February 2012
23 posts
queenamongkings:
9 Little Known Facts About Notable Women in Black History
thechanelmuse:
From the article:
Nina Simone - Her involvement in civil rights was spurred by an incident at her first classical piano recital at age 12. During the recital, her parents sat in seats in the front of the building to see her play, but were told to move to the back to make way for white guests. She...
Black people serve 60% longer sentences than... →
tahlalaliaaa:
leftcollection:
“A new study by M. Marit Rehavi of the University of British Columbia and Sonja B. Starr of the University of Michigan Law School shows that Black Americans receive almost 60% long prison sentences than white Americans who committed the same crime.
The study covered 58,000 federal criminal cases and found that there was a significant difference between the...
Things non PoC have taught me since I became more...
sapphrikah:
kharispaxton:
1. Speaking about the Holocaust in any context other than educational is downright immoral, 9/11 needs a trigger announcement and a disclaimer if you discuss it in public but the murder of over 30 million Africans is OLD NEWS that I need to just drop and get over.
2. In History class, no one complained that the exercises of reenacting the proletariat &...
::QUEER HAIRY VAGINA::: Hi African Americans! WHY... →
plainsanejane:
thecelestialchild:
queerhairyvag:
Just STOP IT.
Stop appropriating cultures from countries in Africa
Stop with the ignorant biullshit I have to put up with in on Tumblr, Youtube, TV and even made by African Americans (AFs)
Hi! I’m a Nigerian gal and I’m going to describe you as…
Yes! Seriously though, there are people who cannot understand the difference between...
[...::"If" Black Women were White Women::...] →
thegoddamazon:
I basically copied and pasted, and sprinkled in a lot of the racist images we’ve reblogged today, just to illustrate the point.
This definitely struck a chord.
Fund for Troy Davis's family →
quebradiza:
numol
[via Dread Times (link to post)]
AFAICT the new deadline is the 28th [of February]. they’re only at 69% of their goal as of now, please pass this around and donate if possible.
The Davis family has had to bury three warriors for justice in the past seven months. Virginia Davis, the matriarch of the family, passed in April, just two weeks after the US Supreme Court...
::QUEER HAIRY VAGINA::: Hi African Americans! WHY... →
queerhairyvag:
Just STOP IT.
Stop appropriating cultures from countries in Africa
Stop with the ignorant biullshit I have to put up with in on Tumblr, Youtube, TV and even made by African Americans (AFs)
Hi! I’m a Nigerian gal and I’m going to describe you as ALL african americans in this post because…
Ok so I’m reblogging this because I agree with a lot of the statements above....
Contradict Me: Riley pisses off whitey today. →
theoceanandthesky:
mixedmuse:
love4watermelon:
dumbthingswhitepplsay:
So the movie that came out after The Princess and the Frog was Rapunzel. I’m calling it Rapunzel because fuck that “Tangled” bullshit to attract little boys. No one cares.
Anyway.
Within the first ten minutes of the movie, watchers are blessed with the sight of a…
i have a problem with posts like this.
1. this is a...
1 tag
January 2012
59 posts
You can't say shit to me until you have:
thegoddamazon:
thegoddamazon:
Lived in a country where the color of skin excludes you from moving up to the upper echelons of your career choice.
When someone can call you a racial slur and when you react back, you get expelled and they get a minor warning.
When your teacher purposely skips an entire unit on your continent’s history claiming that it’s not necessary to learn.
When your...
But...if I was on Real Housewives, Margo would...
trainjuice:
Everyone would hate her, she’d come off rude as hell and wear hats all the time. And all my housewife blogs on Bravotv.com and my appearances on Watch What Happens Live! would be devoted to explaining that Margo isn’t some rude bitch, she’s just edited that way and in real life she’s really nice and sweet and is pursuing cat modeling jobs in California.
But no one would believe...
Newt thinks kids should get a part time job to pay... →
nom-chompsky:
thingsihateaboutnewt:
After saying elementary students should replace adult janitors in order to learn “work ethic” (with the implication that they would never learn it at home) and arguing that college students expect “free money” to pay for their education, it turns out baby Newt might have benefitted from giantbaby Newt’s idiocy:
In a 1995 profile for Vanity Fair, author...
“Let’s get one thing out of the way: Mexican immigration is an oxymoron. Mexicans...”
– Sherman Alexie is a poet, short story writer, novelist, and filmmaker. His book “The Lone Ranger and Tonto’s Fist Fight in Heaven,” was on the banned curriculum of the Mexican American Studies Program.
http://progressive.org/sherman-alexie
(via chicanainchoos)
La Bomba, Show Me The Car Fox: Libraries vs.... →
labombashowmethecarfox:
Just because this is a terrible argument that should never be used by anyone, ever.
Library orders scale to the popularity of the book. If the hot book is Time Traveler’s Wife or Kite Runner or Left Behind or whatever other dipshit book is being read by dipshits these days, and if the library…
haveabananana:
Dudes singing in breathy voices against tambourines and 1-note plucking electric guitar? NOPE. Grow a pair and make some noise.
Truth-out.org Interview with Professor Melissa V....
Mark Karlin: You state that your book is about how "black women attempt to stand upright in a room made by the crooked stereotypes" about them. What role models do individual black women use to accomplish this feat?
Melissa V. Harris-Perry: I am not a huge fan of the role model theory. Part of what I find extraordinary about black history in America has been the ability to imagine freedom, equality, and full humanity even when there was no living model. The capacity for moral and political imagination always outweighs the influence of role models in my mind.
That said, American history is replete with black women who have carved out authentic space for themselves in deeply unequal circumstances. I am particularly inspired the scholar, journalist, wife, mother, activist, writer and deeply human Ida B. Wells.
MK: You focus on three stereotypes: the promiscuous temptress, the kindly mammy, the angry Amazon woman. Why did you pick these specific stereotypes?
MVHP: Amazon huh? I am not sure I think the angry black woman is Amazon like, because unlike Amazons she does not have power and authority, just a biting tongue and sarcastic wit. My decision to focus on Jezebel, mammy and the angry black woman was based on the research. These are the primary stereotypes that dominate literary and cultural references. These are also the stereotypes that women in my focus groups told me had the greatest impact on their lives.
MK: How do black women develop in reaction to these stereotypes? How do some balance their lives and others overcompensate and others fail?
MVHP: I don't think some women succeed and other fail. I think all of us succeed in moments and fail in other moments. Or succeed in some aspects of our lives and fail in others. I reject any totalizing judgments of people who are struggling against such profoundly embedded negative stereotypes. My research tells me that some individuals have a variety of psychological and cultural resources that make them more resilient than others. But, because I am interested in political consequences of these stereotypes I spend less time writing about individual strategies than thinking through collective consequences of our difficult process of finding authentic political expression within contemporary American discourse.
MK: The role of black women and citizenship - and the challenge of negotiating stereotypes in politics - is central to your book. You mention how right-wing columnist and radio host Cal Thomas is typical of whites who use stereotypes to "kill the message" by putting the messenger in a cage. Thus, a black women who is angry on behalf of a cause is reduced to just being a stereotypical "Amazon." The cause gets lost in the stereotype. How do black female politicians overcome this?
MVHP: Again, I don't think I ever suggest Cal Thomas is typical of whites or typical of any given group, just that he is an example of this process of relegating black women's anger to a stereotypical reaction rather than an authentic complaint. Ignoring the content of black women's anger is certainly not just a problem of someone like Cal Thomas, it happens within black communities all the time. When black women express their anger at inequality or poor treatment they are often seen as irrational, spiteful and ridiculous. But this is as likely to happen on black urban radio as it is on Fox News. Still, anger is certainly a dual edged blade for black women in politics. Politicians need to be passionate advocates for their causes, but that passion can often be misread and therefore dismissed as irrational when it comes from black women. We can see many different ways that black women elected officials have dealt with this. Some have embraced their "anger" as a defining aspect of their political personas. Others have tamped down and present almost preternatural calm exteriors in all circumstances.
MK: Michelle Obama is, of course, discussed in your book (Chapter 8). She has seemed to strategically avoid even the hint of being strident in her voice or actions. Yet, the stereotypes continue due to her having such things as muscle-toned arms or even her encouraging of sustainable organic gardening. Isn't there a cul-de-sac for some black women, particularly in politics? They just can't escape stereotypes, no matter how they act?
MVHP: I think this is true for all black women, whether they are in public life or not. These stereotypes don't exist because they are accurate representations of black women. They exist because they serve the goal of maintaining racial and gender inequality. You can't overcome a stereotype by acting opposite of it. The point is not to convince other people that you are worthy of being a fully participating citizen, the point is to convince yourself of that truth and to act and organize accordingly.
MK: On a personal note, congratulations on your new MSNBC show. We can assume, like Paul Krugman, you won't be giving up your high-profile and highly respected academic career? Is that correct?
MVHP: Correct. I will never leave the academy. Professionally, I am a professor first. I love living in New Orleans and teaching at Tulane. Part of why I am so pleased to have the opportunity for a weekend show is because I don't have to give up teaching.
Interview Found At: http://www.truth-out.org/interview-author-melissa-v-harris-perry/1326131822
“And they were telling me —. Now, it doesn’t matter, now. It really doesn’t...”
– American Rhetoric: Martin Luther King, Jr. — I’ve Been to the Mountaintop (April 3 1968)
this right here is MLK’s legacy. his self-defined understanding of himself. the way he framed himself to the world. and it still brings me to tears today. the hope, the sadness, the complication, the dream,...
