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This is so important

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Ideally, what should be said to every child, repeatedly, throughout his or her school life is something like this: ‘You are in the process of being indoctrinated. We have not yet evolved a system of education that is not a system of indoctrination. We are sorry, but it is the best we can do. What you are being taught here is an amalgam of current prejudice and the choices of this particular culture. The slightest look at history will show how impermanent these must be. You are being taught by people who have been able to accommodate themselves to a regime of thought laid down by their predecessors. It is a self-perpetuating system. Those of you who are more robust and individual than others will be encouraged to leave and find ways of educating yourself — educating your own judgements. Those that stay must remember, always, and all the time, that they are being moulded and patterned to fit into the narrow and particular needs of this particular society.’

Doris Lessing, The Golden Notebook (via feellng)

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Ain’t nothing new except its news

Do the Right Thing (Spike Lee, 1989)

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Makes me angry that this is what it takes for an issue to get attention... But at least it's progress.

Samantha Bee investigates the shocking lack of data on civilians killed by police. Click here to watch.

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a primer on inequality

Gender equality doesn’t currently exist because men have privilege and power over everyone else. Because the inequality is in men’s favour, the oppressive force at play is misogyny. It is not possible to oppress the dominant group, so misandry does not exist as a social, legal, or economic force.

Racial equality doesn’t currently exist because whites have privilege and power over everyone else. Because the inequality is in white people’s favour, the oppressive force at play is racism against people of colour. It is not possible to oppress the dominant group, so reverse racism, or racism against whites, does not exist as a social, legal, or economic force. 

Equality between disabled and abled people doesn’t currently exist because abled people have privilege and power over disabled people. Because the inequality is in abled people’s favour, the oppressive force at play is ableism. It is not possible to oppress the dominant group, so discrimination against abled people does not exist as a social, legal, or economic force. 

Equality regardless of orientation doesn’t currently exist because straight people have privilege and power over people who are not straight. Because the inequality is in straight people’s favour, the oppressive force at play is compulsory heterosexuality. It is not possible to oppress the dominant group, so heterophobia does not exist as a social, legal, or economic force. 

Equality between trans and cis people doesn’t currently exist because cis people have privilege and power over trans people. Because the inequality is in cis people’s favour, the oppressive force at play is transphobia. It is not possible to oppress the dominant group, so cisphobia does not exist as a social, legal, or economic force.

Oppression is not a two-way street. Oppression is a system of structures that privilege one group at another’s expense.

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Watch: Wanda’s brother is a living example of this racial double standard.

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So Hillary just happened huh?

I’ve been feeling the Bern! But I can also do math and math says that we should get ready for Hillary to be the democratic nominee. I was discussing this situation with several of my fellow Berners and here’s where I came out:

Job one is to keep the crazies from running the asylum. Defeat Cruz/trump or whatever walking wounded comes out of the godawful cluster$&@ of a convention they will have. Job 1 however will be closely followed by Job 2.

Job two is to apply pressure to Hillary. If we've learned one thing about each candidate on the democrat side it's that a) Bernie is who he is. Win or lose he'll keep fighting for what he's thinks is right and has been fighting for for 50 years. We also know that b) Hillary will be whomever we MAKE her be. The minute she gets elected she'll start working on her reelection (first female president can't be a one-termer, no great president is a one-termer) She'll push her agenda for the first 100 days. You know the one largely shaped by Bernie. We can expect affordable college, a minimum wage raise, a push for wage equality, a feminist Supreme Court nominee but then she'll relax. We'll have to make her take on criminal justice and policing policy reform and not forget about the millions of black men incarcerated currently because of her policies in the 90′s, we'll have to make her deescalate the war on drugs and bring equity into the conversation about education funding and policy. We'll have to watch her close on Wall Street reform because she'll try to pull a fast one and say she did something when she didn't. But If Bernie is your leader. He ain't going nowhere. Midterms are around the corner. This is America and its always election season.

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Fuck officer Holtzclaw (but don’t stop there)

http://usuncut.com/news/holtzclaw-oklahoma-cop-convicted-of-rape/

I would say "fu&k this guy!" But that would be too crass and most would just agree with me in feigned outrage and miss the point. You see my problem is that most people think that "justice" was done here.

This officer of the law routinely raped a dozen poor black women. "Finding" drugs, fabricating charges of "erratic driving", or occasional arresting one of them on a real charge - before leveraging each of these situations into a choice between rape, death or incarceration. What was clear is that he started everyday with a clear description of the "criminal" - he just needed to come up with a crime. But he didn't just rape THEM - he was backed up with the full force of the American criminal justice system. Why isn't that a crime? To say "he raped us" would be insensitive to the unspeakable way that he violated each of those women. But dammit American public - he fucked us! Why is nobody mad at that?

He didn't bother to hide. He raped them in squad cars, in their cars, on porches, in public, in uniform. Because, well fuckem! And because well - we said he could. His actions said “you HAVE not safety”, there is no where we can’t get you, nothing we can’t do to you and no-one will help you or listen to you. Seriously I do not know how this man could have given less fucks.

His defense was a single witness - an ex-girlfriend who said ”He never intimidated or raped her” (guess she wasn't his type). Oh, he did have one other defense, defaming the character of the victims. All poor black women, some had drug or prostitution charges. Even the 17 year old that he raped on her front porch was confronted about drug use because .. you know ... All these black woman are dirty lying druggie whores, even the kids.. so ... Fuckem! Nice defense.

So he’s been convicted and is going to jail. Yeah we got’em right.

Is it justice that the jury that tried this poster child of the patriarchal white supremacist justice system were 8 white men and 4 white woman debating a case of exclusive and serial victimization of black women?

What does it say that it took them days of deliberation to convict him of half the charges? When the prosecution established a pattern, had GPS data, 30 material eyewitnesses witnesses, and a victims DNA all over the crotch of his pants. Did the jury still pause to actually consider this 8th grade “bitches be lying” defense? Really?   

What does it say that our system allowed him to operated with such brash impunity? How did he get to a bakers dozen of victims. Why were the other women not listened to when they complained? Clearly that we’re very hard to find.

What does it say that the fact that he used his power as an officer and the power of the state to rape and victimize carries no greater a penalty than any other nut job? WTF is that.  Why can we not agree that to be a police officer or a judge or a representative of justice means that you physically embody our core beliefs? Just as it is a higher crime to murder a police officer or judge because doing so represents an attack on the very fabric of our society - they too MUST be held to a higher standard. You can go to jail for insulting a judge, you will DIE if you touch a police officer. But when corrupt police and judges leverage the very power WE gave them to victimize innocent citizens it is a violation of the highest order - yet, that in itself is not a crime.

While I’m at it. It just pisses me off that he had the nerve to cry. Like he expected to get off. Like he's a victim. 

But we got'em! So let's nail him to the wall like Donald Sterling and pat ourselves on the back for too little justice too late - and then do nothing about the hundreds or thousands of examples of the exact same shit going on right now. Like the other 12 victims they "uncovered" after the police finally decided that the 13th accuser, a grandmother of 57, was believable - it's all right there if you care enough to scratch the surface. As best we can piece together - over 1000 officers have been dismissed in the past 6 years for "sexual misconduct" while in uniform. We’d know more but we don't track that sort of data and states and districts don't have to report it because ... you know... Fuck'em.

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Fear-mongering vs. Fact-mongering: The BigData of BlackLivesMatter

Fact: There is no point in American history when the demand by black people for equality was not declared by powerful people to be criminal. None. @tanehisicoates

So now the conservative media echo chamber has a campaign to smear #blacklivesmatter. I’m tickled at their ignorance of what #blacklivesmatter is and the idea that they could “shut it down”; I’m proud that in one year the movement has generated awareness and real results that threaten the agenda of organizations like Fox; I’m furious with the disingenuous mischaracterization of a call for law enforcement accountability as being anti-law enforcement; and I’m sad that so many Americans agree or at least appreciate these baseless accusations as legitimate journalistic inquiry.

The fear-mongering crisis manufacturing is the same playbook that is right now attempting to bring down Planned Parenthood; the same process that was used to bringing down A.C.O.R.N and enact voter ID laws in attempts to keep minorities from registering to vote last election; the same used to create mandatory minimum sentencing in the 90′s; the same used to depict black woman as “welfare queens” and black male youths as “super-predators” in the 80′s; the same used to create the war on drugs in the 70′s; the same used to discredit the organizations of and ultimately foment the assassination of Malcolm X and Fred Hampton in the 60′s. I could go on....  

But times change. Techniques have a useful life. Today, racism in America wears a “we shall have overcome” t-shirt. Today racism quotes “MLK - the hits” never the b-sides. In 2015 racism contends that all is and has been well with the black community for decades. Racism vehemently asserts that America has reach an enlightened plateau and can aspire for nothing more. “Sure”, racism says, “there will always be racists, but institutional racism has been stamped out.”

The new litmus test for racism is intent. If a single minority supports a policy, how can you call it racist? If someone has a black friend, a company has a black board member, if your show has a black pundit spewing racist garbage, if a nation has a black president - then how can any of those things be racist? As long as starting a discussion about racism requires proving intent then 99% of conversations about racism will be people agreeing to disagree and saying that “We need to have a conversation about race in this country”.

BlackLivesMatters is a movement built to break the gridlock of this 21st century civil rights struggle. Don’t get me wrong. Direct action matters. I am awed by activists. They are the foundation that built #BlackLivesMatter. It was courageous queer black woman like @bdoulaoblongata and @musicoverpeople​ livetweeting the ongoing struggles in Ferguson that had me examine exactly where I stood and what I was doing for the struggle. But the genius of their struggle was that they always contended that it was bigger than #MikeBrown or even #Ferguson. They simply acted locally but never forgot what they were doing was global.  

At it’s heart #BlackLivesMatter is a crowdsourced bigdata project.

The latitude that police are given as they detain, summons, arrest and assault citizens is staggering. The entire argument depends on how you believe police use this latitude and what should be done about it. It is generally understood that a police officer can accost you for any reason, ticket you for any infraction, or arrest you anytime it suits their fancy and the BEST outcome for you as a citizen is that the charges will be dropped. Your time, inconvenience and frustration means nothing to them or to the government. If you happen to have been assaulted or killed in the process then there is a small chance your family might be awarded damages, but a nearly zero chance that the officer will face any charges. Policing is a messy bit of wet work that the American public has never had the interest in investigating deeply. It’s easier to trust (or some might say bury your head in the sand). We trust that the people that police officers are accosting, arresting and assaulting have done something criminal or at least criminally suspect. But what if the police are wrong. It’s no secret that there is a significant segment of the population who, from personal experience, know that you cannot simply take a police officer’s word as to how an event happened. So the question is “How do we ensure that our officers are acting honorably and fairly?”, “How do we bridge this gap of trust in the community?”, “How do we restore people’s faith in the police and the criminal justice system?”.

The transformative approach of #blacklivesmatter is getting as many people as possible to SEE the problem.

The name screams “We have a problem!” and the movement rejects platitudes that downplay the need for action. Yes, MOST police officers are NOT racist. Yes, the VAST MAJORITY of police encounters do NOT result in arrests or violence. Yes, ALL LIVES MATTER. But this is the language of indifference. Indifference ignores that SOME lives, BLACK LIVES, are in crisis. Some communities are terrorized by those that are supposed to protect them. TOO MANY times officers with no real civilian oversight act with impunity and people die, is this all the time? No. But now every American has to ask themselves “How many innocent black deaths is ok?” Are we content to say that the vast majority of airline pilots follow all safety regulations? Are we content when banks ONLY steal funds during an infinitesimal number of transactions?  

The statistics have always been there. The data in every area shows our criminal justice system deals more harshly with those of darker skin with regard to tickets, arrests, convictions, sentencing, the use of paramilitary tactics, injury and death. But the statistics aren’t convincing, because there is a “cultural” narrative pushed by conservatives. They say “This movement is not about black people wanting the right to life.” It’s not that we all share common humanity and values but some people have to protest for what others are given freely and take for granted. The narrative says that black people cause all their problems by not getting married before having kids, that they are too lazy to work hard and don’t take care of their communities. Even more absurd, the newest version of this narrative goes so far as to suggest that since blacks don’t raise their children to respect authority they’ve easily become the puppets of shadowy billionaires and since we're all "thugs and murders" we just fall in line with the idea of killing cops.

The isolated publicized event have always been there. MLK was gunned down by a crazy lone gunman. Conclusion? “Man, THAT guy was crazy”. Rodney King was beat-down by a dozen police officers. Conclusion? “Man, L.A.P.D has gone off the deep end having to deal with all these gangs and thugs”. Eric Garner got choked to death with an illegal choke hold. Conclusion “well there isn’t enough evidence to indict for the officer for choking to death someone who was verbally resisting but he WAS resisting. The cops should get some more training”. Tamir Rice was gunned down sitting in the swings - “Man Ohio has problems, but that gun looked real”. Racism always says “Racism doesn’t exists and in the isolated case that racism stares America in the face. Racism is never here - it’s always a problem over there”.

Just as a media-savvy civil rights movement in the 60′s trained activists to endure injustice as it was captured by a new medium, television. #BlackLivesMatter amasses a preponderance of video evidence of black bodies being subjected to state sponsored violence and injustice. With enough data points the isolated incident defense is exposed. With enough qualitative examples of brutality, overreach and instigation the “cultural” argument is exposed as baseless and racist.  

BlackLivesMatter is Fact-mongering: painting a picture of injustice, present-day, endemic and lethal. That picture cannot be denied or discounted or dismissed as someone else’s problem. BlackLivesMatter empowers activists to demand that politicians at every level of government, in every party, in ever corner of the country take a public position with regard to this problem.

Some will continue to say:

Nevermind the hundreds video examples of police violence, brutality and outright murder.

Nevermind the indictment of an entire cities by the department of justice as it exposed institutional racism as the economic driver of a city.

Nevermind the record number of police indicted for crimes in 2015.

Nevermind that before #blacklivesmatter police did not even COUNT the number or record the ethnicity of people that died during encounters with police.

Nevermind the judges going to jail for bribery and coercion with the for-profit prison industry.

Nevermind the data in every area that shows our criminal justice system deals more harshly with those of darker skin with regard to tickets, arrest, convictions, sentencing, use of force and execution.

Those people will never change. As for the rest of us, we will begin to ask ourselves and each other.

Do I believe that our justice system treats blacks differently than whites?

How important is that to me?

Where does it rank versus immigration? terrorism? defense? the environment? the economy?

What should we do about this?

That’s more powerful than having a black president. That’s having a country that is willing to face the facts, look in the mirror and start moving forward.

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I don’t normally reblog stuff but I need to send this to someone who needs help.

I added this fake health brochure about Donald Trump to a doctor’s waiting room

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morning me: i really need to go to bed earlier :(

nighttime me: lmao @morning me fuKC YOUR nEEDS (•̀ᴗ•́)و ̑̑

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At this point, the courts have so many double standards, I’m surprised irony hasn’t covered itself in honey, with a sign that says “Eat Me. This is ironic, but in an ironical-type,”  and left the hungry, post-modernist bears to wait for them.

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Environmental Racism in the US

When I am not working electoral politics, I teach political education with a non-profit. A couple of years ago I developed a workshop on environmental racism. I made this quiz based on research done from the 1990s through 2011. The statistics are sobering.

1. What percentage of African American children living in inner cities have unsafe amounts of lead in their blood? a) 39% b) 66% c) 72% d) 96%

Answer: d) 96% - African American children in low-socio economic communities are 9 times more likely than economically advantaged children to be exposed to lead levels so high they can cause severe learning disabilities as well as neurological disorders.

2. What percentage of Indigenous Americans live in communities near uncontrolled toxic waste sites? a) 12% b) 26& c) 50% d) 79%

Answer: c) Approximately 50% of all Native American communities

3. Approximately how many Navajo Native Americans were reported to have died in the uranium mines in Rio Puerco? a) 50 b) 175 c) 300 d) 400

Answer: d) 400 - Approximately 400 miners died due to radiation poisoning, cancers, and other illnesses caused by uranium mining and milling on the Rio Puerco in sacred Navajo land.

4. At what percentage are migrant farm workers likely to get stomach cancer? a) 12% b) 27% c) 69% d) 74%

Answer: c) Migrant farm workers have stomach cancer rates of 69%, additionally migrant workers are found to have 59% higher rate of leukemia, 63% higher rate of uterine cervix cancer, and 68% higher rate of uterine corpus cancer

5. At what percentage are African Americans more likely than whites to live where toxic industrial pollution is suspected of causing the greatest health dangers? a) 22% b) 32% c) 56% d) 79%

Answer: d) African Americans are 79% more likely than whites to live in areas of high density industrial pollution.

6. According to the Commission for Racial Justice, how many African Americans live in communities with abandoned toxic waste sites? a) 1 out of 5 b) 2 out of 5 c) 3 out of 5

Answer: c) 3 out of 5 African Americans  60% (15 million) African Americans live in communities with one or more abandoned toxic waste sites.

7. According to the EPA, at what percentage are fines on toxic pollution in white neighborhoods HIGHER and/or more frequent than penalties in communities of colour? a) 50% b) 70% c) 100% d) 500%

Answer: d) 500% - Penalties under hazardous waste laws at sites having the greatest white population were 500% higher than penalties with the greatest minority population, averaging $335,566 for white areas, compared to $55,318 for minority areas. The disparity under the toxic waste law occurs by race alone, not income.

8. At approximately what percentage are Hispanic communities living with air pollution?

a) 5%

b) 25%

c) 40%

d) 60%

Answer: d) 60% - An estimated 50% of African Americans and 60% of Hispanics live in a county in which levels of two or more air pollutants exceed governmental standards.

9. In communities with existing incinerators, what percentage is made up of people of colour?

a) 59%

b) 64%

c) 77%

d) 89%

Answer: d) 89% - Communities with existing incinerators are made of up 89% minorities.

10. Of the five largest toxic waste management sites in the country, how many of them are situated in communities of colour?

Answer: Three of the largest hazardous waste landfills, containing over forty percent of the total national permitted commercial capacity, remain in just two African American communities (Emelle, Alabama and Alsen, Louisiana), and one Latino community (Kettleman City, California)

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This right here is a poster

Ethiopian From left to right: IG: @yahabibtynura IG: @itshayatee/ urbanexpressions IG: @thatmuslim/ tranquilmindz 
IG: @yahananii

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The fake race for real privilege

Race is an entirely fictitious construct, a purposefully crafted and marketed hierarchy to place some people at the top and trap some people at the bottom - and, worst of all, make most everyone feel ok about that. ‪#‎RachelDolezal‬ crossed the streams by asking a racial paradox “Does her white privilege include the RIGHT to BECOME black?” Liberal, conservative, libertarian, black, white, transgender, everyone stopped because here we had a story that didn’t fit neatly into anyone’s narrative. Like suddenly discovering your prized Picasso was a fake we were mesmerized by the sheer authenticity of the forgery. The attention to detail was astounding. The depth of study and mastery that it took to create such deception just led you to wonder what good could have been done with a honest use of all of that talent. Seriously, she could make millions teaching white mothers how to do the hair of their biracial daughters, or coaching recording artists on the finer points of appropriating appropriately. Rachael exposed how preposterous race is with the precision of her portrayal. She made people ask “Well what is a "black” person and what are the qualities that makes one “black”? Is “black” just something that happens on the inside? Ambiguity doesn’t fit the narrative, so both sides pressed here to admit her deception. Then it became clear that we were dealing with delusion on a level that would make Fox news blush. She denied her own parents saying “they don’t have proof that they are my parents”. But that’s the thing. You have to be careful when you argue with fools - because as you look closer is it WE or SHE who is out of touch with reality? It's like the Picasso forger doubles down once caught and says, “This is not a forgery because I AM Picasso”. Is the forger delusional or is it the buyer who was willing to pay $1Million for a painting one minute and then only $1000 for the same painting the next? Who has lost touch with reality?  

Dolezal (if that is her real name) is saying that she is black on the inside. She claims her outward appearance has little or no bearing on her identity, she uses the language of tolerance and claims she identifies as black. We laugh, because WE know that there is a (made up) thing called race and it is determined by your ancestry. And like any good fiction, we know the rules to this made up game, much like one can be an expert on the ecology of dragons, or Midi-chlorians or understand the dangers of “crossing the streams”. The following are the rules of whiteness.

You are granted whiteness IF you have no physical features characteristic of people of African descent AND no obvious or proven genealogical ties to anyone that DOES carry those characteristics AND you behave in a manner that does not seem foreign to western europeans or arouse suspicion of any non-mainstream cultural leanings. Membership is automatic. These are the rules to become “White” and to join this fictional club. A club that carries very real privileges. But SHE is the crazy one.

Now, in case you’ve convinced yourself that you’re not crazy. Consider that If Rachael could find a grandparent or great-grandparent that was “African-American” - by whatever standard you would choose to judge them as such - then she would have a legitimate claim to this fictitious label of “black”. You see her parents claim of whiteness, regardless of their cultural ties or appearance, can be invalidated by proof that they, however remotely, have a drop of undesirable black blood. Yes, there are many, many “black” people walking around with characteristics that are physically indistinguishable from Rachael’s but because they can draw a straight line of ancestry to someone whose features are more characteristic of those of African descent their “blackness” is a given.    

So it’s all made up! But at the same time it’s very very real. Teasing out the false locs of Rachel’s twisted mess will undoubtedly teach us much about ourselves and how we categorize and separate each other. Yes Dolezal very well could be crazy, but she’s also proven that she’s crazy enough to recognize that we’re all playing a game and she’s the only one crazy enough to try and PLAY the game. It will take years for the pundits and professors to figure out who’s crazy?  But the most important lesson, the only one that is abundantly clear is that it is only her privilege that allows her to “try-out” the identity of a progressive black woman who struggles-on despite everyday injustice. Read Ta-nehishi Coates and see how he points out that all of this would be mere amusement but for Kalief Browder, and Renisha McBride and Tamir Rice and thousands who die year in and year out because they don’t have that same privilege to CHOOSE how the world will see them. 

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6 things before I give a f_k about a broken window

1) If the city of Baltimore investigates why it has PAID over 100 court judgments related to police brutality and discrimination over the past 4 years and institutes a zero-tolerance policy towards undue force. An ‪#‎uprising‬ does not happen. 2)  If Freddie Gray is not UNLAWFULLY and ILLEGALLY arrested, an #uprising does not happen. 3) If Police officers are not granted special protections making communities to WAIT weeks for even rudimentary information, like an arrest report, like an apology, like an explanation of what happened to a person in police custody then an #uprising does not happen. 4) If the media, in the absence of actual news to report, doesn't fill the void by dissecting and besmirching the character of the dead victim and his family, his upbringing, his neighborhood and life circumstances all while protecting the identity, background, family and neighborhood of the offending officers. If instead they take that time to focus America's attention on the circumstances that force a militarized police presence to become a surrogate for vitally needed social services. Then (maybe) an #uprising doesn't happen. (Are you not entertained!) 5) If Baltimore City doesn't shut down municipal services and literally strand thousands of students getting out of school with no way to get home, but surrounded by dozens of police in riot gear an #uprising does not happen. 6) If good citizens would stop calling for calm and peace, without first joining in the cries for justice then maybe there wouldn't be a need for an #uprising. If they would stop telling people being murdered EVERYDAY to "wait for the facts to come out", if they would stop responding with ‪#‎notallpolice‬, or "black-on-black" crime, or voyeuristically watching and cheering on the savior police like so many episodes of COPS. If we would think about what it means to celebrate one mother caught on camera disciplining her child like "if we just had more of her we wouldn't be in this situation". If we would stop calling our precious, wronged young people - whose only mistake was being born brown and poor - "thugs" like their lives don't matter. Then maybe there wouldn't be a need for an #uprising.

But there is a need for an uprising. These aren't difficult expensive complex changes that take years. We need those too. But If your solution for moving Baltimore forward doesn't address the above then you can keep your op-ed. If all we fix is the broken windows then the only thing that gets solved is that you don't feel embarrassed or uncomfortable anymore.