#I hate americans especially. Do u know how easy it is to transition there??? U can just do it
Hate hate hate hearing about people who were able to transition successfully. Literally anyone
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* taps mic * so, uh, is this thing on ? hello ! my name’s stevie, i’m twenty ( she/they pns, please ) and i’m writing out of aest ! [ bill hader vc ] i like true crime and pretending like i don’t have a million things to do outside of writing ! anyways ! under the cut you’ll find information about francesca ramorini, ezra kennedy and percy frazer ! u know the drill, like this & i’ll pop into your ims either here or on disc.ord to plot !
francesca magdalene ramorini. vampire. old.
full name: francesca magdalene ramorini.
physical age: thirty-one.
real age: six hundred and seventy seven.
birthplace: milan, italy.
birthdate: january sixth, 1342.
nationality: italian.
species: vampire.
gender identity: cis female, she/her pronouns.
sexuality: bisexual.
when i say she’s old, i mean old. francesca and her brother, domenico, are from 13th century milan, where their family were originally some of the most prolific hunters in italy. the ramorinis had been vampire hunters for years previous, but it was their parents who had really cemented the reputation as some of the best. the ramorinis were a big name in milan anyway, just because of how ridiculously wealthy they were. these guys are fucking loaded. they were very much the apex predator in the milani aristocracy at the time. naturally, the whole ‘we’re a bunch of vampire hunters’ thing is very hidden, concealed under the family’s reputation as the owners of what feels like an impossibly large international bank that funded chunks of the holy roman empire. with all that in mind, francesca grows up with absolutely nothing but opulence, and their parents really allow her to grow into her own woman --- strong, determined, with a mind for both family trades. there was never any chance of her just sitting round and being complacent in the predetermination of her life ; she’s always been headstrong, brave, intelligent and opinionated, too loud for her own good, a face to turn heads.
they have a younger brother, too, fredo. ( the name is very significant. ) as dom and francesca started to learn to hunt themselves, they’d often end up with fred tagging along, and for the most part that was fine. fred’s a bit of a weirdo, but having them around wasn’t so bad --- until one particular hunt. really, it’s no one’s fault ( despite a centuries-long running joke that it was fred that got them there in the first place ) ; it’s a case of wrong place, wrong time. anyways, francesca and dom were turned on that particular hunt and their entire world just kinda spun out, tbh. they were so accustomed to seeing vampires and whatnot as the absolute enemy, nothing more than a scourge to be wiped out --- but now they were part of that scourge.
francesca especially had a hard time dealing with the transition. everything she knew was flipped on its head, a life she once looked forward to reveling in lost in the blink of an eye, the sink of a fang. the transition isn’t easy, but she shoulders it regardless because it’s just part of life now. she gives up the life she was meant to have and forges a new one --- and she thinks she’ll hate it, but it turns out to be oddly freeing. she takes up art, learns to paint and sculpt from some of the greatest ; she learns more than she ever could as an aristocrat, becomes rather chameleonic about it all.
so, anyways ! she and dom are in louisiana now, in this massive fucking mansion that they wrangled ; francesca moonlights as any number of different jobs. she teaches a late - night art class, runs an adult ballet class ( she danced with fonteyn in the 40s ) --- she’s become incredibly comfortable in the life she’s built. falling into it all was easier than she ever imagined it could be.
anyways, fun facts:
she dresses so goddamn well. she looks good literally all the time, and she fuckin KNOWS it / francesca honey stop wearing expensive tailored suits everywhere ur going to make men insecure
won’t ever shut up about emily dickinson or georgia o’keeffe........ #ma’am ur crush is loud and painful
the hot aunt aunt at the dinner party who simultaneously judges ur decisions and encourages them
yet another ramorini casanova ... are we surprised yet ( no )
ezra riley kennedy. hunter. twenty - one.
full name: ezra riley kennedy.
physical age: twenty-one.
birthplace: hoboken, new jersey.
birthdate: july ninth, 1998.
nationality: american.
species: human.
gender identity: non-binary, they/them pronouns.
sexuality: pansexual.
i need it known right fockin now that i would literally die for ezra . they’re my FUCKING baby and i won’t shut up about it
ezra was born to two former hunters who gave up the minute they were pregnant. it wasn’t a choice they were particularly willing to make, and despite swearing that they’d stop after having kids they never really did. almost immediately after ezra was born their parents were back out hunting again, leaving the baby with their grandparents. as such, ezra’s raised entirely by their maternal grandparents. they simultaneously teach them their family history ( an extensive hunting background, the expectations that sit heavy on their shoulders. ezra’s expected to carry on the family legacy the minute they turn eighteen, to learn how to hunt and kill. admittedly, it’s a shock to the system.
they’re not in much contact with their parents. they come home every so often, greet their kid and go straight to sleep. there’s very little real interaction / gets to the point where ezra thinks of them more as irritating roommates that come home late and eat everything than actual parents. their loyalty is to their grandparents, without a doubt.
ezra’s keenly aware that they’ve got no choice in their career, but they can’t help but want some kind of say in it. they excel at stem subjects in school, more often found in science labs testing hypotheses in their free time than anywhere else. they’re left alone more often than not, slipping through school without much of a problem until they’re sixteen and their parents die in the middle of a hunt. it’s a rude shock to the system, having to bury both parents at such a young age but they do it with tremendous grace and class. shortly after the funeral, they drop out of school to start hunting.
they’re jaded going into it, definitely. their only real image of hunters is the one they were handed by their parents --- of dark circles under eyes, chain smoking, swallowing bourbon like water, passing out, rinse and repeat. they’re determined to break that mold, to do something different but they won’t lie, they considered it at first. for their first few hunts they tried to imitate their parents, and it didn’t turn out well --- so, like everything else, ezra fits it to themself, and the rest is history. they develop their own style, and it works.
hoboken is too small, not enough for them so they pack up and move off to louisiana. ( they’d found an old journal of their parents’, with notes alluding to a wish to move to new orleans and despite not being close they figured it might be a good idea. ) they’ve been in nola for about a year now, and they’re growing to love it. they’ve always been a city kid, and there’s something about nola just speaks to them.
so, fun facts:
super good with technology. they fix shit in their free time, & they build computers n shit ?????
smells like frangipani and jasmine and ginger. they smell really fucking good for some reason
lots of denim and leather and yellow in their outfits. they’ve got one particular leather jacket for hunting, but they kinda started a collection
angelic in every single way possible
has a black cat, named salem. salem’s a good cat.
percy floyd frazer. witch. twenty - four.
full name: percy floyd frazer.
physical age: twenty-four.
birthplace: amsterdam, the netherlands.
birthdate: february 12th, 1995.
nationality: british.
species: witch.
gender identity: demi male, he/they pronouns.
sexuality: bisexual.
percy ....... sighs. i love him so fuckin much
so ! percy is born to two english witches while they’re on holiday in amsterdam, a pregnancy that both parties had been hoping for ; their household was starting to feel awfully lonely, and a baby sounded like the perfect way to round it all out. naturally, though, nothing goes to plan --- his arrival puts ‘unwarranted stress’ on his dad, who cuts his losses and runs about a month after percy’s birth. bit of a dick move, but let’s move on. his mother, annaliese, doesn’t harbour any real resentment towards his dad for leaving ; she’d fallen in love with amsterdam on their brief holiday and was planning on breaking up and moving there anyway.
so ! for his entire childhood, it’s just percy and his mom, and it’s the best kind of childhood you could ask for. he grows up watching all the same movies as his mom, reading her books and just hanging around her 24/7. ngl he kinda had the coolest childhood ???? his mom loved to rent out her favourite bands’ old tour videos and there’s many an afternoon where the two of them would sit there and just listen to music together. their relationship is very similar to that of theo and his mother from the goldfinch, if that gives anyone a frame of reference.
he’s about thirteen when she finally sits him down, tells him about the magic that whispers a steady thrum in his veins. she tells him about the uprising, about the way magic has become outlawed, how he has to learn to restrain himself. it’s a lot for someone so young to understand, but he sits through it patiently, peppering questions here and there. he doesn’t seem particularly enthused about his heritage ( really, who would ) --- his mother barely holds back the tremor in her voice throughout the conversation.
the more percy learns about the restriction of magic, the more bitter and jaded he grows about it all. he doesn’t hate himself, nor his mother, hates the pureblood monarchy with such a passion it’s almost terrifying. he’s sixteen when he swears off magic, tries to quash it down the best he can. he point - blank refuses to accept that it’s part of him, and tries to find a passion that distracts him from it. that ends up being music, and he takes to it like a fish takes to water. the minute he picks up a guitar, it’s like his world makes sense.
they’ve been living in amsterdam this entire time, wasting afternoons in art galleries and bakeries. percy’s eighteen when he decides that it’s time to spread his wings and move away --- his decision is hardly precise, he throws a dart at a map and hopes for the best. it lands on new orleans, louisiana, and he just kinda goes with it. he doesn’t have much to pack up: a single suitcase full of clothes, another filled with books and dvds, and his guitars, that’s it. both him and his mom cry at the airport, but it’s happy crying.
so, anyways ! he’s been in louisiana for six years now, and he loves it. when he first moved he worked any number of casual jobs, but he’s settled into one as a bookseller in an indie bookshop. he writes film + music reviews for a number of online sites as well, so he’s got himself a steady lil income.
some fun facts:
dresses like an utter e-boy and i won’t apologise for it
looks n acts like an arrogant prick sometimes but truly....... sweet, kind, would do anything for the people he loves ( even if that number is small )
totally pretentious about his tastes. don’t start him, for the love of god
perpetually got his glasses on, perpetually holding an oversized cup of tea
has a collection of tiny little tattoos ( they’re all references to books / movies / music he loves )
i ............ love him a lot
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from the tone of ur mcu/got fic it seemed like u really hate or at least disiked steve, how come?
Woo boy, okay. So first things first. Let’s clarify the statement. Steve Rogers, aka Captain America is a character that has been re-imaged several times dependant on the universe he’s in. Classic and Silver Age Steve is okay. I’m kind ‘meh’ about Steve in 616 and Ultimates.
MCU Steve is everything wrong about American superheroes distilled into one storyline. And it’s not just one thing, it’s many things that build up until I want to set him on fire for the good of the world and all the poor, impressionable fanboys in it.
My issues with Steve in the First Avenger are:
MCU Steve refuses to accept any dissenting opinions and his first resort is always violence instead of debate. He’s manipulative in that he verbally antagonizes people so that they “throw the first punch” so he can feel justified in “standing up to bullies”.
MCU Steve glorifies active military service to the point of outright refusing to support the army in a way he’s actually capable of succeeding at and instead commits treason (lying on the enlistment forms) rather that applying for a support role. To say nothing of the danger Steve’s fellow servicemen would be in covering his ass if he did actually manage to lie his way to the warfront. Plus he completely ignores the fact that Bucky was drafted, which means that Bucky did not willingly enlist.
MCU Steve took steroids that had the proven, recorded side effects of increased aggression, sociopathy, and psychosis in every known survival case.
MCU Steve never finished basic training, and thus never even made it to the rank of Private. He’s never been employed by the US Army. “Captain America” is a stage name, not a real rank. If anything, Steve was a consultant employed by the SSR to deal with Hydra and only Hydra.
My issues with Steve in The Avengers are:
MCU Steve is isolating himself and refuses to take care of his own mental health and stability. He expresses obsessive behaviours and rigid thought processes that make it easy for the Hydra agents embedded in SHIELD to gaslight him about people and the operation of modern society. In short, Steve is ignorant and uneducated in a way that he could easily change but refuses to despite have unrestricted access to the resources he needs, and so any failures or bad judgement calls on his part as a result of his ignorance are on his head. Self-education is the responsibility of every thinking person who wants to interact with the wider world.
MCU Steve doesn’t know how to accept specialist opinions, as proven by his distain for Tony and Bruce’s work in the lab so they can track down the cube. Again, distain for cerebral pursuits such as engineering or computer sciences because there’s no visible effort to show for it aside from the results that are produced once the actually work is over.
More attempts to provoke people into violence when MCU Steve is losing an argument because he doesn’t have the facts to back up his statement.
Takes off on a road trip, but when the hell did MCU Steve have the time to get a motorcycle certification or driver’s license? Does he even have a source of income? Second instance of lawbreaking confirmed.
My issues with Steve in The Winter Soldier are:
MCU Steve has no proof that Sam isn’t a Hydra plant when he goes for help, just a gut feeling. Sorry, but background checks are a thing you need to do before sharing classified information for a reason. Operational security is nothing but a dream at this point.
Doesn’t call Tony to get the Helicarriers shut down. Why? Tony has made multiple public statements that Stark tech in the hands of terrorists goes boom!
Yes, there were Hydra agents in SHIELD but dumping the database just meant that all the good, actually SHIELD agents are the ones who got burned. How many active or retired agents and their families got killed because of that info leak? That’s like burning down your house because you saw a spider.
MCU Steve fucks off and doesn’t go to the hearing, and he never actually gets debriefed about what went down. Once again Steve disrespects governing authority and the due process of laws put in place to protect the public. (Because Bucky, and I’m so sick of that mentality.)
My issues with Steve in Age of Ultron are:
MCU Steve hasn’t told Tony that his parents death was a murder but accuses Tony of lying to them. Tony never lies, he doesn’t have enough of a self preservation instinct to bother lying. But Steve is covering up a murder and still somehow thinks he’s a moral authority.
Blames Tony for Ultron when it’s obvious that (a) Bruce was helping and (b) alien magi-tech bullshit was at fault. Plus JARVIS is dead and Steve doesn’t care despite the fact that it’s obvious Tony is grieving.
Identifies with Wanda, known Hydra volunteer who only switched sides because she was going to get killed by Ultron otherwise. Trusts Wanda’s word over Tony’s, when Wanda’s goal has always been to messily murder Tony and she set an enraged Hulk on a city full of civilians with the intent to kill everyone there.
Throws the shield when he gets to Tony’s lab while Vision is being born, so yet again violence is the chosen option instead of debate.
My issues with Steve in Civil War are:
MCU Steve is still so ignorant of modern politics that he thinks the UN is a government. Also refuses to respect the right of sovereign nations to say “no” to having the Avengers cross their borders. If Steve wants to operate against human organizations instead of just the random alien invasion then he needs to have oversight and a proper command structure. Otherwise he’s just another extremist pushing his personal agenda on the populace. And that’s the definition of terrorism.
MCU Steve fucks up Bucky Barnes’ chances of being acquitted of Hydra’s crimes when they escape custody by blowing through the anti-terrorist task force and collapse a transit tunnel on civilians during the midday commute. Until that point everything Bucky did was could be filed under Bucky being non copus menti as a result of the Winter Soldier programming and the deliberately, maliciously cultivated PTSD triggers implanted by Hydra. But that chance is gone now because Bucky Barnes was the one “in control” when they fucked up the airport and beat up Tony.
MCU Steve lies to Clint and Scott about the reason they’re fighting. Steve says they needs to stop the other Winter Soldiers from being set loose and that the Accords will stop them from acting, but in reality it all boils down to saving Bucky. Meanwhile everyone on Team Cap gets labelled an international criminal in the end and chances are they aren’t going to be able to go home for years even if they’re very, very lucky.
Bad laws are argued in court and amendments get made if a law infringes on the civil rights of the people it impacts. But MCU Steve doesn’t obey the laws, he has never obeyed the laws, and so he has no fucking goddamned clue about how to work inside the system to get what he wants peacefully. Cue more punching his problems.
LYING OR WITHHOLDING INFORMATION ABOUT A MURDER CASE IS OBSTRUCTION OF JUSTICE AND IT’S A CRIME, STEVE.
Breaking people out of prison when they have, in point of fact, broken the law, IS A CRIME, STEVE.
So in summary, MCU Steve is a violent, delusional bully who likes to be the centre of attention and has never believed that the laws apply to him. It’s especially grating because the script writers keep trying to make him a sympathetic character but all I can see is some jacked up white boy on steroids whining because it’s not fair that he needs to be a decent, law-abiding human being. Due Process, Workplace Health and Safety Regulations, Harassment Policies, things like that. Also, Steve and Wanda are actually close to the same age in life experience according to the MCU storylines but he marginalizes her and denies her agency by saying she’ “just a kid”, which is the most bullshit patronizing expression of a superiority complex I’ve even seen in media. And that’s why I don’t like MCU’s version of Steve Rogers.
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hey jude!!! just read ur last anon abt being nb and wondered if u could talk abt ur own gender experience?
well basically i didnt grow up in a very open household, like rly Zero discussion of gender, so i know i Experienced gender entirely but i played almost exclusively with the boys in my class until probably grade 6 or 7, & at puberty, even tho i was a better athlete than most boys in my class still, i started hanging out with girls more, at recess, etc. i was always into androgyny, even if i had no idea (& i didn’t) what that was—i liked some femme things, absolutely, but i wanted nothing to do w skirts or pretty shoes. i wanted to be in adidas running sneakers 24/7 if i could help it, & i wore a uniform to school w the option of a skirt/pants, & im p sure i always wore pants. at the time this, to me, seemed more functional, & it was, but it was also, as i can understand now, something that made me feel Less like a girl, although not at all like a boy.
when i was older, 12, 13, 14, my parents wanted me to dress nicer, & i was v much into like american eagle shit, although by mid hs i was into some vintage stuff. one rly big odd style influence for me was mia wasikowksa in this weird movie called restless bc it was this v soft femme androgyny & i think for me this kind of gender expression became very important to see & understand. it wasn’t that she didn’t look like a girl, or that she wasn’t a girl, but she also sometimes looked like a boy, or wore boys clothes, but she wasn’t butch. idk this movie sent me for a loop honestly lol.
& obviously my understanding of gender expression didn’t correlate (& doesn’t correlate!) w so many gender identities, & “passing” is extremely harmful as a notion, etc. but when i was younger my understanding of gender & sexuality was very limited & began to expand when i saw very femme but still andro ppl, even tho i couldn’t articulate it at the time.
when i was a teenager i knew i didnt want to rly have a single thing to do w any boy, which made me sure i was a lesbian bc thats the only narrative i’d rly known abt queerness, or queer women, or even queer ppl who presented as femme. there werent any out lesbians at my school (no fucking way), & the only out queer kid at all was a white gay guy a year older than me, who was popular in the way white gay boys can be popular in high school. but i read voraciously, was fascinated by the crossdressing in shakespeare (paris in the merchant of venice was a particular fixation of mine?) & anyway. i knew i was queer, i knew i liked girls, & i knew i was outrageously uncomfortable w my body, particularly my breasts. for a long time i thought this was because i was ashamed of my sexuality, when i came to sort of understand that, but ofc now i know abt dysmorphia & dysphoria, so yknow. knowledge.
when i went to college i came out big time, & it became very important to me to both be queer & look sort of queer but not queer enough to be Queer—i wanted ppl to be like ‘maybe into girls, but maybe straight.’ as im sure many of us know, this was a lot of internalized shame abt a lot of things, so that sucks. however, i cut my hair which was like the first comfortable thing i had done for my appearance in a v long time, & also smth which my parents hated & i did anyway. i wore a Lot of rly femme stuff bc they hated it tho? so this was all v confusing for me bc my parents are v homophobic, & here i was in college starting to read queer theory & gender theory & falling in love w like. the most beautiful, brilliant girl, & also spiraling into a mixed episode after i got diagnosed w bipolar I, which sort of put everything else on the backburner for a year.
eventually tho i sorted that out (as much as u can sort smth like that out) & i started to rly pay attention to androgyny. i went to europe & i think theres a whole bunch of nuances to fashion that exist there that certainly arent here, & i spent a winter in warsaw so there were aspects to fashion & expression there that were entirely abt functionality, which i was v attracted to. in college, as well, & especially after college, gender became smth i was v much invested in bc i was (& absolutely am) a feminist, so my place in the canon & zeitgeist was one as a queer female writer. it was so so central to who i was, & what i was writing abt. every single thing i wrote in college was in some way a balm, some sort of piece abt myself, learning abt trauma & the body. sorting through a lot of hurt. i could write a theory piece abt elizabeth bishop & reading it back now i know it was also abt me, that kinda stuff.
when i went to toronto i rly rly started being invested in looking critically at gender & my experience of it bc being read as a woman was smth that was grating on me, even tho i had identified as woman for so long, & had no desire at all to transition. i know 100% i am not a trans man, so that was confusing for a long time because i sort of knew there was a space between but it was very hard to conceptualize. eventually i sort of came to understand gender is a color wheel where cis boys are blue & cis women are pink & then theres literally a ton of other colors out there, so yknow. lots of different experiences of gender. some days i feel much more strongly like i identify w women (in mostly political situations, it matters to me to be read as “female” sometimes bc rights for ppl w vaginas AND trans women are FUCKED UP in so many places). some days i hate the idea of identifying as a woman. i also never want to identify as a man. so when i was in toronto i rly started to know a LOT of queer ppl w so many different expressions of gender. & we were all young & lovely & open & fucked up & we would get fucked up but we would also go read together in the park & wander around alleys in the snow & like. there’s a Muchness to toronto that i experienced that helped me, personally, understand these intersections between my own sexuality & gender & expression as much more than just a gay woman who isn’t butch & isn’t femme. i was rly lucky to become part of a community that identified as Queer, & so i became v much understanding of these different aspects of my own identity that fell outside of binary—my sexuality, my gender. Queerness is a vital & profound thing to me & i was rly able (& so fortunate) to have a close friend group of mostly queer ppl & then a few of the actual literally most incredible allies i’ve ever known & will ever know.
so then from there i just rly kinda thought abt things & like i got a binder & stuff in TO but rly started to evaluate my dysmorphia & dysphoria (i had struggled really badly w an eating disorder in/post college) & was able to sort out that so much of it had to do w feeling uncomfortable in the way my body was read in the world. & that will always happen bc i LOVE makeup & i have a “feminine” voice & sometimes i love skirts & i shave my legs bc i like how it feels sometimes & i dont ever want to go on T—none of these things make anyone ANY gender, but ofc theyre coded as “female.” but i’m learning to just yknow educate where i can & take a lot of solace in the community of ppl i have fostered who support & understand my Being. i’ve also allowed myself to be invested in aesthetics & fashion & how much a role that plays bc like. yah fuck Yah i look cool shit bc my friends love it & absolutely i wanna wear the same vans maia mitchell has & i want a melodrama hoodie & i LOVE local toronto designers & their angsty patches abt sad songs & whiskey but i love fashion born out of histories that is connected to smth i can understand, like queer punk movements, or smth my friends & i share, like blundstones (which are gender neutral, which is cool). i’m fascinated in how ppl express their Selves, & we are so unfortunately Finite in our bodies in the sense that that’s rly how the world, in our day to day interactions, processes who & what we are. so i invest in the care of mine by trying to listen to it, trying to make it comfortable—& clothing is a huge thing that can do that. also its fun so anyone who thinks loving (ethical, cool) fashion is vain can eat my ass
anyway lmao now i have a p decent sense, atm at least, of what makes my body its most comfortable (even if that is v far from Comfortable at times). i love my tattoos, & i basically never rly want long hair again i’m p sure, & i love makeup, & if i could wear vans or blundstones every day for the entirety of my life at this point that would be incredible. those are easy things, & i try to allow my body, in its cultural place, to have access to them as much as possible, which is so important to me in a sense of having access to a physical space that matches my mental space of gender identity. politically sometimes i feel v v much a “woman” in terms of my lived experience, & i allow that of myself as well. sometimes when i write it’s important to me that my poetry be read as a queer person but also someone who is culturally coded as a woman, bc those are still always central concerns of my work—the trauma, the power there. but day to day i’m mostly happy spending my time obsessing over other things, like what to call this new genre of music halsey & lorde are making, or why my dog stevie is a Fanatic when it comes to ice cubes. ive come to enough terms w my gender, & my sexuality—& the expression thereof—that unless someone is talking abt gender, or someone asks me a question, it’s not smth that is constantly on my mind, which is. Nice. its so nice lol.
also i would like to point out that i know my experience being non binary is rly rly white & western in so many ways & i get that. my cultural experience of non binary gender is also v much this like. ive felt frustrated before but never in my life have i felt scared to be non-binary while i was like out & abt in the world, bc i still pass as a cis white woman literally everywhere all the time (which has its pros & cons but like, still, a lot of privilege). so i do try to keep all of that in mind as well when i try to center myself & all that jazz
& who tf knows where all of that will take me. i feel like, bc ive learned to listen to my body & my brain so much better than i did when i was younger—even when they might hate themselves—i am so much better at filling up a space in the world that occupies smth healthy. which is not smth i take lightly, & i’m also so open to changes, as long as they feel good & beneficial & true. which is sort of new for me. who knows man ur mid twenties are a wild ride
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GRS Insider #92: Racism is not a political issue. Racism is a MORAL issue.
Yesterday, as I do most Fridays, I sent the GRS Insider to folks who subscribe to the Get Rich Slowly email list.
The email was unusual. It was more like a blog post than a simple summary of recent articles. I've had several people request a version they can share with other people, so — this one time only — I've created a stand-alone web version.
Parts of this have been edited slightly to account for the transition from email to web.
If you've been reading me for any length of time — or if you know me in person — you know that I hate conflict. I hate hate hate it. Some people seem to thrive on it. Not me. I shirk from it.
This is one reason I've steadfastly kept my financial writing politically neutral. I don't want conflict.
It helps that I'm neither liberal nor conservative. I'm some strange mix of the two. But mostly it's because I think financial advice is important for everyone regardless of political persuasion. It's rare that I take a stand on something political.
Because of who I am and what I believe, Get Rich Slowly will never become a political platform. (It'll touch on politics occasionally, but politics will never be a driving force at the site.)
That said, I'm mad as hell about not only the recent bout of racism in the U.S., but also the long history of racism that underpins our society. Something's gotta give. The current protests are 100% justified and they're not acts of terrorism. They're a call for action. What sort of action? I have no idea. I don't have solutions. But the problem is plain as day and it must be addressed. We, as a nation, must — at long last — deal with our history instead of sweeping it under the rug.
On May 15th, I saw video of the Ahmaud Arbery killing. I was mortified. I was livid. How could this happen in our country in 2020? Now, as more details of his execution are coming to light, the crime is even more heinous than I could have imagined. How can you read this and not be sickened?
On May 25th, I saw video of Amy Cooper, a white woman, calling the police about Christian Cooper, a black man who had asked her to put her dog on a leash. Amy blatantly lied, claiming that Christian was threatening her. All he wanted to do was watch birds in peace, and this woman was willing to ruin his life because he made a polite request. W. T. F.?
And the very next morning, I saw video of Minneapolis police officer Derek Chauvin kneeling on the neck of George Floyd for 8 minutes, 46 seconds. We all know that story by now, and we all know what's come of it.
Look, I'm a 51-year-old white guy who lives in one of the whitest neighborhoods of one of the whitest states in the union. I live in a bubble. No joke: I can go weeks (months?) without ever seeing a black person. I am the definition of white privilege, and I know it.
But it's time for me to stop hiding behind that privilege — and to stop bristling at the term. It's time that I stopped using my conflict-avoidant tendencies as an excuse to never talk about controversial subjects. And, really, why is racism even controversial? Why is it considered a political issue? Racial equality and racial justice aren't political problems — they're moral problems. But they're moral problems that we must address, in part, at a political level.
This week, I wanted to use Get Rich Slowly to address this subject, but I couldn't see a way for me to do it effectively. First, as I said, I'm an old white guy. Second, I don't have the education yet to discuss these topics effectively. (More on how I'm trying to educate myself in a moment.)
So, I asked two of my friends if they'd help.
The ebullient Michelle Jackson shared a candid conversation about race in America. — “What you do when I'm not in the room when people are making jokes and comments says a lot about YOU…Will you say nothing and be complicit because it's hard to stand up for people who aren't in the room? Basically, will you take the easy way out or do the heavy lifting which is hard? Which means you may lose friends and family.”
And the eloquent Lynnette Khalfani-Cox offered a lesson in economic violence. — “Imagine being born in 1866 as a ‘free' Black person. For generations, your ancestors worked for others and received nothing for their labor…And you, born in 1866 as a ‘free' Black person, start with nothing while a White child born at the same time enjoys the fruits of your ancestors' labor. Would that depress you? Anger you? Motivate you?” [This is very similar to what I want to write once I'm better educated.]
As you know, I generally spend a lot of my free time reading about money. (I'm a nerd like that.) This week, though, I read very little about money. I read about race. Here are some of the most interesting pieces I found.
How you can help close racial wealth gaps. [Smart Money Mamas] — “The racial wealth gap we see in our country today is part of the foundation of our nation. It started when we built an economic powerhouse of a country on the back of slave labor. And then, when we finally abolished slavery (mostly for economic reasons), we transferred essentially zero wealth to those who created that economic prosperity.” [Related: How big is the racial wealth gap?]
A sociologist examines the “white fragility” that prevents white Americans from confronting racism. [The New Yorker] — “DiAngelo addresses her book mostly to white people, and she reserves her harshest criticism for white liberals like herself…Not only do these people fail to see their complicity, but they take a self-serving approach to ongoing anti-racism efforts: ‘To the degree that white progressives think we have arrived, we will put our energy into making sure that others see us as having arrived.'”
Unpacking the power of privileged neighborhoods. [CityLab] — “Research has shown that where children grow up affects how they fare academically, economically, and physically; it also predicts how they interact with the criminal justice system. This study confirms that neighborhoods do matter, but gives a new, surprising answer to questions like ‘for whom?’ and ‘how much?'” [Related: “My white privilege.”]
This week, I've also watched far more video than usual.
I watched Dave Ramsey talk about racism.
I watched how black parents teach their children to deal with the police.
And I watched an hour-long Google Talk about the “black tax”, about the high cost of being black in America.
But for me — for who I am — the most important video I watched was this ten-minute presentation from my colleague Julien Saunders. It's all about embracing conflict.
From the talk: “When you run from conflict, you give up an opportunity to change your life before you even start. When you embrace conflict…you come out the other side a better version of yourself.”
God, I hate conflict.
And I'm especially going to hate the conflict that comes from publishing this article. But you know what? The time is long past for me to stop prioritizing my personal comfort over the safety (and equality) of others. If one week of articles about the evils of racism is enough to make you leave Get Rich Slowly, so be it.
But I hope that most GRS readers are just as angry as I am.
Finally, in an effort to educate myself and address my own issues — because let's be clear, I have plenty of implicit racial bias — I've begun reading more about this subject. Here are a few of the books I've picked up (all of which were recommended by readers and colleagues). Note that these are not affiliate links.
White Fragility: Why It's So Hard for White People to Talk About Racism
Evicted: Poverty and Profit in the American City
How to Be an Anti-Racist
Stamped from the Beginning: The Definitive History of Racist Ideas in America (I'm starting with this)
The Hate U Give
Here's the bottom line: As much as I hate conflict, I hate hate even more. One of the things that drew me to Kim as a partner is that she embodies LOVE. She loves everyone. I can't say that I love everyone. But I try. And I wish that others would try too.
One of my friends recently said something profound in a group conversation, something I agree with 100%:
It's an amazing thing to work from the premise that everyone is basically good, that everyone is unique and has something important to say. Life is more interesting when you give other people the benefit of the doubt, when you assume the best in them instead of the worst. Working from this premise makes the world a glowing, wonderful place, a place packed with superstars. I wish more people could see that.
True story: When I was in college in the 1980s, Maya Angelou came to speak on our campus. I was charged with giving her a tour of the grounds for an hour or two before her presentation. I had no idea who she was. And I didn't go hear her speak. I had a pleasant time showing her the library, the botanical garden, and the theater, but I never asked her about herself and her life. (Same thing with Studs Terkel, who has become one of my personal heroes.) Ah, missed opportunities…
from Finance https://www.getrichslowly.org/racism/
via http://www.rssmix.com/
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