invited’ to work, it wasn’t as if we as black women, as a group that they sought to invite, were part of that whole movement. We were something outside of the movement, so working inside it meant we had to say ‘look, you can’t do this, we are women, women that are connected to women all over the world. In order to have a real women’s movement, you have to work altogether as women. You can’t keep that structure where you control what goes and we just fill in the gaps.’

Grace Channer, from Sisters in the Struggle

Sounds like some of the problems with Slutwalk to me.

All the institutions have been framed in a monocultural framework. They’ve been set up by the British hundreds of years ago, these are the institutions which have been shaped in a way which captures the sentiments, the values, the norms of mainstream society.


Despite the fact that native people have been here eons and eons ago, they are not shaping any institution. They are left out of that by virtue of racism. And then along, if you look again, the Chinese who are here who built the railroad, they haven’t shaped any institution. Their norms, their values are not intricately tied into any one of these institutions.


How can you continue to have these dinosaurs keeping people out of inputting their values and their customs, it runs counter to this whole notion of multiculturalism… it runs contrary to that whole direction of government policy saying that there is ‘diversity’. Diversity, but where does that diversity play itself out?

Akua Benjamin, Sisters in the Struggle
[image: the cover of bell hooks’ Ain’t I a Woman?]. I was thinking of how my social justice knowledge is quite narrow in terms of intersectionality, and how I tend to (unforgiveably) derail race issues into gender issues so that they’re more comfortable territory for me. I thought I should read a book on black feminism or womanism, and with a little digging I found bell hooks’ Ain’t I a Woman? From Wiki: She argues that slavery allowed white society to stereotype white women as the pure goddess virgin and move black women to the seductive whore stereotype formerly placed on all women. This has justified the devaluation of black femininity and rape of black women which continues to this day. The work which black women have been forced to perform, either in slavery or in a discriminatory work place, that would be non-gender conforming for white women has been used against black women as a proof of their emasculating behaviour. It sounds like a really interesting history not just of the effects of slavery but the gender stereotypes and the exclusion of the feminist movement. It sounds great. Has anyone read it? Is it problematic or does anyone recommend something else as a better starting point? Any ideas would be good. I’m suddenly embarrassed by my lack of knowledge on the subject. fyeahautismspectrum answered: I’ve read “Feminism is for Everybody” (during a much lower level of disability awareness) and generally like bell hooks. -Eric I’ve certainly heard good things about her. Feminism is for Everybody might be good for intersectionality as well. heavyaura answered: bell hooks, i feel, is really accessible to loads of folks. i have learned a lot from her. That’s good to hear. I thought I’d throw it out there just in case there’s widespread disapproval of her methods haha, although I’ve heard good stuff over the years. hollow-gram answered: I’ve heard AMAZING things about Bell Hooks and I love any reference to Sojourner Truth! sapphrikah answered: read it. I would greatly appreciate a non-poc feminist to actually take the time to read it. :D vulgarvulgar answered: Omg read Black Sexual Politics: African Americans, Gender and the New Racism by Patricia Hill Collins! It has completely changed my pov. “…a work of critical theory that discusses the way that race, class and gender intersect to affect the lives of African American men and women in many different ways, but with similar results. The book explores the way that new forms of racism can work to oppress black people, while filling them with messages of liberation.” oooh sounds good :) quintessentqualm answered: bell hooks is awesome; read her with Angela Davis’s Women, Race and Class. “She shows how the racist and classist bias of some in the women’s movement have divided its own membership. Davis’ message is clear: If we ever want equality, we’re gonna have to fight for it together.” Blimey, thanks for the suggestions everyone!
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[image: the cover of bell hooks’ Ain’t I a Woman?].

I was thinking of how my social justice knowledge is quite narrow in terms of intersectionality, and how I tend to (unforgiveably) derail race issues into gender issues so that they’re more comfortable territory for me. I thought I should read a book on black feminism or womanism, and with a little digging I found bell hooks’ Ain’t I a Woman? From Wiki:

She argues that slavery allowed white society to stereotype white women as the pure goddess virgin and move black women to the seductive whore stereotype formerly placed on all women. This has justified the devaluation of black femininity and rape of black women which continues to this day. The work which black women have been forced to perform, either in slavery or in a discriminatory work place, that would be non-gender conforming for white women has been used against black women as a proof of their emasculating behaviour.

It sounds like a really interesting history not just of the effects of slavery but the gender stereotypes and the exclusion of the feminist movement. It sounds great.

Has anyone read it?

Is it problematic or does anyone recommend something else as a better starting point? Any ideas would be good. I’m suddenly embarrassed by my lack of knowledge on the subject.

fyeahautismspectrum answered:

I’ve read “Feminism is for Everybody” (during a much lower level of disability awareness) and generally like bell hooks. -Eric

I’ve certainly heard good things about her. Feminism is for Everybody might be good for intersectionality as well.

heavyaura answered:

bell hooks, i feel, is really accessible to loads of folks. i have learned a lot from her.

That’s good to hear. I thought I’d throw it out there just in case there’s widespread disapproval of her methods haha, although I’ve heard good stuff over the years.

hollow-gram answered:

I’ve heard AMAZING things about Bell Hooks and I love any reference to Sojourner Truth!

sapphrikah answered:

read it. I would greatly appreciate a non-poc feminist to actually take the time to read it.

:D

vulgarvulgar answered:

Omg read Black Sexual Politics: African Americans, Gender and the New Racism by Patricia Hill Collins! It has completely changed my pov.

“…a work of critical theory that discusses the way that race, class and gender intersect to affect the lives of African American men and women in many different ways, but with similar results. The book explores the way that new forms of racism can work to oppress black people, while filling them with messages of liberation.”

oooh sounds good :)

quintessentqualm answered:

bell hooks is awesome; read her with Angela Davis’s Women, Race and Class.

“She shows how the racist and classist bias of some in the women’s movement have divided its own membership. Davis’ message is clear: If we ever want equality, we’re gonna have to fight for it together.”

Blimey, thanks for the suggestions everyone!

The Matriarchal Legacy of The Black Woman's Righteous Anger

flymetothemooon:

notesonascandal:

Stop acting like we don’t have a right to this collective anger. Anybody with a brain that thinks and eyes that see and nose that knows KNOWS that we have a right to this anger. The “Angry Black Woman” is angry for a multitude of reasons. We’ve been America’s favorite Whipping Girl since the first African woman set her foot in Virginia in the 1600’s.

When we embrace our curvy bodies, we’re told we’re fat. When we accept our thin frames, we’re accused of lazy or bad cooks. We’ve been charged with nursing and caring for  the children of our white employers from Antebellum times through today, but we’re constantly being portrayed as bad mothers. We put a weave in our  hair trying conform to a beauty standard that has nothing to do with us and we’re still called “nappy-headed hoes”. When we go to school, get degrees and a career, we’re “un-marry-able”. If we work and have kids early instead of going to school, same thing happens. When we or others decide to celebrate us, white women scream out “REVERSE RACISM” but we have to comb through 50-11 magazines with white women on every page to find ONE with a Black woman on the cover. We bare it all in a video or keep condoms in our nightstands and we’re called  sluts. We dedicate ourselves to The Church or are decidedly single and we’re prudes or “bitter”. All too often, we are forced to choose our race over our gender or risk feeling the wrath of our Brothers, despite having to live with the realities of both. FromSaartjie Baartman aka “Venus Hottentot” to Satoshi Kanazawa’s “scientific” study claiming Black women being less physically attractive than EVERYBODY else, we’ve been studied like freaks of nature instead of just regarded as human beings with the same value as all others.

We’re pretty much damned if we do, damned if we don’t. So, the stereotype of “The Angry Black Woman” is rooted in a very visceral truth. We’re tired of this shyt. Stop telling us to stop getting upset. Stop telling us to not be mad despite having to deal with this crap  ALL THE TIME. Why are we supposed to put up with this reckless disregard for our humanity with a smile on our face? Because we’re women? Because we’re Black? Please, miss me with that bull. We are HUMAN first. This anger is righteous and all ignoring it and the causes of it will do is create a dyspeptic breeding ground for spiritual, psychological, social and physical dis-ease.

I am CaShawn’s Righteous Anger.

Don’t equate my anger with the ignorant outbursts of the Black women on your favorite [un] reality show.  They aren’t the same. That’s not the anger passed down to me by hundreds of years of indignities.  I carry the anger of Dorothy Dandridge when she had to enter through the kitchen to perform for white audiences. I carry the anger of Dr.Jocelyn Elders when she was fired from her job as Surgeon General by President Clinton for teaching about condom use and masturbation to keep our children alive. I carry the anger of my own mother when the all-white teaching team at her school is awarded monetary incentives despite their students missing the mark for testing standards when her  all-black teaching team’s students did and they got nothing. I carry my own anger when I am subjected to the itemization and commodifaction of my femaleness just by walking down the street.

Listen when we say what we say and don’t dismiss our realities. Don’t dismiss our histories. Don’t dismiss our present by telling us to “calm down”, “brush it off” or even worse “just get over it”. Don’t derail us with snide comments or claims of divisiveness when we decide to show ourselves some love. That’s just another way of telling us that we don’t count and we don’t matter.

What would be nice and appreciated is if you, whoever you are,  just simply said “I believe you because I see it too. I love you and I support you.” That would help to make dealing with this righteous anger that seems to be our matriarchal legacy, a lot easier.

~pbg

Thank you for writing this Peebz.

Bolded that paragraph for emphasis, so fucking righteous oh my god

(via kadalkavithaigal)

Source: dirtyprettythangs.com

SlutWalk: A Stroll Through White Supremacy

marleymagaziner:

totheexperts:

**Trigger warning for sexist and racist slurs, trans and WOC erasure, privilege denial ** 

kungfucarrie:

cumbersomecummerbund:

Following is from http://tothecurb.wordpress.com

Click to read OP - SlutWalk: A Stroll Through White Supremacy

I support the purpose of SlutWalk, but I found this an important perspective

I support the SlutWalk because it is enough for some women. And whatever makes even one person feel included or empowered, I think, is worthwhile. But as a movement, I admit it rubs me the wrong way.

First of all, I dont think the name SlutWalk is the most effective. It sounds childish, like the organizers dont have awareness of the greater community of womens-rights-organizations… it doesn’t feel like something that would unite women. It makes me uncomfortable and I expect that it would make older women, those of the second wave, first wave, etc, uncomfortable as well.  Which is too bad, because women should support each other, especially those of different generations. Maybe discomfort is part of the point, but what if it were a “n-word walk” or “fag-walk” or but if it keeps women from feeling included and supported…not so great. Basically—if my mom and I can’t go to a march for womens rights together because of the name? I’ma say…yr doin in wrong.

 Oh what about… “Take Back the Night”? …it’s taken? For people taking a stand against sexual violence?! Dang. Wait, why don’t we just join th—nevermind.

I understand that the poster above feels frustrated and excluded. Having read some commentary around the internet I know that others, especially assault-survivors, also feel excluded because to them, reclaiming “slut” isn’t the point. It also implies that their sexuality factored into their assault and for someone who’s struggling with the emotional repercussions of assault and the self-blaming and victim-blaming that occurs…it’s the opposite of supportive.  The point of the walk is to prevent future assault (right? tell me I got that part right at least). And parading around in revealing clothes…well that brings up a whole slew of issues but it doesn’t really raise awareness of sexual assault. Just sexual fashion. Am I oversimplifying? yes, but…come on, unless “DONT RAPE” is printed on your panties…all I’m seeing is the sign that says “Proud Slut.” and to someone who doesn’t have context (impossible to give in a glance) that sign doesn’t really suggest anything about assault or the prevention of it. #noteffective

If the point to be proven was “look, women can walk around wearing what-the-fuck-ever and not be assaulted therefore ‘watch what you wear’ is moot”—ok, point made. But we’re talking about a huge group of women, in daylight, protesting legally and therefore surrounded by law enforcement…not exactly realistic (Take Back the Night is just that). And how many of them were called sluts while they were marching and really, truly, didn’t feel the sting of that word any longer? Yeah. Imagine if you were a survivor or sex worker or both being called a slut at your own empowerment march… I cant, actually, it hurts too much.

I know I RSVP’d yes to the NYC SlutWalk and invited a handful of people. I haven’t decided if I’m going. I dont know how it fits in with my feminism. I did want friends to be aware of its existence whether they chose to praise, condemn, ignore…or uncomfortably straddle the fence like me. 

Another interesting perspective from a woman of color who attended the SlutWalk in Toronto. She says things much more eloquently than I can.

(via marleymagaziner)