btsboysenthusiast

[btsboysenthusiast]

A WHOLE BOYFRIEND LOOK 

| Cr twt  BTS_GRAY

[btsboysenthusiast]

☞A Message To Non-Black Authors ☜

Do you find yourself using slang in your fics? Or using the BLM movement as plots in your writing or art?

Please, as a black woman who’s kept quiet for way too long, STOP.

Why You Shouldn’t Abuse AAVE In Your Writing

When you overuse AAVE in your writing (using it flippantly or without credit to its actual meaning), you’re contributing to the devaluing of the black experience. And, to be honest, when a lot of you use it in your writing it sounds very awkward or is often misused. 

What is AAVE?

“AAVE is an acronym for African American Vernacular English. Other terms for it in academia are African American Varieties of English, African American English (AAE), Black English (BE) and Black English Vernacular (BEV). [EDIT: since I wrote this post in 2014, a new term has gained a lot of traction with academics: African American Language (AAL), as in the Oxford Handbook of African American Language edited by Sonja Lanehart (2015), or the Corpus of Regional African American Language (CORAAL). I now use either AAE or AAL exclusively, unless I’m specifically talking about an informal, vernacular variety, however “AAVE” has gained traction in social media just as AAL replaced it among academics]

In popular culture, it is largely misunderstood, and thought of as “bad English,” “ebonics” (originally coined in 1973 by someone with good intentions, from “ebony” and “phonics,” but now starting to become a slur), “ghetto talk” (definitely a slur), and the “blaccent” (a portmanteau word of “black” and “accent”) that NPR seems to like using.” (Languagejones.com)

It is explained more here as well.

What’s The Big Deal?

This language has long been stigmatized and misused. 

“We have a long cultural history of assuming that whatever black people in America do is defective. Couple this with what seems to be a natural predilection toward thinking that however other people talk is wrong, and you’ve got a recipe for social and linguistic stigma. For instance, in 1996 the Oakland school board took the sensible step of trying to use AAVE as a bridge to teach AAVE-speaking children how to speak and write Standard American English. They also took the less sensible step of declaring AAVE a completely different language. This was wildly misrepresented in the media, leading to a storm of racist, self-congratulatory “ain’t ain’t a word” pedantry from both white people and older middle-class black people who do not speak the dialect.”  (Languagejones.com)

You can’t use our slang then ignore our issues.

Why You Shouldn’t Misuse It (Or Use It At All)

The issue of appropriation of Black cultural expression has been brought to light in recent years. More people have come to understand why a non-Black person wearing cornrows or dreadlocks is problematic, or why blackface and verbalizing the ‘N-word’ in songs is harmful. Appropriation causes harm when it perpetuates stereotypes, turns culture into a commodity, and uses historical traditions as a trend, while the originating group continues to experience discrimination for the very same thing.

Language can act in a similar manner.  Within any culture, language is the basis for communicating ideas, and plays a role in shaping people’s sense of community. Yet, in North American pop culture, Black Vernacular English (BVE) is often used by non-Black people for social capital. Due to its social influence, BVE is often misused out of context in an attempt to be relevant, relatable, or for credibility. (Feminuity.org)

This article sums it up very nicely.

Key Points

The politics of black slang are tricky. Black slang and AAVE (African-American Vernacular English) have long been considered inferior to so-called “standard” English, and the black people who use it seen as uneducated or unintelligent (forcing many to master the art of code-switching). So when suddenly words and phrases that have strong ties to the black community are adopted and warped by non-black people, it can cause some of us to feel indignant, even insulted.”

“…we live in a society that loves black culture — but doesn’t like black people all too much — and what might look like acceptance is just downright thievery.”

“Listen. The idea here isn’t necessarily to say that white people shouldn’t use certain black slang (although by now we should all be clear on the N-word debate)… But the issue is how the etymology of these words gets lost in the sauce… As a general rule, if you have to ask whether or not it’s OK to use a word, if there’s any hesitation, then don’t. But also, we should all be aware of where these words come from and what they mean without attributing arbitrary definitions to them.”

Please Stop Using BLM In Your Writing (or art for that matter) 

You drawing characters in BLM merch or supporting BLM is not a problem. 

However, when you draw or write about them protesting or rioting or looting, that is a genuine problem. Would you do that in response to the Hong Kong Protests? Would you draw characters protesting against the Terror Bill? Would you draw them with Native peoples trying to advocate for the return of their land? Or, hey, even in the Civil Rights Movement of the 1950s-1960s?

No. Then what makes the Black Lives Matter movement so different?

Is it the fact that this hits so close to home you can’t process it by any other means than fictional?

What about seeing bnha characters rioting is supposed to feel inspiring? What about reading headcanons on how characters would quit their jobs as cops and protect me from tear gas is supposed to be comforting? These people aren’t real. But this issue is, and it’s serious, and it’s not something trendy or excusable to be filtered through a fictional lens. THIS IS REAL. THIS IS HAPPENING. 

Take a look at this post to see 

A friend on Discord couldn’t have said it better:

Our culture is not for your entertainment. The Black Lives Matter movement is a real, pressing issue. Please, spread information and support your fellow black authors and artists.

FAQ

Does this mean I have to stop using slang/reaction images?

No! Be cautious of how you use it. One article states asking yourself these questions when it comes to AAVE:

Is it being commercialized for financial gain?

Is the usage performative or tokenizing?

Are you in proximity to the culture that originated the terms?

Are you using the language to “level up” or earn yourself credibility?

No one is policing you on saying popular slang, but you need to stay educated on the source of these words and how the overproduction and misuse affects us as a community. Our language is not for show, nor is it for your entertainment or attempts to sound “hip”.

Do I need to feel guilty or apologize for saying/doing these things?

Of course not! I promise, no one wants an apology or for you to sit around and feel guilty. Educate yourselves. Stay vigilant. That’s all I ask. This is not an attack or me shaming you by any means.

What if I’m black and condone this?

I sincerely ask you to look inside yourself and ask why this genuinely makes you happy. Are you doing it for some sort of validation? Fictional characters aren’t real. When your life is on the line, they aren’t going to magically come save you. When we let things like this get romanticized, it makes it easier to view this situation from a distance rather than how bad it really is and how close to home it’s hitting. 

How can I help and/or support the BLM Movement now?

Support black writers and artists!

Be sympathetic towards our issues!

KEEP POSTING ABOUT BLACK LIVES MATTER. USE YOUR PLATFORM. SILENCE IS MOST DEFINITELY VIOLENCE.

This blog contains MANY resources to educate yourself and be active.

Thank you for reading! 

[btsboysenthusiast]

since some of yall (mostly racist white people and c**ns) got upset with me the other day about supporting black fanfiction writers, i decided to explain to you all about why i said what i said. 

[btsboysenthusiast]

Instagram.com/wetheurban

[btsboysenthusiast]

the energy k pop stans have is immaculate

A KPOP STAN/BTS ARMY IN THE NEWS PROMISING TO KEEP TROLLING TRUMP AND ADVISING EVERYONE TO STAN BTS!!!

T.N: BTS’ fandom called ARMY and especially the ones on TikTok trolled Trump by getting a million of his tickets for his rally and not showing up. Which resulted in Trump’s complete humiliation as he was expecting a big number of supporters but then it was SO empty. 

Basically ARMY made a social media campaign called on users to register for tickets, then not turn up. The fandom were supporting the BLM movement as Trump’s rally was on Juneteenth and was VERY disrespectful to Black people. More info HERE and full interview below:

BTS ARMY SELL OUT STADIUMS IN MINUTES, THIS WAS A PIECE OF CAKE FOR THEM. 

ANYWAY, STAN BTS AND ARMY-

[btsboysenthusiast]

https://youtu.be/7UWBYJjuIL0

Treat yo selves with this masterpiece you deserve it. My god it really came for my wig. I already ADORED We are Bulletproof: The Eternal but the MV just made my love skyrocket it’s so good ! ! !

[btsboysenthusiast]

please sign this petition against a law that is being enacted in Alberta against indigenous peoples’ rights to protest + could infringe on their rights to hunt,  fish etc on their own land

[btsboysenthusiast]

The BTS graduation stream performance including Spring Day and Mikrokosmos has me feeling a whole kind of way if you vibe with them

Those songs really hit so hard in their own ways

[btsboysenthusiast]

some uk petitions to sign you may not have seen:

suspend uk export of tear gas, rubber bullets and riot shields to usa

justice for belly mujinga

battle racism by updating reading lists at gcse

make white privilege and systemic racism a compulsory part of the british education course

uk parliament condemn the violence against peaceful blm protesters by the us police/military

more protection for black trans women uk

uk government must condemn trump's response to george floyd's murder #speakupboris

investigate the death of sheku bayou in police custody

[btsboysenthusiast]

How does abolishing the police work? I mean yeah I don't want people thrown into the legal system or worse for petty crimes but I kinda want murders investigated and such. Restorative justice is fine and good when our society as a whole is transformed but it's an endgame not a starting point. It's not going work with the way society as whole functions now.

This is a great question! “Abolish the police” and “Defund the police” are slogans which actually capture a couple of different policy models, and there’s an emerging conversation right now about what they would look like and which is best. I don’t mean to say that they’re necessarily slogans without a policy, but they are slogans serving as a rallying point for a variety of people trying to imagine and formulate what a modern post-police society would look like.

I’m a fan of “defund the police” more, for reasons I’ll go into in a second. But there’s a lot of other ideas as well. “Abolish the police” is most frequently used by anarchists who would like to go even further. But outside the context of Ideal Anarchist Communism, the majority of anarchists I’ve talked to about this will eventually concede the need for some group to guarantee the enforcement of community rules, they just refuse to call that group “police” or those rules “laws.” Ultimately, I would agree that “abolish the police” is something of an endgame slogan, a phrase capturing what an ideal scenario might entail. But that sort of thing serves to confuse the vast majority of people, who are entirely unacquainted with any of this discourse.

Like I said, I like “defund the police.” By this, I mean dramatically cutting police departments and reducing the roles of police officers, transferring resources to social services to actually address root causes and reduce crime before cops are ever even involved- something which can absolutely be done in most cases! What remains of the police should also be heavily restructured towards non-violence, but in my mind’s model a small police force would remain to investigate and handle public violence and certain other crimes.

To get a handle on what this looks like, it’s valuable to imagine what roles the police and the justice system currently handle that could be better handled by someone else. This a good corrective to most people’s acceptance of the fact that we give cops tons of different jobs related to managing the failures of society, and that most can be eliminated by the very existence of a better society!

Cops deal with especially high rates of crime from young people (29% of 2016 arrests were of people age 16-24). What if we funded a national program to remove lead from paint and other housing materials, since we know for a fact that environmental lead poisoning during childhood has strong negative impacts on mental development, in a way that has been tied to significantly higher crime rates. Not to mention the reductions in youth crime that could be achieved by better public schools, free mental healthcare and counseling, free afterschool programs, public community centers, and on and on. In addition, we have known for over 20 years that targeted early childhood interventions have been dramatically more effective at stopping crime than tough sentencing laws.

Cops do welfare checks, checking on people that others are concerned about to make sure they’re OK. Couldn’t these and many other similar roles better be handled by community-based mental health initiatives?

Cops do traffic stops. What about an entirely separate, unarmed civil organization for traffic patrol? Or if you feel leaving them too unarmed would be dangerous, what about locking a firearm in cruiser trunks that the patrol is only authorized to use when a driver is confirmed to be armed and aggressive? There are degrees of disarmament worth considering for different functions! (Also worth noting that better public transit systems would reduce traffic violations by definition, as less people would be driving).

Cops clear out homeless camps and arrest or disperse homeless people in public spaces. What if we fully funded housing first programs that give every homeless person a home and a transitional social worker, something that was successfully employed from 2005-2015 in Utah. When you account for the reduced crime rates and hospitalizations of the homeless, these policies partially pay for themselves!

Cops deal with most drug busts. What if we legalized and regulated certain light drugs, taking a whole section of the black market into the public. Then, we could decriminalize heavier drugs so that efforts are focused on public health treatment for addicts. There’s tons of research illustrating that demand-side approaches like that are more effective at limiting drug abuse than supply-side approaches like giving drug dealers long prison sentences. The most sophisticated and dangerous drug trafficking operations can be dealt with through tactics used on organized crime, which is often more legal-work than police-work!

A number of crimes exist for the specific purpose of giving the police the discretionary ability to disperse or arrest people they determine to be a public nuisance: loitering, juvenile curfews, open container laws, etc. To be frank, we could literally eliminate some of these “crimes” simply by making them legal, with few negative consequences if done as part of a larger transformative program.

Police patrol cities looking for crime, even though this is generally inefficient at stopping crime compared to focusing on hotspots. What about creating city programs for neighborhood-oriented and community-controlled groups of unarmed people trained in intervention, mediation, and deescalation? When done right, this sort of model has proven successful even in high-crime areas.

Also, about those hotspots I mentioned: what if we actually made an effort to empower those communities? How many high-crime areas do you think would remain high-crime for long if we made a real effort to eliminate poverty, and if we provided everyone with free comprehensive public transit, education, and the other public services mentioned above?

Add it all up, and what roles are the police actually left with? If we lower youth crime rates by treating young people better and improving education, create community options for mental illness and interpersonal conflict, take care of traffic laws with an entirely separate organization, eliminate homelessness and poverty, reform our drug laws and humanely combat addiction, decriminalize the most harmless minor offenses, and provide opportunities and resources to reduce violence in the most violent neighborhoods, how much of their current jobs are police left with?

That’s why I like “defund the police” best as a rallying point. While “abolish the police” is an end-goal that leaves most people outside the left wondering what exactly it means, “defund the police” draws attention to the fact that our status-quo policing system is a policy choice we make every single year when it’s time to draw up public budgets, and that we can dramatically reduce the need for police by reprioritizing funding towards things that actually serve to improve human welfare.

[btsboysenthusiast]

BTS | Dear Class Of 2020

[btsboysenthusiast]

These are our kings !  !  !  I espescially think this is a testament to how they’ve grown as people since they started and how they use their platform for immense good as they show solidarity from the other side of the world! We stan for a reason

Also I’ll say this once and more than once: the social activsim not just from BTS by from army has been inspiring to watch

Look at that ! ! ! This is the kind of stuff that happens with compassionate, inspiring creators who use their platform for good as they inspire their fans to follow suit ! ! !

Check out https://btsarmyxblm.carrd.co/ for more information on how you can donate if you are able to. If you don’t have the means to, please do check out the Zoe Amira black music and art stream on youtube (follow MV release date rules lol). Do whatever you can during this time because even if you donate a few dollars or share a post, that is something. Do not doubt your potential to make an impact. 

[btsboysenthusiast]

❗ATTENTION❗

DO NOT BUY ANYTHING JULY 4TH -7TH

PEOPLE OF THE BLM MOVEMENT ARE TRYING TO CAUSE AN ECONOMIC BLACKOUT THAT WOULD COST THE GOVERNMENT AROUND 3.5 BILLION DOLLARS!

❗SPREAD THE NEWS❗

(6/2/2020)

[btsboysenthusiast]

okay but imagine if American girl doll years in the future made the historical doll for 2020. They’d have to make separate dolls to represent all of 2020 accurately

[btsboysenthusiast]

ways to help protestors if you are unable to protest

everybody has to do their part. as a reference, this was posted on 1 june 2020. if any links are broken or direct to a place they should not, please feel free to add on with corrections. if there is new information with better knowledge, please feel free to share. thank you.

1. donate

do not donate to shaun king. he has repeatedly collected money to “support” black people, but no one knows where the money is.

BAIL FUNDS (ALPHABETICAL ORDER; NOT A COMPREHENSIVE LIST)

note: washington dc and new jersey have cashless bail systems.

bail fund google doc (also includes lawyers for protestors)

national bail fund network (directory of community bail funds)

community bail funds masterpost by @keplercryptids

resistance funds (google sheets; lists bail funds around the country)

nationwide bail funds (split a donation to the bail funds listed on the linked page with a single transaction)

atlanta bail fund

brooklyn bail fund

colorado freedom fund

columbus freedom fund

houston chapter of black lives matter

liberty fund (nyc based; focuses services on people from low-income communities)

los angeles freedom fund

louisville community fund

massachusetts bail fund

minnesota freedom fund (as of may 30, 2020, they are encouraging people to donate elsewhere since they have raised enough money; as of may 29, 2020, they do not have a venmo, as some fraudulent accounts have been claiming, source)

philadelphia bail out fund

richmond bail fund

MORE PLACES TO DONATE

note: more links are listed in the masterposts below.

northstar health collective (healthcare and medical aid for people on the front lines)

reclaim the block (aims to redistribute police funding to help the minneapolis community)

twin cities dsa (provides fresh groceries and hot meals to people in minneapolis)

2. educate yourself

it isn’t enough to sign petitions and reblog/retweet/etc. nonblack people, including people of color, owe it to black people to educate themselves and correct themselves and the people around them on anti-blackness.

note: more links are in the masterposts linked below.

resources and tools regarding racism and anti-blackness (google sheets compilation)

readings on society, racism, the prison system, etc. (twitter thread)

“where do we go after ferguson?” by michael eric dyson

official black lives matter website

3. give out supplies to protestors

people need supplies to protest safely, and even if they bring supplies with them, they can often run out. if you’re able, stock up and hand them out to people protesting. for more supplies to donate, see the “george floyd action” google docs link in section 5.

water bottles (dehydration and heatstroke are not things people should have to deal with alongside bastard cops. if the police in your area are particularly violent or known to use tear gas, get the ones with the sports cap/suction-thing/etc so people can use them as emergency eye-flushes.)

snacks (make sure to take into account that people have allergies of all sorts. foods will have a little label that says “may contain” and then list any potential allergens. write the allergens on the ziploc (or any container you use) in permanent marker, or better yet, write the snacks included in the pack.)

masks (don’t forget there’s still a pandemic going on. also it will aid in deterring facial recognition when the police try to track down protestors,  also part two, if the cops use tear gas, wearing a mask (with the combination of a scarf or bandana) will lessen the adverse effects. lessen, not stop.)

bandanas, scarves, etc. and goggles (ski goggles, swimming goggles, etc.) (see above for explanation on the scarves. same goes for the goggles. anti–tear gas and anti–facial recognition.)

clean shirts (for people who are heavily gassed. also helps deter recognition through clothing.)

wound care supplies (band-aids, packets of neosporin packets or a similar antibiotic, alcohol wipes, etc.; if you can, decant bactine into those little travel bottles.)

a sharpie or another type of marker (for writing bail numbers or emergency contacts on arms, hands, etc. it’s not enough to have your city’s bail fund number stored on your phone; the police won’t give it to you to look it up. give people a marker so they can write it down, preferably not washable so it isn’t easily removed.)

IMPORTANT: KNOWING FIRST AID

tear gas: if you’re hit, get out as fast and as soon as you can. take anyone you can with you. the longer you’re in the gas, the harder it will be for you to see, and it can irritate your airways, making it hard to breathe. if you’re hit, don’t run; it’ll only make things worse on your lungs. when you leave the area, take a cold shower. don’t use hot water (it will only reactivate the agent); don’t bathe (it will only spread the CS around). (source 1) (source 2) (cdc fact sheet on tear gas)

move them to a clean and ventilated area where it’s as safe as possible.

ask them if they’re wearing contact lenses. have them remove it. if they’re wearing glasses, rinse it with water.

solution of half liquid antacid, half water. spray from the inside going out, with the head tilted back and slightly towards the side being rinsed. if they say it’s okay, open the eye slightly while doing this. (source)

bullet wounds: the most important thing is to stop the bleeding. be sure to check for an exit wound and cover that as well. treat both wounds, but treat the worse one first.

stop the bleed (youtube video by uc san diego health)

first aid in active shooting scenarios

making a tourniquet (a commercial tourniquet is best, but improvised ones can work as well if done properly; the most important things to remember is that tourniquets are for limb injuries and are not meant for the head or torso and that they have to be very tightly wound on the injury.)

how to apply pressure dressings

miscellaneous

adult cpr tutorial (youtube video by cincinnati children’s; think of “staying alive” by the beegees or “uptown funk”)

4. be a source of information

be responsible with this. people’s lives are at stake. that being said, the media is a fucking joke and the best way to get accurate information in a grassroots rebellion is amongst ourselves. record everything, but if you are going to share any information at all, be sure to blur people’s faces.

signal (encrypted messenger app; messages delete after x amount of time): app store | google play

tool for scrubbing metadata from images and selectively blurring identifiable features

tech tips to protect yourself while protesting (by rey.nbows on tiktok, via vicent_efl on twitter)

cop spotting 101 (google docs)

know your rights (by personachuu on twitter)

NUMBERS TO CALL FOR ARRESTED PROTESTORS (ALPHABETICAL ORDER; SOURCES LINKED TO THE NUMBER)

remember to keep phones OFF unless absolutely necessary. cell phone towers, stingrays, location notifs can all be used to track you and other protestors. don’t fuck around. if your phone must be on, keep it on airplane mode as often as possible and only communicate using encrypted methods. no, snapchat doesn’t count. (a twitter thread on stingrays, for those interested)

lawyers assisting protestors pro-bono (by riyakatariax on twitter)

atlanta: 404-689-1519

chicago: 773-309-1198

minneapolis: 612-444-2654

5. miscellaneous links and links for protestors

masterpost of petitions to sign, numbers to call, places to donate, and more (carrd by dehyedration on twitter)

#blacklivesmatter (google docs by ambivaIcnt on twitter; includes information on relevant events, other masterposts, lists of petitions and donation links, how to protest safely and protests to go to, and more)

george floyd action (google docs; includes information on apps to download, supplies to buy and donate, places to donate to, protest safety, resources on unlearning racial bias, and more)

how to get out of ziptie “handcuffs” (by finnianj on tiktok, via katzerax on twitter)

how can i help? by @abbiheartstaylor

how to make a signal-blocking cell phone pouch

tips for protestors by @aurora00boredealis

twitter thread for protestors (by vantaemuseum on twitter)

also, if you’re protesting, change your passcode. make it at least 11 characters long and don’t use facial/thumb recognition.

[btsboysenthusiast]

I’ve read sister outsider and bad feminist and they’re very very good books I highly recommend

Resource is from victoriaalxndr on Twitter!

[btsboysenthusiast]

we stan these kpop stans

GOOD JOB KPOP FANS