#systematic racism

[cooki3face]

My sister said something to me earlier today that further solidified the idea that generations before mine have been constantly made to feel intimidated or afraid of this government and the horrible people who work for it and push its agendas. “They’re watching your social media if you’re not careful about what you say they won’t allow you to get a job or be successful.” Is one of the main things they’ve taught my sisters generation. I told her that you couldn’t intimidate a generation of people who’ve never had this countries protection, care, or protection. I couldn’t give a fuck less if I’m being completely honest with you right now. There’s absolutely nothing this country or the people in it could threaten me with in order to make me shut the fuck up about what they’re doing and the shitty choices they’ve made as a collective. You’ve told generations of Americans that if they don’t shut up and submit to what you’re doing and pushing that their family members would need to move into a state of fear and be afraid for them and that they should be afraid for their livelihoods, their success and their ability to create and build foundations for themselves and it’s about time people get to hear that loud and clear. The fear mongering and the oppression and the silencing of people in this world has got to stop and you only stop cycles of behavior by no longer participating them and changing the way that you behave and react.

They’re trying to make your children uneducated and ignorant by stopping the creation of educational television programs and creating shows and media meant for them that start fucking with their minds from an early age, our teachers are severely underpaid, the curriculum in schools is lacking, they pass laws to take race theory out of the curriculum and stop teaching about the history and oppression of people of color. They ban and attempt to sell apps to American companies so that they can better censor the content that over 1 billion people are consuming every single day that has allowed the truth to spread faster than lies for the first time since this country was founded.

You fucked up letting our generations students with progressive and out of the box ideas into Ivy Leagues to climb your elitist ladder and subjecting generations of individuals to generational trauma and oppression. People have been waiting over forty years for this generation to come into existence. We’re here now. It’s too late.

[decolonize-the-left]

Democratic PR:

Democratic policy:

They argue the deadly fire should never have happened and are placing at least some of the blame on the Biden administration and its expansion of the policy, known as Title 42.

Its use forces the migrants into dangerous, overcrowded conditions in Mexico, they say.

"Exploiting a human tragedy to illustrate the 'risks' of irregular migration ignores the fact that the Guatemalan victims of this fire had no viable legal pathways and the Venezuelan victims were detained as a result of the Biden Admin's expansion of Title 42," Andrea Flores, a former member of Biden's National Security Council who handled border policy said via Twitter.

The Trump-era policy gives border agents the power to turn away migrants without legal process. It's set to end on May 11 when the administration allows the public health emergency for Covid 19 — that is the basis for Title 42 — expires.

How's the meme go? Men can't trust women cuz of makeup and women can't trust men cuz of assault. Well, BIPOC can't trust a single political party in the US government because of systematic abuses.

[b-0-ngripper]

Here's a video by Mr Beat, a history teacher, explaining what systemic racism is in easy to understand terms

[fivepercentgodsandearths]

All Human Families Welcome!

[imkeepinit]

[jubilee133]

Having a non-indigenous adoptive parent who will only support my indigeneity on a surface level is hard. When it comes to matters of my actual personal experience as an Indigenous and how systematic racism actually effects me, I'm so gaslight into thinking I'm just a mean person who is tactless in delivery, and not appreciated for what I actually know. Suddenly I can understand how some kids don't want to open themselves up to parents. Like I get it now. Anyway, sitting uncomfortably and having to stand my ground sucks.

[ceoofcrimes]

A 15-year-old Noongar boy, Cassius Turvey, was getting off the bus with his mates on his way home from school when he was assaulted by a 21-year-old white man named Jack Brearley and his accomplices on October 13th. His is believed to have been bashed with a metal pole and attacked with a machete while being called racial slurs. His mates were also victims of the attack. Cassius was sent to hospital after the attack, returned home, and after eight hours, had a seizure. He was taken back to hospital, put in an induced coma, underwent brain surgery and had two strokes before he died, all as a result of the attack against him. He was ruthlessly murdered by adult white men, and his murder was the second recent case of an assault by white men against a young Indigenous boy in the area. Jack Brearley has been charged with murder, but the local police are saying we shouldn't "jump to conclusions of racism" as a motivation for Cassius' murder. We've seen young Indigenous people, especially young men, murdered by members of public and figures of authority, motivated by white supremacy and xenophobia, since the beginning of Australia's colonisation. Young Indigenous women are raped, beaten and killed every day without a blink of an eye from law enforcement and media. None of this is news to anyone, especially not the survivors and deceased victims of these acts, as well as their families left to grieve with little to no support or effort into bringing the perpetrators of this violence to justice by law enforcement. Cassius deserves justice. It's time to demand it.

To read more:

[makingcontact]

The Healing Project: An Abolitionist Story (Encore)

A mural from the Healing Project. (Photo by Anita Johnson) This week on Making Contact we speak with composer, pianist, and vocalist Samora Abayomi Pinderhughes about The Healing Project at Yerba Buena Center for the Arts. The Healing Project, fundamentally an abolitionist project, explores the structures of systemic racism — particularly the prison industrial complex — in the United…

[cooki3face]

I usually get a lot of push back on opinions like this but there is no connection between internalized anti-blackness and not wanting to adhere to or subscribe to popularized or common hood aesthetics. I spoke about this briefly and sort of informally on my Instagram story the other day. The way other black people villianize and demonize black people on a 1:1 basis and on a influencer level basis for not presenting and carrying themselves in the stereotypical way we (yes we, because we seem to be one of the largest diasporas of people who glorify or uplift the impact, affect and influence of our oppression and how it’s shaped a lot of our cultural norms and identities) may identify ourselves to be. We seem to associate ourselves subconsciously with certain behaviors, or ways of carrying oneself while we view other people outside of our diaspora as beings capable of being whatever they want to be or choose to be despite ethnicity or racial backgrounds or stereotypes. And then on top of that we get upset at other black people for criticizing our behaviors, aesthetics or even simply not adhering to them and we accuse them as wanting to be white or detach themselves from their “blackness”

We subconsciously associate blackness with “ghetto-ness” or “ratchet-ness” and then when it’s labeled that way by a black person from a place of criticism we say, “you’re anti black” “you’re racist” “you wanna be white.” “You think you’re better than me” “what is ghetto?” “What is ratchet?” “Why are you using those words?”

There is a vast vast difference between a non black person labeling you as “ghetto” or “ratchet” or stereotyping you etc. TO BE RACIST or simply BECAUSE you’re black and that’s it and out of pure disdain or hatred that comes from nothing but ignorance. (Because we know that race is systematic and what determines one’s “race” is how they are perceived or treated on a social scale by a non minority or how their quality of life is influenced by a non minority or someone who isn’t oppressed)

And

A black person who looks exactly like you, who grew up in the same communities (regardless of a different in mindset or school of thought) asking you why we’ve married ourselves to behavior, aesthetics, and norms that are a result of our oppression and why we play such a large part in not escaping that or trying to heal our communities or better yet why you can’t accept that a black person who doesn’t carry the same behaviors, habits or aesthetics is less black to you.

In laymen’s terms or in conclusion : there is no logical explanation or reasoning behind racism or racist behavior or discrimination, someone being racist to you because you’re black and labeling you or whatever because you’re black is not the same as your fellow black peer wanting us to heal or wanting us to not associate ourselves with behaviors or things that we’ve adopted because we were mistreated and discriminated against (to say the very least) and wanting us to stop bullying and attacking eachother because we have previously built up triggers from people saying similar sounding things with real intention to cause harm.

[yourlocalshapeshifter]

Me as Hamlet: “O God, I could be bounded in a nutshell, and count myself a king of infinite space, were it not that I have no legal rights”

Me as GenZ Hamlet on tumblr: “god made me queer and an immigrant because if my legal status went unchecked I would have bested him in hand to hand combat by age 16”

[lilmackiereads]

Does “The Help” Help? What I learned and review of the book.

In February 2022 when I was sick for a few months due to a chronic illness that led me to lose my job, I decided to pick up The Help (2009) by Kathryn Stockett to pass the time. It had been sitting in my bookshelf for years, unread. I had seen the movie once shortly after it came out in 2011 when I was a teenager, but I couldn’t remember it well. I thought to myself “it’s Black History Month, I should educate myself on what life was like.” Little did I know, two years prior in 2020, many people, mostly privileged white people, thought the same thing. As a white person in their mid 20s from a middle-class urban neighborhood in California, the Black Lives Matter movement was something I felt like I supported but was very distant from because I thought that it didn’t really affect me. Or so I thought at the time. The murders of George Floyd, Breonna Taylor, and many others were all over the news. I only knew bits and pieces of what had happened, and I thought reading up on Black culture through books, movies, and tv shows would make me an ally.

According to these news articles and reviews, The Help (2011) became the most watched film on Netflix during this major point in the BLM movement as an attempt for white people to educate themselves and become allies. I didn’t realize the harm of thinking this way until reading the book and the aforementioned reviews since the story is written by a white author and has a major white savior storyline. In an attempt to not misquote these articles, I encourage you to read them and check out the media they recommend. However, that doesn’t mean I would skip on The Help altogether as a book or film. It is important to be aware of the issues it presents within the story as well as the media coverage of it because by acknowledging these flaws we can get down to the real nitty-gritty. Then, we can use this knowledge to better present stories that are more truthful and central to the true experiences of Black people.

Overall, here is my review of the book as exactly what it is, a book. Stockett made it clear in her acknowledgments that it is a work of fiction, but her intertwining of fact and fiction and basing characters on herself and her maids can be problematic for readers when trying to tell the difference between what was real and what was made up. I recommend whether you read it or not to fact check and be aware that it is a book written in a different time, place, and race that what it entails. This review is filled with spoilers as it is necessary to discuss certain passages in a critical way.

----

As a whole: 3.5 out of 5 stars. See below:

This book took me over a year to read. I finished it in April 2023, fourteen months after I cracked it open. This is very unusual for me as I am a fast reader, but after catching wind of the articles I was ambivalent about continuing the story because I didn’t want to be one of those people who thinks reading this makes me a better person (because it doesn’t).

Let’s start with the basics. I like the cover a lot since it is bright and the three birds are symbolic of Skeeter, Minny, and Aibileen. My favorite type of books are those written in first person since I like how they delve into the person’s stream of consciousness and explore their hopes and troubles. The beginning of the book seemed to drag as it was mainly a description of what Aibileen and Minny do day to day. I believe this was intentional by Stockett to show readers how redundant and tedious a lot of maid’s work was and still is.

I thought the characters were very well developed, however it seemed very obvious that Skeeter was an insert for Stockett. While that was all fine and dandy, it made me concerned as Skeeter’s views toward Black women are a bit wishy washy. Over the story she becomes more “woke,” but never really understands because she leaves for New York after being encouraged to go by Minny and Aibileen. Skeeter does struggle with this decision to leave Mississippi, but it ultimately felt very “Fairy Godmother” to me because she leaves before it gets worse for the black women. I felt the same way when she was gifted a copy of The Help that was signed by all the Black churchgoers as it also felt very white savior-y instead of sweet. I was annoyed when Skeeter considered marrying Stuart and abandoning all the work she had done and being unable to decide if she was advocating for civil rights or not. This systematic racism should have been touched on a bit more because it seems like Skeeter herself (and thus Stockett) doesn’t even understand it. I don’t believe that anyone is born racist, but I think they learn it. Therefore, I think having a chapter from Hilly or Elizabeth’s perspectives would have been helpful to unpack that a little more as they were two of the more racist characters in the story. I loved to hate on Hilly, but I really liked how ditsy and sweet Celia was and how she liked spending time with Minny. I would have liked more content with Lou Anne, who we find out is suicidal and getting sent away for shock treatment. She was one of the few characters who was making her way out of Hilly’s web and seemed to be more inclined to treating her maid as a person instead of scum. I felt up and down about Skeeter’s and Hilly’s mothers. They could be really funny, but also very cold-hearted and stuck in their ways. Skeeter’s mother’s most important moment to me was when she talked about Constantine’s firing and untimely death. This was the most eye-opening moment for Skeeter and should have been a bit more in-depth since it made her face her mother’s flaws.

I really enjoyed the humor and wit of both Aibileen and Minny and liked reading their chapters. I was constantly nervous that they would be caught and punished. Aibileen losing her son and having to say good-bye to Mae Mobley nearly brought me to tears. Meanwhile, Minny’s sharp remarks and specialty pie had me giggling. The contrast between Aibileen and Minny were well done, and I loved seeing Minny’s sympathetic side toward Ms. Celia. The moments with the stillborn in the bathroom and the naked man outside of the house were terrifying. I felt relieved when Minny finally left Leroy and wished she had done it earlier, but at least she and her children got away in the end. It was frustrating that Aibileen only got her writing job because of Skeeter. I would have liked for Aibileen to have not been viewed as a victim so much. Also, I like to think that Aibileen was right about Mae Mobley being an old soul who is going to grow up to be independent and strong and ready to fight. I like to think that she grows up to be a feminist and is out there fighting for civil rights and love. It would make sense for the timeline since she would be in her teens/ 20s throughout the majority of Second Wave Feminism (mid 1960s to 1980s) and the end of the Vietnam War (1955s to 1975) since The Help takes place from 1962 to 1964.

My five favorite parts, in no specific order, are as follows:

*Minny’s Terrible Awful 

*The Jackson Junior League Annual Holiday Ball where Celia is getting all the attention in her va-va-voom gown and tears Hilly’s dress and then writing a check to Two-Slice Hilly.

*At that same event when Hilly’s mom bids on Minny’s pie as a joke. 

*When Skeeter swaps the charity “coat” drive for a “commode” drive and Hilly’s yard is RUINED.

*When Aibileen tells Mae Mobley about the “Green Martian” Martin Luther King Jr. I think it is a creative way to talk about racism and belonging without being too complicated for a toddler to understand. 

Something I would have liked Stockett to touch on a lot more were the imprisonment, murder, and abuse that many Black people faced (and still face) in a more moving way. Many of the Black characters in this story experience at least one of the three, but Stockett always seems to be glossing over how truly dangerous and corrupt societal racism is. For instance, one of the maids, Yule Mae, ends up in prison for stealing an unwanted and forgotten piece of jewelry from Hilly so she can support both her son’s college tuitions. Sending her character to jail keeps her out of the reader’s mind until she is brought up into the storyline again. Yule Mae being easily forgotten shows that this part of the story is not distressing readers enough to critically think about it and make a change even though Black incarceration rates are very high across the United States to this day. Both the murder of Medgar Evers and Martin Luther King Jr’s peaceful protest “March on Washington [D.C.] for Jobs and Freedom” are two very important moments in Black History and I wish she had spent more time discussing how huge turning points they were in American History.

Even though his writing is very different, Cormac McCarthy is a master of Southern Gothic. I think if this novel was written by him, that it would have been much more raw and honest as he was unafraid to get down to the true horrors this world has to possess. (See Outer Dark (1968) where he writes about incest and child murder, No Country for Old Men (2005) with more murder and torture, or The Road (2006) which features cannibalism and kidnapping.) Of course, regardless of whether Stockett or McCarthy wrote this book, it still would have the lens of a white author on it. What readers really need to do is choose more stories that are by Black creators that feature Black stories. A good list is mentioned in the articles linked above.

Overall, I enjoyed reading the story and appreciated how it began with Aibileen and Mae Mobley and ended with them as well, even though it was to part ways. The full circle technique demonstrated a lot of growth, but at the same time showed that both groups have a long road ahead. I would read it again and recommend reading it as long as you read articles on why it is problematic. On that same note, having a discussion about the story with people from lots of backgrounds such as different races, ethnicities, genders, sexes, and nationalities would get lots of fresh perspectives on it. By continuing to dissect and discuss stories such as The Help, we light the way of change by working together.

[driftingleft]

[fivepercentgodsandearths]

Buffalo, New York

Condolences to the Families and Buffalo, New York

[terribletaletime]

An essay I wrote for school a few years ago, maybe two or three, about systematic racism in America. I feel it still holds up.

•

Systematic racism in America has been a debated thing for a very long time. Chances are, this very subject has started a fight or two at a family dinner. It’s not necessarily the argument that systematic racism ever existed, because it would truly be hard and ignorant to deny that most of America was built on the backs of slaves, the argument is more if it still exists or not, if white Americans still benefit from it. The answer found through research is that yes, black Americans are still feeling the devastating effects from systemic racism.

To be able to talk about the current day effects systemic racism has, we need to go back to the roots of it. Let’s talk about segregation. Segregation was the separation of white Americans and black Americans, started in 1896 when the supreme court declared it legal. This allowed white Americans to have finer jobs, housing, busing, and schooling, white black Americans had the more severely underfunded and poor versions of all of these. According to history.com, during the great depression unemployment rates for white men were around 39% while depending on the area, for black men it was anywhere from 50% to 60%. Segregation made it easy for the white men to get good jobs, and the black men to be unemployed. During segregation, black Americans were seen as a shameful thing that many companies did not want to be associated with.

Black families were struggling, and to make matters worse, many practices to make good housing for them were arising. According to History.com, there were zoning laws and red-lining during 1930-1970 that made it very easy for politicians to mark off black-segregated housing areas as dangerous and poor. Because of this, it made it incredibly expensive or impossible for black home owners to get loans. Not only this, but in Richmond, Virgina, white politicians passed a law that made it illegal for a person to move into a neighborhood in which they could not marry most of the residents in the area, and considering that anti-mixed race laws were put in place during that time, it meant that black families could not move into mostly white areas.

In 1877, segregated schools became a legal concept, and a disheartening one. Schools made specifically for black students were also severely underfunded. Many of the contributing factors came from segregation, as the public schools were supported by tax dollars and in poor communities where unemployment was so common they just didn’t get the money they needed. According to loc.gov students in the black segregated high school in Kingston, North Carolina were asked what their ideal classroom contained, and they soon came to realize that everything they had dreamed of, like basic supplies and bigger classrooms, the white school had.

Because of white Americans being able to have access to better schooling and a wider range of jobs, white Americans prospered more. They completed highschool at a higher rate, which according to census.gov, in 1960, meant about a twenty one percent difference. The percent of Americans twenty-five years old and over who had completed four or more years of highschool was about forty-one percent for white Americans, while black Americans were only usually able to graduate about twenty percent of the time. In the same year the statistics for Americans who were twenty-five years old and older and completed four years of college were looked at. There they found that about eight percent of white Americans have finished and graduated, and only three percent of black Americans were able to finish and graduate.

Tie it all together and now you have a system that is designed for black families to be poor. They were forced into poor, dangerous neighborhoods and because of unemployment rates, red-lining, and discriminatory laws, they were forced to stay there. Not only that but their education was poor, which meant it was even harder to get good grades, graduate, go to college, and/or get a good job. There is no denying that in 1890s-1970s systematic racism was a plain and open concept. Everyone knows it, it’s quite impossible to deny.

The big debate is not over whether or not systematic racism ever existed, because with slavery and segregation there’s just no possible way to deny that it ever was here, but rather it’s over if systematic racism still exists. Many deny it, saying that because the laws are no longer there, that there is no possible way that the concept still could exist. However, that argument can easily be proved to be wrong. It’s almost like an olympic race. The white contestants were able to run free, while the black contestants had to run with their legs tied, and then halfway through the race officials decided that it was unfair and cut their legs free. Though, instead of making measures to make sure that they’d be able to catch up and make up for the unfair start they had, like maybe pausing or restarting the race, they instead just told them to continue running.

Once legal segregation ended, black families couldn’t just magically move out of the poor communities. The years of unemployment and poor education left them without the money they needed to be able to move out of the communities. Some families got lucky, they were able to get jobs, get a proper education, and move into good areas, however those opportunities for many were rare, and still are. What this ended up causing many black families falling into poverty. If you look at mostly any state in America, you’ll find the poverty rates in the state’s black communities are higher than in it’s white communities.

Looking at the 2017 poverty rate and population counts from KFF.org, Texas.gov, and theatlantic.com, three major states show this poverty inequality; Texas, New York, and Florida.

In Texas the overall white population was estimated to be around 11,779,132 and the estimated amount of white residents in poverty were estimated to be around 775,800 people. The overall population for its black residents was around 3,289,228 and the estimated amount of black Texans in poverty was around 547,900. This all means that, despite the fact that there is an overall population difference of 8,489,904 people, there were only an estimated amount of 227,900 more white residents than black residents in poverty.

If you boil all of these long complicated numbers down, the total population for white Texans overall is around fifteen times bigger than the population for those white texans in poverty, however the overall population for black residents is only six times bigger than the population than those in poverty.

Almost the same can be said for New York. The total population for White New Yorkers was 10,652,400 while the poverty population was 781,500. The total population for Black New Yorkers was 2,735,300 while the poverty population was 507,800. There is an overall population difference of 7,917,100 more white New Yorkers than Black New Yorkers, however the difference for the poverty rates is only 273,700. This means that the white population is around thirteen times bigger than it’s poverty population, however the black population is only an estimated amount of five times bigger.

Lastly, the same pattern was found in florida. The White Floridian population was at an estimated number of 11,058,700 and their poverty population was at 833,700. While the black Floridian population was 3,097,400 and with a poverty population of 587,600. Even though there was an overall population difference of 7,961,300 between the white residents and black residents, the white ones being in larger amounts than the black ones, there was only a difference of 246,100 in poverty rates. This also means that the overall population for white Floridians was thirteen times the poverty rates, while the overall population for black Floridians was only five times more.

What all of these big and confusing numbers mean is that there is an immense divide inequality in the communities. If things in America were truly equal, then the rations would boil down to the same numbers. For example, since in Florida the white population is thirteen times the poverty population, equality would mean that the black population would also be thirteen times the poverty population. So, instead of the high number of 587,600, it would only be around 238,261 people. However, the poverty rates for white and black populations are only off by around two or three hundred thousand people, which when you look at it alone may seem like a big divide, but when you look at the overall populations it’s actually really small. The white populations overall tower over the black populations by the millions, yet somehow only two hundred to three hundred thousand more white Americans are in poverty than black Americans in each state.

Systematic racism, whether we like it or not, exists in America. Though the horrible laws like segregation, zoning, and the marriage housing laws that got us to that point many years ago are now gone, the effects of them never really went away. The poverty gained from these laws stayed. Just because people now legally could move into stable white neighborhoods and move to the well funded schooling didn’t mean they financially could. They were still poor from the lack of opportunities, and the lack of money, for many, carried on through their kids as they suffered from their parent’s poverty and poor education from their area. Looking over the 2017 statistics and poverty, these gaps become horridly undeniable.

If you compare the graduation rates between 1960 and 2012 then it’s clear to see that we’re getting better. According to governing.com, white Americans nationwide graduated at a rate of eighty-six percent, while black American students graduated at a rate of sixty-nine percent. While white Americans still clearly have the upper hand, there is a noticeable positive change. Instead of the disheartening graduation rate of about twenty percent in 1960, the number rose by forty-nine percent. Because things are better, many people like to deny that there is still a problem. However, just because things are better than what they were, doesn’t mean that things are good. Imagine if someone was dying from cancer, and they finally found a medicine that is working. The cancer is being managed, but isn’t fully gone and still poses a threat to the person. People who deny systematic racism still being a thing because the numbers are better than what they used to be would be like someone going up to the cancer patient and telling them that their disease no longer lives inside of them because they’re healthier than they once were. At the end of the day, the disadvantages are still there, and we as Americans, instead of turning a blind eye to them should strive to finally close the gap and go for true equality.