“Proposal for the education we want”
Banner: “What we won’t do for education no one will do”
Published by the largest national high school student group, “ACES”
May 16, Santiago
(vía erespielmorena)
My other self
enjoy it or not i don't care
Orgasms are a great part of sex but I bet you didn't know these fun facts about the Big O! Check them out!!!
Lol cuts risk of heart attack in half… WTF!!!
An Open Love Letter to Folks of Color*
I love this love letter. ^_^
by Mia McKenzie
Dear Fellow Folks of Color,
I am writing to tell you that I’m in love with you. I would have said it to your faces, but I don’t have that kind of travel money.
What I love about you, POC, is…well, there’s a lot.
First of all, I love that, despite what you may have heard, your ancestors pretty much built or invented everything that was ever built or invented in the world. They built the pyramids. They built the United States (this includes buildings, roads, bridges, and the entire economic system that came from the cotton of the South and which made this country a world power). They invented chess, jewelry, sculpture, dance. Air conditioning, the fire extinguisher. Guitars, horseshoes, rock and roll, mailboxes, motors, refrigerators, traffic lights. They invented chopsticks, spoons, and forks. To eat the food whose domestication they originated: rice, chocolate, potatoes, carrots, coffee, wheat, ice cream. I could go on. The first game of soccer was played by them. The first songs sung with the human voice were sung by them. By you. I mean, how could I not love you? (Also, I’m pretty sure you invented love.)
But that’s really not even the half of it. POC, I love you because you are fierce. Because you are strong. Because you are hella resilient. Because despite living in a country that finds some new way every single day to tell you that you are less, you somehow continue to be more and more and more. Despite racism and xenophobia and poverty and white women’s tears and Mitt Romney, you still manage, somehow, to hold it together. Even though every Arab movie terrorist is played by an Arab dude but the hero “Prince of Persia” is played by Jake Gyllenhaal; even though white people keep re-posting that jackass racist Facebook link about African children sharing tree-candy; even though some people think “reverse racism” is a real thing; even though API folks are like .003% of the characters on US TV shows right now and most of them are on Glee, you haven’t just given up and started speaking gibberish and throwing your feces. Which, under the circumstances, would be really understandable. No, instead you find more and more ways to survive, and not only to survive, but to thrive. Despite your children being gunned down by cops like every single day, despite your mothers being sent to prison for “stealing” public education, despite your sisters dying in the heat of the desert while “sneaking” into a land that belongs to your own ancestors, not to mention being deported from that same land in record numbers, despite the CONSTANT beatings inflicted on your souls, you somehow still have souls. That’s fucking amazing. I mean, I’m not surprised. Your ancestors couldn’t have survived slavery and genocide without some damn serious sturdy genes. But still. It’s impressive.
I love you for all of these things.
I love you, too, for the way, despite all of this, you continue to love each other. I love you for knowing what community really is. I love you for understanding what family means. I love you for the way you lean into each other when you laugh, the way you rock when you hug, the way you cook and fight and die for each other. The way you forgive. The way you remember.
I love your thick lips and your thick/curly/kinky/bone-straight hair. I love your slanted eyes, and your round and not-round asses, and your high cheekbones and your big/tiny feet. I love your brown eyes. I LOVE your brown skin.
I love the way you do math (which you also invented), the way you dance, the way you talk. I love your fire. I love your anger.
Folks of Color, I am so fucking in love with you. So in love with us.
Sigh.
Call me, k? ;)
Mia McKenzie is the creator of Black Girl Dangerous and the Black Girl Dangerous Photography Project. She is a writer (winner of the Leeway Foundation’s Transformation Award, winner of the Astraea Foundation’s Writers Fund Award), a reader, a photographer, an activist, and a nerd.
*Although this post is US-focused, I realize there are Folks of Color holding it down everywhere in the world.
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Read More Black Girl Dangerous:
5 Tips for Slightly Less Dysfunctional Queer POC Community
(vía bad-dominicana)
These are graph from “Injustice at Every Turn” showing rate of sexual assault in jail/prison. The first graph is the rates of sexual assaults for trans women by race. The rates break down as follows:
- Nineteen percent of all trans women who went to jail/prison
- Thirty-eight percent of Black trans women
- Thirty percent of America Indians trans women
- Twenty-five percent of trans Latinas
- Twenty-four percent of multiracial trans women
- Twelve percent of White trans women
- Too small of a sample to report for Asian Pacific Islander trans women
According to “Injustice at Every Turn,” a report of institutionalized discrimination against trans people: “Transgender women of color were particularly vulnerable to sexual assault in jail/prison. Thirty-eight percent (38%) of Black [trans women] respondents reported being sexually assaulted by either another inmate or a staff member in jail/prison.”
Multiracial, Latina, Black and American Indian trans women are twice to more then three times as likely as White trans women to be sexually assaulted in prison.
This is the only statistic in the report that simultaneously accounts for both the race and gender of participants. Taken by themselves trans women and trans people of color experience higher rates of discrimination than trans men, nonbinary and white trans people.
The second graph shows sexual assault rates in prison/jail by gender. The rates are for trans women:
- Eighteen percent by inmates
- Seven percent by staff
- Twenty percent by anyone
For trans men:
- Two percent by inmates
- Four percent by staff
- Six percent by anyone
For all trans people:
- Fourteen percent by inmates
- Seven percent by staff
- Sixteen percent by anyone
Gender nonconforming people:
- Six percent by inmates
- Four percent by staff
- Eight percent by anyone
Trans women in jail/prison are three to nine times as likely to be sexually assaulted by inmates, nearly twice as likely to be sexually assaulted by staff, and about three (2.5 - 3.33) times as likely to be sexually assaulted by anyone when compared to trans men and gender nonconforming people in jail/prison.
The third graph shows sexual assault rates in prison/jail by race. These break down for all trans people who went to jail/prison:
- Thirteen percent by inmates
- Six percent by staff
- Fifteen percent by anyone
American Indian (sample size too small for reliable analysis):
- Twenty-seven percent by inmates
- Eighteen percent by staff
- Twenty-seven percent by anyone
Asian Pacific Islander (sample size too small for reliable analysis):
- Six percent by inmates
- Six percent by staff
- Eleven percent by anyone
Black:
- Thirty-two percent by inmates
- Nine percent by staff
- Thirty-four percent by anyone
Latin@:
- Twenty-one percent by inmates
- Seven percent by staff
- Twenty-four percent by anyone
White:
- Seven percent by inmates
- Four percent by staff
- Nine percent by anyone
Multiracial:
- Fourteen percent by inmates
- Eight percent by staff
- Sixteen percent by anyone
With a similar break down to that of the first graph showing race and gender, trans people of color in jail/prison are significantly more likely to be sexually assaulted when compared to White trans people in jail/prison.
(vía bad-dominicana)
To prevent Africans and Native Americans from uniting, Europeans played skillfully on racial differences and ethnic rivalries. They kept the pot of animosity boiling. Whites turned Indians into slavehunters and slave owners, and Africans into “Indian-fighters”. Light-skinned Africans were pitted against dark-skinned, free against enslaved, Black Indians against “pure” Africans or “pure” Indians.
Those who have put history into books have emphasized differences between Africans and Native Americans. For example, they have stressed that Europeans encountered Indians as distinct individuals and members of proud nations, and Africans as nameless slaves. Little mention is made of the enslavement of Native Americans and nothing is said about the cultural similarities between the two dark peoples. In 1984, scholar Theda Perdue said: “By emphasizing the actual, exaggerated and imagined differences between Africans and Indians, whites successfully masked the cultural similarities of the two races as well as their mutual exploitation by whites.
(vía bad-dominicana)
“I cried that night, I cry now. I cry every time I remember how much pain money has caused my family. While it is just paper, an abstract thing that gets you four dollar drinks, it’s broken me down time and time again. I can’t explain this to most Yale students because they don’t understand. I can’t explain to them how every time I buy overpriced coffee, I feel like I’ve betrayed my parents by allowing the bills that they gripped tightly to slip from my own hands.
While I recognize that these students aren’t at fault, that they never intended to do me harm, watching their spending habits, their carefree attitude wears me down. So at the risk of sounding intolerant, I can’t stand being around so much money. It acutely reminds me of the sweat and toil of my displaced parents, of how my raggedly flea market clothes never cost more than 3 dollars, of how despite wearing my Mexican heritage proudly, I haven’t been in 15 years—-of how poor I am. It’s hard to relate to others.
I don’t intentionally mean to surround myself with other Hispanics, I’m just desperately trying to form a community around myself that understands where I’m coming from. As I mentioned before, I know I’m in the wrong, but can you really blame me for not being able to bite my lip meal after meal while you tell me how beautiful Cancun is?”
oh my god. this gives me so many feels… The more my time at Yale passes, the more I feel this way.
(Fuente: eb-n-flow, vía bad-dominicana)
Forever reblog.
(Fuente: delusionaldianne, vía mexicatiahui)
Celebrities are less perfect than you think! We “flip” Scarlett Johansson, Justin Bieber and more. - ad http://mylikes.com/l/1unhg
(vía shit-thatblows)
in the top picture is what happens when you stereotype a people, for those of you that feel the need to portray our culture in this way, STOP!
The pattern looks like this:
- Racist and sexist stereotypes deny the dignity and worth of Indigenous women, encouraging some men to feel they can get away with acts of hatred against them.
- Decades of government policy have impoverished and broken apart Indigenous families and communities, leaving many Indigenous women and girls extremely vulnerable to exploitation and attack.
- Many police forces have failed to institute necessary measures – such as training, protocols and accountability mechanisms – to ensure that officers understand and respect the Indigenous communities they serve. Without such measures, police too often fail to do all they can to ensure the safety of Indigenous women and girls whose lives are in danger.
(vía mexicatiahui)
Bicultural Hispanic women know they are unique; they want to feel understood and heard, as well as represented. They will respond to messages that reflect their values, identity and can create a real connection with them. Watch out though, this does not mean only translating the message, or just adding a face to a marketing campaign. It means learning what their underlying motivations are for doing what they do, when they do it and with whom.
Some of their preferences might be more aligned to the mainstream values while others might have a more traditional standpoint. This is an interesting group since they are influenced by two worlds and are part of larger market segmentations. - Daniela Rubio, Project Manager at Added Value Cheskin
A quote from What do Bicultural Hispanic women want … and more importantly, why should you care?
——————
Whether or not you identify as Hispanic (I don’t), it’s important to be aware of how much increased interests brands and advertisers have in us (Latin@s/Chican@s/etc.) as consumers.
Purchasing power among Latinos in the U.S. rose to $1.1 trillion in 2011. The Hispanic population is growing 2 times faster then the total population. By 2025, U.S. Hispanics will outnumber non-Hispanic whites.
We must empower ourselves and our communities to leverage our power as a large consumer base to get brands and advertisers to improve their products and services. If you think that a show unfairly or in a discriminatory manner represents Latinos, mobilize and threaten to boycott the show and the advertisers until something is done about it.
If the packaging on products that are targeting Latinos is offensive/plays on stereotypes, mobilize and boycott the product until the company changes their packaging.
We do have power and a voice. We must exercise both.
(via ohmija)
(vía bad-dominicana)
