#international day for people of african descent

[africandescentday]

Recognition. Justice. Development.

The International Decade for People of African Descent (2015-2024) aims to celebrate the important contributions of people of African descent worldwide, social justice and inclusion policies, eradicate racism and intolerance, promote human rights, and assist in creating better, more prosperous communities, in line with the Sustainable Development Goals spearheaded by the United Nations.

[murderousink23]

08/31/2023 is Raksha Bandhan, Romanian Language Day 🇷🇴, Eat Outside Day 🇺🇲, National Bacon Day 🥓🇺🇲, National Matchmaker Day 🇺🇲, National Trail Mix Day 🇺🇲, National Burger Day 🍔🇬🇧, International Cabernet Day 🍷🇬🇧, International Day for People of African Descent 🇺🇳

[subby-sab]

Today is 31st of August.

Today is International Cabernet Day, International Day for People of African Descent, International Overdose Awareness Day.

[slaveryemembranceday]

In commemorating this day, it is imperative to recognize that people of African descent are disproportionately affected by discrimination, marginalisation and social injustice.

On the occasion of the International Day of Remembrance for the Victims of Slavery and the Transatlantic Slave Trade, a group of UN experts* issued the following statement:

“The International Day of Remembrance for the Victims of Slavery and the Transatlantic Slave Trade is an important moment to reflect on and honour the millions of Africans who, over a period of 400 years, were cruelly uprooted from their communities and enslaved, in Europe and the Americas, in dehumanising and degrading conditions where they endured horrific violations of their human rights, deprivation of their identity and physical, mental, psychological and spiritual brutality.

This day serves as a reminder that the enslavement of Africans gave rise to the systemic racism and institutionalised racial discrimination that their descendants continue to experience today.

In commemorating this day, it is imperative to recognise that people of African descent are disproportionately affected by discrimination, marginalisation and social injustice. Economic disparities, limited access to quality education, health care, housing, employment, under-representation in political, public and private sector leadership, and over-representation in law enforcement especially in the criminal justice system remain their daily reality.

We urgently call for a strengthened collective commitment to acknowledge and redress the enduring disparities and inequalities that stem from this cruel chapter in history and continue to reverberate across generations. We urge States ensure effective participation of people of African descent in decision-making processes and implement reparatory justice measures to redress these long-standing injustices.

We also call on States to proclaim a second Decade for People of African Descent to sustain global efforts to promote the inclusive and sustained development of, advance reparatory justice for, and combat discrimination, systemic racism and social exclusion of people of African descent.”

The experts: Ms. Barbara Reynolds, Chairperson, Ms. Bina D’Costa and Ms. Miriam Ekiudoko, Members, Working Group of Experts on People of African Descent; Ms. June Soomer, Chairperson-Designate, Permanent Forum on People of African Descent; Mr. Tomoya Obokata, Special Rapporteur on contemporary forms of slavery including its causes and consequences; and Ms. Akua Kuenyehia, Ms. Tracie Keesee, Mr. Juan Méndez, Experts, International Independent Expert Mechanism to Advance Racial Justice and Equality in Law Enforcement.

Special Rapporteurs and Working Groups are part of what is known as the Special Procedures of the Human Rights Council. Special Procedures, the largest body of independent experts in the UN human rights system, is the general name of the Council’s independent fact-finding and monitoring mechanisms. Special Procedures mandate-holders are independent human rights experts appointed by the Human Rights Council to address either specific country situations or thematic issues in all parts of the world. They are not UN staff and are independent from any government or organisation. They serve in their individual capacity and do not receive a salary for their work.

[racialdiscriminationday]

Today we join our voices again to urge all States to push forward in the fight against racial discrimination.

“The commemoration of the International Day for the Elimination of Racial Discrimination is a moment to take stock of the persistent gaps in the implementation of our shared commitment to protect hundreds of millions of people whose human rights continue to be violated due to racial discrimination. It is also an opportunity to recommit to our promise to fight all forms of racism everywhere.

Through our work, we see clearly that racism, racial discrimination, xenophobia, and related intolerance continue to be a cause of conflict around the world. We are witnessing a dangerous regression in the fight against racism and racial discrimination in many spaces. Minorities, people of African descent, people of Asian descent, Indigenous Peoples, migrants, including asylum seekers and refugees, are particularly vulnerable as they often face discrimination in all aspects of their lives based on their racial, ethnic or national origin, skin colour or descent. In this regard, it is crucial that States implement their international human rights obligations and commitments under the International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination and the Durban Declaration and Programme of Action.

Initiatives aimed at revitalising multilateralism, including the Summit of the Future, provide an important opportunity to firmly establish the collective responsibility of States in ensuring concrete progress to address structural and systemic racial discrimination and its root causes.

The proclamation of an International Decade for people of African Descent in 2014 marked a significant milestone in the global effort to combating systemic racism and racial discrimination faced by people of African descent worldwide.

As the International Decade comes to an end, it is time to confront and rectify the pervasive obstacles and barriers hampering recognition, justice, and development for people of African descent. We call on States to respond to growing calls for reparatory justice and economic empowerment for people of African descent. We also call on States to leave no person of African descent behind in their efforts to realise the Sustainable Development Goals.

Today we join our voices again to urge all States to push forward in the fight against racial discrimination. We also call on States to proclaim a second International Decade for People of African Descent, to ensure greater recognition, justice, and development for people of African descent, including by engaging meaningfully in reparatory justice processes for past injustices.”

*The experts: Ms. Ashwini K.P., Special Rapporteur on contemporary forms of racism, racial discrimination, xenophobia and related intolerance; Ms. Tracie L. Keesee and Mr. Juan E. Méndez, Experts of the International Independent Expert Mechanism to Advance Racial Justice and Equality in the context of Law Enforcement; Ms. Barbara Reynolds, Chairperson, Working Group of Experts on People of African Descent; Ms. Verene Shepherd, Chairperson, Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination, Ms. June Soomer, Chairperson-Designate, Permanent Forum on People of African Descent; and Ms. Hanna Suchocka, Chairperson, Group of Independent Eminent Experts on the Implementation of the Durban Declaration and Programme of Action

For further information and media enquiries, please contact: Niraj Dawadi (niraj.dawadi@un.org)

[probablyasocialecologist]

“The ‘war on drugs’ may be understood to a significant extent as a war on people. Its impact has been greatest on those who live in poverty, and it frequently overlaps with discrimination directed at marginalised groups, minoritiesand Indigenous Peoples. In our reporting and experience, we have found that such discriminatory impact is a common element across drug policies with regard to the widest range of human rights, including the right to personal liberty; freedom from torture, ill-treatment and forced labour; fair trial rights; the right to health, including access to essential medicines, palliative care, comprehensive drug prevention and education, drug treatment, and harm reduction; the right to adequate housing; freedom from discrimination and the right to equal treatment before the law; right to a clean, healthy and sustainable environment; cultural rights and freedoms of expression, religion, assembly and association. Globally, drug control has had massive costs for the dignity, humanity and freedom of people of African descent, with reports showing that people of African descent face disproportionate and unjust law enforcement interventions, arrests and incarceration for drug-related offences. In various countries, the ‘war on drugs’ has been more effective as a system of racial control than as a tool to reduce drug markets. Policing interventions based on racial profiling remain widespread, whilst access to evidence-based treatment and harm reduction for people of African descent remains critically low. Around the world, women who use drugs face significant stigma and discrimination in accessing harm reduction programmes, drug dependence treatment and basic health care. Although one in three people who use drugs are women, women constitute only one in five people in treatment. Women are also disproportionately affected by criminalisation and incarceration, with 35% of women in prison worldwide having been convicted of a drug-related offence compared to 19% of men. The causes of women’s interaction with the criminal justice system in relation to drugs are complex, often linked to other factors such as poverty and coercion, and may reflect systemic gender inequality in society more broadly. Of note, most women in prison for drug related offences have little education. Under international law, States that have not yet abolished the death penalty may only impose capital punishment for the ‘most serious crimes’, meaning crimes of extreme gravity involving intentional killing. Drug offences clearly do not meet this threshold. However, drug-related offences are still punishable by death in over 30 countries, and human rights experts have raised concerns about evidence of its discriminatory impact on individuals belonging to minorities. Everyone without exception has the right to life-saving harm reduction interventions, which are essential for the protection of the right to health of people who use drugs. However, according to UN data, only 1 in 8 people with drug dependence have access to appropriate treatment, and the coverage of harm reduction services remains very low. The situation is particularly critical for women, LGBTIQ+ persons, and other marginalised groups, for whom harm reduction and treatment services may not be adapted or respond to their specific needs. Women and LGBTIQ+ persons also face even higher levels of stigma, including self-stigma, and discrimination than men who use drugs.

As the world grows older, drug use among people over 65 has also increased. The COVID-19 pandemic had a negative impact on the health and well-being of older persons, and studies show an increased use of pain relievers, tranquillizers, and sedatives among this age group. Older drug users are also more often using the dark web, social media, and online forums to obtain illicit substances resulting in a rise of drug-related deaths among older populations. The criminalisation of substances traditionally used by Indigenous Peoples such as the coca leaf can also result in the suppression, undermining and marginalization of traditional and indigenous knowledge systems and medicine, which has wide-ranging health impacts and is rooted in discriminatory hierarchies and conceptions. Forced eradication of crops, including through the aerial spraying of highly hazardous pesticides, can cause serious harm to the environment and clean water, as well as to the health and welfare of Indigenous communities. Indigenous Peoples that might be affected by these and other drug control operations must be meaningfully consulted, and guarantees should be given that their lives, cultural practices, lands and natural resources are not violated. Criminal laws and the punitive use of administrative and other sanctions stigmatise already marginalised populations. Criminalisation results in significant barriers to access to health services (including those for HIV and palliative care) and in other human rights violations. As called for by the UN system Common Position on drug-related matters, drug use and possession for personal use should be decriminalised as a matter of urgency. Drug use or dependence are never a sufficient justification for detaining a person. Compulsory drug detention and rehabilitation centres need to be closed and replaced with voluntary, evidence-informed, and rights-based health and social services in the community.

[justanisabelakinnie]

Encanto Characters’ Birthdays and Their Significance

Isabela Madrigal was born on August 7, the day of the battle of Boyaca and the month during which the Festival of Flowers is celebrated. 

Dolores’ birthday is August 31, coinciding with the International Day for People of African descent as well as Saint Raymond Nonnatus’ Feast Day, said Saint also being the patron saint of confidentiality. 

Mirabel’s birthday is March 6, the same as Gabriel Garcia Marquez, as an homage to him due to his works being the Encanto staff’s inspiration for magical realism. 

Luisa’s birthday is November 14, also known as the Civic Day of the Colombian Woman, which itself is set on the date of the execution of Colombian war heroine and spy Policarpa Salavarrieta. 

Camilo was born on December 28, which is also Holy Innocents Day, the Colombian equivalent of April Fool’s Day. 

Julieta, Pepa, and Bruno are born on October 17, tragically, coinciding with the date of the start of the Thousand Days’ War. 

Agustin was born on June 19, which is Fathers’ Day in Colombia. 

Felix’s birthday is November 11, which is also Cartagena’s Independence Day. 

And finally, little Antonio was born on May 21, which falls on the same date as Afro-Colombian Day. 

Alma’s birthday is currently unknown. 

I hope you found this information as interesting and as fascinating as I did! The source is the Disney fandom on the wiki as well as Jared Bush on Twitter. It’s amazing how their birthdays all fall on significant dates while still being in the right order! 

[allthebrazilianpolitics]

Brazil Government must intensify efforts to ensure racial justice and redress, UN expert panel says

Brazil’s Government must end the brutal violence being inflicted on people of African descent by the country’s police forces, and hold perpetrators accountable for their crimes while ensuring justice for victims, the UN International Independent Expert Mechanism to Advance Racial Justice in the Context of Law Enforcement said today.

During a 12-day visit from 27 November to 8 December, members of the Mechanism visited Brasilia, Salvador, Fortaleza, São Paulo and Rio de Janeiro. They met with representatives of civil society, families and victims, as well as Federal and State officials including Ministry officials, law enforcement, internal oversight bodies, prison officials and offices of public prosecutors and defenders.

The delegation took note of some positive practices implemented by the federal and local governments to guarantee the human rights of people of African in descent, such as the recognition of the existence of systemic racism and the mandate for implementing quotas to enhance representation at all levels and branches of government.

But “the heart-wrenching testimonies we heard from families and victims of police brutality, compounded by the agonizing delays in the justice system, underscore the urgent need for accountability,” said Juan Mendez, a member of the Expert Mechanism. “As justice delayed is justice denied, the State must address these issues promptly and transparently, ensuring that justice prevails.”

Continue reading.

[giveamadeuschohisownmovie]

Pitch for a Dark Pictures Anthology game:

1) The title

“Siblings”

2) The prologue

In 1963, Dr. Sean West and Dr. Sadie Miller (the red herring protagonists) are members of the illegal CIA program Project MKUltra. They are experimenting on a woman who they believe has some sort of telepathic power.

Things go awry when the woman escapes, resulting in a massacre of the entire staff. West and Miller attempt to escape, but are eventually slaughtered by the unnamed woman.

(The order and manner in which Sean and Sadie can die will be affected by the players’ actions)

3) The main story

In the present day, the focus is on a fashion show in Milan, Italy. Our main characters are patrons of the show, there to enjoy the spectacle. The show is run by an elderly billionaire named Lawrence Donahue, who was apparently a big deal in American politics during the 1970s.

The show suddenly takes a turn for the worst with the arrival of two teenagers; Francis and his sister April. The two teenagers get into a fight and the crowd kicks both of them out, believing them to be unruly protestors of opposing causes.

That’s when it’s revealed that Francis and April are the great-grandchildren of the unnamed woman from the prologue. The woman’s descendants all ended up developing some sort of telepathic/telekinetic power. Francis has the power of mind control, to create mental illusions, and change how people view the world (so he’s like the fear gas from Man of Medan). April has telekinesis (so she’s Carrie or Eleven).

It’s revealed that Lawrence Donahue was a high-ranking member of Project MKUltra. In response to the unnamed woman’s rampage in 1963, Lawrence sent mercenaries to kill her in 1983. Since then, the unnamed woman’s family has tried to avenge her death, but failed every time.

Francis is here to kill Lawrence. April is here to stop Francis, believing that the desire for revenge is tearing the family apart. Unfortunately, our main heroes are caught in the middle of Francis and April’s fight. It’ll be up to the players to survive the showdown, as well as determine which sibling wins.

4) Inspirations

The real life Project MKUltra, obviously

Stranger Things (specifically El vs. Vecna)

Carrie

Kilgrave from Jessica Jones

The Umbrella Academy

Resident Evil (sorta, kinda)

Chronicle

5) Main protagonists

a. Chris “Reaper Rick” Bernstein (RELAXED, CONFIDENT): A mainstream hip hop rapper of Jewish and African-American descent. Despite his wealth, he’s down-to-earth and more focused on giving back to his family. He is played by the special celebrity guest star, Daveed Diggs, who you might recognize as Lafayette/Jefferson from the Broadway musical Hamilton.

b. Alison Parker (ARROGANT, OVERBEARING): A wealthy socialite and influencer from the UK. She blatantly admits that the only reason she’s attending the show was for the clout since this was the biggest fashion show of the year.

c. Cho Woo-Jin (COMPLEX, ABRASIVE): The CEO of a South Korean soju company. He was attending the fashion show to get away from his crumbling family life at home, while also supporting his daughter who is one of the runway models.

d. Cho Eun-bi (ADVENTUROUS, AMBITIOUS): Woo-Jin’s daughter and one of the runway models of the fashion show. She is close to her father, but wants to distance herself from her family by achieving her own wealth as an international model.

e. Hector Morales (BRAVE, TEMPERAMENTAL): One of the staff workers. It’s revealed that he hates the hospitality industry due to how the wealthy treat the staff, which is why he doesn’t get along with the other four protagonists at first. Hector fulfills the role of the protagonist who is different from the other 4 (Fliss, John, Salim, Charlie).

6) Other ways to change the ending: Francis or April?

Aside from keeping your characters alive, you can determine who wins the sibling war. So either Francis or April will be the final boss. The game can end with -

* Francis wins by killing April. He then goes on to kill Lawrence Donahue. However, Francis goes on to keep killing as he’s lost his marbles at this point. This would be one of the bad endings.

* April wins by reluctantly killing Francis, thus stopping the rampage. Donahue’s crimes are exposed and is arrested, thus the family gets their revenge anyways. This would be one of the good endings.

* Francis and April both lose since the players choose to tell both of them to fuck off. This results in Francis and April killing each other, leading to the total destruction of the area. The characters can still survive by escaping to safety. This would be a neutral ending.

In all endings, the survival of the 5 protagonists is a separate factor. You can save all of your protagonists in either scenario.

7) Bonus

[nuadox]

World’s largest epilepsy study reveals ‘genetic architecture’ and points to new therapies

- By Luciana Constantino , Agência FAPESP -

Considered the largest genetic study of epilepsy in the world, a study published in the journal Nature Genetics reveals specific alterations in DNA that signal a greater risk of the brain disorder.

Identifying these alterations will improve diagnosis and advance the possibility of new treatments for the disease.

The researchers identified 26 different areas (loci) of the genome that are linked to epilepsy, with 29 genes thought to play an important role in the disorder. Of these genes, 17 were associated with epilepsy for the first time; ten are linked to the development of the disease when mutated or altered (known as monogenic epilepsy genes) and the other seven are known to already have approved drugs that focus on treating autism spectrum disorders.

Analysis of the subtypes revealed significantly different “genetic architectures” mainly between two subtypes of epilepsy – focal and generalized – and common variations in DNA can explain between 39.6% and 90% of the genetic risk for the latter type.

Coordinated by a consortium of the International League Against Epilepsy (ILAE) involving more than 350 scientists, the study compared data from 29,944 people with the disease to those of 52,538 control subjects. It included epilepsy cases of European (92%), African (3%) and Asian (5%) descent.

Brazil was the only Latin American representative through the Brazilian Institute of Neuroscience and Neurotechnology (BRAINN), a FAPESP Research, Innovation and Dissemination Center (RIDC) based at the State University of Campinas (UNICAMP).

“We at BRAINN were involved in all stages of the work, from the detailed characterization of the patients from a clinical, imaging and neurophysiological point of view – which we’re very good at – to planning the analyses, suggesting how they could be carried out and then checking the results. We were also actively involved in writing the article, which was submitted to the journal over a year ago. Many international studies exclude patients from Brazil because we have such great genomic diversity. However this study did a meta-analysis, which allows us to combine populations with different genomic structures. For the future, we want to expand this diversity even more,” Iscia Teresinha Lopes-Cendes, a professor at UNICAMP’s School of Medical Sciences and co-author of the BRAINN article, told Agência FAPESP.

There are an estimated 2 million Brazilians with epilepsy, at least 25% of whom are uncontrolled, according to the Ministry of Health. Worldwide, the World Health Organization (WHO) estimates that 50 million people are affected by the disorder, a third of whom are resistant to the treatments available on the market.

A highly hereditary neurological disease with no cure, epilepsy causes seizures, up to 40 or 50 a day in the most severe cases, leading to loss of consciousness and falls. Uncontrolled seizures not only disrupt the patient’s daily routine but also pose a serious risk of sudden and premature death.

Treatment involves a combination of medications, which are not always effective. Most medications reduce the activity of neurons across the board, which controls seizures, but they have side effects. An alternative is surgery to remove the part of the brain affected by the malformation.

Now, the researchers are proposing some medications that are normally used for other conditions, but act on the epilepsy risk genes identified in the study.

Knowledge over time

Recognizing the complexity of the genetic and environmental factors related to epilepsy, the consortium was formed in 2010 to collaborate on investigating large datasets at an international level.

“This is an important milestone for the ILAE Consortium on Complex Epilepsies and shows what can be achieved when scientists collaborate openly and share data from around the world,” said the league’s president, Professor Helen Cross, in a press release.

To arrive at the results suggesting different genetic architectures between focal and generalized forms of epilepsy, genetic data were combined with databases of phenotypic information, expanding the sample to more than 51,600 patients and 1 million “controls.” This discovery of the different genetic framework for the different types of epilepsy provides clues to understanding the various syndromes.

In their work, the scientists point out that the proteins that carry electrical impulses through the gaps between the brain’s neurons are part of the risk for generalized forms of epilepsy. In this sense, they emphasize the importance of accurately characterizing or classifying specific epileptic syndromes (syndromic phenotyping) in order to better understand the genetic basis of the disease.

An advocate of studies with so-called “pure data,” Lopes-Cendes says that she is now working specifically on mesial temporal lobe epilepsy (MTLE) with hippocampal atrophy. “We’ve been continuously generating data for specific research on the topic. I’d argue that in certain studies, mixing information from different types of epilepsy can ’dilute’ the data and not highlight results that might appear if the group of patients studied was more homogeneous. I think a balance is needed,” she adds.

In early 2023, the researcher and her group published another article that deepened our understanding of MTLE, considered the most common and refractory to pharmacological treatment, by evaluating, for the first time, the profile of messenger RNA (mRNA, a molecule that contains the information for the production of proteins) from surgical tissue obtained from patients.

Because of her work in genetics, Lopes-Cendes was recently invited by the WHO to join the new Technical Advisory Group on Genomics (TAG-G), which is responsible for contributing to the process of accelerating access to genomic knowledge and technologies, especially in low- and middle-income countries. The group consists of 15 scientists from different countries.

The article “GWAS meta-analysis of over 29,000 people with epilepsy identifies 26 risk loci and subtype-specific genetic architecture” can be read at: www.nature.com/articles/s41588-023-01485-w.

This text was originally published by FAPESP Agency according to Creative Commons license CC-BY-NC-ND. Read the original here.

--

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[beardedmrbean]

"It's typical for Finns to believe that racism doesn't concern us," Shadia Rask of Finnish public health authority THL told Helsingin Sanomat.

The EU's most recent Being Black in the EU report published this fall found that over 40 percent of interviewed individuals of African descent living in Finland reported experiencing harassment in the past year.

The daily noted one particularly distressing figure in the study: 38 percent of respondents reported that their child had been verbally harassed.

HS spoke to kids who have encountered racism.

"Jade" explained how, during the first years of elementary school, teachers often grouped dark-skinned and foreign background students together. A special education teacher was called in to teach a separate math class for dark-skinned children.

"That group also included the best math student in our class," Jade told the paper.

All quiet on the eastern front

With Finland's border shut until 13 December, there has been little activity—if any—at crossing points, reports Hufvudstadsbladet.

Several border stations have taken to social media platform X to report that there isn't much to report, with many saying there hasn't been a single attempt to cross over from Russia in the past few days.

Finland closed the entire border with Russia on 30 November after tensions over asylum seekers.

Tampon tussle

Finnish hygiene product company Vuokkoset's release of a "male tampon" is generating international interest, according to Ilta-Sanomat.

The product, which appeared on shelves this autumn, is similar to traditional tampons, but the package reads "For men."

Vuokkoset, which came out with the tampons during international transgender awareness week has said, "periods aren't just an issue for women, as trans men and non-binary people may also have a womb and periods."

IS cites The Telegraph's reporting that the product has been criticised by feminist campaigners as an "insult" to women who suffer period discrimination.

Dakota Robin, a transgender man and the face of Vuokkoset's campaign, said he was saddened by this reaction.

"Stores are filled with products targeted at women, and these tampons are just a small fraction of the entire range of menstrual products. Tampons designed for men and non-binary individuals do not take anything away from women's products."

[africandescentday]

‘Pervasive discrimination’ persists.

The 13 experts were appointed by the United Nations Human Rights Council and are not United Nations staff, nor are they paid for their work.

They issued their appeal on the eve of the International Day for People of African Descent. 

In his message for the Day, United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres highlighted “the enormous impact” that both the African continent and people of African descent have had on the development, diversity and richness of world civilizations and cultures, which constitute the common heritage of humankind. 

“At the same time, we acknowledge the pervasive discrimination faced by people of African descent around the world, and the many obstacles they face to realising their full human rights,” he said.

[murderousink23]

08/31/2022 is Romanian Language Day 🇷🇴, La Tomatina 🇪🇸, Eat Outside Day 🇺🇲, National Bacon Day 🇺🇲, National Matchmaker Day 🇺🇲, National Trail Mix Day 🇺🇲, International Day for People of African Descent

[darylelockhart]

Basquiat: A multidisciplinary artist who denounced violence against African Americans

John Harbour, Université Laval

The exhibition Seeing Loud: Basquiat and Music, currently running at the Montréal Museum of Fine Arts, demonstrates that the work of Jean-Michel Basquiat, which is usually associated with painting, also calls upon other media, including music — the main theme of this exhibition — literature, comic strips, cinema and animation, a much lesser-known aspect of his work.

Basquiat was born in New York in 1960 to a Haitian father and a mother of Puerto Rican descent. In the late 1970s, in collaboration with Al Diaz, he drew enigmatic graffiti under the pseudonym SAMO. The artist quickly made a name for himself in the New York art world (becoming friends with Andy Warhol and Madonna, among others). He then produced solo paintings and achieved international fame that continued to grow until his death in 1988.

At the time of the Black Lives Matter movement, Jean-Michel Basquiat’s work is more relevant than ever. It highlights racial inequalities and the lack of representation of racialized people in the media, but also the violence suffered by African Americans.

Love/hate for the cartoon

As a child, Basquiat dreamed of becoming a cartoon animator. When he became a painter, the television was always on while he worked in his studio, and regularly ran cartoons. These programmes and films were a great source of inspiration for the artist, who integrated several references to animation and comic strips into his paintings.

One of these works, which can be seen in the Montréal Museum of Fine Arts exhibition, is called Toxic (1984). The painting depicts a Black man with his arms in the air, with a collage in the background that mentions several titles of animated shorts made between 1938 and 1948.

Could we say that the films are considered toxic by Jean-Michel Basquiat, despite his admiration for them? In fact, I think there is a certain duality in this picture: the artist loves the cartoon, but he hates it at the same time. The dictionary definition of the word “toxic” can mean someone or something that likes “to control and influence other people in a dishonest way.” The term therefore implies that the toxic element (the cartoon in this case) is dangerous in a way that isn’t apparent.

The violence of cartoons

The cartoon is often associated with childhood, pleasure, eccentricity.

This is a universe where anything is possible: in Gorilla My Dreams, directed by Robert McKimson in 1948, for example, the character Bugs Bunny talks, dresses up as a baby and imitates a monkey. It appears innocent. However, the cartoon can also represent the worst of humanity in a very sneaky way through the incredible violence it contains: the characters hunt each other, chase each other, hit each other, cut each other, kill each other and then start again. https://www.youtube.com/embed/G-fpqSdSnD0?wmode=transparent&start=0 Robert McKimson, Gorilla My Dreams, Warner Bros., 1948.

In Porky’s Hare Hunt, a film directed by Ben Hardaway in 1938 and quoted in Toxic, the character of Porky is injured by dynamite, abused even though he is in his hospital bed and tries to kill a rabbit. Basquiat, who consumed cartoons every day on television, knew that they were a reflection of 20th century American society.

The violence that Basquiat denounces is so present in the cartoon that it seems, to a certain extent, to have become commonplace, like the violence seen on television newscasts (which he probably watched while he was painting).

Denouncing racial stereotypes

These cartoons are also violent because they often perpetuate racial stereotypes (not to mention the many stereotypes related to sexual orientation, gender, sex, body appearance, etc.).

Bob Clampett’s 1940 film Patient Porky, which is also mentioned in Toxic, features a scene in which a elevator attendant grossly and monstrously parodies a Black character. In Untitled (All Stars) (1983), Basquiat cites Max Fleischer’s 1920 film The Chinaman, which features a highly caricatured Asian character and Koko the Clown putting makeup on to impersonate him. https://www.youtube.com/embed/_WXrrOIWZKo?wmode=transparent&start=0 Max Fleischer, The Chinaman, Bray Studios, 1920.

By placing elements referring to animation in his compositions, Basquiat attempts to denounce a stereotypical and unfair worldview where racialized people are portrayed in an unrealistic way. Basquiat said that if he had not been a painter, he would have been a filmmaker and would have told stories where Black people were portrayed as human beings, not negatively.

So, the title of the painting Toxic carries several meanings. It refers both to the main subject (Torrick “Toxic” Ablack), but also to its relationship to popular culture and to animation, in this case.

This hypothesis is very likely since Basquiat produced several works denouncing police brutality against African Americans, including The Death of Michael Stewart (Defacement) (1983).

Basquiat died prematurely in 1988 at the age of 27. Other artists from the Black community, such as Montréal painters Kezna Dalz, aka Teenadult, Manuel Mathieu, and animation filmmaker Martine Chartrand have, in their own way, taken up his struggle and continue to fight for greater visibility of Black people in the arts.

John Harbour, Doctorant en littérature et arts de la scène et de l'écran (concentration cinéma), Université Laval

This article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license. Read the original article.

[fortressofserenity]

X-Men and Cultural Appropriation

I think this has to be said, if because even if X-Men stories preach a message of diversity and tolerance yet some X-Men fans are racist. Either they mock people of other ethnicities, outright dislike them or fetishise them but never show any real interest in them as people. This isn’t helped by that the X-Men stories are built on a flawed foundation, one built on a false equivalence in comparing otherwise potentially murderous (and currently murderous) characters to victims of racism. Kate Pryde has killed a lot of people these days, I don’t think a lot of black people go on killing people and committing crime.

As for Storm or Ororo Munroe, she comes off as a white person’s idea of an exotic black person. Not so much as an actual Kenyan, which is why she doesn’t speak any degree of Swahili (or even Luo and Gikuyu), doesn’t eat or cook Kenyan dishes and doesn’t even celebrate Boxing Day every 26 of December. Karma has been recently rectified by a writer of actual Vietnamese descent, who knows if Storm will eventually get the same treatment. Besides African comics fans exist, I’m even part of a Nigerian comics fan Facebook group.

Africans have done fan art of things like Hunter x Hunter and Bugs Bunny, so they’re not that ignorant of international pop culture in this sense. But I think because X-Men tends to appropriate a lot from African Americans that it’s telling it hasn’t led people to appreciating actual black people, as if the African American experience is more palatable if done by white people. It’s not hard to see why African Americans do complain about cultural appropriation when they see it, as if the things they’ve been mocked for look cool on anybody else.

I also don’t think X-Men stories delved on those who speak or know minority languages, that is other than Yiddish and it becomes telling why there’s not a single mutant who speaks any degree of Welsh or East Frisian as far as I know. I could be wrong in here, you might say that these languages are irrelevant. But people have been ostracised for speaking those languages, to the point where they don’t want to pass it down to others to avoid being stigmatised even further. Perhaps this goes a long way in explaining why X-Men writers’ tendency towards false equivalence always fails actual ethnic minorities and minority language speakers.

There’s not a single mutant in the X-Men world that I know of who speaks Irish to some extent, not a single mutant who speaks something like Lakota or Cheyenne even if it provides representation to those who speak these languages. So X-Men will never be a good stand-in for ethnic minorities, not helped by that they’re barely if ever written by these people. Actually I don’t think there are any X-Men fans who bother learning minority languages, I have tried the same with Irish and Breton but mostly due to Irish folk music.

So if there is a gap between cultural appreciation and cultural appropriation, it becomes more evident in the X-Men world in how writers try to position mutants as the most oppressed yet not a single mutant speaks in almost any given minority language and how others come off as white people’s impressions of ‘exotic’ people until now.

[malikismindful]

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