On White Gayness in the 2010s

One of the ways that I remember the 2010s is how we white gays ignored Black People. We won a victory at SCOTUS whilst Black People's voting rights were decimated. None of us noticed. None of us cared.

Mass incarceration continued to spiral out of control. Black Children were killed by cops and lay-folk alike. More power has been added to the police state. Yet whilst Black People's have been struggling for their very lives, we have been trumpeting laws and court cases that would improve our own lot in life.

Black transgender women are slaughtered in this country. We white gays react after the fact, but we do nothing to ensure that Black Transgender people are stably housed, gainfully employed, given access to nutritious foods, or provided healthcare - all of which are necessary to remain more out of the reach of bigoted murderers.

May we begin to care - to really and truly care - in the 2020s and beyond.

Gay Males' Eight Layers Showing Again

I cannot remember the year; but within days of dismantling the VRA, SCOTUS granted the right to gay marriage. I think that there was also an affirmative action case, but for the life of me, I cannot remember how it went.

All of the white gay males were all over their little victory. They demanded that transgender people wait their turn. They whined and threw tempter tantrums whenever the VRA was discussed. I had been interacting with the movement in the lead-up to these rulings. Some weeks before the rulings were delivered, I washed my hands of cis white gay males, because their racism and transphobia were coming undeniably into the light. They revealed themselves for what they are. I declared that gay marriage didn't need my help. It had plenty of supporters.

Voting rights have once again been thrown into the ditch with the Ohio gerrymandering case, but all that the cis white gay males can talk about is their rights to work and such.

Whenever anyone posts about this case, my silence is my answer. I will be with transgender people and Black People as much as I knownhow, reading what they are reading and acting, to the extent that I know how, in accordance with information that I gain.

Again: Cis white gay males have a huge problem with racism - especially misogynoir.

On 9/11, This Day in 2019

I remember that day. That was my first year of being Muslim. On that day, I was beyond Muslim, beyond American. I was a human overwhelmed with the knowledge that other humans were enduring every sensation and emotiin that surely they must have been experiencing. I knew it in those moments, and I felt so fucking sick.

To return to classes the next day and face the hatred - granted, mild and never with threats or acts of violence as was visited on Muslims of Colour - was confusing and painful. I've grown numb to realising what victims of terrorism endure by now, but hearing about events like the homophobic terrorist attack on Pulse or the white supremacist terrorist attack in Christchurch, NZ still makes me feel sick. Now that I know how certain whites react to certain acts of terrorism, I also feel dread.

What benefits me the most is to experience community reach out and holding each other, sharing love with each other, shutting up the bigotry that happens in their social circles, sharing meals, holding game days, going to movie-watching gatherings, making music together, building communities based on love. When love builds, I feel less of that tight nausea in my gut.

I call for that kind of community as often as I do because I want others to experience that same release - that same relaxation from tension, that same sense of security with others, that same rise in oxytocin and dopamine and other biochemicals of love. We all deserve to feel good with each other.

White Gays

Post an article a out white gays to an LGBT discussion forum inhabited by white gays and watch the whinefest begin. Exhibit A:

Maher Is a Bigot

On 17 August 2019 at 6:43 pm, US Rep Rashida Tlaib (@RashidaTlaib) shared a tweet by Mehdi Hasan along with her own comment.

Mehdi Hasan's tweet reads, "Maher rails against BDS, Palestinians, and Omar/Tlaib with an all-white panel featuring no Palestinians, no Arabs, no Muslims, no people of color. 'Liberal' Maher."

Hasan then included a link to a news article by The Hill.

Rep Tlaib added, "Maybe people should boycott his show. I am tired of folks discrediting a form of speech that is centered on equality and freedom. This is exactly how they tried to stand up against the apartheid in S Africa. It didn't work then and won't now."

Get Out the Vote

Getting out the vote starts now. It means going to the "other" side of town. Meet people where they are. Volunteer. Patronise a business there. Attend an event there. Do this until y u stop thinking of the place as "there" and the people as "them," until it becomes "here" and "we."

Strike up a conversation with someone. Introduce yourself, establish a common interest, follow up. Keep making these connections.

As next August approaches, reach out to your new contacts. Ask them if there is anything that they need only election day so that they can get out to the polls. Offer to help.

That's how to get out the vote. It has to start now. In November 2020, it might be too late.

Still a Concentration Camp

"If you improve the conditions of children in a cage, they are still in a cage."
-US Rep Ayanna Pressley

Let Me Go

(Note: As of 10:44 pm Wednesday 10 June 2019, this is not my state of mind. I am experiencing much difficulty, but not on the scale described below.)

There are monsters in my head. They are flashing images at me. Memories. My worst memories.

They remind me of the pain that I have endured, slashing me over and over again with their acid-dipped knives. If anyone looks me in the eye, I will fall out crying.

They remind me of my helplessness back then and convince me that I am helpless today. They remind me of how burdened I was then and then convince me that I am burdened today. They remind me of how emptied out I was of my self, how worthless I felt, and then convince me that I have nothing and deserve nothing today.

I can't fight them any more. I definitely cannot fight them and deal with the exhausting emotional stress of performing happiness in front of others. I am tired. I need my bed.

Let me go.

When the Call for Help Runs Dry (TW)

I was browsing social media when I encountered this post. I am placing it here in the glory of its original size because dammit, it is about time that you had to deal with even a small portion of the hurt that I experienced.

I do feel bitter. When I issued a cry for help, I got two responses.

TWO.

So look at that thing. Read it. AGAIN. And the next time that I ask for help, by God, *do* something.

When I fist saw that image, I started shaking. The shaking was the physical manifestation of the fact that I was suppressing screams, heaving sobs, curling up in a corner of the bed, etc. First of all, I was in the midst of a bad asthma flareup. It would have harmed me to give way to decompression and venting.

Secondly, I was not in a space that was safe for me to decompress like that. Others here would not understand the process and could become frightened by it. God only knows if they would have preserved my privacy, or told their entire congregation about it. I needed a safe space where my privacy, autonomy, and dignity would have been upheld.

The images in my head were historical: the chattel enslavement of Africans and their descendants by whites, forced imprisoned workers enslaved under convict leasing, enslaved sharecroppers.

What is in my heart and in my soul did not express itself in my head. Those memories of my past stayed right there, in the middle of me, waiting for the chance to explode and take me over for the next few hours.

I didn't let it happen - not because I am "strong," but because I do not have access to a safe space in which to let it all out.

I had been begging for exactly that space before I limited the privacy of the post. I am bitter. I see people post advocating for causes related to the very abuses that gave rise to the injuries which in turn continue to hurt me. It is easy to reach out to help a vague wounded entity. Here is a tangible, wounded entity right under your noses.

I re-experienced the emptying out of my own identity. The emotional pain. The weariness. Sleep deprivation. Brittle, rigid rules, moving goalposts, any chance to insult and punish. I re-experienced the abject fear.

But for a very few people who shared space with me and heard me out, I was alone with it. No-one should have to be alone with such monsters. No-one.

The causes that you advocate are under your noses. Open your eyes. Unplug your ears. Care for the people who are right there with you.

We Are Strong; Fake Bone Spurs Are Wimpy

I live with PTSD due to causes other than military service. I don't know what it is like to live with PTSD as a military serviceperson. I do know what it is like to live with PTSD as a result of severe abuse.

We are not weak.
We are strong.

Every day, we battle demons that others could not imagine and that would leave most everyone else flat on the floor. And yet each and every day, we choose to continue breathing. We continue to create, to work, to parent, to love our families - by birth and by choice - to lead, to add the richness of our experiences and personalities to this world. Even those of us who don't make it, whose pain is so great that they die from these horrible monsters - our siblings in survival fought it off for so damned long. So damned long. They fought. We all continue to fight. To breathe. To keep giving back.

THAT is the depth of endless bravery.

You know what's wimpy?
Fake bone spurs.

The Nightmare of Flashbacks

It is chasing me. It is haunting me. Popping up unexpectedly, unwanted.

There is nowhere to run. No hiding place is safe. It is a monster, rising from the night to become a daytime beast.

Key terms: PTSD. Nightmares. Flashbacks.

I am a strong person and do not need pity. I do, however, need some gooey choco-oatmeal cookies and a stereo that plays radio and CD. Especially the latter, though, as it is for my mental health. Love is also cool.

Twitching Heart Cells ≠ Life

Heart cells beat in petri dishes.

Shadow: Summer 2018 - 08 May 2019

Collapsing into the dust,
Crashing downwards:
Falling, falling, fallen.

A wisp of a breeze lifts dust.

May life rise again from this dust.
May life rise again from this dust.
May life rise again from this dust.

Legality Is Not a Guide for Morality

Mister Bumface (@misterbumface) writes on Twitter,

"The Holocaust was legal. Slavery was legal. Segregation was legal.

"The brave woman who cared for and hide my aunt in an attic in Budapest was a criminal. She broke the law by sheltering  Judeo-Christian.

"Legality is not a guide for morality."

Too Many

TW: War, Death, Decay, and something akin to loss of a child

It is too big for me to process. I was awake when news broke here in the West. I had gone through three cups of coffee which, whilst decaffeinated, still gave me enough of a buzz - and then did a load of laundry with staggered drying times.

The coffee was for the flavonoids. I am still in a state of deep grieving in the wake of the death of a kitty and am experiencing many symptoms of PTSD as a result.

This was all too much.

So I was awake for that breaking news icon. When was the last time that we lost that many people in one day? One of the attacks in Afghanistan? Nigeria? A day in Yemen under American bombs dropped by Saudi jets? These are people, all of them; and I was awake when their lives were snuffed out.

A type of poem known in then-colonised India as a nazm, by famous poet Faiz Ahmed Faiz.

Don’t Ask Me for That Love Again, My Beloved
Mujhse pehli si mohabbat meray mehbub na maang

mein ne samjha tha kay tu hai to darakhshaan hai hayaat
tera gham hai to gham-e-dahar ka jhagdra kya hai
teri surat se hai aalam mein bahaaron ko sabaat
teri aankhon ke sivaa duniya mein rakkha kya hai
tu jo mil jaaye to taqdir niguun ho jaaye
yun na tha mein ne faqat chahaa tha yun ho jaaye

I had thought if I had you, life would shine eternally on me
If I had your sorrows, those of the universe would mean nothing
Your face would bring permanence to every spring
What is there but your eyes to see in the world anyway
If I found you, my fate would bow down to me
This was not how it was, it was merely how I wished it to be

anaginat sadiyon ki taarik bahimanaa talism
resham-o-atalas-o-kamkhvaab mein bunavaaye huye
jaa-ba-jaa bikate huye kuuchaa-o-baazaar mein jism
khaak mein lithade huye khuun mein nahalaaye huye

The dreadful magic of uncountable dark years
Woven in silk, satin and brocade
In every corner are bodies sold in the market
Covered in dust, bathed in blood

jism nikale huye amaraaz ke tannuuron se
piip bahatii hu_ii galate huye naasuuron se
laut jaati hai udhar ko bhi nazar kyaa kije
ab bhi dilkash hai tera husn magar kya kije

Bodies retrieved from the cauldrons of disease
Discharge flowing from their rotten ulcers
Still returns my gaze in that direction, what can be done
Even now your beauty is tantalizing, but what can be done

aur bhii dukh hain zamaane mein mohabbat ke sivaa
raahaten aur bhi vasl ki raahat ke sivaa
mujh se pehli si mohabbat meray mehbub na maang

There are other heartaches in the world than those of love
There is happiness other than the joy of union
Don't ask me for that love again, my beloved.

I've added the words "my beloved" to the translation lovingly produced by Dr Amanullah De Sondy, Senior Lecturer of Contemporary Islam at University College Cork.

If I Wait

If I were to wait until I regain good health before I start to live, I might never live.

Safe from Carcinogenic Windmills

I have been marked safe from windmill cancer. The meme is an image in the style of Facebook's disaster check-ins.

A Tale of Two Spoons

It was the best of times. It was the worst of times. A shower in Struggle City, followed by brushing of teeth with Just Barely. Forgetting, then remembering - and finally, at the end of it all, realising just how thirsty one has been.

But it isn't the end. There is still so much more to do. It is just that the spoons ran out with the brushing of the teeth.

There Are Not April Fools Jokes

April Fools Reminder on  multi-colour background in the style of waves. Magenta, blue, yellow, and repeat.

Don't joke about
- mental illness/suicide
- coming out
- pregnancy
- cheating/breaking up
- cancer/terminal illness
- sexual assault

My additions:
- abuse
- exploitation

On Loving - Audre Lorde

"We have to consciously study how to be tender with each other until it becomes a habit."
-Audre Lorde

Facebook vs Bigots (Snark)

This is how Facebook reacts when one person calls out another on racism. Just another day that ends in y.

Not Mourning Patterson

I do not mourn flagrant raciats. L Brooks Patterson is such a racist.

L. Brooks Patterson opposed the desegregation busing plan related to Detroit Public Schools up to the U.S. Supreme Court, which decided Milliken v. Bradley. Patterson gained prominence supporting the bitter opposition to Judge Damon Keith's federal court order to integrate the Pontiac Public Schools. (Notoriously, the KKK bombed 10 of Pontiac's school buses the night before the integration was to start.)

His long campaign to take away control of Detroit assets such as Cobo Hall and its water and sewage system are examples. So is his militant opposition to regional transit.

Patterson faced criticism after comments he made about the city of Detroit were released in an article entitled "Drop Dead, Detroit!". Patterson was quoted as saying, among other things, "What we're going to do is turn Detroit into an Indian reservation, where we herd all the Indians into the city, build a fence around it, and then throw in the blankets and corn".

In 2016, Patterson led a legal challenge to the resettlement of Syrian refugees in Oakland County.

He's dying of cancer? Meh. Save your tears for someone who deserves them.

Day Is Done

1. Mali. Odd that one undercovered incident cracks me.

2. CPTSD and clumsiness. I have been utterly flattened by new info and am so, so exhausted.

3. Dream: one of my churches kicked me out because of some aspect of my identity or another. (Worse, that I had the gall  speak out loud about it.) Can't remember which aspect.

3. Contacted both Senators and the Representative today.

Flattened with exhaustion. http://google.com in case anyone needs to look something up.

Welcoming all manner of love and support.

Dear Representative: I Am Weary

I am rarely this open and honest with my trumpian representative. From a message that I sent him:

"I am weary of the racism openly exhibited by the current administration. It impacts my health. And that is just me. I haven't been killed at a racist border by racist border guards.

"Take a stand. Stop the atrocities at the border. There is no border "crisis." There is a humanitarian crisis; and that requires social workers, lawyers, and judges - not death cages.

"I am so weary. White supremacism kills. I am so weary."

But the Words Got Used Up

I use my words primarily on people whom I love, with certain vulgar exceptions, before I cast them on others. Often, I run out of words before I have reached all of my loved ones.

Crafting words is difficult for me.

I cannot find just the right words to use. Sometimes, I simply cannot find the words at all. Blank spaces have always been my enemy.

Sometimes, I get lost and wander off to people on my periphery. I spend words on them, not realising that there are loved ones whom I haven't reached yet with my allotted supply.

You haven't heard from me in so long. It is because I didn't pace my words correctly. I ran out. I love you, but I didn't reach you in time to tell you.

I am sorry.

He Slaughtered Muslims, but It Goes Beyond That

On Friday 15 March 2019, a terrorist walked into two houses of worship in Christchurch, New Zealand, opened fire, and killed 50 worshippers total.

The image below quotes a news source and displays images of two heroes, Abdul Aziz and Daoud Nabi. Continue reading below the image.

I included a snapshot of text from a news article to demonstrate the significance of my title for this piece. The terrorist attacked Muslims. However, we were not his ultimate goal. He hates us, but he hates People of Colour - ALL People of Colour. Yes, we Muslims are racialised; but here in the States, which is the ideological target of the terrorist, we Muslims also exist amongst the layers of stratification in America's racial hierarchy which places Black People at the bottom and white or white-passing people at the top.

We Muslims have a wide diversity of appearances. Some of us wear kufis, others turbans, yet other hijabs, and many of us nothing at all on our heads. We wear everything from dashdashas to jilbabs to abayas to t-shirts and jeans. Some of us are black, some brown, and some white or white-passing. We speak just about every language on this planet. We are racialised, yet because of our ethnic, immigration status, and other diversities we also encounter a diversity of treatments, from abjectly violent racist attacks to full inclusion into our inherently racist society.

The Dangerous Callousness of Trump

Trump wrote a tweet early in the morning on Sunday, just two days after the terrorist attack in New Zealand. Keep in mind that the attacker is an avowed white supremacist and cited trump in his manifesto as a source of inspiration for his attack.

Trump's tweet reads, in part, "Stop working soooo hard on being politically correct." He wrote this tweet at 6:33 on Sunday 17 March 2019.

I modified the screenshot of his tweet. It now displays a middle finger where his face (profile photo) is ordinarily placed, and the title "Asshole-in-Chief replaces his name (account ID). I wrote on the screenshot, "Sorry. Can't stand his face."

A Twitter user named Frank Schaeffer (@frank_schaeffer) wrote, "The shooter's manifesto praised trump as a 'symbol of renewed white identity and common purpose.' Let that sink in. A US President is the inspiration of white terrorists around the world. Let that sink in." Frank posted his tweet on 15  March 2019 at 7:43 am.

Asexuality and Relationship Anarchy

Asexuality/Relationship Anarchist Thoughts
from November, 2015

A really awesome person has used the phrase, "decision to build a relationship together with intention." It started me thinking again. So again, I ask: Need we confine ourselves to the notion that we have one partner? Need we treat our sexual partners as the "only" relationship that we have, or the "primary" relationship that we have?

As an asexual, for example, I will form all kinds of relationships that have various levels of romantic intimacy in them. Few, if any, would involve sex. I would not shunt someone into "secondary" position just because we don't have sex with each other. I would try not to and would work on it if I mess it up. I would also not treat someone as "less than" because my bond with someone else is more strongly intimate than my bond with that person.

It's cool if you're not into this or not up to this. Not all of us are polyamorous. Not all of us can deal with relationship anarchy.

For those of you who do have more than one loved one in your life - even if not all sexual partners or live-in partners or intimate friends: have you told your loved ones how you hold them in your life? Have you put a name on that relationship? Do your loved ones know about that? It's great that you shower them in love, and all of the blessings to you. It's just that your loved ones might not know where they stand with you, or they might want to discuss it with you.

After the White Supremacist Terrorist Attack at Christchurch, What Will You Do?

As a radical leftist white (sorry, can't say "moderate" any longer), I firmly and resoundingly condemn the white supremacist terrorist violence that has rained down on New Zealand in recent hours.

Fellow whites: Have you checked in with the children in your lives? What kinds of websites do they visit? Do they converse with people outside of their real-life social circles? Do they keep to themselves more than they used to? Do they often discuss guns and other weapons?

Additionally, do you discuss race and racial justice with the young ones in your lives? Do you tell them that, in addition to "not being racist," they need to act on those views and stand up for People of Colour and racialised persons? Have you gone over some of the more common white supremacist tropes and discussed their historical precedent with them?

It takes more than "I'm not racist." It takes a good, strong, healthy dose of "Don't talk like/do that. It is racist." It takes a strong personal resolve to find ways of listening to People of Colour and resolving to work with People of Colour to enact racial justice.

Are you ready to take that on? Because it is one of the things that People of Colour need from you.

Trump's Administration Makes DHHS a Dehumanising Department

As far as I remember, it was Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services Administrator Seema Verma that authorised a change in DHHS.

Personal caseworkers were removed from individual casework duties, and recipients have been shifted to a round-robin system. Recipients are no longer able to email or call a personal caseworker. It is also impossible to call a local DHHS office. We must now call a toll-free phone number to try to ask questions or otherwise interact with a random caseworker. The phone system through which we must navigate to arrive at the correct option is long and tedious; and it can often be confusing.

It is now even easier to fall off services. It is now much more difficult to apply for or regain services. We are not guaranteed human contact. We are not guaranteed answers to our questions. It is maddening.

The Only Democracy in the Middle East Isn't Actually A Democracy

Some text above.

Some text below.

WTF Arkansas

Arkansas proving once again that it is in the bottom of the south.

---

Arkansas Highway Ballot Issue To Be Signed By Governor, DeCample Tribute Approved
By WESLEY BROWN/ TALK BUSINESS & POLITICS • MAR 8, 2019
MICHAEL HIBBLEN / KUAR NEWS
The Arkansas Senate on Thursday approved the final piece of Gov. Asa Hutchinson’s $300 million highway funding package, albeit with a procedural twist that left some lawmakers shaking their heads during the chamber’s two-and-half hour session. Senators also passed a resolution in honor of the late Matt DeCample, a former spokesman for Gov. Mike Beebe.


Little Rock Police Release Video Of Fatal Shooting
By DANIEL BREEN • MAR 7, 2019
LITTLE ROCK POLICE DEPARTMENT
The Little Rock Police Department has released a video of the fatal officer-involved shooting of 30-year-old Bradley Blackshire last month. Prior to the video's release, Little Rock Mayor Frank Scott Jr. held a press conference at City Hall, saying he has turned over the investigation into Officer Charles Starks to prosecutors to determine whether criminal charges should be filed.


Bill that Bars Death Penalty for Convicts with "Serious" Mental Illnesses Fails Committee
By SARAH KELLOGG • MAR 7, 2019
SARAH KELLOGG / KUAR
A bill that would bar Arkansas prosecutors from seeking the death penalty for those convicted of a crime and with a diagnosed serious mental illness failed in the House Judiciary Committee on Thursday. According to the legislation, qualifying medical conditions would include symptoms of delusions, hallucinations, extremely disorganized thinking, and mania.

Sojourner Truth's Speech from the 1851 Women's Rights Convention

White Proverbs #5

Meme. Main colour of background is light blue, with a forest nans the lake depicted and mountains insinuated. Text: "How is that racist? A white proverb."

Gas Tax: Get Ready to Help Others

Michigan has a state constitutional ban on graduated taxes. This means that the poor are taxed at the same rate as are rich people, as though the poor had enough money to pay that same rate (or as though the piddly contributions from the wealthy would actually fund a functioning government). This new gas tax is going to hurt. Gov Whitmer is proposing tax relief, particularly for pensioneers and the poor, that would go towards reliving the burden for us.

 In the meantime, we need to do certain things, both politically and as community. We in Michigan need to be ready to support those in need by carpooling and by donating gas cards. Those who have enough to share must start sharing with those who don't. We also need to asvocate for mass transit systems that provide accessible, reliable, and affordable services.

Doing the latter without doing the former will allow the poor to fall through the cracks. This is one of many times in recent years that we need to pull together and support each other. If we cannot rise up against anti-tax bullcrap from conservatives with graciousness and a community spirit, they will win. Again. Let us come together with love. ❤

Primary Pelosi

Fund Pelosi's primary opponent. Send Pelosi a copy of the receipt every time that you do so. Write #StandWithIlhan on it.

"Free" Speech and Privilege

Giving "free speech" rights to those who already bear privilege and power in our white-centric country automatically means that the voices of Black People, Jewish People, women, LGBTQ people, disabled people, immigrants, LatinX People, Native People, etc are being quelled - not only because such is a pillar of white supremacist praxis, but because the state must quell their speech in order to accommodate, centre, and empower that sort of hate speech. In a country where speech is inherently unequal, it actually is necessary to spend more time and effort amplifying and centering the voices of marginalised people.

Peace vs Pacification and MLK Jr

"If peace means keeping my mouth shut in the midst of injustice and evil, I don't want it. If peace means being willing to be exploited economically, dominated politically, humiliated and segregated, I don't want peace."
-Rev Dr Martin Luther King, Jr

WEB DuBois PhD Harvard

Upon being the first Black Man to earn a PhD from Harvard, WEB DuBois said "The honor, I assure you, was Harvard's. "

Baldwin on Love

"Love takes off the masks that we fear we cannot live without and know we cannot live within. I use the word 'Love' here not merely in the personal sense but as a state of being or a state of grace - not in the  infantile American sensexporters of being made happy but in the tough and universal sense of quest and daring and growth."
-James Baldwin

Shirley Chisholm: Bring a chair

"If they don't give you a seat at the table, bring a folding chair."
-Shirley Chisholm

Colonialism and the #GC2019 Vote

What happens when the same people who kidnapped and dragged various African peoples far from their homes to experiences unspeakable horrors return to the same continent centuries later to spread white man's religion and religion-based laws there?

Well, actually, something like this. (Image of vote results for an LGBT-inclusive United Methodist Church plan called "United Church" versus an anti-LGBTQ plan called the "Traditional Plan." Votes for the latter were 462 for, and 359 against, rendering the UMC much less welcoming to LGBTQ people.)

Out of Pain, We Create Love. Together.

Darling fellow LGBTQ people and allies:
This has been so painful, confusing, frustrating, angering, and saddening. I have been feeling these emotions, and I affirm that you have also been dealing with the same. We need love. We will share love.

I need to point out that we cannot, in our pain, take quotations from Black People who are famous, who have led civil rights movements, etc and use those quotations to refer to our current pain and struggle. Ours is a movement for LGBTQ equality. We must create and use our own statements.

We can make it through this. We WILL make it through this. Together.
❤

-Freedom

Deep and Wide: Need for Love after UMC General Conference 2019

Today is the final day of the United Methodist Church General Conference 2019 in St Louis, MI. Yesterday, the One Church plan, an LGBTQ-inclusive plan, was voted down in committee, with various factions saying terribly ugly things.

Spread love deep and wide today. People out there need it.

RAWR

Random Acts of Wonderful Rebelliousness (RAWR)
* Reorganised the magasines at the doctor's office in this very white neighbourhood so that those bearing photos of Black People were showing.

* Posted a pale face turtleneck meme on the page of a "yoga" place that had a racist slur in its title.

* Turned down the volume on the corporate health "news" service TV broadcast in this doctor's office. People can now hear themselves think.

No, Bernie

In Michigan, a significant number of people voted for that libertarian trash Gary Johnson after Michigan went to Sanders in the primary. The Johnson vote was larger than the vote difference between Clinton and trump. So yes, I blame the misogynist and racist wing of Berniecrats for fucking over the election and handing us trump on a silver platter. Thanks, but not again.

Stokely Carmichael on Racism and Capitalism

“If a white man wants to lynch me, that's his problem. If he's got the power to lynch me, that's my problem. Racism is not a question of attitude; it's a question of power. Racism gets its power from capitalism. Thus, if you're anti-racist, whether you know it or not, you must be anti-capitalist. The power for racism, the power for sexism, comes from capitalism, not an attitude.”
-Stokely Carmichael

Coming Home

A few days ago, I dreamt that Red the Kitty had come home. He went directly to me and let me hold him in my arms. I later learnt that he actually did try to come home. He didn't make it. He was trying to cross the road.

No, Jacobin

I disagree with Jacobin. Yes, Rep Ilhan Omar (D-MN) is not anti-Semitic. Yes, the Democratic leadership was entirely too harsh on her. Yes, AIPAC exerts an oversized amount of control over Congress.

HOWEVER. The big money trope is indeed an anti-Semitic trope. Being not bigoted against Jewish People, Rep Omar is happy to learn from this experience. It would be great if Jacobin would acknowledged that the big money trope is anti-Semitic.

Poverty Is Not an Accident - Mandela

"Poverty is not an accident that. Like slavery and apartheid, it is man-made and can be removed by the actions of human beings."
-Nelson Mandela

Meme contains and image of the bust of Mandela.

Madison on Séparation of Church and State

"The purpose of separation of  church and state is to keep forever from these shores the ceaseless strife that has soaked the soil of Europe in blood for centuries."
-James Madison

It Is BLACK History Month

Really annoyed by memes glorying in white contributions to Black History Month. What part of BLACK HISTORY have we missedo? And why can't we wait until March to make and post those memes? Celebrate Black People's contributions to the civil rights movement. Learn their names, read their speeches and writings in whole.

Wait until March. Wait.

"Let them try to lynch me."

At the age of ten, Rosa Parks responded defiantly to fears that whites would hurt her for standing up for herself: "Let them try to lynch me."

https://www.shondaland.com/inspire/a16022001/rosa-parks-was-my-aunt

"Right to Life" Is Bullshit

Your so-called "right to life" bullshit means nothing when you vote for politicians whose policies exacerbate poverty whilst slashing the very public assistance necessary to carry pregnancies to term and care for a child for the next 18 or so years. Maybe try not inserting yourself into the mind of someone who is contemplating an anguished decision and focus on shit that actually is your own business.

Also, SCIENCE. Try it and reading from time to time. It does a brain good

US Founders on Wealth Inequality

Thomas Jefferson was admittedly a violent white man who enslaved and raped African people. Since he is viewed by many as a founder of the country, though, it is worth noting his words on wealth inequality, especially inasmuch as they might prove useful links in dialogues regarding the economy.

"The property of this country is absolutely concentered in a very few hands…I asked myself what could be the reason that so many should be permitted to beg who are willing to work.... Another means of silently lessening the inequality of property is to exempt all from taxation below a certain point, and to tax the higher portions of property in geometrical progression as they rise."

Leaving this post abruptly for now, with the hope that I can add to it later.

Get Your Shots

I GOT MY MMR SHOT. I refuse to participate in the severe illnesses and deaths of young children. Get your vaccinations. Dammit.

The Thin Blue Line: A Reader

Nationwide and in New York, line-of-duty deaths have been on the decline since 1970 through Republican and Democratic administrations. Indeed, they've fallen during the Obama years.
 http://articles.latimes.com/2013/dec/30/nation/la-na-nn-police-deaths-20131230
 http://usnews.nbcnews.com/_news/2012/12/27/16196680-police-deaths-down-23-percent-this-year-across-us

Racism on Trial: The Chicano Fight for Justice
By Ian F. Haney López
First Harvard University Press, 2004
https://books.google.com/books?id=PHK3XEikm5kC
Racism flourished no doubt partly because Chief [Bill] Parker [of the LAPD] himself was a bigot. Parker routinely sought to parlay white fears of minorities into support for the police department. He usually did so using coded language, for instance by constantly proclaiming that the LAPD was the "thin blue line" between "civilization" and "chaos." But at other times, Parker made his racial meaning abundantly clear. In 1965 Parker warned a television reporter "that by 1970, 45 percent of the metropolitan area
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of Los Angeles will be Negro. If you want any protection for your home and family, you're going to have to get in and support a strong police department. If you don't do that, come 1970, God help you!" (18) Parker also expressed racist views about Mexicans. In 1960, in testimony regarding police-minority relations delivered before a  from the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights, Chief Parker offered this revealing appraisal: "The Latin population that came here in great strength were here before us, and presented a great problem because I worked over on the East Side when men had to work in pairs ... and it's because of some of these people being not too far removed from the wild tribes of the inner mountains of Mexico. I don't think you can throw the genes out of the question when you discuss behavior patterns of people."

On Sojourner Truth

Just a small showcase including on carte de visite, an excerpt from one of her speeches, link to a Web page clarifying her speech, and screenshots of a newspaper article relating that same speech. A note that "Ain't I a Woman" is basically fake.

The Racist Sneer:A History (in photos)

MLK: I cannot join you in your praise of the Birmingham police department

You warmly commended the Birmingham police force for keeping "order" and "preventing violence." I doubt that you would have so warmly commended the police force if you had seen its dogs sinking their teeth into unarmed, nonviolent Negroes. I doubt that you would so quickly commend the policemen if you were to observe their ugly and inhumane treatment of Negroes here in the city jail; if you were to watch them push and curse old Negro women and young Negro girls; if you were to see them slap and kick old Negro men and young boys; if you were to observe them, as they did on two occasions, refuse to give us food because we wanted to sing our grace together. I cannot join you in your praise of the Birmingham police department.
-Rev Dr Martin Luther King, Jr "Letter from a Birmingham Jail," 1963

PSA: Use Trigger Warnings

People legitimately suffer mental illnesses as a result of experiencing trauma. Your posts on Facebook can have a tangible negative impact on people's health - REAL LIVE ACTUAL HEALTH - when you post about rape, human trafficking, miscarriages, war, natural disasters, etc and don't give some sort of heads up that you plan to discuss such issues in that same post or when you post an image depicting it.

Mental health conditions and symptoms such as anxiety, loss of sense of self-worth, nightmares, flashbacks, and suicidal ideation are real. Whether you like it or not, whether you admit it or not, popping content on people without warning will make them ill. So just as you wouldn't spray up a room with air freshener when a person with asthma is there, don't post triggering content without a warning.

It is about respect and common decency.

MLK: Insufficient Funds

"It is obvious today that America has defaulted on this promissory note insofar as her citizens of color are concerned. Instead of honoring this sacred obligation, America has given the Negro people a bad check, a check which has come back marked 'insufficient funds.'"

From Rev Dr Martin Luther King, Jr's 1963 "I Have A Dream" speech.

Meme contains quote and shows a black and white headshot of MLK.