hyphenated-lives - Tumblr blog

[hyphenated-lives]

Chucks, now that Kari is no longer there, are you going to revamp the show prior to its new commencement or are you going to keep the old format? Also, i haven't had the time to listen to ALL the podcasts but are you going to be forming a new panel? Thus far, i've liked the topics however, i do wish that you guys would get people with varying opinions. I personally feel like your opinions, especially you Chucks, are great but could defs be much more candid but you sometimes hold back. PC at best

Hey this is Chuks,

Hyphenated* at its core wasn’t “my” project; it was a collaborative project between Kari and me from start to finish. There are currently no plans to revamp the show.

I have put some thought into starting a new, separate podcast with its own independent platform, but don’t have anything concrete there planning-wise. If I do start a new one, though, I’ll make sure to announce it and let you all know.

On your last point, I think we are all finding ourselves and growing into our own voices, myself included. I am becoming more confident in my own with time, but its definitely a gradual process. Being more candid and direct is something that is definitely top of mind for me in my personal life, too, and was one of my New Year’s Resolutions.

In any case, thanks for the feedback.

-Chuks

[hyphenated-lives]

Have you guys noticed that at the end of the 41st episode you guys said you had planned so many more episodes. LOL. Such is life

Yeah, such is life indeed. Hope you all enjoyed the 42 episodes we did have, though, and thanks again especially to everyone who donated!

-Chuks

[hyphenated-lives]

You discussed on the podcast that whiteness is defined in relation to black chattel slavery, but the culture of the United States did not dominate the global development of whiteness. European colonialism dominated everywhere but Europe (and China, arguably). A development of the last 50 years or so (mostly in US culture) doesn't negate the previous 500.

You make an excellent point considering the fact that only 6% of African slaves in the trans-Atlantic slave trade were trafficked to the United States. So clearly it's just "the culture of the United States" right? Thanks for your incredible lack of contribution in your desperation to decenter antiblackness from white supremacy.

-Chuks

[hyphenated-lives]

Thanks for the Donations!

Thank you for the donations everyone! We have successfully hit our $135 goal, and will have the podcast up for the coming year as a resource for everyone. Thanks to everyone who pitched in and made this possible :).

Best,

Chuks

[hyphenated-lives]

H*42: Final Episode- Is “POC Solidarity” Even Possible?

This is the final episode of the Hyphenated* podcast. For this episode we discuss some of our highlights of the show, what’s been going on behind the scenes over the past month and talk about why we are deciding to end the show, centering around a final question- “Is POC Solidarity Even Possible?”

We are so grateful for all of your support over the last year and a half and hope you enjoy the final episode. Also, we are trying to raise $135 by February 15 for our webhosting to keep the archive of the podcast online for the coming year. 

If you loved the podcast and want to see it stay online as a resource for you and your friends, please consider donating HERE. Kari is especially strapped for cash right now, so any and all support is super appreciated to keep the podcast online after February 15.

Music: Intro, Closing

Donate: HERE

Share & Follow the Hyphenated Podcast:

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[hyphenated-lives]

Chuks, are you aware that Kari is affirming that she has been an am abusive (platonic) relationship with you? Her accounts accuse you of emotionally abusing her. Do you have any comments? Is this true? Because regarding the claims that you silenced and alienated her, specifically in the podcasts, It didn't seem that way during the show ( in fact it seemed to be the opposite) but Id like clarification.

Hi there this is Chuks.

For transparency, here is Kari's post which you are referring to. To start, though, I will just say the following: As a black person, I have a right to distance myself from people who are saying fucked up things about antiblackness.

Kari and I were friends for 2 years, just as I first started to "get it" and come to critical consciousness. Before that I knew nothing about social justice and my praxis on antiblackness was particularly weak and underdeveloped. Kari's views on antiblackness (some (but not all) of which were discussed on the final podcast) have been the same over the course of our friendship. I didn't realize how messed up they were, though, until August of last year when Mike Brown was murdered and I subsequently jumped into black activist circles in Washington D.C. My understanding of antiblackness expanded rapidly then, and as I reflected on many of the things that Kari had said over the course of our friendship which perpetually decentered antiblackness, I became more and more uncomfortable and started to pull away from her. Could I have been more direct with her from the very beginning about why I was pulling away? Absolutely. Would that have changed the fact that our podcast and friendship are now ending, though? Doubtful given the fact that when I did confront her about these views starting in December, I got basically the exact same responses and deflection that happened on the final podcast. She references briefly our "ideological differences," but for me that is deeply personal, especially when someone you are close to is constantly saying ahistorical, hurtful things meant to decenter antiblackness.

That is the crux of why so much friction started to happen in our friendship after she moved to Australia in August (the same time Mike Brown was murdered). I jumped into black activist circles in D.C., expanded my own knowledge and praxis around antiblackness, and after reflecting on many of my conversations with Kari over the previous year and a half, saw how messed up her views on antiblackness were. So I began to pull away at that time, leading up to what we see now.

A few more things on her post:

On my chronic lateness to record the podcast- Due to the 16 hour time difference, I was having to wake up at 5AM to record a podcast with someone who I felt had increasingly messed up views of my people. So, yes, I was chronically 10-15 mins late to that.

On the "former collaborator" who I cut out- the person she is referencing who I cut out was ninjaruski​. If any of ya'll remember, he was John, the black male guest on our Decolonial Love Episode who went on and on about how "black love" was problematic and justified the fact that he doesn't date black women with long division. That episode made me and quite a few of our black listeners incredibly uncomfortable. Offline from the show, though, it was even worse- he sent us long messages after every podcast, some stating that poc dating white people can be revolutionary, others demanding that we talk more about the black middle class and how they are "victimized" by identity policing poor black people, and generally just constantly derailing and decentering antiblackness. He will undoubtedly write a long post saying this isn't true, but listen to that podcast he guested on, read his most recent responses on this blog defending Kari's messed up views on antiblackness (x, x) and read his blog for reference. So, yes, as the black cohost of Hyphenated* I said that I found his views messed up and that we would not be working with him going forward after that episode. As a black person I have a right to say when I feel a person's views of antiblackness (including another black person's) are messed up and that I don't want to work with them anymore. I would never police Kari's decision to not work with another Asian-American activist going forward, and the fact that this is even a point in her post is astounding. It is not Kari's place as an Asian-American to tell me how I should feel about antiblackness, and the fact that she is reducing all of this to a "misunderstanding" between me and him, and using that justify why she felt silenced should tell you all that you need to know. She felt silenced for months because I cut off someone from the podcast who was saying messed up things about black people and antiblackness? Okay.

On me "silencing" Kari- this is again connected to the former point. So I cut out someone from the podcast who is shaming black love and saying other fucked up things about antiblackness, and Kari feels like that is silencing her? Despite what some people on this platform might think, I am not some malicious, wild, cruel arbitrary person cutting people off for arbitrary reasons-- by and large I remove people from my life and work who I feel say destructive things about my people. On every podcast and offline too, I gave Kari space to discuss her views, but if something antiblack happened or she said something messed up about antiblackness, of course I spoke up. That is my right as a black person, and I will assert it. Most importantly though, if she felt scared of me cutting her out because I cut off people who have fucked up opinions on antiblackness, then what does that say about her views? Think about that.

On me calling out her ex boyfriend- After Kari's last abusive relationship in China, she asked me to speak up next time as a friend when I felt like she was in a bad relationship. So I did for this relationship she had with a white guy in Australia. Could I have been more tactful with my critique? Absolutely, and the friction arising from my increasing distance from her due to her positions on antiblackness came to the fore at that time, and that's why I apologized. But the fact that this guy who I was critiquing is not discussed in Kari's recent blog post about the Australian guys she's dated who have "been on her level" should also tell you something about how basic the guy was, which was the bedrock of my critique.

On me "disappearing" from our friendship for the second time-this was when we took the most recent hiatus before the final episode. This was after Kari said many of the same messed up things about antiblackness which we discussed on the final podcast. I had already known that these were her views for months (hence why I began to pull away starting in August of last year), but it was still disturbing giving Kari historical example after historical example for 2.5 hours on Gchat just to have her deflect and constantly decenter antiblackness again and again. So, yes, I asked to take a break from our friendship after that so that I could have 2 weeks of breathing room. If that makes me a terrible person, fine, so be it, but I did it for my own emotional health and well being as a black person dealing with a close friend saying messed up things about antiblackness.

On me "leveraging the fact that [she was] not in a good headspace" in the final episode- I don't even know what to say to this honestly. 2 weeks before recording the final podcast, Kari and I agreed to end the podcast. I asked Kari if she wanted to do a final episode, so that we could tell all of our listeners what had been going on and the source of our ideological differences. She said that she needed time to think about it, and I told her to take as much time as she wanted. 4-5 days later she messaged me saying that she wanted to record the episode. At that point I told her that we could just do a positive highlights reel for the episode and not talk about the uncomfortable source of our disagreements, or we could talk about those disagreements directly on the show. She agreed to the latter, and as the person who writes the episode flows we follow for the show, she wrote it there as well for the topic- "What is solidarity?" Then due to time differences and scheduling difficulties, we didn't record for another week. At no point in this 2 week time span did she say that she no longer wanted to record the episode. At no point in this 2 week time span did she take me up on my alternative offer to just use the episode as a space to do a positive highlight reel on the podcast. At no point in this 2 week time span did she adjust the episode flow (which she writes) to indicate a different topic for the final episode. So the episode proceeded on the topic she had agreed to. I gave her space to discuss her views on this topic even as she interrupted me again and again. If this is me "taking advantage of her," as she constantly interrupted me- a black person- while I was discussing the historical nuances behind antiblackness, then I don't even know what to say frankly.

I hate personal drama, and I hate most of all when it spills over into my work on this platform. Could I have been more straightforward with Kari from the get-go that I was distancing myself from her due to her problematic views on antiblackness? Absolutely. Could that have helped prevent some of this pain, confusion etc.? Probably, and so I'm working on being more straightforward with people even if it's just to say "I don't fuck with you anymore because of X, Y and Z." But do I as a black person have a right to distance myself and even cut out people in my life who have very fucked up opinions on antiblackness? Absolutely. 

After months of being uncomfortable and pulling myself away from Kari personally, I finally confronted her and she reacted with constant deflection, ahistorical obtuse arguments and more (much of which is in the final podcast as well). I have a right in my personal life as a black person to say that is not the kind of person I want in my life. I assert that right for myself, and I hope that others do as well for their own emotional and mental well being. If I'm going to be tarred and feathered on Tumblr for doing that as my understanding of my own lived experience as a black person deepens, then so be it. But if I've spent hours over several weeks trying to explain the basis for my understanding of antiblackness to you as a non-black person and you come back with no historical counter examples and just say "I don't like that" (much like she did in the final episode) then no I'm not going to fuck with you anymore. I do wish that I had been more direct with Kari starting back in August, but it clearly wouldn't have changed anything given how she responded so obtusely when I did directly confront her on her messed up positions on antiblackness. Still though it's a shame that things are ending this way, and especially with all of the difficulties happening behind the scenes now coming to the fore.

Despite everything, I still do wish Kari nothing but the best. I do hope, though, that this helps explains things. I also hope that you all respect my decision as a black person to not have people in my life whom I feel have messed up views on antiblackness. If that is something you are not down for, though, then-whatever- peace. 

-Chuks

[hyphenated-lives]

Hi everyone,

As some of you may know, I am currently dealing with some anxiety issues, many of them stemming from the end of the podcast and resulting dogpiling that has happened. If you have questions for Chuks, please send them to his blog at owning-my-truth. If you have questions for me, please send them to my blog at heauxchinoise. Thanks. 

Cheers, Kari

[hyphenated-lives]

Hi Kari, I've been noticing that a lot of the asks you guys have been getting are overwhelmingly in support of Chuks and that's nice and all, but I think you should get some love too. While I do feel like my views on this issue lean slightly more towards Chuks' view, I just wanted to say that I don't think you're necessarily wrong and that you deserve just as much praise for doing a great job in bringing this podcast to us! Thank you and good luck!

I wrote something about this over on my blog. Thank you for your words of support. 

[hyphenated-lives]

Thank you both for an amazing podcast. I have learned a lot from both of you. One last thing, the phrase oppression olympics is used pretty commonly when people are talking about different forms of oppression. It isn't just used to derail talks on anti blackness. I've seen it all over from discussions of racism, misogyny, ableism, and homophobia. geekfeminism(.)wikia(.)com/wiki/Oppression_Olympics Remove the parenthesis & link should work. Important part starts with "People who participate in

I’ll keep my ears perked for it being used on other groups, to date though I’ve only seen it used to silence black people discussing antiblackness or as other marginalized groups employ antiblackness to their own ends (e.g. White feminists who say that “woman is the nigger of the world”, white queer people who are super antiblack and use the existence of homophobia to justify their racism). I’m sure it’s possible that it could be used against other groups as that wiki link mentions, and I’ll watch out for that, but to date I’ve only seen it used to make black people shut up or using us as a crux to advance themselves. Hope that adds a bit more color to what I said.

-Chuks

[hyphenated-lives]

Chuck I understand why you say there's no solidarity between Blacks and other POC. I hope one day it changes because it's pretty stupid that I can be surrounded by a lot of latin@s who complain about being repressed and at the same time judge a Black kid in a hoodie. I'm from TX which is deep with, yeah people calling us illegal, but also with Latin@s trying to be "white," so they in turn are racist against Black people and others. It's disgusting. They rather be "white" than fight racism.

Thanks for the note and I hope that it changes as well as non-black POC activists work to dismantle antiblackness in their communities and activist circles. -Chuks

[hyphenated-lives]

Hey guys, I just want to commend y'all for making the decision to end the podcast where you did. Although I loved the show, I could see that the energy was changing and I know mad people who would've just continued the podcast for the fame instead of consulting their spiritual and intellectual integrity. I wish you both the best of luck in life! Ciao

Thanks for the love and for respecting our decision to end things. Really appreciate it.-Chuks

[hyphenated-lives]

Chuks, can I have your babies

Please submit any and all procreation requests to our email account- hyphenated.lives@gmail.com.Hahaha.-Chuks

[hyphenated-lives]

What happened with Chuks and Suey Park

Nothing happened between us in particular, but a lot has happened between Suey and other activists in the asian american and black communities.-Chuks

[hyphenated-lives]

Chuks, in the podcast you said that in US history black people have never gotten anything by enacting racialized violence against other POC. I am not a historian, and I am sure you have a better grasp of black history than I do. However, the Buffalo soldiers were involved in the Indian Wars very shortly after the end of slavery. They did not get access to whiteness (many POC groups don't) but they are glorified in history for enacting genocide on Native Americans. They are still glorified today.

Apologies in advance- I am on mobile so cannot hyperlink, but I have put some additional sources down for you and others to look up.Yes, I know about the buffalo soldiers and that brutal history that they engaged in. At the same time, just as with wars of imperialist aggression which gave black people collectively nothing and did not gain us any proximity to whiteness due to our blackness (see the Red Summer post-WW1), the history of the buffalo soldiers also gave black people collectively nothing under white supremacist hegemonic structures. This is because blackness is positioned antipodal to whiteness. Understanding the problematic complicity of some black people with that history does not change the overall power dynamics of white supremacy. Non-black NDN people have been able to make successful claims to "civilization", for example, staked on black bodies (see: The "Civilized Tribes" who were the last to relinquish their black slaves after the U.S. abolished slavery) while the reciprocal is not true. The buffalo soldiers did not change the orientation of white supremacy and antiblackness is a widespread phenomenon in NDN communities to this day for this very reason (see: Cherokee freedmen controversy).All of this is to say that of course what the Buffalo Soldiers did was wrong and problematic, but that does not mean that they were enacting violence which advanced black people as a collective. On the contrary, non-black POC can and have throughout history used black bodies and antiblackness to make successful citizenship claims, gain economic advantages (see: Chinese Americans in the Jim Crow South), lay their stake down as being "civilized" "good citizens," etc. (see: the modern immigration movement of Asian and Latin@s) and even become white (see: How the Irish Became White). Due to how white supremacy is structured, the violence that black people may attempt to commit against non-black POC does not have the same effect. So we can have real conversations about how the Buffalo Soldiers and any glorification of that history is very problematic, but that should never obscure the overall power dynamics and structure of white supremacy where blackness is antipodal to whiteness.-Chuks

[hyphenated-lives]

Chuks, did you hear about the college activism at UNC? Apparently they're trying to rename Saunders (the building named after the former NC head of KKK) to Hurston Hall (as Zora Neale Hurston was the first Black person to take classes at UNC). The Board of trustee's tried to lie and say it was just a rumor that Saunders led the KKK but then the activists found Saunders resume in the records and his role in the KKK was at the top and lead him o be glorified by the 1920 BoT. Was Duke similar?

Interesting! Best of luck with that name change. At Duke the Duke family was involved in some really nasty stuff as tobacco plantation owners. I'm not sure if any of our buildings are named after members of the KKK though, and don't know of any on campus activism that's happening to change any building names (at least while I was there 2008-2012). -Chuks

[hyphenated-lives]

Chuks, why don't you capitalize the "b" in Black?

Hadn't thought about that before. Thoughts?Chuks

[hyphenated-lives]

Chuks, it has been such a pleasure to watch your growth over the past 42 episodes. I really commend your willingness to trust in yourself! Just wanted to let you know that I'm sending my radical Black love your way!

Thank you! In solidarity,Chuks