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HATTEEEE when people say "Hate is a strong word!" I KNOW. that's why I USED the word HATE

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THE beautiful people of Ethiopia 🇪🇹

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"Ignore and block of you have a problem" then why didn't you do that instead of sub tweeting???

People keep thinking Tim sucks because they read ooc comics and it's KILLING me

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“my teenage child is so selfish” is an interesting thing I only see online moms say about their daughters. I’ve never seen one say it about their son. I think it’s because daughters enter the teenage years and begin developing critical thinking skills and independence and it enrages these parents who were using their kids as their own little therapists and unpaid domestic laborers.

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a vintage drag club in harlem circa 1960s.

📸 by: lloyd yearwood

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I’m never wrong

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Speaking of, please tell me I'm not insane for feeling pissed off and incredibly annoyed when people (mostly white people or anyone who has a hate boner for Black people hidden in their pants brand-named 'you're being racist towards white people', but I suppose Black people do it too when they're seeking brownie points) equate 'Blackwashing' to white washing.

Like I'm sorry, but I'll never give a shit if someone makes fanart of a white/anime character being Black. It will NEVER have the same implications and historical weight and context as whitewashing a character about you as a person. One implies simply wanting to see a character you already love as is in your image rather than racism, the other looks like good ol' colourism.

Like okay, you want to experiment and make a POC character white? Okay, as I see it, it's similar to cosplaying.

But do I feel inclined to trust you😐❓❓ No. Do I need to trust you? No. Have I been disappointed too many times in offering my benefit of the doubt to people who've proven to have not deserved it? Maybe (and I still am very naive when it comes to wanting to putting faith into people, I suppose).

Sorry for not capitalizing it earlier btw, I'm still new to the whole "Capitalize Black" thing.

I always think of it as an "okay, how about this. You trade me all of the privilege and benefits and power that comes with being white, and I'll trade YOU the right to be angry at racism 👀" Like if you wanna complain like me then you should suffer like me! Come on! Give me all of your societal power and then I'll give you the right to complain about being powerless 👀 You don't get to have it all!

As for faith in people, yeah I feel you. For me, I keep that faith because I feel like part of not accepting this world as it is is not giving in to the idea that being a racist is immutable, that "this is how people are". This is NOT how "people ARE", this is how these people are CHOOSING TO BE. Especially when they're confronted with it- now that you know, and have the opportunity to change and don't, that's YOU! You always have the choice to do better. For every 100,000 antiblack racists, there are 10 people that actually want to do better- and my faith in those 10 make the rest of them look that much worse.

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She lives rent free in my head

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superbat

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In seconding the anti-racist for clout, lots of people seem to rather have global majority and especially ambigously brown fanons/OCs rather than engaging with global majority creators and such, other than sometimes like what feels like one popular creator? Like there's no broadness there, no curiosity. Like "here's the token" now I'm good. I have some theories also but like I want to know if some white people who consider themselves anti-racist ever go like, find a blog which has a lot of Black aesthetics and go "I'm not supposed to be here, I shouldn't follow this person" or like just think "I don't get it" and leave, rather than going "Ah refreshing, I love this"? Or do white people just not find Black blogs? (though of course this is not to say that a Black person's blog is a typical thing, like mine isn't and so are many of my friends, it's just in regards to how people feel like they miss out on seeing Blackness on tumblr?)

Missing out on Blackness is what happens when you purposely drive out your Black userbase! You get the 70% wondering where the 3.5% are! It's no joke when we call this place a "sundown town"!

Some Black bloggers I know do prefer not to have white folk follow, because it's a space to be safe, without the drama and trauma that white folk have historically brought to the doorstep. So white users should go "well I don't need to be here".

But, in my honest experience, people don't like following Black users because they're afraid of what they're gonna see and hear. Because for Black folk to be 3.5% of the app (and "Middle Eastern" and Indigenous American to be even lower) I sure have managed to find a good chunk of us over the years by just following important topics 🤣 so it's not impossible! But if you only want to follow the Black bloggers that don't rock the boat, and not the Black bloggers that go "hey, btw, I'm not just a content creator, I'm a human that notices ____" 🤷🏾‍♀️ you did that!

I feel like you could ask plenty of Black bloggers how the moment they share something that is concerning, the support they received for whatever else they do becomes crickets. You like my art, but when I say "treat me like a human, it's pissing me off", ghosts! But that's just me 🙌🏾

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Sliding in with this at the tail end of Mermay...

You usually see octopus mermaids with the torso the other way, but a friend pointed out that octopi have their beaks amid the tentacles, and I thought it'd be fun to play with. Imagine being welcomed into an embrace by all those limbs.

Prints available on Inprnt!

[Image Description: A digital painting of two mermaids in an embrace. The mermaid on the left has the body of an octopus which is black on top and a warm gold on the underside of the tentacles. She has light brown skin and wears a black hijab and long-sleeved grey shirt with a gold pattern. She is reaching around the other mermaid's waist while her tentacles swirl open around them. The mermaid on the right is a fat black woman with black natural hair. Her tail is that of a whiptail catfish and matches the brown of her skin, with a paler gold underbelly. She holds the face of the octopus mermaid in her hands. The two of them smile softly at each other. /end ID]

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- Yasmin Benoit on racism in the asexual community 2021

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I *finally* watched Sinners and it was a blast!! I'm even more shocked at the remmick fandom now because he's the least attractive man in the entire cast 😭

As a famous tweet once said: "y'all would fuck a fence if it was white" 🤷🏾‍♀️

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Waltz of the snowflakes

Illustrated this after my partner, and I went to watch the Nutcracker last winter :)