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yellowocaballero · 3 years

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I know next to nothing abt utena but I. I kinda am extremely curious abt the utena vs mcu comparative analysis? if you feel like sharing lmao absolutely no worries if not

I love all of you because I will post obviously bait and someone will always indulge me in asking about it. NO I don’t want to unprompted just start rambling about my opinions, YES I will share them though. I will make this as short as possible because I can talk about Utena all day. I will add a disclaimer that I don’t super like the MCU so I’m very sorry to any MCU fans, Winter Soldier was good. Slight, vague spoilers for Utena ahead.

TL;DR: MCU is constantly selling feminism in the form of palatable #bossbabes and Strong Female Characters, while Utena’s form of feminism is a more systematic and nuanced interview of how the patriarchy limits, exploits, and controls women. It posits that a woman CANNOT be a #bossbabe while she’s within that system, and only by leaving it can she find independence and identity. MCU is sponsored by the Air Force.

So for the uninitiated, Utena is a magical girl anime that I’ve been jokingly calling Evangelion: For Her. It deconstructs magical girl anime and fairy tales, and critically examines Japanese society, the patriarchy, heteronormative culture, and IN MY OPINION boarding schools. It deals with themes of trauma, toxic relationships, toxic masculinity, gender non-conformity, queerness, abuse, maturity, coming of age, gender roles, memory, and narrative.

I’ve joked recently that Tumblr would find Utena problematic if it actually talked about the show beyond the killer aesthetic and sword lesbians. Every female character in it is obsessed with men. Most of them are in abusive, or at least toxic, relationships. It has several gender nonconforming, queer women, who view gender nonconformity as adopting the role of a man in society and thereby idealizing/controlling/abusing women, as men do. Every character is a hugely complicated person who hurts others. Men control women and women are either subservient and controlled by men, or they use their position of assumed subservience to manipulate men, or they attempt to regain power by taking the role of men.

On the flip side. Utena demonstrates how every character is turned into this through the rigid and restrictive nature of (it’s Japanese, so Japanese, although it’s broadly applicable) society. Women who do not fit into these pre-set molds are punished and ostracized. Young boys are groomed by older men in order to fit these abusive molds, and otherwise well meaning men hurt women because they are not taught how to interact with women in healthy ways. The show is basically about how society takes the genuine need for love, intimacy, and human connection among children and beats them into societally accepted molds that keep power in the hands of powerful men. The patriarchy is ultimately a tool of powerful men that abuses and controls both men and women. Ever hear of no ethical consumption under capitalism? Try no ethical love under the patriarchy!

So, no, Utena doesn’t really have a lot of ‘strong female characters’. But that’s really kind of the point - how can a woman be strong in this system? When a woman tries to gain strength, does she just try to imitate masculine values that we’re brainwashed into perceiving as strength? Is masculinity healthy? Can Utena really be gnc, or will a gnc woman never be accepted as a man by a society that profits off the victimization of women?

I’m not asking the MCU to analyze all of this, because they’re blockbuster movies and I don’t want or need them to get #deep. However, superhero movies will never look at the systematic and societal structures that build heroes and villains so long as the nature of superheroes inherently hinges upon the ‘Great Man’ system (basically an obsession with heroes and salvation through singular men instead of communities and movements). The MCU Spider-Man movies were so frustrating about this: it goes through the effort of saying that capitalism and injustice created the Vulture, but all that does is make a sympathetic villain - it never goes so far as to say that Peter is being fed into this system (by Tony Stark) like meat into a meat grinder that continues to prioritize the special over the collective. I don’t even need to get into Far From Home. The MCU constantly acknowledges these injustices (the way it acknowledges that the Air Force in Captain Marvel is sexist and racist) but it twists around that acknowledgement into assertion that superheroes and good guys CAN exist in this unjust system, and that they can utilize the power of this unjust system in order to provide salvation. Utena has Japanese Buddhist roots over this Christian ideal of the saviour/messiah: it encourages saving ourselves, and says that we cannot be saved by others, only aided and guided in that journey.

Captain Marvel cannot be a ‘feminist’ film, no matter how much it celebrates Carol for embracing her individuality and autonomy in a discriminatory system, so long as Carol remains within that system. In contrast, the only way that Utena was able to live in gay happiness with Anthy was by rejecting the patriarchy, structure, and society completely. Carol is a shining, premier, ‘ideal’ example of a woman in the Air Force - tough and independent yet obedient and responsible to her system. Utena is also masc and gnc, but it actually explores how performing that masculinity isn’t a repudiation of the system, it’s just striving to attain status as the oppressor instead of the oppressed (absolutely crucial note that Utena doesn’t strive to be a man, she strives for masculinity). The #girlbosses in Black Panther are characterized by their complete and total loyalty and lack of ambition to authoritarian male figures and autocratic systems (Black Panther is really good and I like it a lot, this isn’t a criticism). Judi in Utena is also completely obedient and loyal to the male-dominated structure of the Student Council, but it’s shown as preventing her from accepting her lesbianism and pursing her desires. Black Widow, #girlboss extraordinaire, is devalued as a woman through her infertility and this is completely played straight and uncritically in a move that’s stunningly 1970s. Nanami in Utena (metaphorically) is confronted with her perceived lack of suitability for maternal life - and how the reason why she’s desperate for this is because it’s the promised unconditional love she never received. This isn’t even getting into the men - Tony Stark using tools of war to end war, which is an oxymoron. Peter Parker’s divorce from his working class roots into mindless imitation of authoritarian paternal figures and him literally being handed the cutsey drone strikes. Women in the MCU are ‘cool’, women in Utena are complex, flawed, and nuanced.

We know the MCU isn’t woke. I don’t want it to be woke. But it keeps on pretending to try and it’s frustrating me. It continually just gets enough there to make me think about it and give the shiny sheen of that feminism while refusing to engage meaningfully with what they’re doing. I’d rather they didn’t try at all, because they consistently raise the question (hey it’s fucked up that the working class is getting screwed over and the Vulture’s doing what he’s doing for a reason!) and then refuse to answer it authentically or genuinely (but he’s evil so we don’t gotta touch that). I’m not gonna use the word pandering, but...that #girlboss shot in Endgame, come on...

Utena meaningfully treats the women as women who Live In A Society, and how that fucks them up, and how the only way they can be free is if they realize there’s no wizard behind the curtain, recognize the injustices, and repudiate the game. MCU says that a woman can be liberated and strong if she achieves specialness and strength within the system - if she ‘wins’ the game. But women don’t win this game. That’s the point of the game. Because when women win, men perceive themselves as losing, and that’s unacceptable. Captain Marvel and the MCU is a consolation prize for what women are consistently denied: complex and flawed characterizations.

I’m normally uninterested by #feminism but Utena gets it. Thanks for the ask!

#revolutionary girl utena #utena #marvel cinematic universe #meta commentary #mcu critical #TERFs do not interact with this post utena does not say men are inherently abusive it says that men are also damaged by toxic masculinity #utena did not give us touga saionji and miki to say that men are not hurt and abused by powerful people #i'm watching wandavision and I will say that it is the CLOSEST look the mcu's taken since jessica jones into this #but it's still falling a little short for reasons i'm still mulling over #also i forgot to mention jessica jones but jessica jones is more about 'spooky one evil guy' then talking about rape culture #im sorry this is so long im incapable of being concise it's in my bio #i write about gender a lot but kinda subtley #i mean except for the roleswap series where I hit the reader in the face with a 2x4

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kuramirocket · 3 years

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“In Lak’ech

Tu eres mi otro yo/ You are my other me.

Si te hago daño a ti/ If I do harm to you,

Me hago daño a mi mismo/ I do harm to myself.

Si te amo y respeto/ If I love and respect you,

Me amo y respeto yo/ I love and respect myself.”

In the Tucson High Magnet School located in Arizona, high school students enrolled in Mexican American Studies (MAS) would start their day reciting this poem by Luis Valdez, signifying unity, oneness, and love. Their echoed words would fill their classrooms and celebrate their humanity with respect and empathy. But when the MAS program was banned and eliminated by Arizona lawmakers in 2010, it failed to silence students’ voices or deter their unity. Their passion and echoed chants caused an uproar across their communities in Arizona, and ultimately led to the rise of an Ethnic Studies movement nationwide.

The Mexican American Studies Program

Established in 1998, the Mexican American Studies (MAS) program was designed to motivate students and equip them with the tools to become agents of change within their communities. In a school district where Hispanic students made up the majority, the MAS program was necessary to assist and guide students in reaching their full academic potential. Although it was not the first school to offer ethnic studies classes, Tucson Unified School District became the first to implement it at a district-wide level.

And it worked.

Over the next 13 years, the program flourished and more than 1,300 students had enrolled in these classrooms. The high school dropout rate for MAS students decreased significantly, at 2.5%, a notable contrast to the 56% drop out rates for Latino students, nationally, at that time. In addition, MAS students were found to academically improve, achieve high performing state tests, and enroll in college.

“I had been in their classes for quite a while and when I was in their classes I was like ‘Woah! This is happening in public schools?’ Just to be in those classes, even the physical aspect and the feeling of coming into those rooms, the way they were decorated, the love from the teachers, the sense of belonging of the students was just like night and day from the rest of the school,” states Anita Fernández, a scholar activist from Prescott College in Arizona and Director of XITO, the Xicanx Institute for Teaching and Organizing.

In these classes, students learned about art, history, literature, government, and contemporary issues through the lens of the Mexican American experience in the U.S.

They would participate in numerous activities, such as reading passages from Chicano authors, analyzing hip-hop/rap lyrics and connecting it to pop culture. They would write research papers about contemporary issues like poverty, school segregation, etc.

“But I also had in the back of my mind, ‘they are going to come after you. There is no way this is going to fly…’” recalls Anita Fernández.

HB2281 and SB1070

Sure enough, in 2008 the Mexican American Studies program became under scrutiny as a group of legislators began to openly attack the MAS program. Former state superintendent, Tom Horne, believed the Mexican American classes were meant to indoctrinate students and create hatred for other races by breeding ethnic solidarity. In 2010, with the new appointed Arizona Governor, HB2281 was signed and passed, banning the MAS program.

According to the bill, no school district or charter school in the state of Arizona, could include any programs or instructions containing the following:

1. Promotion of the overthrow of the United States government

2. Promotion of resentment toward a race or class of people

3. Curricular design for pupils of a particular ethnic group

3. Ethnic solidarity advocacy instead of the treatment of pupils as individuals

If schools were not found compliant, the State of Arizona would withhold up to 10% of district funding, which would be restored once the schools were found compliant with the law.

This bill was passed one month after the enactment of Arizona’s SB 1070; one of the strictest anti-immigrant laws in U.S. history.

“[SB1070] was really, really scary and really dehumanizing as well for the families and the young people. Then, very shortly after, 2281 was signed into law which said, ‘your history and your culture are illegal. It is illegal to teach about that in this state…’ The law was really written to attack that specific program, even though it was state legislation,” explains Anita Fernández.

This was a dangerous time to be a person of color in Arizona. Not only were individuals racially profiled, stopped, and arrested, students were now restricted from learning certain subjects that taught them about agency, community involvement, and cultural pride. In fact, many books written by Mexican American authors were banned from the classrooms. Books like, House on Mango Street by Sandra Cisneros, Bless Me Ultima by Rudolfo Anaya, Pedagogy of the Oppressed by Paulo Freire, and other nationally-awarded books were banned from the classrooms.

Movement and Countermovements

As a response to this bill, Tucson, Arizona became a state of resilience. Community organizing and student-led protests infiltrated Tucson, as students pushed back on the legislator’s decisions.

On April 26, 2011, nine students had chained themselves to chairs at one of the TUSD board meetings in an act of civil disobedience to protest the banning of Mexican American Studies. Holding microphones, they sat inside the TUSD boardroom and chanted,

“When Our education is under attack, what do we do?”

“Fight back!”

These students belonged to a group called United Non-Discriminatory Individuals Demanding Our Studies (UNIDOS), a grassroots, radical youth collective founded in January 2011 to defend ethnic studies, and the MAS program in particular. UNIDOS also organized walkouts through Tucson Magnet High School, hosted educational workshops, and community-wide events.

But the protests didn’t just stop in Arizona.

National media coverage of the protests reached California and Texas, where they started to take matters into their own hands. In Houston, Texas, a group of Chicano writers, poets, artists, and activists, including author and professor, Tony Diaz, came together and coined the term, Librotrafricantes, book smugglers. Soon after, a caravan formed and the book smugglers traveled from San Antonio to El Paso, then, Albuquerque, and finally Tucson, handing out copies of banned books to communities and local libraries.

In Los Angeles, California, Jose Lara, a social studies teacher raised recommendations to incorporate their own Mexican American Studies classes within LA school districts, motivated by the protests in Arizona. With the help of his campaign, other districts in San Francisco, San Bernardino, San Diego, and Ventura county explored the inclusion of ethnic studies in their curriculum. Soon after, the Los Angeles school board approved the requirement and a few weeks later, the San Francisco School board ordered every school district to offer ethnic studies.

Meanwhile, educators back in Arizona, like Anita Fernandez, took steps to defend the curriculum.

“When the program was banned, Curtis Acosta [one of the MAS teachers] said ,‘I’m not allowed to teach Chicano literature…I have to teach Chicano literature to these young people,’ recalls, Fernández.

Sure enough, with the help of Anita, Curtis Acosta, and former MAS educators, they continued to carry out the legacy of the program through a Sunday school platform.

“He said, ‘I don’t know if the youth will show up,’ and 10 youth showed up to continue taking the classes. He and I partnered together and I said, ‘What if we could get Prescott College, (where I teach), to actually award college credit for the Sunday classes?’ So they did, and that was the launch of how we continued this work that is so critical and has been so successful, outside of Arizona, because it was illegal here. This is how we started to develop, XITO, in response to the banning of the program here.”

XITO, the Xicano Institute of Teaching and Organizing serves as an urban education consulting collective where they instruct teachers and school staff on how to develop an ethnic studies curriculum. The institute’s members travel the country hosting workshops and professional development training to help communities create ethnic studies programs for their specific school districts. With the use of a culturally responsive and rehumanizing pedagogy approach, XITO creates spaces for teachers and administrators to learn the tools to establish inclusive learning environments within their own classrooms.

“It is a rebuilding, a reimagining of what education spaces look like whose knowledge is centered in those spaces and legitimacy is given to RAZA, BIPOC folks by using these method.”

Currently, Anita Fernandez and other XITO members are working with the San Jose Unified School District to design their first ethnic studies curriculum while simultaneously training teachers for these courses.

Nationwide Uprising

After a seven-year long fight, Federal Judge A. Wallace Tashima, ruled that state law (HB2281)was unconstitutional and based on racial animus in August 2017.

Although the MAS program was replaced in 2013 with a culturally-relevant curriculum, the Tucson district does not have any plan to reimplement MAS back into the curriculum. Still, the ethnic studies protests, organizing, and resilience led to the upbringing of a push for ethnic studies nationwide.

“The whole wave of ethnic studies that we are seeing right now…they were inspired by the program in Tucson. Even though the community here has been devoid of having that opportunity, what has grown in all these other places was influenced by the banning of the program here. It really highlighted the importance of ethnic studies,” affirms Fernández.

The growth of Ethnic Studies

Texas: Mission High School became one of the first public schools in the state to offer a Mexican American studies course after the Texas State Board of Education allowed schools to include ethnic-studies curriculum.

Seattle, Washington: A growing group of students and educators in the Puget Sound region spent their summer this year designing curriculum in science, math, English, history and other subjects that focus on the experiences of people of color.

Oregon: In 2016, Governor Kate Brown signed an ethnic studies state-wide requirement legislation, making it the only state that now offers ethnic studies curriculum in K-12.

Albuquerque, New Mexico: Launched a new ethnic studies program for all 13 of its high schools in 2017 and offer courses with Hispanic-American, African-American, Native-American, and Asian-American content.

California: Governor Gavin Newsom recently signed AB540 requiring all California State Universities to offer courses in African American, Asian American, Latino/a American and Native American studies. Now, California is pushing to establish ethnic studies as a graduation requirement for all of California’s K-12 public-school students.

They tried to bury us, they didn’t know we were seeds

Although the growing movement of ethnic studies has spread like a wildfire, the fight for ethnic studies is not over. Recently, the Trump administration ordered federal agencies to eliminate anti-racism training focused on critical race theory and white privilege, casting these ideas as un-American and encapsulating the same narrative that dismantled the MAS program.

The Mexican American Program in the Tucson School District gave the education world a small look into what could be a future education system that speaks to students of color and their experiences. But it also gave us a look into the unintended consequences and results when taking this powerful knowledge away from students, and why today, we need it more than ever.

As Cesar Chavez once said, “Once social change begins, it cannot be reversed. You cannot un-educate the person who has learned to read. You cannot humiliate the person who feels pride. You cannot oppress the people who are not afraid anymore.”

#usa #united sstates #dump trump #donald trump #racism #mexican american studies #mexican #mexican american #chicano #chicana #history #arizona #ethnic studies #chicano studies #mexican literature #literature #latino #latina #🇲🇽

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trans-advice · 5 years

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Robust Package of LGBTQ Legislation Advancing in Sacramento April 3, 2019 at 9:17 am FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE April 3, 2019 CONTACT: Samuel Garrett-Pate, Equality California PHONE: (323) 848-9801/MOBILE: (973) 476-3770/EMAIL: [email protected] SACRAMENTO, Calif. — In Equality California’s 20th anniversary year, the nation’s largest statewide LGBTQ civil rights organization has introduced its most aggressive, robust package of pro-equality legislation yet. The organization’s priorities include a number of first-in-the-nation bills and are primarily focused on supporting LGBTQ youth and families, increasing access to HIV prevention medication and protecting the civil rights of transgender and intersex Californians. Equality California is sponsoring the following 2019 bills and resolutions in the California Legislature and has experts available for comment or background briefings: Safe and Supportive Schools Act – AB 493 by Assemblymember Todd Gloria and State Superintendent of Public Instruction Tony Thurmond AB 493 will give teachers and school staff the tools and training they need — and want — to support LGBTQ students who may be facing harassment or lack of acceptance at school, rejection at home or discrimination in the broader community. Public school teachers and staff are on the front lines of providing a safety net against the effects of discrimination and lack of acceptance for the LGBTQ community, which can result in higher dropout rates, lower economic success and a number of other disparities in health and well-being that LGBTQ people continue to face. If LGBTQ students have support in school, their likelihood of overcoming these disparities and succeeding in school and life increases significantly. Equality California is cosponsoring AB 493 with State Superintendent of Public Instruction Tony Thurmond. Status: Passed by the Assembly Education Committee 5-0. Referred to the Assembly Committee on Appropriations. LGBTQ Young People Nondiscrimination – SB 145 by Senator Scott Wiener and LA County District Attorney Jackie Lacey SB 145 will address the state’s discriminatory practice of treating LGBTQ young people differently than their non-LGBTQ peers when engaging in voluntary sexual activity. Currently, for example, if an 18-year-old boy has voluntary sex with his 17-year-old girlfriend, he isn’t required to register as a sex offender. But if an 18-year-old boy has voluntary sex with his 17-year-old boyfriend or an 18-year-old girl has voluntary sex with her 17-year-old girlfriend, they’re automatically required to register as sex offenders, no matter the circumstances and without any opportunity for a judge to provide discretionary relief from the requirement. SB 145 only applies when a teenager age 14 or older has consensual sex with a partner who is within 10 years of age. The bill will simply allow the older partner to request — and a judge to grant — relief from the registration requirement. Equality California is cosponsoring SB 145 along with Los Angeles County District Attorney Jackie Lacey. Status: Referred to the Senate Public Safety Committee. Scheduled for hearing on Tuesday, April 9. PrEP and PEP Access Expansion – SB 159 by Senator Scott Wiener and Assemblymember Todd Gloria SB 159 will reduce barriers to accessing HIV preventative medications. This legislation will authorize pharmacists to furnish pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP) and post-exposure prophylaxis (PEP) to patients without a prescription. Pharmacists are already authorized to furnish birth control pills without a prescription. The legislation will also prohibit insurance companies from requiring patients to obtain prior authorization before using their insurance benefits to obtain PrEP or PEP. Equality California is cosponsoring SB 159 along with the San Francisco AIDS Foundation, the Los Angeles LGBT Center and California Pharmacists Association. Status: Referred to the Senate Committee on Business, Professions, and Economic Development. Intersex Autonomy – SB 201 by Senator Scott Wiener SB 201 will protect the rights of intersex Californians — “intersex” being a term used for people born with variations in their sex characteristics — by ensuring they can provide informed consent before medically unnecessary, often irreversible and potentially harmful procedures are performed on them. SB 201, at its core, is about giving people born with variations in their sex characteristics autonomy over their own bodies. The bill does not prohibit treatment or surgery when it is medically necessary; it will simply delay elective surgeries that often performed on babies in an attempt to “normalize” their bodies until they have the ability to make their own informed decision. Equality California is cosponsoring SB 201 along with interACT and the ACLU of California. Status: Testimony heard by Senate Committee on Business, Professions, and Economic Development on Monday, April 1. Scheduled for vote on Monday, April 8. Homeless Youth Grant Program – AB 307 by Assemblymember Eloise Gómez Reyes and Senator Scott Wiener AB 307 will require the development and administration of a grant program that would, primarily, support nonprofit organizations or continuum of care administrative entities in serving youth experiencing homelessness. Funding will go toward an array of supportive services, including rental assistance, drug abuse prevention, health care and employment assistance. All programs funded under AB 307 will be required to have the cultural competence to serve youth who identify as LGBTQ. Equality California is cosponsoring AB 307 along with the California Coalition for Youth, Tipping Point Community, John Burton Advocates for Youth, Housing CA and Corporation for Supportive Housing. Status: Passed by the Assembly Human Services Committee 8-0. Referred to the Assembly Committee on Appropriations. Affirming Records – SB 741 by Senator Cathleen Galgiani SB 741 will update the law to allow transgender Californians to update their marriage certificates and the birth certificates of their children to accurately reflect their legal name and gender, while still protecting their privacy. Current state law allows transgender people to petition courts to change their legal name and gender to conform with their gender identity. The law then allows such a person’s old birth certificate to be sealed and a new one issued as an original to protect the person’s privacy and respect their identity. This legislation would simply align the process for updating transgender people’s marriage certificates and the birth certificates of their children with the process for updating their own birth certificate. This will help to prevent discrimination when a transgender person enrolls their child in school, applies for a loan or seeks to make medical decisions on behalf of an incapacitated spouse. Status: Referred to Senate Rules Committee. Bias-Free Child Custody Determinations – SB 495 by Senator Maria Elena Durazo SB 495 will add language to the California Family Code to prohibit discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation or gender identity of a parent, legal guardian or relative when granting custody of a child. While there are examples of California case law to the effect that “sexual preference” should not affect child custody determinations, this language is outdated, unclear, and has not been codified within the California Family Code. This lack of clear and comprehensive policy allows local Family Court mediators, investigators, and judges to make recommendations and rulings based on their own biases about how sexuality and gender may impact the “well-being of the child.” All parents deserve the right to be considered in matters of custody without their sexual orientation or gender identity being used against them. Equality California is cosponsoring SB 495 with the Women’s Policy Institute and the Long Beach Bar Association. Status: Passed by Senate Judiciary Committee. Updating Transgender Students’ Academic Records – AB 711 by Assemblymember David Chiu AB 711 will ensure that local educational agencies in California update the records of former students who identify as transgender, making certain that their legal name and gender are accurately reflected on critical documents like high school diplomas and school transcripts. This includes reissuing high school diplomas and high school equivalency certificates, as needed. This bill seeks to close a gap in current law to ensure that all transgender people who have attended California educational institutions have the same rights and protections. Equality California is cosponsoring AB 711 with Transgender Law Center. Status: Referred to the Assembly Committee on Education Strengthening California’s Equal Pay Act – AB 758 by Assemblymember Wendy Carrillo AB 758 will strengthen California’s equal pay laws by requiring that employees of all genders are paid equitably to their counterparts for substantially similar work. This bill will also address unjustified workplace pay differentials for employees who do not conform to the gender binary. California’s Equal Pay Act prohibits employers from paying an employee less than an employee of “the opposite sex” for substantially similar work. AB 758 will update the California Equal Pay Act’s outdated binary language to align with the Gender Recognition Act of 2017 (SB 179, Atkins), which enabled Californians to obtain state issued identity documents that reflect their gender identity by creating a third, nonbinary gender marker. Status: Referred to Assembly Committee on Labor & Employment. Transgender Respect, Agency, and Dignity Act – SB 132 by Senator Scott Wiener SB 132 addresses a very real problem facing incarcerated transgender individuals, namely, transgender people being housed according to their birth-assigned gender, not their gender identity or perception of safety, resulting in significant risk of violence. Transgender women housed in male facilities face particular risk of rape and assault. SB 132 will change state law to require incarcerated transgender people in the custody of the Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation be classified and housed based on their gender identity, unless the incarcerated person’s evaluation of their own safety is that another housing placement is safest. SB 132 also requires that the preferred first name, gender pronoun and honorific of the incarcerated individual be used by facility staff in all written and verbal communications. By housing incarcerated transgender people based on their gender identity or perception of health and safety, transgender people will be housed in institutions that decrease their likelihood of experiencing targeting and violence, and they will have access to the programming and work opportunities that will best promote and support their health and safety. Status: Referred to Senate Committee on Public Safety. Scheduled for hearing on Tuesday, April 23. Honoring Bayard Rustin – ACR 27 by Assemblymember Wendy Carrillo ACR 27 honors the legacy of civil rights, labor and LGBTQ leader Bayard Rustin. Born on March 17, 1912 in West Chester, Pennsylvania, Rustin dedicated his entire life to advancing justice and dignity for all. He was a close advisor to Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., organized the historic 1963 March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom and promoted equity through nonviolent protests. An openly gay African American, Rustin understood the intricate intersections of marginalized identities and fought tirelessly for progress and opportunity. Status: Adopted by the Legislature on March 19, 2019. ### Equality California is the nation’s largest statewide LGBTQ civil rights organization. We bring the voices of LGBTQ people and allies to institutions of power in California and across the United States, striving to create a world that is healthy, just, and fully equal for all LGBTQ people. We advance civil rights and social justice by inspiring, advocating and mobilizing through an inclusive movement that works tirelessly on behalf of those we serve. www.eqca.org

#lgbtqia rights

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xf-2 · 5 years

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Tetsuhide Yamaoka, Australia-Japan Community Network July 4, 2019 11:19 pmfujioka nobukatsu, graduate project, Kent Gilbert, miki dezaki, shunichi fujiki, shusenjo, sophia university, the main battle ground of the comfort women issues, tony marano

On June 15, five people who appeared in a documentary called “Shusenjo: The Main Battleground of the Comfort Women Issue” (Tofu Films) sued the director and the production company for the film, bringing the battleground from the big screen to the courtroom.

Graduate Project Gone Awry

Kent Gilbert, Tony Marano, Nobukatsu Fujioka, Shunichi Fujiki and Yumiko Yamamoto filed charges against a young man who called himself Miki Dezaki for using footage of them in a commercial film without their consent.

The story goes that in 2016, Miki Dezaki approached several people for interviews on the comfort women Issue as part of his graduation project at Sophia University. For that purpose, Dezaki secured the consent of several people, including the five people involved in the case.

After his graduate school project, he apparently proceeded to do more filming, add music and further edits, making it into a commercial film shown publicly for the first time on October 7, 2018.

The plaintiffs have charged that the consent they gave was for Dezaki’s non-commercial graduation project and not for any other purpose, including a commercial film. The charges further accused Dezaki of uploading footage of Marano to Youtube without his consent.

The plaintiffs have sued to stop the film from showing. In addition, they have sought damages of ¥ 5,000,000 JPY ($ 46,420 USD) to Kent Gilbert and Tony Marano, and ¥ 1,000,000 JPY (¥ 9,284 USD) for each of the other three people.

How it Started

Let’s take a step back to 2016, when Miki Dezaki approached several well-known conservative opinion leaders, introducing himself as a graduate student of Sophia University. He asked for interviews with them in order to make a documentary film focused on the comfort women issue. He said the project was to complete his master’s degree.

One of Dezaki’s emails said, “As I researched, I found the comfort women issue was more complex than I had read in the Western liberal media. In researching, I found there was little evidence that the women were coerced to become comfort women, and that the lives of the comfort women were not as bad as some activists or experts would argue. I have to admit that I had believed the media reports, but now I have doubts…. As a graduate student, I have an ethical obligation to conduct interviews with you with respect and fairness. Also, since this is academic research, there are certain academic standards and conditions which must be met, so it will not be biased journalism.”

He approached Kent Gilbert, Yoshiko Sakurai, Nobukatsu Fujioka, Mio Sugita, Yumiko Yamamoto, Tony Marano (also known as the “Texas Daddy”), Shunichi Fujiki (Texas Daddy Japan secretariat), among others.

All of them took Dezaki at his word and expected he would make a fair and neutral documentary film as promised. On that basis, they agreed to interviews with him.

The Product Is Not What Was Promised

Time passed. On March 27, 2019, I headed for a small theater in Shibuya, where I had heard that a preview of the film would be screened. By then, I had also heard that all of the above-mentioned people Dezaki interviewed regretted cooperating with him on the film, which, contrary to their expectations, turned out to be another propaganda film about the comfort women.

I wondered what went wrong. The film was supposed to be a fair debate between those who claim the comfort women were sex slaves and those who say they were not.

Advanced information on the film indicated that advocates of the “comfort women are sex slaves” view who appear would include Yoshiaki Yoshimi, Etsuro Totsuka, Hirofumi Hayashi, Koichi Nakano, and Takashi Uemura.

Mihyang Yun, a representative of The Korean Council for the Women Drafted for Military Sexual Slavery by Japan, and Park Yu-ha, a professor at Sejong University in Seoul who wrote The Comfort Women of the Empire (2013, in South Korea, now banned) and was prosecuted for it in South Korea, were also said to make an appearance in the film. I wanted to see the film for myself to learn what was actually said.

The title of the film was Shusenjo: The Main Battleground of the Comfort Women Issue (Independent, 2019). The credits said it was written and directed by Miki Dezaki, who was billed as a Japanese American YouTuber in a leaflet on the movie. The flyer promised that the movie would be “Surprisingly thrilling!!!! This is the most aggressive documentary film today.”

As I watched, speakers appeared one after another making various claims. But was it “surprisingly thrilling,” as Dezaki’s flyer had promised? No, and the reason was clear: this film was far from fair.

Dezaki Set the Tone

The film’s tone made it clear that Dezaki was not neutral at all. Rather, he stood by those who claimed comfort women were sex slaves. While saying he would explore the issue from a neutral position, he started by expressing disdain for the views of those who said comfort women were not sex slaves, calling them “revisionists” and “denialists” right from the beginning.

His tone was very rude to those who cooperated from the opposition side. It raised questions about his motives, and I could not help but suspect that his email promises to those whose views he disdained were simply a trap to induce them to appear in the film.

Another point that caught my attention was that Dezaki avoided interviewing the most prominent scholars on the comfort women issue when their views did not fit with his conclusion.

Since Dezaki included in the film’s debate interviews with Yoshiaki Yoshimi and Hirofumi Hayashi, experts who have long been proponents of the sex slave story, he should have interviewed scholars with comparable qualifications on the other side, such as Ikuhiko Hata and Tsutomu Nishioka. This failure alone demonstrates the lack of balance in his work.

I was able to ask Dezaki in person about this point on April 4 at The Foreign Correspondents’ Club of Japan, where a preview of the film and an interview were held. He answered like this: “As for Nishioka, I saw his views on the internet. I thought he was not adding much more than others say and did not contact him.”

Then did the film offer any meaningful argument at all?

Were Comfort Women Coercively Recruited?

At one point, the film showed a 2007 clip of Prime Minister Shinzo Abe answering questions in the Diet. He said: “There were no such cases as government authorities intruding into private houses and forcibly taking women away. There was no coercion.”

Then Totsuka Etsuro appeared for the purpose of criticizing Abe. He was the lawyer who coined the word “sex slave” and spread it in the United Nations. He said: “Abe claims that the women were not coerced because they were not forcibly taken away against their will and tied with ropes. But, legally speaking, ‘coercive’ means ‘against their will.’ Then, ‘being deceived’ is categorized into ‘coerced’ because it is ‘against their will.’ Most Korean women at that time were deceived.”

In other words, since there was no coercion and there were no reported cases of forcible removal of women in the Korean Peninsula under the Japanese governance, he expanded the definition to include the feeling of “being deceived.”

Gilbert and Fujiki said: “The women were recruited mainly by Korean dealers. There would have been cases in which women were deceived by the [private] dealers.”

Mio Sugita added, “Newspapers at that time reported on many cases in which malicious dealers were arrested by the Japanese police.”

In the film, though, Hayashi Hirofumi refuted them, saying, “Reports in newspapers at that time had nothing to do with the coercive recruitment of comfort women. Certainly, the police arrested malicious dealers who deceived women and prostituted them. But the police overlooked dealers who were requested to do so by the military.”

I wish Hayashi had explained his statement by providing specific evidence in the film. How could the police distinguish malicious dealers from those who had received a request from the military?

I had heard of such claims before, but they were found to be groundless. If the police had been so discriminatory, it would have been very difficult to maintain security.

Who Called Them Sex Slaves?

Next, those who believe the comfort women were not sex slaves spoke in the movie, showing that the comfort women were well paid. They were able to save and/or send their money to their families. When their contract came to an end, they were free to go home. They enjoyed shopping. They went to sporting events and parties with Japanese soldiers. They were far from sex slaves.

But the advocates of the sex slave viewpoint counter the argument by claiming that, according to international law today, they were slaves.

Sex slave advocate Yoshiaki Yoshimi’s claim was particularly interesting. He refuted the argument that the comfort women had time for recreation with a convoluted reference to American Negro slaves, saying: “I think their daily lives were so hopeless that they couldn’t live without such recreation. For example, American Negro slaves gathered and had concerts or dance parties on Saturdays and Sundays. They also went hunting. They were so hopeless that slave owners had to allow them to do so to survive.”

He and other sex slave advocates failed to mention, however, that some Japanese soldiers fell in love with comfort women and married them, and that there were former comfort women who cherished the memory of Japanese soldiers who were their former lovers. The advocates of the sex slave argument in the film instead appear to want simply to disgrace Japanese by all means.

Kohki Abe, a member of the faculty of international studies at Meiji Gakuin, appeared next in the film. He claims that, based on international law, the comfort women are defined as sex slaves.

He said: “Slavery is a situation in which someone is utterly under the control of another. Even if the comfort women were able to earn lots of money and go out for pleasure, they were under another’s control and had to get permission to do so. Therefore, they were slaves.”

If that’s true, then it sounds like today’s ordinary salaried workers are all slaves!

If he wanted to make a claim based on international law, the claim should be either “It is technically possible to define them as slaves according to international law,” or “All prostitutes throughout history, not only the wartime comfort women of Japanese military, are defined as sex slaves according to international law.”

Nippon Kaigi (The Japan Conference)

This film was so long that I started feeling tired. Then, unexpectedly, the words “Japan Conference” suddenly appeared on the screen and woke me up. The Japan Conference has nothing to do with the comfort women.

Setsu Kobayashi, professor emeritus at Keio University and a constitutional scholar, began to talk. According to him, the Japan Conference has the power to influence the Abe administration as it intends to revive the constitution of the empire of Japan to return the country to an era where basic human rights are denied. And, in his view, Yoshiko Sakurai is leading their campaign.

He continued guessing, “The Japan Conference is supported by Shinto shrines, including the Yasukuni Shrine. Sakurai Yoshiko probably has an office for free within the shrine’s grounds.”

He then came to a very strange conclusion: “The Japan Conference’s doctrine of getting back to the pre-war Japan is terrifying. But I am determined to fight against it even if I get murdered in the battle.”

What a delusion! The Japan Conference and Yoshiko Sakurai have never expressed the slightest intention to revive the constitution of the empire of Japan.

And I have very good news for Kobayashi. His name is seldom mentioned around the Japan Conference. There is no one who has a reason to kill him. He is 120% safe.

I asked the Japan Conference whether or not Dezaki made a request to interview them while making the film. The answer was no. The Japan Conference also released a statement denying Dezaki’s accusation.

After all, The Main Battleground of the Comfort Women Issue is a video made by a YouTuber who cheated the people who were willing to help him with his supposed graduation thesis. Instead, he hid his true intentions of promoting a conspiracy theory which he never verified.

All Dezaki has successfully achieved is to deepen the conflict and distrust between people who have different opinions on the comfort women issue.

Author: Tetsuhide Yamaoka

#special reports

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shaswat2000-blog · 5 years

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Project 2- Final Draft

Race has been a matter of debate, which has been dividing the opinions of many scholars, authors, researchers and even common people over the years. In this research paper we will look back into the history to find the “circumstances” which led to race being a criteria of segregation, how it evolved overtime to take physical and cultural differences (in case of indigenous people) into its realm along with the contemporary and hidden forms of racism which are seen by the people as self-explanatory and natural. In the end we will also look at the negative impacts of racism on whites (which sounds hard) who without noticing play a vital part in sustaining racism. In all the research paper will reflect the history of race, and portray that racial segregation has never stopped in America, rather it has continuously redesigned itself over and over again to be a reason behind social and political security.

Method- For the references in my research paper I first looked for the sources which could explain the origins of race as a term, when it was introduced and how the term evolved, so I got a source which was rather a history book talking about colonialism, but it was effective. Looking for the sources on contemporary forms of racism was quite easy but I took those books which explicitly gave examples (in writings or images) of different forms of racism in modern society. One of the books led me to many different words in modern racism like racial profiling, institutionalized racism, minimization of racism etc and so this is how I got another source which had a plethora of these newly described words. The line which continuously repeated in all of my sources was the negative impact of racism on Blacks, something which everybody knows, so I searched for books on influences of racism on Whites and after a lot of searching I finally found a helpful book.

Methodology- I wanted a synthesis of resources from 2 different (may be opposite) views/angles in my research paper, so I got one of the books written by Englishmen David Allen talking about history and perpetuation of racism without taking a stance and a contemporary book extremely critical of racism. Then I took 2 different books but written in nearly same time so that I can get to know more about modern racism with 2 viewpoints. Both the books talked about the same thing but with different examples which helped me understand the basis of modern racism. Finally, I took a book which analyzed the relationship between young white children and what happens when they are first exposed to racism.

If we look at a brief timeline of race starting from 1600′s we will see that it was non- existent till early 1700′s, then in 1700’s and 1800’s it played a major role in determining servant and master status (which infamously led to slavery and servitude for life), was at its peak during English colonialism and Jim Crow segregation laws, became somewhat of a lesser force after civil rights and it was after the civil rights movement that the modern, indirect and unseen forms of racism developed.

Remember the Jim Crow rules?

Source- Google Images

Looking into the history we find that the term race had been used to refer to humans occasionally since the 16th century in the English language but was rarely used to refer to populations in the slave trade. It was a mere classificatory term like kind, type or even breed or stock but had no clear meaning until the 18th century (Rosenblum, Karen. E and Toni-Michelle C.Travis- Reading-1, 2015). It was at this time the English began to have wider experiences with varied populations and gradually developed attitudes and beliefs that had not appeared before in Western history (Rosenblum, Karen. E and Toni-Michelle C.Travis- Reading-1, 2015). The English had a long history of enmity with the Irish on their borders and out of their hostility with the Irish, created an image of “savagery” in which they (Irish) became institutionalized as “the other”. Savagery soon embedded in English life which led to the construction of their own identity as “civilized” Englishmen. Every new experience, along with growing technological superiority, political and material success widened the differences and denigrated all other people who were not part of the civilized world or who resisted the English much like indigenous people (Allen, 1994). With the early rise of merchant capitalism, development of new forms of wealth, notions about individual freedom, property rights, self-sufficiency, the English identified themselves uniquely from other Europeans and started calling them lower-class Europeans (Rosenblum, Karen. E and Toni-Michelle C.Travis- Reading-1, 2015).

The “invention” of the white race took place after an early, but unsuccessful, colonial revolt of servants and poor freedman known as Bacon’s rebellion in 1676 (Allen, 1994). The colonialists subsequently decided to establish a division among the masses of poor to further prevent their collaboration against government authorities. Since European servants, had the protection of English law, colonial leaders developed policies backed up by law that separated African servants and freedmen of European origin. The laws provided resources and benefits to poor, white freedmen and restricted the rights of Africans, Indians. Sooner class divisions diminished among poor whites and they started to symbolize themselves as “whites”/upper class/colonialist due to their light skins and common grounds in Europe and started to accumulate power and wealth (Rosenblum, Karen. E and Toni-Michelle C.Travis- Reading-1, 2015). By mid 19th century racial class and racial ideology had already been established with whites being the superior and the masters and African-American being inferior and the slaves.

After knowing the history of race we shift our focus on contemporary forms of racism, something that has largely gone unnoticed and seen as naturalized or in other words it has the green light of the people. Best example that comes in the mind is that people have naturally accepted that whites and blacks cannot live in the same neighbourhood. However except for members of white supremacist organizations, few whites in the United States claim to be “racist”. Infact most whites assert that they “don’t see any color, just people”? (Bonilla Silva, Eduardo, Chapter-1, Chapter-3, 2013) (Ryan, William. 2004). So the natural question arises is that who are the people that are making this housing segregation among whites and blacks. It is because Blacks have less access to the entire housing market because whites, through a variety of exclusionary practices by white realtors and homeowners, have been successful in effectively limiting their entrance into many neighborhoods. The thing that strikes is that white people still think that race is no longer prevalent in America, but the above example was one of many methods of discrimination. Another such discriminatory method that comes in our mind is the increased mass incarceration of blacks where white cops (who are being paid by the taxes given by the citizens including black people) intentionally prison and even kill the black people for most minor of offenses and sometimes even for no offense. This is something called “racial profiling” (Rosenblum, Karen. E and Toni-Michelle C.Travis- Framework Essay 2, 2015). One of the example of racial profiling in Rosenblum, Karen. E and Toni-Michelle C.Travis- Framework Essay 3 (2015) stands out where it says that when crack consumption increased among white people the government responded by increasing treatment tables in hospitals and extending insurance plans whereas when crack started influencing black people the government increased the prison numbers and started a “war on drugs”. This is what we call “color-blind racism” or “racism without racists” (Bonilla Silva, Eduardo, Chapter-1, 2013).

Color-blind racism can be understood when comparing Jim Crow rules (a direct method of discrimination) and what we call “victim blaming”. Jim Crow racism explained blacks’ social standing as the result of their biological and moral inferiority, color-blind racism avoids such facile arguments. Instead, whites rationalize minorities’ contemporary status as the product of market dynamics, naturally occurring phenomena, and blacks’ imputed cultural limitations (Bonilla Silva, Eduardo, Chapter-1, 2013). We have heard white people accusing blacks of being like thugs, lazy and advising them to work hard in order to gain wealth and power thus getting up in the societal ladder. This is the best example of what we call “victim blaming” (Ryan, William. 2004). Segregated houses are defended by saying that is natural and obvious that people from the same community and color want to live with one another and is something which has been accepted by the people (both blacks and whites) as well.

This is what the press had to say about the image- “A young man walks through chest-deep flood water after looting a grocery store”.

Source- Harris, Cheryl I., and Devon W. Carbado. 2008

The press said this about the image- “Two residents wade through chest-deep waters after finding bread and soda from a local grocery store”.

Source- Harris, Cheryl I., and Devon W. Carbado. 2008

As we know that media impacts the whole society, or its sphere of influence includes everyone. With a careful consideration we might be able to find the “race card/ race angle” as in the case of black man it is written “looting the store” whereas in case of white couple it says, “finding food from the grocery”. Without a doubt the captions and the images stirred up significant controversy with people saying that the images were racially suggestive that whites “find” and blacks “loot” (Harris, Cheryl I., and Devon W. Carbado. 2008).

It does require a great deal of imagination to think that how did the photographer knew that the black man looted the food whereas the white couple found the food. Had the captions been not there the same meaning would have been interpreted because race of the subjects inscribes those meanings (Harris, Cheryl I., and Devon W. Carbado. 2008). This stereotype that blacks are bad boys portrays the frame of mind of the people. Dr. King was not wrong saying that “people are judged by the content of their character, not by the color of their skin.” (Bonilla Silva, Eduardo, Chapter-1, 2013) but he must have never predicted that character of black people would be associated with murder, rapes, smuggling and of course loot and that of white people exactly the opposite. It was during the aftermath of Katrina only that the round of media speculation started where the media was showing that properties and people near the flood-affected area were being harmed, the news of rapes, murders were circulating the whole time on T.V. The people most affected from Katrina were poor black only, who were dying due to inadequate arrangements of the government after the flood and improper care of people by the government before the flood. The media changed the attention of the people from government ineffectiveness and the number of people dying to over-representation of blacks as criminals. So, media at the same time does under-reporting (what would be the future of affected people, government carelessness) to over-reporting (blacks are criminals) (Bonilla Silva, Eduardo, Chapter-1, 2013).

Think of a renowned white person who would you call racist, you will find many examples. However, think of a renowned white person you would call anti-racist activist, you will have a hard time remembering the name of any such person, but you will ultimately find someone. Not very often we had heard of impacts of racism on white people (especially young children). Consider a young white boy growing up, according to whom everyone is equal, realizes that the people of his color/community have commited some atrocious crimes against the blacks and he is the superior race and thus privileged. If he overcomes this realization of guilt he will take one of 2 extreme steps either completely avoiding the topic of race and racism and becoming the so called “neutral” and completely assimilate oneself to the hidden structures of racism or having a lot of black people as friends, spending a lot of time in the black community and ultimately wanting to act like a black person (Tatum, Beverly, 2009). Both these steps are the reasons behind the lack of white anti-racist activist. As we might know from the two options above that people will go towards the first one or the safer one and stop critically analyzing the things around them.

“Blacks came to America because the whites brought them here. It is due to their cheap labor, the economy of America is so good so why are they being forced out of the country with titles like “freedom from negro” becoming very common”.

In conclusion we can say that the introduction of racial segregation and racial identities was done by the English because of their fear of poor whites and possibly slaves engaging in rebellions together. From all the way to contemporary times what we see is “institutionalized” racism in popular culture and is reflected in the attitudes and beliefs of the people who have naively accepted it.

Works cited-

Allen, David, Elliston. The Naturalist in Britain :- A social history, Applause Theatre Book Publishers, 1994, Print

Rosenblum, Karen E and Toni-Michelle C. Travis. The Meaning of Difference: American Construction of Race, Sex and Gender, Social Class, sexual Orientation, and Disability- Framework Essay 1, Framework Essay 2, Reading 1. McGraw Hill, 7th edition, 2015

Bonilla-Silva, Eduardo. 2013. Racism without Racists: Color-Blind Racism and the Persistence of Racial Inequality in America. Plymouth, UK: Blue Ridge Summit: Chapter 1, Chapter 3, Rowman & Littlefield Publishers, 2013. 4th edition.

Harris, Cheryl I., and Devon W. Carbado. 2008. "Loot or Find: Fact or Frame?" in The Meaning of Difference : American Constructions of Race, Sex and Gender, Social Class, Sexual Orientation, and Disability, edited by Karen Elaine Rosenblum and Toni-Michelle Travis. New York, NY: McGraw-Hill Higher Education, c2008.5th Ed.

Tatum, Beverly Daniel. 2009. "Teaching White Students about Racism: The Search for White Allies and the Restoration of Hope." Pp. 277-88 in Foundations of Critical Race Theory in Education, edited by Edward Taylor, David Gillborn, and Gloria Ladson-Billings. New York: Routledge.

Ryan, William. 2004. "Blaming the Victim." in Race, Class, and Gender in the United States: An Integrated Study, edited by Paula S. Rothenberg. New York: Worth Publishers. 6th ed.

Reflections

1st reflection

With the help of multi-modal compositions, I was able to portray how media plays a role in sustaining racism and creating a vibe against Blacks. Also in the 1st project I had to give a long, written examples of contemporary racism, whereas in the 2nd project I was able to add more meaning to what I was trying to convey in less words by providing the images of a black man and a white couple wading through high waters in the aftermath of Katrina by putting the images first and then somewhat of a little explanation. By just reading the first few lines the reader will be able to understand what I am trying to say. In a way the multi-modal components created a good balance between images and words thus increasing effectiveness of my topic.

2nd reflection

In the 1st project I was not able to get the main point of in-class texts and my sources and used to write around the main points of the texts which was evident from my long summaries in annotated bibliography. However, the more sources I went through, I was more able to be more “specific” about the main theme of my research topic and was able to get the main gist of the text in general as well which can be seen in the conclusion of this project.

During my searching of sources, I encountered various sociological and modern words defining contemporary racist ideologies. Hence words like racial profiling, institutionalized racism, minimization of racism added more depth to my topic and helped me take a “critical” stance against existing racial structures and thinking.

3rd reflection

My research paper is an argumentative essay which tries to persuade the reader to think critically of the existing racial structures. Another genre that I could have used would be a blog as a research paper is less impactive in comparison to a blog, which is more effective and to the point. For a research paper we think about a certain topic and then search for our reference sources whereas in a blog we write what we think is right or wrong. In all, blog comes from the inside of a person whereas research paper comes from scholarly sources and is hence influenced.

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timeisacephalopod · 6 years

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Oh can you do like an expansion of the Celestiall Peter werewolf Bucky and dragon Tony. Like its Halloween and they're talking about what bullshit it is for people to dress up when any other time they'd be scared of what they go dressed as. I love those 3 together. Oh and a Rhodey cameo!!

I think this means as an extension of a story I wrote for my AO3 awhile ago in which the boys all went to uni and lived in the same house called Bad Habits (were you the person who posted a comment on one of my stories the other day? Anyways). You won’t need the original story for context for this! Just know Tony/ Peter Q/ and Bucky are a thing. This is a long boi, prepare!

“Can I use you as a costume?” Peter asks and Bucky glares so hard at him Tony thinks its a wonder he didn’t fall over dead. And Peter wasn’t even talking to Bucky.

“I’m a dragon, not a costume,” he says.

“You know with all those ads about humans not dressing up as caricatures of other cultures someone is really missing the opportunity to also throw out that dressing up as another species is not cool. I don’t look like a single fucking werewolf costume idiot humans sell,” Bucky snaps. Tony and Peter stare at him for a moment, not exactly surprised by the outburst by now.

Turns out he’s sensitive to Halloween as a holiday. “Yeah, so anyways can I use you as a costume?” Peter asks.

“I have had a total of three relationships with humans and all three ran off when I told them I was a werewolf and one of them tried to kill me before running. Then humans have the fucking gall to go out dressed as werewolves? I should eat them out of spite,” Bucky mumbles, glaring at the wall across from him.

“What the hell are you dressing up as to need a dragon?” Tony asks.

“Daenerys from Game of Thrones,” Peter says and Tony rolls his eyes.

“So you want me to be your dragon slave for a night?” he snaps.

Peter sighs, “the dragons like her, Tony. Its not offensive.”

He throws his hands up, “it is so and people think its fine to desecrate an entire species because I’m one of five left in the world and the only one who’s pointing out how ignorant that show is! Dragons don’t have mothers! Wait, yeah they do, but there is no mother of dragons!”

Bucky nods, “see what I mean? You owe him an apology,” Bucky tells Peter, who rolls his eyes theatrically.

“Dude, its a costume. Relax about it.”

Tony and Bucky exchange a look and turn back to Peter. “If you don’t get the hell out of my sight I’m going to light your ass on fire,” Tony tells him.

Peter, true to his being an utter dickhead, turns himself invisible because apparently celestials can do that. “Can I use you as a costume?” he asks, prompting a rather loud growl from Bucky.

Luis gives Peter an offended look that has Scott’s eyes going wide as he turns away a little, putting his hand in front of his face in a poor attempt at hiding himself. “That is the rudest shit I ever heard- Scott are you hearing this? You can’t just go up and ask dragons to be costumes, he’s a person, not a prop. All those ads we see about not dressing up as stereotypes of other culture but no one points out dressing up as another species is not cool,” Luis says. He takes a breath and, thankfully, Bucky cuts in before his rant can continue.

“Right? Humans hate werewolves except when they can dress up as them and claim its not offensive because they’re appreciating us or whatever. If you appreciated werewolves than you’d lobby for werewolf rights, not wear an ugly ass fake fur mask!” He shakes his head, clearly pissed off about this.

“Guys, I just want a cool costume,” Peter says, hands in the air a little.

Luis crosses his arms over his chest, “then go make one, you don’t need a dragon to make a cool costume. I’m going as a Dorito- totally inoffensive and also a delicious treat.”

“I’m offended by Doritos,” Peter says because he’s a prick. “They’re gross and taste like cardboard, and also they’re in the shape of triangles, which means they’re the product of the Devil and also the Illuminati.”

Luis turns to Scott like he’s about to give backup, which he doesn’t. “Okay you know what, get out of here with that false equivalence- you finding dumb reasons to be offended is not the same as turning a whole species into a joke for your own amusement while also ignoring the harm that comes to those creatures all for the sake of a dumb joke. Also what the hell kind of Doritos are you eating that taste like cardboard? It is not a Dorito’s fault that you don’t know how to read expiration dates or that you leave them out too long. Things get stale Quill, like your stale ass attitude and I will not tolerate this Dorito slander-”

“Ooookay,” Scott says, “someone needs to take a nap, or do some homework, or binge eat too many Skittles and throw up again. We’ll be out of your hair now,” he says, dragging Luis away.

“What? I am not doing the Skittle thing again- I learned my lesson. Scott, they need my help, humans have to do their part to-” his words are cut off by the basement door slamming shut. Tony snickers, pleased that they decided that in a house full of supernatural creatures maybe a couple humans weren’t a bad plan. Bucky had been worried Scott might try and kill him, Tony has no idea why he focused on Scott though to be fair Luis is about as non-threatening as they come, and Natasha isn’t fond of humans either but they didn’t want to be discriminatory.

Now it turns out that had been a pretty amusing choice thanks to all of Luis’ rants about everything from Romeo and Juliet to Elvish and why it was a difficult language to learn. And, apparently, why dressing up as a supernatural creature was an asshole thing to do

Peter looks down at Bucky, walking faithfully by his side while Tony perches on his shoulder. “You two are going to learn that humans aren’t terrible and I’m going to win this bet,” he tells them. Honestly, they both made a such a huge deal out of a fun holiday and also Peter now has the best costume ever even if Daenerys doesn’t have a dire wolf. Bucky still makes a cool piece of show authenticity even if he’s not at all happy of being part of a costume.

Bucky, as if hearing his thoughts, glares up at him. “Don’t look at me like that, humans will love you,” he says, patting Bucky’s head. Bucky growls a little and trots a little ahead of him and Peter leaves him to sulk in peace.

On his shoulder Tony reaches out and smacks him with one of scaly paws and Peter wrinkles his nose. “Don’t be like that,” he tells Tony, who promptly smacks him again. It doesn’t even hurt, like when a cat smacks you, so Peter doesn’t even know what the point of this is.

When they get inside he at least gets the recognition he deserves because hello, he has an actual dragon with his costume. And Bucky is cool also he guesses. “Where did you find a lizard that looks like that?” someone asks, smiling at Tony. He looks unimpressed by this and frankly Peter has to wonder who the hell thinks the average lizard his brown eyes and red and gold scales.

“He’s a dragon,” Peter says.

The girl in front of him snorts, “yeah, I got your costume, but what kind of lizard is he?”

Peter resists the urge to roll his eyes. “No, he’s an actual dragon. Like the species. Kinda small, but being pocket sized makes him easier to cart around all night so,” he says, shrugging. Tony slaps him again, clearly annoyed with the comment on his size but Peter can’t help that Tony fits in the hoods of his sweaters and when he’s not being a dick he thinks being carried around in there is fun.

“Aww, you’re so cute!” she says, reaching out to touch him and Tony, predictably, smacks her hand away. Bucky makes his presence known by shoving himself between Peter and his current companion in what he thinks is a bad attempt to defend Tony but whatever. Peter takes a step back though.

“You don’t pet dragons, oils on human’s skin doesn’t react well to their scales,” he says. At least, he thinks, Tony didn’t decide to start screaming like he usually did when people tried to pet him. And what is with that? He’s a damn lizard, not a cat, you don’t pet lizards. Well okay, some lizards are fine with it but still.

“Well you got him up there somehow,” she says.

This time he does roll his eyes, “I’m not human.” Being a celestial means he can avoid damaging oils and also that he can work as a heat lamp for Tony. He had tested that on a whim and it worked so that was pretty cool, not that it comes in handy now.

“Then what are you?” she asks, squinting like she can tell just looking at him. Bucky growls, hackles raised and honestly the question is annoying but not worth the growl. Peter flicks his ear and Bucky whirls on him unimpressed.

“A celestial,” he says.

“The hell is a celestial?” she asks.

He lets out a long sigh, “basically a god. Don’t look at me like that, we can build whole planets if we want to.” His asshole dad had one that was really cool before Peter found out about all his dead siblings. Bucky lets out another annoyed growl and Peter flicks his ear again. Damn werewolves, always so touchy.

“I think your dog is pissed off,” she says and Peter grabs Bucky’s snout before he does something he’ll regret in the morning.

“Not a dog, that’s a werewolf,” he says quickly. Bucky growls and Peter doesn’t let go of his mouth.

Thankfully his companion jumps back a little. “Why the hell would you bring a werewolf in public?” she asks, giving Bucky a panicked look.

Peter rolls his eyes so hard its a wonder they didn’t roll right out the door. “Because he’s a North American werewolf and they’re fucking harmless unless people say dumb offensive shit,” he says. The European brand of werewolf? Nightmare fuel, but they also know how to handle themselves. North American werewolves? Usually non-confrontational and lazy. Also very soft even if they shed a stupid amount of hair everywhere even when human. Peter has made peace with the hair and Tony’s occasional shed scale.

“Dumb offensive shit like what?” she asks. “Everyone knows werewolves eat people.”

Peter yanks Bucky back by the snout, which is probably a little mean but its either that or he eats someone out of spite and he’s going to regret that if he does it. “North American werewolves don’t eat people and even European werewolves will try for a damn deer or some shit first. That’s the dumb offensive shit I mean, along with calling him a dog. What the hell do you think werewolves look like, the shit you see on Teen Wolf?” Because they kind of look like Klingons and Peter kind of feels bad for laughing now but Bucky’s offended face had been so funny.

“Its my fault I didn’t know that,” she says and Peter squints.

“Its in literally every pro werewolf anything ever, if you didn’t know that you didn’t god damn Google it. If you’re going to spout offensive shit at least make it true. Like werewolves leave hair everywhere and yeah, they lick their ass sometimes.” Bucky yanks his muzzle free and gives him a look. “Don’t pull that shit, I’ve seen it happen.”

Bucky looks away, ears pulling back a little in shame. He might not be a dog by any stretch of the imagination but Peter is happy they at least share enough in common that their body language is basically the same, if more advanced in showing emotion in favor of werewolves.

Bucky curls up on Peter’s bed with Tony in his fur shivering as he tries to get warm but fur isn’t going to help him so Peter pulls him out, tucking him into his chest as his hands light up. Benefits of having godlike powers- hands that double as heat lamps. Tony stops shivering so hard and Peter sighs. “Okay, you two win. Humans are the worst and I honestly can’t believe I had to tell seven separate people that you can’t just pet dragons.” They didn’t even ask.

Bucky lets out an annoyed noise, lifting his head to glare at Peter. “Sorry so many people called you a dog and said you eat people,” he mumbles. “Mind going to get Tony some fruit? He’s been in the cold awhile.” Bucky slinks off the bed and Peter climbs into it, upping the heat going to his hands to warm Tony up faster.

When Bucky returns he’s carrying an assortment of fruits, “I told you this was a bad idea,” he says and Peter nods.

“Yup. And I didn’t listen like an idiot. I maintain that I had a cool costume until humans off and ruined it by trying to pet Tony though. What is he, a cat?” Bucky snickers as he climbs into bed, shimmying close to Peter. It betrays more than his words- werewolves are tactile creatures and when they’re mad they refuse to touch each other. Its kind of funny to watch them all get mad and avoid contact like they’re all repelled by each other.

Still, if Bucky isn’t avoiding contact he’s not that mad at Peter. “Here,” Bucky says to Tony, extending a grape towards his mouth. Tony takes the grape gleefully, destroying it in seconds. Bucky hands him a strawberry next. “I didn’t know you knew that much about werewolves,” he says as Tony destroys another berry. Jesus he eats those things fast.

“Yeah, I Googled them. Not that hard,” he says. Phrase of the fucking night- he swears he explained the most basic of shit to people like twelve times over.

“The difference between North American werewolves and European werewolves isn’t information that’s easy to find. Most don’t even make a distinction anymore,” Bucky murmurs. He hands Tony some pineapple and Tony pulls his head back. Bucky rolls his eyes and eats it himself, handing Tony a piece of watermelon that he happily takes instead.

“Yeah, because European werewolves were hunted to near extinction during witch trials in Europe. Seems kind of stupid considering it was never werewolves starting genocides and lighting people on fire. Except that one time in South Africa but that didn’t go well,” he says. Bucky frowns and he sighs, “I got stuck in a Googling suck hole. Did the same with dragons. Its how I figured out the hands thing,” he says, jostling Tony a little and earning a sharp yell for it. “Don’t be rude,” he tells Tony.

Bucky moves in closer, wrapping an arm around Peter. “That’s so sweet. Don’t ever convince me to be a Halloween costume again.”

Peter snickers, “next year I’ll let you eat people and Tony can light them on fire then we cal all fuck off to a planet I’ve made,” he says.

Bucky frowns, “can you even do that?”

Peter shrugs, “I’ve got a year to figure it out.”

Bucky looks at Tony, who happily takes another grape from his fingers. “Pretty sure he’ll be fine as long as there’s fruit.”

“Well, considering ninety percent of his diet is fruit yeah, I’d say so. I should try and make new fruit, that would be cool,” he says, grinning. Tony looks up at him, eyes wide with excitement and he laughs. “Guess I have a new botany project.”

“Well, so long as you stop pissing off the neighbors with plants that flip them off,” he says. Rude, Peter thinks those are fun and their neighbors are a bunch of uptight assholes.

#peter x bucky x tony #winterironquill #fanfiction

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telodogratis · 2 years

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Vaiolo scimmie, Pregliasco: "Rischio con contatto sessuale in generale"

Vaiolo scimmie, Pregliasco: “Rischio con contatto sessuale in generale”

Read More(Adnkronos) – “Evidenziare le caratteristiche oggettive della casistica attuale non autorizza, né giustifica, atteggiamenti di stigma o toni discriminatori”cronaca(Adnkronos) – “Evidenziare le caratteristiche oggettive della casistica attuale non autorizza, né giustifica, atteggiamenti di stigma o toni discriminatori”Adnkronos – ultimora

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blackkudos · 6 years

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Lupita Nyong’o

Lupita Amondi Nyong'o (Kenyan English: [luˈpiːtɑː ˈɲɔːŋɔ] ( listen); Spanish: [luˈpita ˈɲoŋ(g)o]; born March 1, 1983) is a Kenyan-Mexican actress. The daughter of Kenyan politician Peter Anyang' Nyong'o, she was born in Mexico City where her father was teaching and was raised in Kenya from the age of one. She attended college in the United States, earning a bachelor's degree in film and theater studies from Hampshire College.

Nyong'o began her career in Hollywood as a production assistant. In 2008, she made her acting debut with the short film East River and subsequently returned to Kenya to star in the television series Shuga (2009–2012). Also in 2009, she wrote, produced and directed the documentary In My Genes. She then pursued a master's degree in acting from the Yale School of Drama. Soon after her graduation, she had her first feature film role as Patsey in Steve McQueen's historical drama 12 Years a Slave (2013), for which she won several awards, including the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress. She became the first Kenyan and Mexican actress to win an Academy Award.

Nyong'o made her Broadway debut as a teenage orphan in the critically acclaimed play Eclipsed (2015), for which she was nominated for a Tony Award for Best Actress in a Play. Following a motion capture role as Maz Kanata in the Star Wars sequel trilogy, Nyong'o starred as Nakia in the Marvel Cinematic Universe superhero film Black Panther (2018).

In addition to acting, Nyong'o supports historic preservation. She is vocal about preventing sexual harassment and working for animal rights. In 2014, she was named the most beautiful woman by People.

Early life and background

Nyong'o was born in Mexico City, Mexico, to Kenyan parents, Dorothy Ogada Buyu and Peter Anyang' Nyong'o, a college professor. The family had left Kenya in 1980 for a period because of political repression and unrest; Peter's brother, Charles Nyong'o, disappeared after he was thrown off a ferry in 1980.

Nyong'o identifies as Kenyan-Mexican and has dual Kenyan and Mexican citizenship. She is of Luo descent on both sides of her family, and is the second of six children. It is a tradition of the Luo people to name a child after the events of the day, so her parents gave her a Spanish name, Lupita (a diminutive of Guadalupe). Her father is a former Minister for Medical Services in the Kenyan government. At the time of her birth, he was a visiting lecturer in political science at El Colegio de México in Mexico City. He later became a senior politician in Kenya.

The family returned to their native Kenya when Nyong’o was less than one year old, as her father was appointed a professor at the University of Nairobi. She grew up primarily in Nairobi, and describes her upbringing as "middle class, suburban". When she was sixteen, her parents sent her to Mexico for seven months to learn Spanish. During those seven months, Nyong'o lived in Taxco, Guerrero, and took classes at the Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México's Learning Center for Foreigners.

Nyong'o grew up in an artistic family, where get-togethers often included performances by the children, and trips to see plays. She attended Rusinga International school in Kenya and acted in school plays.

At age 14, Nyong'o made her professional acting debut as Juliet in Romeo and Juliet in a production by the Nairobi-based repertory company Phoenix Players. While a member of the Phoenix Players, Nyong'o also performed in the plays On The Razzle and There Goes The Bride. Nyong'o cites the performances of American actresses Whoopi Goldberg and Oprah Winfrey in The Color Purple with inspiring her to pursue a professional acting career.

Nyong'o later attended St. Mary's School in Nairobi, where she received an IB Diploma in 2001. She went to the United States for college, graduating from Hampshire College with a degree in film and theatre studies.

Career

Early work (2005–2012)

Nyong'o started her career working as part of the production crew for several films, including Fernando Meirelles's The Constant Gardener (2005), Mira Nair's The Namesake (2006), and Salvatore Stabile's Where God Left His Shoes (2007). She cites Ralph Fiennes, the British star of The Constant Gardener, as someone who inspired her to pursue a professional acting career.

In 2008, Nyong'o starred in the short film "East River", directed by Marc Grey and shot in Brooklyn. She returned to Kenya that same year and appeared in the Kenyan television series Shuga, an MTV Base Africa/UNICEF drama about HIV/AIDS prevention. In 2009, she wrote, directed, and produced the documentary In My Genes, about the discriminatory treatment of Kenya's albino population. It played at several film festivals and won first prize at the 2008 Five College Film Festival. Nyong'o also directed the music video "The Little Things You Do" by Wahu, featuring Bobi Wine, which was nominated for the Best Video Award at the MTV Africa Music Awards 2009.

Nyong'o enrolled in a master's degree program in acting at the Yale School of Drama. At Yale, she appeared in many stage productions, including Gertrude Stein's Doctor Faustus Lights the Lights, Chekhov's Uncle Vanya, and William Shakespeare's The Taming of the Shrew and The Winter's Tale. While at Yale, she won the Herschel Williams Prize in the 2011–12 academic year for "acting students with outstanding ability" .

Film and stage breakthrough (2013–2015)

Immediately after graduating from Yale, Nyong'o landed her breakthrough role when she was cast for Steve McQueen's historical drama 12 Years a Slave (2013). The film, which met with wide critical acclaim, is based on the life of Solomon Northup (played by Chiwetel Ejiofor), a free-born African-American man of upstate New York who is kidnapped and sold into slavery in Washington, DC in 1841. Nyong'o played the role of Patsey, a slave who works alongside Northup at a Louisiana cotton plantation; her performance met with rave reviews. Ian Freer of Empire wrote that she "gives one of the most committed big-screen debuts imaginable," and critic Peter Travers added that she "is a spectacular young actress who imbues Patsey with grit and radiant grace".

Nyong'o was nominated for several awards for 12 Years a Slave, including a Golden Globe Award for Best Supporting Actress, a BAFTA Award for Best Actress in a Supporting Role, and two Screen Actors Guild Awards, including Best Supporting Actress, which she won. She was also awarded the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress, becoming the sixth black actress to win the award. She is the first African actress to win the award, the first Kenyan actress to win an Oscar, and the first Mexican to win the award. She was the fifteenth actress to win an Oscar for a debut performance in a feature film.

Following a supporting role in the action-thriller Non-Stop (2014), Nyong'o co-starred in Star Wars: The Force Awakens (2015) as force-sensitive space pirate Maz Kanata, a CGI character created using motion capture technology. Nyong'o said that she had wanted to play a role where her appearance was not relevant. The acting provided a different challenge from her role as Patsey. Scott Mendelson of Forbes, characterised Nyong'o's role as "the center of the film's best sequence," and Stephanie Zacharek of Time called her a "delightful minor character". Nyong'o was nominated for the Best Supporting Actress at the 42nd Saturn Awards and Best Virtual Performance at the 2016 MTV Movie Awards for her role.

In 2015 Nyong’o returned to stage with a starring role as an unnamed girl in the play Eclipsed, written by Danai Gurira. The play takes place during the chaos of the Second Liberian Civil War, where the captive wives of a rebel officer band together to form a community, until the balance of their lives are upset by the arrival of a new girl (played by Nyong'o). Eclipsed became The Public Theater's fastest-selling new production in recent history. The play premiered on Broadway at the John Golden Theatre the following year. It was the first play to premiere on Broadway with an all-black and female creative cast and crew. Nyong'o said that she understudied the play at Yale in 2009 and was terrified to play the character on stage. Her performance met with critical acclaim. The New York Times' critic Charles Isherwood called Nyong'o "one of the most radiant young actors to be seen on Broadway in recent seasons, shines with a compassion that makes us see beyond the suffering to the indomitable humanity of its characters." Nyong'o's performance in Eclipsed earned her a Theatre World Award for Outstanding Broadway or Off-Broadway Debut Performance, an Obie Award for a Distinguished Performance by an Ensemble, and a nomination for the Tony Award for Best Actress in a Play. In addition, she was nominated for Outstanding Actress in a Play at the Outer Critics Circle Award and a Distinguished Performance Award at the Drama League Award. Nyong'o said that she turned down Hollywood films for the part.

Motion capture roles andBlack Panther(2016–present)

Nyong'o co-starred in Jon Favreau's The Jungle Book (2016), a live-action/animated movie, voicing Raksha, a mother wolf who adopts Mowgli (played by Neel Sethi). Robbie Collin of The Daily Telegraph wrote in his review that Nyong'o brought a "gentle dignity" to her role. She later co-starred in Mira Nair's Queen of Katwe (2016), a biopic based on the true story about the rise of a young Ugandan chess prodigy, Phiona Mutesi (played by Madina Nalwanga), who becomes a Woman Candidate Master after her performances at World Chess Olympiads. Nyong’o played Phiona's protective mother, Nakku Harriet. Brian Tallerico of RogerEbert.com said, "Nyong’o is phenomenal. She has an incredible ability to convey backstory." Geoff Berkshire of Variety called Nyong'o's performance "Simply radiant in her first live action role since winning an Oscar for 12 Years a Slave[...] she imbues what could have been a stock mother figure with such inner fire that Harriet feels worthy of a movie all her own."

Nyong'o reprised her role as Maz Kanata in Rian Johnson's Star Wars: The Last Jedi (2017). The following year, she starred as spy Nakia, a former member of Dora Milaje, a team of women who serve as special forces of Wakanda and personal bodyguards to T'Challa/Black Panther (Chadwick Boseman), in Ryan Coogler's superhero film Black Panther (2018), which marked the eighteenth film in the Marvel Cinematic Universe. Nyong'o learned to speak Xhosa for the part, and trained in judo, jujitsu, silat and Filipino martial arts. David Betancourt of The Washington Post wrote that the film "takes superhero cinema where it’s never gone before by not being afraid to embrace its blackness"; he particularly praised the portrayal of Nyong'o's character for avoiding stereotypical depictions of a black leading lady, writing that she "throws punches, shoots guns and steals hearts in a role she seems born for." Black Panther earned over $700 million to emerge as the highest-grossing film of 2018.

As of 2018, Nyong'o will be making her writing debut with a book entitled Sulwe, which will be published by Simon & Schuster Books for Young Readers. Sulwe (Luo for star) is the story of a five year old Kenyan girl, who has the darkest complexion in her family, for which Nyong'o drew upon her own childhood experiences. On screen, she will star as a teacher named Miss Caroline in Abe Forsythe's horror-romance Little Monsters. Nyong'o is also developing a television series based on Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie's novel Americanah, which she will produce and star in. In addition, she will produce and star in Born a Crime, a film adaptation of Trevor Noah's memoir of the same name, in which she will play Noah's mother, Patricia.

Personal life

Nyong'o resides in Brooklyn, New York. She is fluent in Spanish, Luo, English, and Swahili. On February 27, 2014, at the Essence Black Women In Hollywood luncheon in Beverly Hills, she gave a speech on the beauty of black women and talked about the insecurities she had as a teenager. She said her views changed when she saw South Sudanese supermodel Alek Wek become successful.

In 2013, her father was elected to represent Kisumu County in the Kenyan Senate and by 2017, he became Governor. Nyong'o's mother is the managing director of the Africa Cancer Foundation and her own communications company. Other family members include: Tavia Nyong'o, a scholar and professor at New York University; Dr. Omondi Nyong'o, a pediatric ophthalmologist in Palo Alto, CA; Kwame Nyong'o, one of Kenya's leading animators and leading technology expert; Isis Nyong'o, a media and technology leader who was named one of Africa's most powerful young women by Forbes magazine.

In 2014, the National Trust for Historic Preservation recruited Nyong'o in an effort to oppose development, including a new minor league baseball stadium, in the Shockoe Bottom area of Richmond, Virginia. The historic neighborhood, one of Richmond's oldest, was the site of major slave-trading before the American Civil War. On October 19, 2014, Nyong'o sent a letter to Richmond Mayor Dwight C. Jones, which she posted on social media sites, asking him to withdraw support for the development proposal.

In June 2015, Nyong'o returned to Kenya and announced that she will advocate globally for elephants with the international conservation organization WildAid, as well as promote women's issues, acting and the arts in Kenya. WildAid announced Nyong'o as their Global Elephant Ambassador.

Nyong'o is involved in the organization Mother Health International, which is dedicated to providing relief to women and children in Uganda by creating locally engaged birthing centers. She said she’d never thought much about birthing practices until her sister introduced her to MHI executive director Rachel Zaslow. Nyong'o felt bringing attention to such important but overlooked issues is a mandate for her as an artist. She was honored for her work at 2016 Variety's Power of Women.

In April 2016, Nyong'o launched an anti-poaching "hearts and minds" campaign with her organization Wildaid in advance of Kenya Wildlife Service's history-making ivory burn that occurred April 30. The Kenyan government burned 105 tonnes of Ivory and 1.35 tonnes of rhino horn in a demonstration of their zero tolerance approach to poachers and smugglers who were threatening the survival of elephants and rhinoceros in the wild.

In October 2017, Nyong'o wrote an op-ed for The New York Times, in which she revealed that Hollywood producer Harvey Weinstein sexually harassed her twice in 2011, while she was a student at Yale. She vowed that she would never work with Weinstein, hence her declining a role in Southpaw (2015). Nyong'o also wrote about her commitment to work with women directors or male feminist directors, who had not abused their power.

In the media

Nyong'o was mentioned in Christian rapper Lecrae's song "Nuthin'" from his 2014 album Anomaly and was referenced by Jay Z in his verse from Jay Electronica's song "We Made It". She was also mentioned in the parody song "American Apparel Ad Girls" by the drag queens Willam Belli, Courtney Act and Alaska Thunderfuck. Nyong'o was mentioned in the 2015 African song Nerea by Kenyan afro-pop band Sauti Sol. Rapper Nicki Minaj mentioned Lupita in her verse on A$AP Ferg's remix of "Plain Jane" and was referenced by rapper Wale in his song, "Black is Gold".

Nyong'o was included in Derek Blasberg's 2013 best dressed list in Harper's Bazaar. In 2014, she was chosen as one of the faces for Miu Miu's spring campaign, with Elizabeth Olsen, Elle Fanning and Bella Heathcote. She has also appeared on the covers of several magazines, including New York's spring fashion issue and the UK magazine Dazed & Confused. In April of that year, she was named "The Most Beautiful Woman" by People. and was named the new face of Lancôme, making her the first black woman to appear on the brand. Later that November, she was named "Woman of the Year" by Glamour.

Nyong'o was on the July 2014 cover of Vogue, making her the second African woman and ninth black woman to cover the magazine. That same month she also appeared on the cover of July's issue of Elle (France). She appeared on the October 2015 issue of American Vogue, making it her second cover in a row. That month, Congressman Charles Rangel and Voza Rivers, the head of the New Heritage Theatre Group, announced the day is officially "Lupita Nyong'o Day" in Harlem, New York. The honor was announced as a surprise during an open discussion between Nyong'o and image activist Michaela Angela Davis at Mist Harlem.

Nyong'o was included in Annie Leibovitz's 2016 Vanity Fair's Hollywood Issue. Nyong'o was honored with a caricature portrait in May 2016 at Sardi's restaurant in New York City for her debut on Broadway. That July, she was chosen as one of the first celebrities, alongside with Elle Fanning, Christy Turlington Burns, and Natalie Westling to star in Tiffany & Co.'s Fall 2016 campaign styled by Grace Coddington. Nyong'o appeared on Vogue's October 2016 cover, making it her third issue. That month, she was an honoree at the 2016 Elle Women in Hollywood Awards.

In January 2017, she appeared on the cover of Vanity Fair's Hollywood Issue. She later appeared on the cover of UK's The Sunday Times Magazine for their October '17 issue. On November 2017, she appeared on the cover of Grazia UK magazine. She later expressed her disappointment with the cover on social media for altering her hair to fit European standards of what hair should looks like. Photographer An Le later apologized in a statement, saying it was "an incredibly monumental mistake".

In December 2017, Nyong'o landed her fourth Vogue cover in a row for the January '18 issue, making her the first black actress to do so. She was also included in Tim Walker's 2018 Alice's Adventures in Wonderland - themed Pirelli Calendar as character The Dormouse.

https://goo.gl/Jwz8d6

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conniejoworld · 3 years

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Bill would allow death penalty for abortion

A North Texas Republican has introduced a bill that would not only outlaw abortion, it would allow the death penalty for women and physicians who carry out the procedure. AUSTIN — North Texas Republican state Rep. Bryan Slaton introduced a bill Tuesday that would not only abolish abortion, but also allow the death penalty for women and physicians who carry out the procedure.The bill, House Bill 3326, would leave women who get an abortion and physicians who deliver them open to assault or homicide charges — a capital offense — and has no exceptions for rape and incest, as the Texas Tribune first reported.Listed as an exemption is an ectopic pregnancy, which “seriously threatens the life of the mother when a reasonable alternative to save the lives of both the mother and the unborn child is unavailable.”“Today, I filed HB 3326 to Abolish Abortion in Texas,” Slaton of Royse City said in a tweet Tuesday. “The bill will end the discriminatory practice of terminating the life of innocent children, and will guarantee the equal protection of the laws to all Texans, no matter how small.”The bill banning abortion at fertilization would also allow the attorney general to monitor the state’s enforcement and direct a “state agency to enforce those laws, regardless of any contrary federal statute, regulation, treaty, order, or court decision.”Texans who are dealing with the compounding consequences of several crises deserve “real leadership” said Aimee Arrambide, executive director at Avow, a non-profit working to secure unrestricted abortion access for Texans.Arrambide added that Texans deserve expanded access to health care, that includes abortion, rather than cheap political shots.Advocacy manager for Progress Texas, Diane Gómez, also called this a “strictly political move.”“Bills like this basically show Texans that Republicans don’t have health care in mind,” Gómez said. “To file a bill like this, it’s just further stoking the fear in people’s minds, folks that really need access to basic health care, in thinking that this basic right is trying to be criminalized.”Gómez added that if state Republicans truly valued the lives of Texans, the mask mandate wouldn’t have been lifted and Medicaid would already be expanded.Previous attempts to push through similar bills in Texas have failed, but state Republicans are determined to try again as Republicans nationwide hope to force the issue before the Supreme Court.Rep. Tony Tinderholt, R-Arlington, introduced HB 948 in 2017, though it failed to receive a hearing. Two years later a similar bill died in committee.As for this session’s push, Texas’ HB 3363 was filed on the same day Arkansas Gov. Asa Hutchinson signed a near-complete ban on abortion, which is expected to become a lightning rod for states like Texas that look to get legislation of its own to Gov. Greg Abbott’s desk.Texas Republicans have made it clear that restricting abortion rights will be a focus, as was evident in Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick’s list of priorities for the session that included a bill that would ban abortions once a fetal heartbeat is detected, and an abortion trigger law that would go into effect if Roe v. Wade is overturned.Other pieces of abortion legislation, such as HB 69, look to prohibit women from getting an abortion after 12 weeks of pregnancy, which would be a significant change from the current 20 weeks.This all comes during a pandemic that has abortion rights advocates arguing that now is the time to expand health care, including access to abortion, while abortion opponents believe they can challenge Roe v. Wade under a more conservative Supreme Court that includes three justices who were appointed by former President Donald Trump.Twitter: @alex__briseno

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ao3-spideypool · 6 years

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Children of the Forrest

read it on the AO3 at http://ift.tt/2p12Fft

by YuriMalek

On every persons 18th birthday their true gender becomes apparent. Omegas are both loved for their sexual appeal, but discriminated against due to assumed inferiority. Alphas are expected to be strong and always tough, and betas just aren't paid attention to.

Nick Fury high is an All Boys Private Academy, but only by name. It's relaxed and non discriminatory policies makes it seem like any regular public high school. The boys are are all repressed and full of hormones they've never experienced before and they're looking for something to keep them entertained. Follows the life various Nick Fury high students as they attempt to navigate through life when drugs, sex, friends, and parents tempt them daily.

Words: 3740, Chapters: 1/1, Language: English

Fandoms: Marvel Cinematic Universe, The Avengers (Marvel Movies), The Avengers (Marvel) - All Media Types, Marvel, Marvel Cinematic Universe RPF, X-Men - All Media Types, X-Men (Movieverse), Skins (UK)

Rating: Mature

Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence

Categories: M/M

Characters: Tony Stark, Steve Rogers, Clint Barton, Wade Wilson, T'Challa (Marvel), James "Bucky" Barnes, Thor (Marvel), Bruce Banner

Relationships: Steve Rogers/Tony Stark, James "Bucky" Barnes/Steve Rogers, Clint Barton/Hulk, Erik Killmonger & T'Challa, Peter Parker/Wade Wilson

Additional Tags: Alpha/Beta/Omega Dynamics, Alpha/Omega, Omega Verse, Non-Traditional Alpha/Beta/Omega Dynamics, Recreational Drug Use, Drug Use, References to Drugs, Drug-Induced Sex, Fluff and Angst, Fluff, Romantic Fluff, Angst, Humor, Fluff and Humor

read it on the AO3 at http://ift.tt/2p12Fft

#IFTTT #ao3feed #fanfic #spideypool

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paoloxl · 6 years

Link

Amnesty International, nel suo Rapporto Annuale 2017-2018, appena pubblicato, denuncia come l’odio stia attraversando il dibattito pubblico italiano, soprattutto in questa fase di campagna elettorale. Gianni Rufini, direttore generale di Amnesty International Italia, ha osservato: “Oggi è un’Italia intrisa di ostilità, razzismo, xenofobia, rifiuto dell’altro, paura ingiustificata verso tutto ciò che è diverso da noi: non solo migranti, ma rom, donne, poveri (daspo urbani contro i barboni)”. Lo testimoniano i dati della task force “Hate Speech” e le segnalazioni del “Barometro dell’odio” della campagna “Conta fino a 10”attivate in questi mesi. A urne chiuse, oltre al rapporto finale con tutti i dati raccolti verrà pubblicata la “mappa dell’odio”, che mostrerà per ogni regione il livello raggiunto dal discorso d’odio e le categorie prese di mira. Amnesty International Italia ha informato i leader dei maggiori partiti politici in corsa alle elezioni dell’avvio del monitoraggio e ha chiesto loro di proporre un linguaggio non discriminatorio, durante la fase finale della campagna elettorale, e di diffondere le raccomandazioni tra i candidati del proprio partito. Dalle 500 attivazioni promosse dal settembre 2017, per il monitoraggio e il contrasto alla diffusione dell’odio online (i discorsi di odio, le notizie false, i pregiudizi contro categorie vulnerabili), emerge che l’80% dei casi è relativo a migranti e rifugiati (con tematiche relative a islamofobia, xenofobia, terrorismo e sicurezza) e il 15% a rom (nomadismo, furto, finta povertà). Il “Barometro dell’odio” sta invece monitorando le dichiarazioni di oltre 1.400 candidati alle elezioni politiche e regionali del prossimo 4 marzo seguendo i loro profili Facebook e Twitter. Nei primi 10 giorni, sono state raccolte 500 dichiarazioni con discorsi offensivi, discriminatori o che incoraggiano alla violenza: il 66% presenta contenuti discriminatori/razzisti, mentre il 20% è offensivo o veicola stereotipi. Autori sono stati 117 candidati (l’8% del totale). Il 42% delle dichiarazioni segnalate ad oggi provengono da leader, il 37% da candidati parlamentari e il 21% da candidati presidenti: un leader su tre fa ricorso a discorsi offensivi, razzisti e di odio. Il 50% delle dichiarazioni sono da attribuire a candidati della Lega, il 27% a Fratelli di Italia e il 18% a Forza Italia. Il 79% delle dichiarazioni ha come bersaglio i migranti, il 12% veicola discriminazione religiosa, il 5% se la prende con i rom e il 4% veicola discriminazioni di genere. Numeri allarmanti considerando che si riferiscono a un periodo di tempo ristretto. Questi dati, confermano una tendenzache registriamo da tempo con il nostro monitoraggio quotidiano (cfr. nostro database online). La campagna elettorale esaspera nei toni e nell’intensità una degenerazione del dibattito pubblico e politico che ha ormai normalizzato la polarizzazione stereotipata tra cittadini italiani e stranieri. Dal 1 gennaio 2017 sino al 31 ottobre 2017, complessivamente, sono 332 i casi di violenza verbale registrati su di un totale di 452. Tra i casi di violenza verbale, distinguiamo 191 casi di “propaganda razzista” (fra i quali ben 65 discorsi d’odio, 47 di questi ad opera di attori istituzionali) e 79 casi di manifestazioni pubbliche razziste. Ma risulta faticoso e difficile stare dietro a questo fiume di dichiarazioni quotidiano. Fra i tanti casi, di due giorni fa, le dichiarazioni di Tommaso Foti,candidato all’uninominale della Camera per la coalizione di centrodestra FdI: «Potremo mai governare con chi crede di potere portare l’Africa in Italia?Importiamo ignoranti e facciamo scappare i nostri laureati». O ancora, Pietro Pisani, candidato all’uninominale del Senato per la Lega Nord, «Prima gli italiani – ha argomentato – perché non ha senso che il nostro Paese si riempia di immigrati clandestini che poi vanno a rafforzare i ranghi della criminalità, spesso addirittura importando organizzazioni come la mafia nigeriana che ha dimostrato tutta la sua crudeltà con i terrificanti fatti di Macerata». Di oggi, ancora, l’affermazione di Roberta Lombardi, parlamentare uscente e candidata del Movimento 5 stelle alla presidenza della Regione Lazio: “Quando penso alle province del Lazio e ai suoi borghi penso ad accogliere più turismo, che rilancia l’economia locale, e meno migranti, che invece pesano sull’economia locale. Non è questione di destra o di sinistra, ma di buon senso”. Il messaggio elettorale è davvero intriso di razzismo e ormai la fa da padrone in questi ultimi giorni di campagna elettorale. Davvero troppe sono le dichiarazioni che si rincorrono sui media. E sconcertante è l’assuefazioneche sembra caratterizzare una buona parte dell’opinione pubblica.

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xtruss · 4 years

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Labour MPs taking the knee for #BLM voted to bomb Libya, ushering in a regime that restored the slave trade in black Africans

'The performance is an insight into Labour’s confused stance on race. On the one hand, the party thinks it “owns” the black vote and can put pressure on the government over its racist positions. On the other, Labour’s own record is marked by race discrimination.' — James Heartfield

James Heartfield is a British writer and lecturer, and the author of The Death of the Subject Explained (2006), and The European Union and the End of Politics (2013). He tweets:

For the true story about the Guardian's hostility to democracy, Suffragettes, the working class and Abraham Lincoln, read this:50,000 Editions of the Imperialist, Warmongering, Hate-Filled Guardian Newspaper, by Murray McDonald, Kindle Edition

Many of them also voted to attack Iraq and Syria, and their party was the first to bring in discriminatory immigration controls. Why is Labour’s stance on race so confused and contradictory?

Labour leader Keir Starmer and his deputy Angela Rayner had themselves photographed “taking the knee” in their office to remember George Floyd, killed by the Minneapolis Police, in the gesture that has been adopted by the Black Lives Matter protests. Afterwards, Labour’s MPs knelt outside Parliament. The London and Tower Hamlets Mayors, Sadiq Khan and John Biggs made their own contribution to the commemoration by having the statue of slave trader Robert Milligan removed from the West India Docks he built.

The performance is an insight into Labour’s confused stance on race. On the one hand, the party thinks it “owns” the black vote and can put pressure on the government over its racist positions. On the other, Labour’s own record is marked by race discrimination.

When Jamaican immigrants first arrived in Britain on the SS Empire Windrush in 1948, Colonial Secretary Arthur Creech Jones told the Cabinet it was a problem that would have to be dealt with. It was the beginning of a long history of race discrimination. In 1968, it was Harold Wilson’s Labour government that first brought in race-based immigration controls, when it refused entry to Commonwealth citizens who didn’t have a grandparent born in Britain.

In local government, Labour councils such as Tower Hamlets segregated the allocation of council housing, favouring white tenants over Bangladeshis, under a policy of “local connections”.

To explain away these racially motivated policies, Labour shifted the blame onto the voters, claiming it had to accommodate racist sentiments to get into power. It would be truer to say that it was Labour’s commitment to state power at home and imperial reach abroad that led it to discriminate against its black citizens.

All through the 1980s, the Labour leadership fought to limit the influence of the party’s black supporters on the choice of candidates for Parliament. In 1995, two leading shadow cabinet members, Clare Short and Harriet Harman, headed up a Membership Abuse Committee that looked into Muslim infiltration of the party.

When Labour returned to power in 1997, the party once again blew hot and cold on the race issue. Immigration Minister Barbara Roche persuaded Tony Blair’s cabinet to adopt a stridently liberal approach to immigration. According to insiders, Blair favoured greater immigration to dilute the influence of traditional white Labour supporters.

Later, Labour ministers such as David Blunkett and Jack Straw shifted towards a more hostile policy. Straw had himself filmed at Dover with police, while they raided a lorry looking for illegal immigrants. Two weeks later, the stricter policy led to the deaths of 58 Chinese migrants, who suffocated in an inward-bound lorry at the same port.

A breach between Labour’s Muslim supporters opened up in 2003, when Tony Blair committed the party to support George Bush’s Iraq War. The move was deeply unpopular and led to massive demonstrations. A significant section of Labour’s youth and Muslim vote then peeled off to put George Galloway, standing as an independent anti-war candidate, into Parliament, winning the Bethnal Green and Bow constituency from Labour.

When Labour lost control of the Tower Hamlets mayoralty to Lutfur Rahman’s Tower Hamlets First Party, Labour’s John Biggs used an obscure law against “undue spiritual influence” (originally drafted to stop Catholics organising a bloc vote) to have the election overturned. The spurious grounds were that Muslims were mindless saps who would vote whichever way they were told in the mosque.

After the Labour left’s Jeremy Corbyn captured the party leadership in 2015 but failed to win two elections in a row, the centrists are back in charge. Labour’s new leader, Keir Starmer, won because the members hoped he would be seen as a safer pair of hands.

In his years as Director of Public Prosecutions, appointed when Gordon Brown was Prime Minister, Starmer proved his respectable credentials by blocking the prosecution of the police who shot and killed the Brazilian immigrant Jean Charles de Menezes in 2005, and in 2011, fast-tracked the prosecution of those who took part in rioting after police shot Mark Duggan during an attempted arrest.

With the centrists back in power, the Labour Party is once again in the hands of the people who rallied for an interventionist policy of waging war against peoples overseas. Starmer’s cabinet includes Hilary Benn, who led the campaign to bomb Syria in 2015, and David Lammy and Lisa Nandy, who voted to bomb Libya in 2011. The attack on Libya brought to power a regime that restored the slave trade in black Africans.

Labour’s support for tokenistic performances, such as taking the knee outside Parliament, and removing statues of long-dead slave traders, is a substitute for policies that could help people of colour in Britain. Labour needs to stop treating black people as voting fodder and taking their votes for granted. A commitment to a non-racial immigration policy and against virtue-signalling wars in the developing world would do more practical good.

— RT | June 16, 2020

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easyfoodnetwork · 4 years

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Lists of Black-Owned Restaurants Are a Start, but They’re Obviously Not Enough

Peppa’s in Brooklyn | Louise Palmberg/Eater NY

Spending money at black-owned restaurants is a direct way to effect change under capitalism. But reading a list is the lowest bar to clear when it comes to engagement with black-owned restaurants

It’s been nearly two weeks of police violence in response to protests over the police killings of George Floyd, Breonna Taylor, and Tony McDade, and the unrest shows no sign of stopping. Despite curfews, tear gas, and arrests, protesters continue to march, and now, governments are beginning to listen to their demands. There is also renewed interest in all the ways non-black people can support the black community, whether it’s by asking politicians to repeal racist laws, or just by supporting black-owned businesses. The latter instinct has led to the spawning of lists and ad-hoc spreadsheets chronicling black-owned restaurants across the country.

Encouraging people to spend their money at black-owned restaurants seems like a direct way to effect change under capitalism, given the historic and systemic lack of resources afforded to black communities and black business owners. Black and brown-owned restaurants are more than three times as likely to be denied loans than white-owned businesses. “A lot of us have had to build our businesses from scratch, and that may be through personal savings and loans, through family members, credit cards, or we have refinanced our homes,” Evelyn Shelton, owner of Evelyn’s Food Love, told Eater in a piece about how black women in the restaurant industry would be disproportionally affected by COVID-19. “We are in uniquely different positions when we start, which makes where we are now even more difficult.”

The creation of the black-owned business lists is one way to show support outright. “It came from a place of deep frustration,” Kat Hong said of creating a spreadsheet for black-owned restaurants in LA over the weekend. “I was frustrated that the government wasn’t doing more to protect Black people. Frustrated that I don’t have the funds to make huge donations, and that with all of the information we’re constantly being inundated with, it’s hard to know where our dollars would be best spent anyway.”

Hong is an editorial assistant for The Infatuation, and indeed many of the new spreadsheets that have circulated most widely over the last week have been started by those working in food journalism, though they’ve now pivoted to being almost entirely crowdsourced. The New Yorker’s food critic Hannah Goldfield is helming New York’s; San Francisco Chronicle restaurant critic Soleil Ho started the Bay Area’s; journalist Zachary Fagenson spearheaded Miami’s; and food writer (and Eater contributor) Naomi Tomky started Seattle’s. Many other lists and guides are anonymous, created by activists and other supporters, such as a list of black-owned wineries by McBride Sisters, or this list of restaurants in Richmond, Virginia by community leaders and the local tourism organization. There are so many, there is now a list of all the lists, both spreadsheets and published articles.

It’s striking that many of the most recent circulated lists were not created by black people. “That shouldn’t be the case,” says Hong. Which is not to say this is the first time someone has thought to create this kind of database: Black people have been doing this work for ages, whether through websites, apps, and directories of black-owned businesses; the famous Green Book guide of businesses that would be welcoming of black patrons; or Booker T. Washington’s National Negro Business League. These resources existed, and still exist, to foster community, support, and safe spaces for both business owners and customers.

The fact that these spreadsheets are spreading with such speed in non-black spaces speaks to the power these protests have had, but also to one of the reasons why black-owned restaurants have been considered by non-black patrons as non-mainstream spaces, rather than fully integral parts of any community’s dining landscape: Food media is very, very white, and while Hong’s and others’ positions in food media give their spreadsheets reach and authority, they’re also a symptom of a white supremacist culture that relies on non-black people to bestow wider cultural legitimacy on black-owned restaurants. (The same can often be said for the ways white diners view most restaurants owned by people of color and serving non European cuisine.)

“I had some concerns in making it because I think things like this can make people feel like they’ve ‘done something about racism’ when, really, thinking about where you spend your money is just this one, tiny part of the work that needs to be done,” said Naomi Tomky, who created the Seattle list. To that end, she made sure to include other anti-racist resources alongside the list of restaurants, hoping that the existence of the list would also make people question why it needs to exist in the first place. “Without even leaving the food side of this, asking yourself why you didn’t already eat at these places — and the systemic racism inherent in those reasons — is a good second step.”

But there’s also worry from black writers that these new lists erase ones created by and for the community, or about outright plagiarism of work that’s already been done by black people. Gabby Beckford, a black travel writer, wrote a list of black-owned restaurants in San Diego last fall, but she recently watched as non-black creators repurposed her list without credit, and as larger publications credited those creators instead. “The few that repurposed my list in order, word for word, concede 100 percent to using it and credited me only after the fact when I called them out,” she told Eater. She recently republished her list, with even more restaurants.

The lists come at a time when eating “in” is still a nebulous concept. In the midst of social unrest, there is also an ongoing pandemic, and while restaurants in many states have opened up outdoor dining areas or indoor dining rooms, there are often still restrictions on how many people are allowed inside, and lots of restaurants are still only serving delivery and takeout, or remain closed. Across the country, black and POC-owned restaurants are at greater risk of closure due to the pandemic. Just 12 percent of black and Latinx-owned businesses who applied for PPP loans received what they asked for, and the Center For Responsible Lending determined that 95 percent of black-owned businesses “stand close to no chance of receiving a PPP loan through a mainstream bank or credit union.” It’s a catch-22: Many black and Latinx-owned businesses never previously sought out loans, because of historically discriminatory banking practices, but often, banks only considered PPP loans from existing customers.

Between the pandemic, the protests, and the economic crash that’s disproportionately affected people of color and the food service industry, supporting black-owned restaurants is crucial. But aside from that, everyone agrees that reading a list is the lowest bar to clear when it comes to engagement with black-owned restaurants, and it’s highly likely that after a few weeks, many who promised to add black-owned restaurants into their restaurant rotations will fall back into old patterns. “The absurdity of these lists is the suggestion that dining at a black-owned business in any way addresses the brutal and deadly force that police continue to unleash on black people,” writes Ruth Gebreyesus for KQED. “At best, it scratches the itch of ego-driven guilt.”

Hong hopes that “in addition to using our spending power, when it comes to supporting black-owned restaurants, using our voices and platforms is just as vital. They will be crucial for not just their survival, but their ability to flourish.” Which means not just listing black-owned restaurants, but telling their stories, including them in lists and profiles where blackness isn’t the frame, and especially paying black writers to do that work. Because while the short-term goal is to infuse these businesses with cash, the long-term goal is to make sure they are viewed as essential parts of their communities by non-black people. That’s why Beckford said she sought to include context and history in her piece, not just phone numbers. “What I learned from going into these restaurants and emailing back and forth with these owners is that building a relationship and learning the stories of these businesses is what secures long-term customers,” she said. “And what I think will help generally decenter whiteness from these customers’ lives.”

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Peppa’s in Brooklyn | Louise Palmberg/Eater NY

Spending money at black-owned restaurants is a direct way to effect change under capitalism. But reading a list is the lowest bar to clear when it comes to engagement with black-owned restaurants

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timeisacephalopod · 6 years

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Rewards Points

Remember that YouTube AU I wrote with Peter Q/ Stephen/ Tony? Well I liked it so I’m writing more of it. So this is more of that (also if you want to find the first you can locate it under YouTube AU and also IronStarQuill).

Tony considers the empty spot beside him and Peter is doing the same. “Have we ever done a video without Stephen?” he asks eventually.

He shakes his head, “pretty sure we haven’t. How do we start this?”

“Why are we even confused? He never starts these things, most of our videos are us talking,” Peter points out.

Its true for the most part but Stephen always has something to say and now Tony is confused without his presence. “Maybe we should wait until he’s back,” he says,

Peter considers it, he can see Peter consider it, but he eventually shakes his head. “Nah, he’d be pissed we didn’t stick to the schedule. You know how he is.” Shit does he ever, Stephen is a damn stickler for being on time and schedule. It works for Peter, who’s usually under a time crunch on set, but Tony has never liked being on time or on schedule. He makes his own times and schedules and everyone else works around him.

“How is it possible that none of our schedules have ever conflicted with these videos before?” he asks. That simply isn’t possible- Peter’s jobs might be always up in the air, but Stephen and Tony travel consistently for their jobs. Especially him.

“We do dark weeks when none of us are going to be around,” Peter says. “Which usually means only one of us is around. Its just weird luck that two of us are here and Stephen is off doing doctor things. I think, I didn’t really ask,” Peter says.

“He’s giving a talk on spines or something like that, I have a hard time keeping up,” he admits.

Peter looks instantly relieved. “Jesus, I thought I was the only one. I mean you’re a genius and all that and Stephen can go on for hours if you let him.”

That’s an understatement but yeah, Tony has a hard time keeping up with language he doesn’t understand. He spends a lot of time looking up the terms Stephen uses on the fly but none of it seems to stick in his mind. Biology is not the kind of science he finds interesting unless it involves technology somehow. “Yeah, I don’t really care about spine things. I mean I care that Stephen cares but I don’t really know anything about it,” he says.

They sit awkwardly for a long moment before Peter speaks up. “What was this video supposed to be about?” he asks, defaulting to wrangling duties, Tony supposes.

“You pissing off studios because you thought it was funny,” he says. It’s a topic Stephen wouldn’t have much to contribute to anyways, hence them choosing it over other topics of interest. Like people’s weird need to know about Stephen and Peter’s early feud that Tony didn’t know existed but apparently got pretty vicious until they decided maybe they weren’t each other’s enemy. Tony doesn’t know if his total lack of knowledge of this means Peter and Stephen were subtle or if he’s completely dense but he’s leaning towards dense. Neither Stephen nor Peter know anything of subtlety.

“Right, yes,” Peter says. “So anyone who watches these things probably keeps up with me or Tony so you’ve probably already seen that trailer that nearly got me fired from my own fucking movie- like literally I wrote it, I’m directing it, and I’m one of the producers too, how the hell were they going to fire me? Okay I mean it can happen but given the response the trailer got I didn’t get fired,” Peter says.

Tony shakes his head because none of Peter’s fretting made any sense when his job was on the potential chopping block. “What the hell was the problem anyways? You soft of freaked out about maybe being fired but you didn’t actually say why.”

Peter sighs, “alright- so some background. No one wanted to do a movie about a gay guy who’s gayness was kind of irrelevant to the actual story for one- guess people don’t understand that being gay isn’t usually the only important thing about a person. So that was a strike against me. Then the problem was that no one big enough was attached to it so I asked Tony to do me a favor considering he had a lot in common with the character anyways so that saved my ass for five minutes. Then it turned out the kid that was cast as his son is trans, not like I knew that because I don’t make a habit of telling people to whip it out in auditions, so that was a thing,” he says, making a face.

“Whatever. So when people stopped yelling about that they basically told me I was supposed to sell the story based on Tony’s fanbase but I didn’t want to do that so instead of making the reveal in the trailer that Tony is in it, I had the guys who cut the trailer stick him in less than thirty seconds into it and let the damn story sell itself. So that caused a whole new round of problems but people’s response to it was basically ‘wow, he didn’t use Tony Stark as his selling point, the story looks good!’ And that’s how I managed to keep my job,” he says.

“Not to be like... ungrateful or anything, but my fanbase is either a bunch of lovely human beings or the kind of guys who watch Fight Club and want to start a fight club. There’s no in between, and the guys who’d want to start a fight club would be pissed about the gay thing because dating two guys still doesn’t make me gay. I mean they’re kind of right, I’m bisexual but still, I’m not straight.” God knows he hates the half of his fanbase that thinks the time he spent drinking too much and acting like a complete jackass was a good way to live life but he can’t exactly do much about it now. Sure, he’s expressed plenty of distaste towards people who are like that, but no one seems content to listen.

Peter snorts, “oh my god, sidenote- one time Stephen and I looked you up. Can’t remember why but this was back before we stopped hating each other so we were probably looking for some kind of evidence that you loved one of us more than the other. Anyway, so we came across this entire blog that was dedicated to talking about how you ruined yourself by being too ‘PC’, and that dating Stephen and I was for ‘PC’ points. You know what, looking back on it I think that’s the first time Stephen and I bonded because we both thought it was hilarious that a real human being would genuinely think that you’d date someone just to be politically correct,” he says.

Tony lets out a long, drawn out sigh because this is the kind of shit he hates. “Yeah, obviously I date people to be politically correct. Bonus points because Stephen isn’t white,” he says sarcastically.

“I think Stephen’s personality strips all those bonus points. I love him but he’s a total dickhead. I think I should earn more bonus points,” Peter says.

“None of you are earning any points, I’m not a points reward card, you can’t redeem your points at my non-existent cash register. If I were to award points though Stephen gets points for being a freakishly good kisser and you get points for being better at cuddling than Stephen,” he says. Stephen isn’t meant to cuddle, he gets home and if you touch him he literally growls until he’s slept for a few hours. Then he expects attention until he gets sick of it. Sort of like a cat.

Peter nods, “I’m not even mad about it, Stephen is a freakishly good kisser. I mean usually kissing is more a means to an end for me but Stephen makes it a whole show. Honestly I feel like a fucking golden retriever next to that,” he says, shaking his head.

Yeah, Peter has a lot less skill but so does Tony so its not like he can judge. “Ok. Stephen is a good kisser, that’s established. Back to you almost getting fired,” he says, preforming the necessary wrangling duties.

“Right! So yeah, anyways I also got into an argument about the kid, what’s his name?” he asks Tony.

“Peter,” he says. Kid is smart too, Tony likes him.

“Yeah, Peter. Eventually I got annoyed enough that I told them we keep the kid or I walk, which means you walk, which also takes your portion of the funding and they can have fun unkilling a dead project they all like now because you got involved. Needless to say I won,” Peter says.

Tony raises an eyebrow, “you did all that for some random unknown actor?” he asks, surprised.

Peter shrugs, “no one knew who I was either at one point. Then my fuckface dad almost ruined it for me when people did finally start to pay attention. Anyways, point is you and the kid have chemistry, I’m not recasting because I didn’t ask what junk looked like during auditions. That’s weird, invasive, and also technically discriminatory. Seriously though, the screen tests will not be the same with anyone else. If I didn’t know better I’d think he was your actual kid, you two work amazingly together and you actually produce good improv. Improv is hard,” he says but Tony doesn’t really know. He’s improvised near everything in his life so he’s gotten good at it. And the kid has talent and he’s fun to work with, Tony likes his memes.

“Pretty sure it wouldn’t actually matter, I’m good with him because I like kids, not because I like him specifically. I mean in two years he’ll be bitter and sad because the world is shit and seems intent on crushing people to death but you know. He’s fun now, while he still has hope and child-like wonder and all that.” Tony hopes he’ll be able to keep that bright light of wonder and happiness but he knows that’s probably never going to happen. Kid is different and the world has always punished anyone who doesn’t fit the status quo.

“Whatever, I don’t care if you like kids, I’m not replacing the kid I got for stupid reasons,” he says. “He’s fucking adorable and you two get along well, it’ll look good on camera. Less work as a director for me that way.”

Tony snorts because yeah, there’s the real reason Peter fought to keep mini Peter around- less work for him.

“Has it occurred to you that you forgot the name of an actor that has the same name as you?” Tony asks.

Peter shrugs, “I’m the best Peter so I don’t remember any of the others,” he says and Tony starts laughing.

Stephen ends up being called in to work before he even gets home, which Tony wonders about because jet leg is a bitch, but when he does finally venture home he sleeps for a stupid amount of time before wandering into the kitchen. He recognizes his own voice- ugh- and Peter’s and frowns until he finally clues in to Stephen watching the video he and Peter did without him. It got a surprisingly high hit count and a huge amount of positivity neither of them had been expecting. They hadn’t even realized why Peter’s name was suddenly trending on Twitter until they looked through the reactions.

Seems people were pleased that Peter stood up for younger trans Peter even though none of them seemed to have clued into the fact that Peter only did it to save himself directing trouble later.

“Peter gets too much credit as an ally, he only kept mini Peter because he didn’t want to try and coach chemistry out of another random teen that’s genetically dissimilar to you,” Stephen mumbles, trudging towards the coffee. His eyes are glued to it like its going to save him from jet leg and being extra tired after a shift at the hospital.

“Oh my god, genetics do weird things sometimes and Peter looks like his movie mother, Stephen, so shut up!” Peter yells from the living room.

“His features are still genetically unlikely, you should have recast,” Stephen yells back.

“No, I don’t want to find another kid who looks that good with Tony on camera. Mini Peter is good, I don’t give a shit about genetics!” Peter yells to him.

Stephen mumbles something under his breath as he pours his coffee. “Next people are going to accuse him of dating us for PC points,” he mutters.

“That’s already happened. Also how come no one accuses you of doing that?” he asks.

“Because minorities don’t usually scramble for PC points, we’re born with them. Don’t look at me like that, I think its stupid too. Also I think Peter’s bad self insert movie about the father he wished he had with a kid that could pass as his is sad and depressing, but also creepy because he cast his boyfriend as his metaphorical dad,” Stephen mumbles. He takes a drink of his coffee just as Peter enters the room.

He obviously hears the last bit of that because he goes from looking ready to fight Stephen on genetics to disgusted in ten seconds flat. “Oh my god, how dare- I did not, Tony isn’t- He is not my father!” Peter says, horrified.

Tony shakes his head, “no, no I am not and Stephen you need to stop that. I’m not playing the role of Peter’s dad.”

“Are so. You’re officially his daddy,” Stephen says, grinning as Peter and Tony both start gagging.

“I have too many daddy issues for this shit,” Tony mumbles, gagging again. “Please tell me this isn’t actually a story about the father you wished you had,” he says to Peter.

Peter is still gagging to his left, looking so disgusted he’s about to cry. “It is, but Stephen had to fucking make it weird, I didn’t even make that connection until he made it for me.”

Tony shakes his head. “No, absolutely not, I’m leaving you both and going back to Pepper and getting no PC points for it,” he says, wrinkling his entire face is disgust.

“Well, she’s a woman running a very successful company- technically your company- so I think you get a half a PC point for that,” Stephen tells him, smiling pleasantly like he’s happy that he’s permanently ruined Tony’s relationship with Peter.

“You did this on purpose!” Peter accuses. “You know how many daddy issues Tony and I have and you totally weaponized it!”

Stephen continues drinking his coffee. “I’d like to point out that I’m clearly the superior partner because I’ve never made you my father. Though, to be fair you look nothing like him even if you’re the same height,” he says.

“Fuck you, Stephen,” Peter tells him. “I thought you got over the jealousy thing.” He pouts, giving Tony puppy eyes but he can’t look Peter in the eye right now. Or maybe ever again.

“Sure I am, but I like making you squirm and also I do find it very strange that you cast Tony as your pseudo father. Just saying, I think maybe you have more issues than you think,” Stephen tells Peter.

Peter sits down on the ground before flopping over and curling into a ball. “I hate you and my life,” he mumbles.

“Stop whining, at least you aren’t my dad!” Tony tells him.

“You aren’t my dad either, you just had a lot in common with the character!” Peter says. “Stephen only made it weird because he sucks.”

“I only pointed out the obvious,” Stephen corrects.

Tony lets out a long groan because this is going to be a painful process. Peter seems to feel the same way but Stephen, the asshole, looks utterly pleased with himself.

“Also,” Stephen adds, “next time I would actually like if you waited for me to return to do a video.”

Peter and Tony flip him off but Stephen looks utterly unrepentant.

#IronStarQuill #tony x stephen x peter Q #alternate universe #YouTube AU #fanfiction #writing #idk bois i liked this so much I decided to do more of it

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