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I just wanted to show my friends there were toppings layered inside the shaved ice…

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How to Criticize Israel Without Being Anti-Semitic

If you’ve spent any time discussing or reading about the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, I guarantee you’ve heard some variation of this statement:

OMG, Jews think any criticism of Israel is anti-Semitic! 

In the interests of this post, I’m going to assume that the people who express such sentiments are acting in good faith and really don’t mean to cause pain to or problems for Diaspora Jewry.  For those good-faith people, I present some guidelines for staying on the good side of that admittedly murky line, along with the reasoning why the actions I list are problematic.  (And bad-faith people, you can no longer plead ignorance if you engage in any of these no-nos.  Consider yourselves warned.)  In no particular order:

Don’t use the terms “bloodthirsty,” “lust for Palestinian blood,” or similar.  Historically, Jews have been massacred in the belief that we use the blood of non-Jews (particularly of children) in our religious rituals.  This belief still persists in large portions of the Arab world (largely because white Europeans deliberately spread the belief among Arabs) and even in parts of the Western world.  Murderous, inhumane, cruel, vicious–fine.  But blood…just don’t go there.  Depicting Israel/Israelis/Israeli leaders eating children is also a no-no, for the same reason.

Don’t use crucifixion imagery. Another huge, driving motivation behind anti-Semitism historically has been the belief that the Jews, rather than the Romans, crucified Jesus.  As in #1, this belief still persists.  There are plenty of other ways to depict suffering that don’t call back to ancient libels.

Don’t demand that Jews publicly repudiate the actions of settlers and extremists.  People who make this demand are assuming that Jews are terrible people or undeserving of being heard out unless they “prove” themselves acceptable by non-Jews’ standards.  (It’s not okay to demand Palestinians publicly repudiate the actions of Hamas in order to be accepted/trusted, either.)

Don’t say “the Jews” when you mean Israel.  I think this should be pretty clear.  The people in power in Israel are Jews, but not all Jews are Israelis (let alone Israeli leaders).

Don’t say “Zionists” when you mean Israel. Zionism is no more a dirty word than feminism.  It is simply the belief that the Jews should have a country in part of their ancestral homeland where they can take refuge from the anti-Semitism and persecution they face everywhere else.  It does not mean a belief that Jews have a right to grab land from others, a belief that Jews are superior to non-Jews, or any other such tripe, any more than feminism means hating men.  Unless you believe that Israel should entirely cease to exist, you are yourself Zionist.  Furthermore, using “Zionists” in place of “Israelis” is inaccurate and harmful.  The word “Zionists” includes Diasporan Jews as well (most of whom support a two-state solution and pretty much none of whom have any influence on Israel’s policies) and is used to justify anti-Semitic attacks outside Israel (i.e., they brought it on themselves by being Zionists).  And many of the Jews IN Israel who are most violent against Palestinians are actually anti-Zionist–they believe that the modern state of Israel is an offense against God because it isn’t governed by halakha (traditional Jewish religious law).  Be careful with the labels you use.

Don’t call Jews you agree with “the good Jews.”  Imposing your values on another group is not okay.  Tokenizing is not okay.  Appointing yourself the judge of what other groups can or should believe is not okay.

Don’t use your Jewish friends or Jews who agree with you as shields.  (AKA, “I can’t be anti-Semitic, I have Jewish friends!” or “Well, Jew X agrees with me, so you’re wrong.”)  Again, this behavior is tokenizing and essentially amounts to you as a non-Jew appointing yourself arbiter over what Jews can/should feel or believe.  You don’t get to do that.

Don’t claim that Jews are ethnically European.  Jews come in many colors–white is only one.  Besides, the fact that many of us have some genetic mixing with the peoples who tried to force us to assimilate (be they German, Indian, Ethiopian, Italian…) doesn’t change the fact that all our common ancestral roots go back to Israel.

Don’t claim that Jews “aren’t the TRUE/REAL Jews.“  Enough said.

Don’t claim that Jews have no real historical connection to Israel/the Temple Mount.  Archaeology and the historical record both establish that this is false.

Don’t accuse Diasporan Jews of dual loyalties or treason.  This is another charge that historically has been used to justify persecution and murder of Jews.  Having a connection to our ancestral homeland is natural.  Having a connection to our co-religionists who live there is natural.  It is no more treasonous for a Jew to consider the well-being of Israel when casting a vote than for a Muslim to consider the well-being of Islamic countries when voting.  (Tangent: fuck drone strikes.  End tangent.)

Don’t claim that the Jews control the media/banks/country that isn’t Israel.  Yet another historical anti-Semitic claim is that Jews as a group intend to control the world and try to achieve this aim through shadowy, sinister channels.  There are many prominent Jews in the media and in the banking industry, yes, but they aren’t engaged in any kind of organized conspiracy to take over those industries, they simply work in those industries.  The phrase “the Jews control” should never be heard in a debate/discussion of Israel.

Don’t depict the Magen David (Star of David) as an equivalent to the Nazi swastika.  The Magen David represents all Jews–not just Israelis, not just people who are violent against Palestinians, ALL JEWS.  When you do this, you are painting all Jews as violent, genocidal racists.  DON’T.

Don’t use the Holocaust/Nazism/Hitler as a rhetorical prop.  The Jews who were murdered didn’t set foot in what was then Palestine, let alone take part in Israeli politics or policies.  It is wrong and appropriative to try to use their deaths to score political points.  Genocide, racism, occupation, murder, extermination–go ahead and use those terms, but leave the Holocaust out of it.

In visual depictions (i.e., political cartoons and such), don’t depict Israel/Israelis as Jewish stereotypes.  Don’t show them in Chassidic, black-hat garb.  Don’t show them with exaggerated noses or frizzled red hair or payus (earlocks).  Don’t show them with horns or depict them as the Devil.  Don’t show them cackling over/hoarding money.  Don’t show them drinking blood or eating children (see #1).  Don’t show them raping non-Jewish women.  The Nazis didn’t invent the tropes they used in their propaganda–all of these have been anti-Semitic tropes going back centuries.  (The red hair trope, for instance, goes back to early depictions of Judas Iscariot as a redhead, and the horns trope stems from the belief that Jews are the Devil’s children, sent to destroy the world as best we can for our “father.”)

Don’t use the phrase “the chosen people” to deride or as proof of Jewish racism.  When Jews say we are the chosen people, we don’t mean that we are biologically superior to others or that God loves us more than other groups.  Judaism in fact teaches that everyone is capable of being a righteous, Godly person, that Jews have obligations to be ethical and decent to “the stranger in our midst,” and that non-Jews don’t get sent to some kind of damnation for believing in another faith.  When we say we’re the chosen people, we mean that, according to our faith, God gave us extra responsibilities and codes of behavior that other groups aren’t burdened with, in the form of the Torah.  That’s all it means.

Don’t claim that anti-Semitism is eradicated or negligible.  It isn’t.  In fact, according to international watchdog groups, it’s sharply on the rise.  (Which sadly isn’t surprising–anti-Semitism historically surges during economic downturns, thanks to the belief that Jews control the banks.)  This sort of statement is extremely dismissive and accuses us of lying about our own experiences.

Don’t say that since Palestinians are Semites, Jews/Israelis are anti-Semitic, too.  You do not get to redefine the oppressions of others, nor do you get to police how they refer to that oppression.  This also often ties into #8.  Don’t do it.  Anti-Semitism has exclusively meant anti-Jewish bigotry for a good century plus now.  Coin your own word for anti-Palestinian oppression, or just call it what it is: racism mixed with Islamophobia.

Don’t blow off Jews telling you that what you’re saying is anti-Semitic with some variant of the statement at the top of this post.  Not all anti-Israel speech is anti-Semitic (a lot of it is valid, much-deserved criticism), but some certainly is.  Actually give the accusation your consideration and hear the accuser out.  If they fail to convince you, that’s fine.  But at least hear them out (without talking over them) before you decide that.

I’m sure this isn’t a comprehensive list, but it covers all the hard-and-fast rules I can think of.  (I welcome input for improving it.)

But wait!  Why should I care about any of this?  I’m standing up for people who are suffering!

You should care because nonsense like the above makes Jews sympathetic to the Palestinian plight wary and afraid of joining your cause.  You should care because, unfortunately, the Israeli-Palestinian conflict has correlated to an uptick in anti-Semitic attacks around the world, attacks on Jews who have no say in Israeli politics, and this kind of behavior merely aggravates that, whether you intend it to or not. 

The Israeli-Palestinian conflict is a real minefield in that it’s a clash between oppressed people of color and an ethnoreligious group that is dominant in Israel but marginalized and brutalized elsewhere (often nowadays on the exact grounds that they share ethnoreligious ties with the people of Israel), so it’s damned hard to toe the line of being socially aware and sensitive to both groups.  I get that.  But I think it is possible to toe that line, and I hope this post helps with that.  (And if a Palestinian makes a similar list of problematic arguments they hear targeted at them, I’d be happy to reblog it, too.)

So, TL;DR version:

Do go ahead and criticize Israel.

Don’t use anti-Semitic stereotypes or tropes.

Don’t use overly expansive language that covers Jews as a whole and not just Israel.

Don’t use lies to boost your claims.

Do engage Jews in conversation on the issues of Israel and of anti-Semitism, rather than simply shutting them down for disagreeing.

Do try to be sensitive to the fact that, fair or not, many people take verbal or violent revenge for the actions of Israelis on Diasporan Jews, and Diasporan Jews are understandably frightened and upset by this.

May there be peace in our days.

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Happy Indigenous Peoples Day

#IndigenousPeoplesDay poster by Native artist Jackie Fawn showcasing young Indigenous organizers.

S/O to Remy, Naelyn, MC Rhetorik, Van and all the amazing Indigenous organizers and community members putting in much work for the struggle!

Create. Organize. Celebrate. Build.

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YALL NOT SHOWING ENOUGH PHOTOS FROM THIS SITUATION

This is 5000

A New Squad of Superheroes

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For the past 3 months, co-editor Elena Rose and I have been working on Queer & Trans Artists of Color, Volume Two, featuring:

Mimi Thi Nguyen

Lexi Adsit

Vivek Shraya

Indira Allegra

Tina Takemoto

Mattie Brice

Amir Rabiyah

Juba Kalamka

and 9 other brilliant queer and trans POC artists!

The last fundraiser only raised half of what I was trying to raise, so I am trying to raise the rest now (enough now to pay each of the artists $100 for contributing their time and wisdom to being in this book). Please support queer and trans artists of color by DONATING TODAY!

Anyone who donates $50 or more will have their name on the acknowledgements page of the book. Any money raised above the goal will be put towards having a launch party for the book in Oakland in a wheelchair-accessible location.

The book should be finished by fall of 2016. Follow me on Twitter for updates!

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Peter Som SS15 Inspired (CC’d)

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Survivor Industrial Complex

”TW: suicide, incest, trauma, rape, molestation, abuse . . . . . . . . . . Survivor industrial complex is you standing outside my self facilitated and self created program "Healing from Childhood Sexual Assault" program milling around the resource center and not making eye contact with me after having avoided the space and me for 3 months, continuously standing and walking around the space not saying a single thing to me. Survivor industrial complex is you saying you're a nymphomaniac and incest survivor via mother daughter incest trauma in response to being called in for sexual graphicness that made me uncomfortable, and then ignoring that I too, am a survivor of mother daughter incest trauma because it wasn't convenient for you to address. Survivor industrial complex is doing an impression of taking your ex-partners virginity and how awful it was, all the while complaining she's obsessive compulsive about consent and needs to "relax" and not be "prudish". Survivor industrial complex is holding the histories of your incest trauma, your intimate partner violence stories, your literal bloody ass sheets from leaking via ya period, your vignettes about your family violence, your diagnosis as a pathological liar, your investment as using me as someone to "emotionally" cheat on with. And then walk on after its all done insinuating that I'm "a crazed and obsessive femme" who is "crazy and scary". Survivor industrial complex is masculinity being able to never ever be called out and exposed for its violent toxicity and relying on continuous misogynistic tropes of "the crazed woman", "the obsessive woman", "the clingy woman", and "the fucked up crazy fat femme who is so lonely that no one will love her". Survivor industrial complex is me slitting my wrist (not deep enough) and trying to overdose on my meds (not strong enough) so that I'd die because living was a far worse reality at the moment after having to confront my own experiences of incest, abuse, trauma, fatness, mental instability and eventually surviving, then going to work and class the next day. Survivor industrial complex is people reading this and still thinking what I have to say is invalid because I'm crazy, I'm a trauma survivor, I'm an overdramatic woman, I'm not worth legitimacy, I'm pathetic, I'm fat, I'm loud and obnoxious and a liar. Survivor industrial complex is your reputation not worth exposing because not enough people even know you, and it would automatically paint me more, due to the confines of misogynistic abuse culture, as a psychotic and crazy hormonal woman. Survivor industrial complex is enduring the lasting effects of whatever that even was, and being told to "get over it". Survivor industrial complex is the culture and political identity in being a survivor while navigating the hierarchy of survivor oppressions reinforced by survivors who claim the identity as leeway to rape/abuse others and remain not accountable or who don’t even know of what they’ve done or don’t want to address it, the oppression olympics in validating your abuse via most oppressed identities, the hierarchy of survivor mental illnesses because apparently certain MIs matter more, and the idea that just because you're a survivor you're suddenly incapable of being a rapist/abuser.”

I’m tired and done. 

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The Icarus Project

“The Icarus Project is a support network and education project by and for people who experience the world in ways that are often diagnosed as mental illness. We advance social justice by fostering mutual aid practices that reconnect healing and collective liberation. We transform ourselves through transforming the world around us.

The Icarus Project seeks to overcome the limitations of a world determined to label, categorize, and sort human behavior. We envision a new culture that allows the space and freedom for exploring different states of being, and recognizes that breakdown can be the entrance to breakthrough. We aim to create a language that is so vast and rich that it expresses the infinite diversity of human experiences. We demand more options in understanding and navigating emotional distress and we want everyone to have access to these options, regardless of status, ability, or identity.

The Icarus Project helps us overcome alienation and tap into the true potential that lies between brilliance and madness. We are members of a group that has been misunderstood and persecuted throughout history, but has also been responsible for some of the world’s most extraordinary creations. Sensitivities, visions, and inspirations are not necessarily symptoms of illness, they are gifts needing cultivation and care. When honored and nurtured, these gifts can lay the foundation for a wiser and more compassionate society. As a mutual aid community, we intertwine threads of madness and creativity to inspire hope and transformation in an oppressive and damaged world.”

Clickable Links!

Crisis Tool-Kit: http://www.theicarusproject.net/node/25274

Community Zines: http://www.theicarusproject.net/article/community-zines

Handouts: http://www.theicarusproject.net/article/handouts

Harm Reduction Guide to Coming Off Psychiatric Drugs: http://www.willhall.net/files/ComingOffPsychDrugsHarmReductGuide2Edonline.pdf

Madness and Oppression: Paths to Personal Transformation & Collective Liberation: http://www.pdf-archive.com/2015/11/06/madnessandoppressionguide/madnessandoppressionguide.pdf

Navigating the Space Reader Between Brilliance and Madness: http://cl.ly/SIfR

I chose to focus on The Icarus Project as a resource that is written by and for mentally ill people, produced by mentally ill people. I remember feeling lots of different types of ways about this project, but mostly about the crisis tool kit in how to care for folks in crisis. I found this website incredibly important in distributing knowledge created by mentally ill folks who’ve survived a plethora of forced medical treatments and experiences in navigating it. 

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Sins Invalid: An Unashamed Claim to Beauty in the Face of Invisibility

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-pQjey5Mmuw

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7gjP0Wtlrpg

From the website: 

Sin’s Invalid is a performance project on disability and sexuality that incubates and celebrates artists with disabilities, centralizing artists of color and gender variant artists as communities who have been historically marginalized from social discourse.  

Sins Invalid recognizes that we will be liberated as whole beings—as disabled, as queer, as brown, as black, as gender non-conforming, as trans, as women, as men, as non-binary gendered— we are far greater whole than partitioned. We recognize that our allies emerge from many communities and that demographic identity alone does not determine one's commitment to liberation.Sins Invalid is committed to social and economic justice for all people with disabilities – in lockdowns, in shelters, on the streets, visibly disabled, invisibly disabled, sensory minority, environmentally injured, psychiatric survivors – moving beyond individual legal rights to collective human rights.Our stories, imbedded in analysis, offer paths from identity politics to unity amongst all oppressed people, laying a foundation for a collective claim of liberation and beauty.

WHAT WE DO:

Our goals are to:

Promote leadership opportunities for people with disabilities within our communities and within the broader social justice movement.

Provide a supportive and politically engaged space for both emerging and established artists with disabilities to develop and present compelling works to a broad audience.

Develop and present strong artistic work that explores sexuality and the non-normative body, integrating the full and multi-dimensional experiences of disabled artists who are also people of color and LGBTIQ, in order to represent all of our communities and challenge dominant misperceptions about people with disabilities.

WE DO THIS BY:

Offering political education workshops for community based organizations and other organizations that share our commitment to social justice principles as a means of integrating analysis and action around disability, race, gender, and sexuality.

Presenting multidisciplinary performances (video, poetry, spoken word, music, drama, and dance) by people with disabilities for broad audiences in the San Francisco Bay Area and elsewhere.

Organizing performance workshops for community members with and without disabilities.

For this week’s creative writing post, I chose to showcase the Sin’s Invalid project as a resource of creativeness and artistry that is all centered on sick and disabled queers and or trans people of color. I remember finding excerpts of this on Youtube and feeling intrigued and wondrous and contemplative of what it means to be rethink queer intimacy and queer sexual desire through a lens of disability, both for myself and for this blog space. I thought of how, especially in my time here at UCSD, how queer spaces are always sexually charged regardless of explicit or implicit statement and how that sexual charge makes for determining almost immediately who is fuckable and who is not, who is weird and who is not, who is worthy of intimacy and who is not, who is worthy and who is not. I know its in binaries, but its also real (?).  

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As a closing post for the quarter, I’d like to discuss how this blog went for me as a group project. I’d never done this type of project for a class, and I thought it was really fun! I liked being able to see other people’s opinions and experiences in regards to the same topics each week. The comments from other people in the class were really interesting as well. I think it was also productive in relating personal to academic material. We actually talked about the possibility of continuing the blog after the class finished. 

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The Holy GNC Trinity - Black Queer/Trans/GNC Resistance and Liberation

“Last night I was reminded that black queer/trans/gnc resistance knows no limits. We don't access power-- we embody it.” - Joshua Allen

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Reimagining Gender: On AfroFuturism, Abolition, and Liberation

https://storify.com/jamaltlewis/reimagining-gender-on-afrofuturism-abolition-and-l

Baltimore Uprising: Stand Up, Fight Back

https://vimeo.com/126452966

Joshua’s Episode https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xkefBVOk9pE

A World Without Cages | Joshua Allen | TEDxMiddlebury

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=etECu3WJ8kA

Why Black People Must Hold On To Our Dreams

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/kiyan-williams/hold-on-to-your-dreams_b_9116622.html

#MagicalBlackBitches

http://www.kiyanwilliams.com/magicalblackbitches/

160301 THE NEWS QUEER EXCEPTIONALITY 7

https://vimeo.com/157512524

No Fats, No Femmes

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-pQjey5Mmuw

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Sometimes all the personal intersecting identities and dealing with a predominantly heteronormative world gets to be too much. Having to face violence within the mind, at home, and work/school/etc. takes a large, exhaustive toll on everyday life. Those within the queer and trans community often find it difficult to sustain themselves. Many of us find ourselves asking how exactly it is that we do that. 

For this week, I wanted to post a resource/link that advocates for self-care in the form of “radical” coloring books. Sustaining ourselves doesn’t always have to be some outrageous, unattainable idea. In this case, it just takes coloring utensils and a book. As for myself, many forms of art (sometimes just a paper and pencil when the resources aren’t available) have proved to help me take better care of myself. Being around people can get to be really exhausting, so taking some time alone to relax can be extremely beneficial.

I think these sort of self-care practices are really important in combatting all the bullshit queer and trans people of color have to deal with. We can’t always be taking on the world in the variety of ways that looks like for all of us. So as we’re finishing the quarter and overwhelmed with all the assignments we have to do, I ask that you take a little time to yourself for even a few minutes and practice self-care, however that may look for you. 

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Sula lifted her head and joined Nel in the grass play. In concert, without ever meeting each other's eyes, they stroked the blades up and down. Nel found a thick twig and, with her thumbnail, pulled away its bark until it was stripped to a smooth, creamy innocence. Sula looked about and found one too. When both twigs were undressed Nel moved easily to the next stage and began tearing up rooted grass to make a bare spot of earth. When a generous clearing was made, Sula traced intricate patterns in it with her twig. At first Nel was content to do the same. But soon she grew impatient and poked her twig rhythmically and intensely into the earth, making a small neat hole that grew deeper and wider with the least manipulation of her twig. Sula copied her, and soon each had a hole the size of a cup. Nel began a more strenuous digging and, rising to her knee, was careful to scoop out the dirt as she made her hole deeper. Together they worked until the two holes were one and the same.

Sula, by Toni Morrison 

This excerpt from Toni Morrison’s work, Sula, is an example of a scene that one may read into not for what it says, but for what it does not say. Although this excerpt is depicting a simple scene in which two young teenage girls are having an exchange playing within the grass on a summer day, it happens to be one of the most erotic pieces that I have ever come across. 

This particular part of the book reminds me of the discussions that took place within The Celluloid Closet. In several of the interviews, it was mentioned that queer relationships within movies could only be represented in the most subtle ways possible. Queer audiences had to read into the scenes for things that were not explicitly said, but were hinted at in ways that could instantly be recognized and understood by the queer community. For whatever reason, the author of this book chose to allow the relationship between these two characters to remain unspoken. The reader is left unaware of whether their friendship has become something more. It is then up to the reader’s imagination to decide whether they want to adapt the story to fit their own interpretation. The extreme sense of explicit and erotic content is portrayed without a single utterance of sexual activity. 

Toni Morrison does an extraordinary job of creating a scene that is full of eroticism without breaking from the innocent grass play that is taking place. She effortlessly succeeds at one of the most difficult tasks faced by queer writers of literature and film. Her work leaves much room for the reader’s own interpretation about the relationship between the two characters mentioned within the piece. 

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“You cold?” you ask, As if you genuinely gave a shit about me and My Black ass “Yes.” I say to you, nodding my head. I look down to my hands and the black gloves That are keeping my blood flowing — to my fingers — Not out in the cold Not turning black and blue Alive — my hands Hiding my new French tips Is really what these black gloves are for To keep my blood from flowing — on the the ground — To not be out cold, To not turn black and blue And dead — because of your hands.

Ka’ilioka’ōhi’alehua Kapualehua’ulaoka’āina Kapalehua (”Lehua”)

I wrote this poem in response to a co-worker of mine who I have oftentimes caught staring at me with “stink-eye”. One of the workplaces I am currently employed at is with the Athletics Department of the university I go to where I work for sporting events such as volleyball and basketball games. With that information alone, it can be concluded that the space is inherently invested in hyper-masculinity, able-bodiedness, and fatphobia along with whiteness (of course). Technically it is also invested in blackness --- but only for the purpose of profiting off of black bodies for entertainment and playing music by black artist, but without actually giving a fuck about the humanity of black people. Because of that, this space is also violent for queer and trans folks (especially transfeminine, gender non-conforming, and/or folks who are unable to pass). 

The ‘team’ I work with is pre-dominantly white (most of the time cis-men), with a few who are Asian(-American) all of whom I have experienced anti-blackness from. Currently, I am the only black person working on this team, although there was also another black person (who is fat, dark-skin, DFAB person) last year who I did read as also being queer, however, I haven’t seen them since which may be due to a variety of reasons: graduating, quitting, being fired, I’m not too sure. My boss/supervisor and ‘team-workers’ don’t know about my queer identity, nor do I expose my transfemininity/gender non-conformity because of the violence that I know hyper-masculine spaces to be. The only times of I express some form of gender non-conformity is when I wear earings that dangle and I mas[c]/[k] them off as expressing my indigneity and pretend to be this ‘exotic Indigenous Man’ who is “one with my culture.”

Given more of the context to my anti-black and transmisogynist working environment, this poem is a hidden response to one of the co-workers (who is a cis-man of color) who obviously doesn’t give a fuck about me, but then asked me if I was cold under the impression that he cares about my existence because I was wearing gloves (and I’m always fucking cold in the gym because I have difficulties regulating my body temperature --- but I was also wearing them ‘cause it was the first in a long time that I had my nails painted). The ways in which this poem is a hidden response also reflects the ways in which parts of who I am as well as my body have to remain hidden for survival given certain situations.

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sandra’s week 2 post (late) on microaggressions

apologies for being late friends, i had 2 posts i wanted to blog about, prepare for a potentially lengthy + extensive posts from i: 

week 2: microaggressions 

When I think about (semi)-organizing on campus and about the often long and existential crises about feeling whether or not I’m actually doing something or not getting anything reallly done in the larger scope of things, I often think back to times when I knew for sure I was not the quote, unquote priviledged shitbag millenial and actually worked so incredibly long and hard and for what felt to be waiding through mountains of shit for some cisgender and straight or even queer and gender non-conforming and/or  assimilated person (and professional at times hardy har har) of color to come down and say I’m complaining too much and that I never got anything done. And that’s, along with other community folks I see and also don’t talk to anymore, intimate partner/friend violence is a community killer ahahhahaha, when I think about ableism in community spaces, qtpoc perpetuate this too and aren’t free from it, and how to what odds and ends must one go through to be seen as a reputable social justice advocate and qtpoc organizer? 

basically, sorry for the long tangential tirade, how is it that older generations of activists often assert the new millenial activists are crybabies who are too sensitive and who simultaneously get nothing done, an ableist yet needed and complicated intergenerational critique? 

i thought then about the video “shit people say to sick and disabled queers” and how there are multiple instances of challenging dominant notions of what activism SHOULD look like and how it also SHOULD recognize its incredibly disabling ramifications in order to preserve production and productiveness. 

link to video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yqtuwXGvpK4

ex. (at the 01:27 timemark) Leah Lakshmi says, “You know you were late again and I would just really appreciate being more intentional about getting here on time??” and the naming of this ableist statement and hearing it out loud from a specifically “queer disabled femme of color writer, performance artist, educator.” Often times I go back and forth in thinking about that it means to organize within the university and be able to only do what the university allows or is lobbied against and what that means in terms of my activism. is it policy based? is it securing more spaces for qtpoc? does it mean more programming about politicization? or social programming? or how to do about organizing with and outside of the designated lgbt resource center? and on who’s guidelines and timelines and how is that inherently ableist when deadlines set for the university are met with the university’s minds and not the intention of students, queer and trans of color students who are often at ends with multiple jobs, different family structures, different statuses and varied levels of ability and capacity to organize within the structure of the university? 

i don’t have answers to any of these but i will try. 

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Kai Davis - Homicidal Rainbow 

I often find myself watching and re-watching spoken word videos as I feel they are an outlet which depict the reality of emotions. Sometimes when creating poetry, I’m afraid the words won’t be read as I intend while writing them. This form of creative writing is one of the most powerful for me. 

I think this video is really important especially when relating to the context of our class discussions. I am reminded of our viewing of the video attempting to highlight the significance and necessity of allyship. We are able to recognize the lack of inclusion in the gay rights movement, and further discuss the necessity for something greater. I feel as though the gay rights movement has made invisible the struggle of those with intersecting identities, outside of the boundaries of cis, able-bodied, white, gay men. Too often a generalization is made of the progress of the queer community in the recognition of legalizations such as gay marriage. People want to depict these happy, go lucky, queer lives full of rainbows and glitter. Calling bullshit (although I do love rainbows and glitter). This fails to recognize the violence still ever present and continuing, especially for queer and trans people of color. Intersecting identities reveal further oppressions of these individuals. Alternative to mainstream narratives, Kai expresses violent experiences and struggles with identity due to the demonization of queerness. There is an inherent fear placed by heteronormative society in which queer bodies are subject to not only violence in public, but also within the privacy of their homes, if they are even allowed in their homes once their identity is discovered. These aggressions are not limited to solely words, but also extend to physical violence and even death.