7.13.2010
7.08.2010
7.05.2010
Organize, Organize, Organize!
So I just added to my to-do list for the summer that every week I will learn about a new revolution. Lately, I've ben getting more interested in liberation movements, independence movements, anti-oppression struggles and the like. I think as a society, we can always use more inspiration to get involved with the movements we see going on around us. I want people to know and to realize that every little bit counts and that to change the system we have to fight against the system. Organize, revolutionize, educate yourselves, and participate in whatever you can!
Anyway, I will be highlighting everything I learn here. Check me out! :)
Anyway, I will be highlighting everything I learn here. Check me out! :)
7.01.2010
The Tribal Law & Order Act
I recently learned about the Tribal Law and Order Act being passed in Congress. I wonder what this really means for Native communities. The effects of colonists and early US government agents disturbing the harmony of Native communal justice are still felt today. Instead of helping to restore these original systems, activists are relying on the oppressive US judicial institution. The Tribal Law and Order Act is supposed to do a better job of “protecting” Native women against sexual violence. Native communities have had a history of favoring restorative and communal justice rather than the punitive style of justice that the US likes to inflict and since colonization, forms of Native justice have been slowly dying.
Restorative and communal justice seek to rehabilitate the perpetuator and use the community, not outside forces, to institute real forms of justice. What the Tribal Law and Order Acts essentially says is that instead of really trying to figure out why sexual violence is rampant in Native communities, we’re going to ignore the problem and just lock up anyone who commits this crime. No one is unredeembale and having a bill like this that favors prosecution and imprisonment instead of therapy or getting to the root of the issue, ignores this fact. It ignores the perpetrator and the problem. Surely, sexual violence in Native communities will not be solved by this bill. It says nothing of rape culture and those that are complicit in it.
This bill also protects and emphasizes the police state. This reminds me of the colonial period where sexual violence was committed against Native women and white men blamed it on Native men; this way the white men were seen as saviors of Native women, which instilled fear of Native men as well as false appreciation of the colonizers. It also skewed the importance of the community. This method helped to implement patriarchy, sexism, misogyny, and eurocentricity. To allow and advocate for more encroaching of the police institution onto Native land is both oppressive as well as counter-active. With the police history of discriminating, being violent against and criminalizing communities of color can we really trust the police institution to so-called “protect” Native women?
Protecting Native women would mean an ending to misogyny, sexism, and queerphobia. If you want to stop sexual violence, focus on education and therapy as deterrents not just as a response. As activists, the solution is to focus more on developing strategies to do just that instead of relying on and organizing around the US justice system, an institution that perpetuates the sexism that we should be trying to get rid of. Do we really need more police to practice surveillance on another community perfectly capable of protecting itself? Yes, we know that Native women deserve equal protection under the law and do deserve that protection, but can this really be protection if it is also oppressive? Can we develop strategies that don’t rely on a marginalizing police and prison state?
The Tribal Law and Order Act also relies on the oppressive Prison Industrial Complex system. The PIC is racist, classist, and sexist. Should advocates against sexual violence be relying on this system where sexual violence is state sponsored within prison walls? “Conditions within the institution continually reinvoke memories of violence and oppression (Are Prisons Obsolete?, Davis).” Do they only care about sexual violence when it happens in the free world?
When I first learned about the Prison Industrial Complex, I was confused about what anti-prison activists saw as a viable alternative to prisons. I believe anti-prison activism to be one of the most powerful and important, yet, ignored liberation movements. When I read Angela Y. Davis’ book, “Are Prisons Obsolete?,” which is obviously pivotal within this movement, my eyes opened to how oppressive the Prison Industrial Complex is. I cannot go into complete detail of all the ills of the prison system here because of length constraints but if you would like to read about the way sexual violence is embedded into the Prison Industrial Complex, read Davis’ book. Here is just a limited overview; the Prison Industrial Complex includes all forms of prison and policing that do not take up the form of restorative or communal justice, here in America and abroad.
First we must realize, illegal acts are committed, number one, because of poverty and racism. The other reason why crimes are committed is because, as the name permits, the Prison Industrial Complex is a business that promotes corporate greed. The more people who go to prison, the more money the government and other corporations make. The government capitalizes off prisoners suffering especially when it comes to the sexual violence that they face and endure. The government therefore also capitalizes off illegal acts committed against victims. Prisons are a form of population control, and if you’re going to limit population growth, go ahead and send the poor people and the people of color away too. Native people are disproportionately incarcerated in the PIC. “‘Prisons, as employed by the Euro-American system, operate to keep Native Americans in a colonial situation. She points out that Native people are vastly overrepresented in the country’s federal and state prisons.” This is the attitude that the government has and yes, people have a personal choice in what they do, however, laws and governments should not make it easier for certain people to commit illegal acts.
Recently, I’ve been noticing the refusal of other liberation movements, such as the feminist movement, to organize around the abolition of the Prison Industrial Complex. Using the practice of intersectionality, feminists and other like-minded movements should realize that anti-prison work is also feminist work, is also anti-racist work, is also anti-queerphobia work, etc. The Prison Industrial Complex was designed to be invisible to the free population, so I cannot be angry with anyone who is uneducated about it, but if we want to be holistic activists we cannot ignore this institution in our activism.
I don’t want to seem ignorant of the facts that illegal acts are being committed everyday and that we need immediate solutions to deter these acts and those who continuously commit them. However, prison is not the answer. As activists our solution should be in educating people about societal ills and finding solutions to those ills, not aiding the government in carrying out marginalization against minorities and other crimes committing within the PIC structure. Prisons are not for rehabilitation, as they were originally created, but for punishment. We cannot be comfortable with living in a society that would rather get even than to improve the perpetrator. “An eye for an eye makes the whole world blind.” -Mahatma Gandhi We have all committed criminal acts that, if pursued vehemently enough may have sent us to prison. The life and well being of a person should not mean less because they are deemed a criminal by our “criminal justice” system. We cannot forget to infuse compassion and love into our activism.
Can we develop strategies to advocate for the abolition of prisons and also seek justice for those who commit illegal acts? People of color, when victims of illegal acts advocate strongly for the perpetrator/s to go to prison. How can people of color advocate so strongly for a system that unfairly targets and oppresses them? The pain and loss involved in losing someone can be detrimental to the psyche, however, minorities should be advocating the most for the abolition of this system not helping to perpetuate it. Making new laws criminalizing acts of violence against women will not see a decrease in this type of violence, however they will fill up more of our prisons, cost us more money, while doing absolutely nothing to solve the real issue.Laws don’t protect us, as we have been brainwashed to believe, they criminalize actions that should be treated with therapy or love.
*cross posted at Refuse the Silence *
Restorative and communal justice seek to rehabilitate the perpetuator and use the community, not outside forces, to institute real forms of justice. What the Tribal Law and Order Acts essentially says is that instead of really trying to figure out why sexual violence is rampant in Native communities, we’re going to ignore the problem and just lock up anyone who commits this crime. No one is unredeembale and having a bill like this that favors prosecution and imprisonment instead of therapy or getting to the root of the issue, ignores this fact. It ignores the perpetrator and the problem. Surely, sexual violence in Native communities will not be solved by this bill. It says nothing of rape culture and those that are complicit in it.
This bill also protects and emphasizes the police state. This reminds me of the colonial period where sexual violence was committed against Native women and white men blamed it on Native men; this way the white men were seen as saviors of Native women, which instilled fear of Native men as well as false appreciation of the colonizers. It also skewed the importance of the community. This method helped to implement patriarchy, sexism, misogyny, and eurocentricity. To allow and advocate for more encroaching of the police institution onto Native land is both oppressive as well as counter-active. With the police history of discriminating, being violent against and criminalizing communities of color can we really trust the police institution to so-called “protect” Native women?
Protecting Native women would mean an ending to misogyny, sexism, and queerphobia. If you want to stop sexual violence, focus on education and therapy as deterrents not just as a response. As activists, the solution is to focus more on developing strategies to do just that instead of relying on and organizing around the US justice system, an institution that perpetuates the sexism that we should be trying to get rid of. Do we really need more police to practice surveillance on another community perfectly capable of protecting itself? Yes, we know that Native women deserve equal protection under the law and do deserve that protection, but can this really be protection if it is also oppressive? Can we develop strategies that don’t rely on a marginalizing police and prison state?
The Tribal Law and Order Act also relies on the oppressive Prison Industrial Complex system. The PIC is racist, classist, and sexist. Should advocates against sexual violence be relying on this system where sexual violence is state sponsored within prison walls? “Conditions within the institution continually reinvoke memories of violence and oppression (Are Prisons Obsolete?, Davis).” Do they only care about sexual violence when it happens in the free world?
When I first learned about the Prison Industrial Complex, I was confused about what anti-prison activists saw as a viable alternative to prisons. I believe anti-prison activism to be one of the most powerful and important, yet, ignored liberation movements. When I read Angela Y. Davis’ book, “Are Prisons Obsolete?,” which is obviously pivotal within this movement, my eyes opened to how oppressive the Prison Industrial Complex is. I cannot go into complete detail of all the ills of the prison system here because of length constraints but if you would like to read about the way sexual violence is embedded into the Prison Industrial Complex, read Davis’ book. Here is just a limited overview; the Prison Industrial Complex includes all forms of prison and policing that do not take up the form of restorative or communal justice, here in America and abroad.
First we must realize, illegal acts are committed, number one, because of poverty and racism. The other reason why crimes are committed is because, as the name permits, the Prison Industrial Complex is a business that promotes corporate greed. The more people who go to prison, the more money the government and other corporations make. The government capitalizes off prisoners suffering especially when it comes to the sexual violence that they face and endure. The government therefore also capitalizes off illegal acts committed against victims. Prisons are a form of population control, and if you’re going to limit population growth, go ahead and send the poor people and the people of color away too. Native people are disproportionately incarcerated in the PIC. “‘Prisons, as employed by the Euro-American system, operate to keep Native Americans in a colonial situation. She points out that Native people are vastly overrepresented in the country’s federal and state prisons.” This is the attitude that the government has and yes, people have a personal choice in what they do, however, laws and governments should not make it easier for certain people to commit illegal acts.
Recently, I’ve been noticing the refusal of other liberation movements, such as the feminist movement, to organize around the abolition of the Prison Industrial Complex. Using the practice of intersectionality, feminists and other like-minded movements should realize that anti-prison work is also feminist work, is also anti-racist work, is also anti-queerphobia work, etc. The Prison Industrial Complex was designed to be invisible to the free population, so I cannot be angry with anyone who is uneducated about it, but if we want to be holistic activists we cannot ignore this institution in our activism.
I don’t want to seem ignorant of the facts that illegal acts are being committed everyday and that we need immediate solutions to deter these acts and those who continuously commit them. However, prison is not the answer. As activists our solution should be in educating people about societal ills and finding solutions to those ills, not aiding the government in carrying out marginalization against minorities and other crimes committing within the PIC structure. Prisons are not for rehabilitation, as they were originally created, but for punishment. We cannot be comfortable with living in a society that would rather get even than to improve the perpetrator. “An eye for an eye makes the whole world blind.” -Mahatma Gandhi We have all committed criminal acts that, if pursued vehemently enough may have sent us to prison. The life and well being of a person should not mean less because they are deemed a criminal by our “criminal justice” system. We cannot forget to infuse compassion and love into our activism.
Can we develop strategies to advocate for the abolition of prisons and also seek justice for those who commit illegal acts? People of color, when victims of illegal acts advocate strongly for the perpetrator/s to go to prison. How can people of color advocate so strongly for a system that unfairly targets and oppresses them? The pain and loss involved in losing someone can be detrimental to the psyche, however, minorities should be advocating the most for the abolition of this system not helping to perpetuate it. Making new laws criminalizing acts of violence against women will not see a decrease in this type of violence, however they will fill up more of our prisons, cost us more money, while doing absolutely nothing to solve the real issue.Laws don’t protect us, as we have been brainwashed to believe, they criminalize actions that should be treated with therapy or love.
*cross posted at Refuse the Silence *
6.30.2010
What I'm Loving Right Now Part 2
Natural Hair!!
So of course, I have a obligatory story to tell pertaining to my "natural hair journey." So for the most part, I've always been natural, at least according to the usual definititon. I've only had a perm on my edges. So for the better part of my life, I've been getting my hair pressed & flat ironed every two weeks, along with the normal, expected blow drying. I just got tired of the maintenance required in getting my hair pressed, the wrapping, the no-water rule, the sweating out, etc. So I decided to wear my natural hair out, I've been loving it so far. However, what I didn't realize was that natural hair was such a huge movement! There are so many books, Youtube channels, websites, blogs, etc. all on natural hair; how to take care of it, styles, journeys, everything & anything you can imagine! There's so much support for those that want to go natural, so if you want to go natural, know that you are not alone. I totally see this as a resistance to dominant culture and euro-centric standards of beauty. Go head yall!
Below, I'm just going to put up a couple links to videos and other ish that I like when it comes to natural hair.
Naturally Beautiful Hair Blog
Curls, Coils & Kinks
Naturally Obsessed
The SuPreen
Hairlista
Motown Girl
Chiselle Couture
KinkyKurlyQueen
MizNikkiSoBossy
NappyChronicles
xGoldN
What's your favorite natural hair webistes??
So of course, I have a obligatory story to tell pertaining to my "natural hair journey." So for the most part, I've always been natural, at least according to the usual definititon. I've only had a perm on my edges. So for the better part of my life, I've been getting my hair pressed & flat ironed every two weeks, along with the normal, expected blow drying. I just got tired of the maintenance required in getting my hair pressed, the wrapping, the no-water rule, the sweating out, etc. So I decided to wear my natural hair out, I've been loving it so far. However, what I didn't realize was that natural hair was such a huge movement! There are so many books, Youtube channels, websites, blogs, etc. all on natural hair; how to take care of it, styles, journeys, everything & anything you can imagine! There's so much support for those that want to go natural, so if you want to go natural, know that you are not alone. I totally see this as a resistance to dominant culture and euro-centric standards of beauty. Go head yall!
Below, I'm just going to put up a couple links to videos and other ish that I like when it comes to natural hair.
Naturally Beautiful Hair Blog
Curls, Coils & Kinks
Naturally Obsessed
The SuPreen
Hairlista
Motown Girl
Chiselle Couture
KinkyKurlyQueen
MizNikkiSoBossy
NappyChronicles
xGoldN
What's your favorite natural hair webistes??
6.27.2010
6.25.2010
6.11.2010
News
Hey yall,
I just wanted to check in & let everyone know that I have a summer series on women of color and sexuality on the Refuse The Silence blog. Click the link and check me out! You can learn more about Refuse The Silence here.
I just wanted to check in & let everyone know that I have a summer series on women of color and sexuality on the Refuse The Silence blog. Click the link and check me out! You can learn more about Refuse The Silence here.
4.17.2010
4.12.2010
The Racialization of Music Part 1
The other day my boyfriend and I went to the Paid Dues concert in San Bernadino, California. Paid Dues is what I like to call a "concert warehouse", its a good number of acts performing at one huge venue throughout the course of a 12 hour day but all at different times. I had never been to one this big before, Jazz Reggae is probably the closet I've ever came. After attending, I came to the conclusion that I would prefer a smaller concert with just about three artists instead of 15. Its more personal. Anyway, while at Paid Dues, I made another observation, out of maybe 2,000 people, 50 of the attendees were black. This was an all-hip hop concert. Just as most things do, that got me to thinking about the politics of race. In this world nothing is absent from the concept of race, even music. Its a shame too, because music, as beautiful as it is should not be tainted by the confines of race.
With so many different races at this Paid Dues concert I wondered why hip hop still had an African American-only sign attached to it; there are so many different people that love, listen to , and are involved in hip hop. As people of color, which hip hop is most representative of, we have a common struggle of oppression and marginalization. Hip hop was created as an avenue to express oneself in spite of the dominant society. It was created as a counter-culture and a counter-public; I figure that's why so many people connect with it. Hip hop tells a story of being abused and beaten, something a lot of people living in the United States can relate to. We all know that hip hop is mostly bought by white, male teenagers. We also know that this doesn't take into account the fact that hip hop was commercialized and is commodified by rich, white male record executives who are the major reason why we have a glamorization of gangsta culture in America. So why then, is it black Americans who are the victims of hip hop's obvious ills? Hip hop was created by black Americans, however, since it was grown to become entirely more than "black music." In this world of race, salsa belongs to Cubans, Country to white people. Music, essentially is just a few sounds thrown together, how can anyone own sounds? From early on, we know that music has largely been an entity belonging to Black Americans. Black Americans are responsible for much of the musical genres that we have today, either from direct impact or purely because Africa is the original civilization from which all things sprang. However, we must also realize that music has a "full circle" type of relationship with the world. Any music that has ever been created has pulled elements from other people, places and musical genres and it has been copied and remixed. Therefore, no one really owns any type of music and especially no one race owns any type of music.
We can all agree that hip hop perpetuates stereotypes, from black men as thugs to black women as ho's. However, we have to make the distinction that hip hop is not to blame for these stereotypes. Hip hop is criminalized just like blackness is criminalized. Andrea Smith, in her article, "Heteropatriarchy and the Three Pillars of White Supremacy: Rethinking Women of Color Organizing" says, that " we can actually look at the criminalization of Blackness as a logical extension of Blackness as property." Thus we can say that even though hip hop is a entity that is multicultural, it is criminalized and commodified at the expense of black bodies.
What are your thoughts?
The next part in this series will be: The Power of Hip Hop
With so many different races at this Paid Dues concert I wondered why hip hop still had an African American-only sign attached to it; there are so many different people that love, listen to , and are involved in hip hop. As people of color, which hip hop is most representative of, we have a common struggle of oppression and marginalization. Hip hop was created as an avenue to express oneself in spite of the dominant society. It was created as a counter-culture and a counter-public; I figure that's why so many people connect with it. Hip hop tells a story of being abused and beaten, something a lot of people living in the United States can relate to. We all know that hip hop is mostly bought by white, male teenagers. We also know that this doesn't take into account the fact that hip hop was commercialized and is commodified by rich, white male record executives who are the major reason why we have a glamorization of gangsta culture in America. So why then, is it black Americans who are the victims of hip hop's obvious ills? Hip hop was created by black Americans, however, since it was grown to become entirely more than "black music." In this world of race, salsa belongs to Cubans, Country to white people. Music, essentially is just a few sounds thrown together, how can anyone own sounds? From early on, we know that music has largely been an entity belonging to Black Americans. Black Americans are responsible for much of the musical genres that we have today, either from direct impact or purely because Africa is the original civilization from which all things sprang. However, we must also realize that music has a "full circle" type of relationship with the world. Any music that has ever been created has pulled elements from other people, places and musical genres and it has been copied and remixed. Therefore, no one really owns any type of music and especially no one race owns any type of music.
We can all agree that hip hop perpetuates stereotypes, from black men as thugs to black women as ho's. However, we have to make the distinction that hip hop is not to blame for these stereotypes. Hip hop is criminalized just like blackness is criminalized. Andrea Smith, in her article, "Heteropatriarchy and the Three Pillars of White Supremacy: Rethinking Women of Color Organizing" says, that " we can actually look at the criminalization of Blackness as a logical extension of Blackness as property." Thus we can say that even though hip hop is a entity that is multicultural, it is criminalized and commodified at the expense of black bodies.
What are your thoughts?
The next part in this series will be: The Power of Hip Hop
3.27.2010
Interracial Dating: Are We Still Having A Problem With This?: Updated
Today I read this post on YBF on Jill Scott's views on interracial dating. I then, as usual, took to Twitter to have a discussion with my followers on the topic. I thought Jill added a great perspective to why black women might have a problem with black men dating interracially or why women of color have a problem when men of color date white women. She added a perspective I had never thought of before.
Race operates in a black/white binary, with white, along with everything associated with whiteness, being placed in the upper echelons of society and black, along with everything associated with blackness, being placed in the lowest echelon of society. I believe that black self-hate is motivation for the reason that a lot of people get upset when others date outside their race. When society tells you that you're ugly, stupid, and undesirable and that white women are more worthy of protection, more beautiful, more loyal, and smarter, and then you see a black man marry a white woman, its easy to see that as a small confirmation of that skewed self-perception. Also, I think, the real problem arises when both black men and black women designate who they will or won't date based solely on their race. For example, "I don't date black women." or "I don't date outside my race." When a black man completely rules out dating other black people, it obviously reflects on how he feels about his belonging to that race and the race in general.
White is seen as the pinnacle of society. In America, everything that is white is pure, good, and downright better than everything else, especially anything black. White is able to attain everything, black is able to attain nothing. When a black woman sees a black man dating a white woman, its a sense of "them" attaining another thing that should belong to us. It almost as if nothing is untouchable by the white race. Black women generally feel betrayed when a black man dates a white woman. We feel that black men's loyalty should be expressed through the dating of only black women. However, how much does this type of "loyalty" really benefit the black race? Its heteronormative to ask black men to only date within their race so that we can "preserve the black family" and it also reinforces the detrimental concept of race itself. Can someone give me one good reason for why we should only date inside drawn our racial lines? The "black family" has been destroyed since slavery times and I wonder if it ever really existed? Isn't the nuclear family a white ideal? I'm all for building up the black community through economically "buying black, supporting black political leaders, creating black sub-cultures, and the preservation and knowledge of black culture, etc. which are all profitable and beneficial ways to support us, however, I fail to see a real reason how racial dating loyalty benefits the black community in any real ways. I'm sick of hearing black women ask why there aren't black men available, or why black men find other races desirable or why there aren't more black relationships. Its old.
Generally, I think people are way too obsessed with relationships for some reason. Jealousy and unneccessry criticism from intruders always surround relationships for absolutely no reason. That's why its best to keep personal relationship business to yourself if you are in one. I think the ultimate solution is to love yourself and love who you are and where you come from.
Race operates in a black/white binary, with white, along with everything associated with whiteness, being placed in the upper echelons of society and black, along with everything associated with blackness, being placed in the lowest echelon of society. I believe that black self-hate is motivation for the reason that a lot of people get upset when others date outside their race. When society tells you that you're ugly, stupid, and undesirable and that white women are more worthy of protection, more beautiful, more loyal, and smarter, and then you see a black man marry a white woman, its easy to see that as a small confirmation of that skewed self-perception. Also, I think, the real problem arises when both black men and black women designate who they will or won't date based solely on their race. For example, "I don't date black women." or "I don't date outside my race." When a black man completely rules out dating other black people, it obviously reflects on how he feels about his belonging to that race and the race in general.
White is seen as the pinnacle of society. In America, everything that is white is pure, good, and downright better than everything else, especially anything black. White is able to attain everything, black is able to attain nothing. When a black woman sees a black man dating a white woman, its a sense of "them" attaining another thing that should belong to us. It almost as if nothing is untouchable by the white race. Black women generally feel betrayed when a black man dates a white woman. We feel that black men's loyalty should be expressed through the dating of only black women. However, how much does this type of "loyalty" really benefit the black race? Its heteronormative to ask black men to only date within their race so that we can "preserve the black family" and it also reinforces the detrimental concept of race itself. Can someone give me one good reason for why we should only date inside drawn our racial lines? The "black family" has been destroyed since slavery times and I wonder if it ever really existed? Isn't the nuclear family a white ideal? I'm all for building up the black community through economically "buying black, supporting black political leaders, creating black sub-cultures, and the preservation and knowledge of black culture, etc. which are all profitable and beneficial ways to support us, however, I fail to see a real reason how racial dating loyalty benefits the black community in any real ways. I'm sick of hearing black women ask why there aren't black men available, or why black men find other races desirable or why there aren't more black relationships. Its old.
Generally, I think people are way too obsessed with relationships for some reason. Jealousy and unneccessry criticism from intruders always surround relationships for absolutely no reason. That's why its best to keep personal relationship business to yourself if you are in one. I think the ultimate solution is to love yourself and love who you are and where you come from.
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