the asian american writers’ workshop just published 16 love poems by poets of palestinian heritage that were featured in the anthology we call to the eye & the night edited by hala alyan & zeina hashem beck
"men don't need to be afraid walking around at night"
Unless they're black
"men make more than women in jobs"
Black men make less than white women on average
"men don't get followed around by people who mean them harm"
Black men are heavily policed and regularly jumped and killed for just walking down the street
"no one tells a man what he can and cannot do with his own body"
Black men are repeatedly assaulted and have their hair forcibly shaved or cut for wearing their hair natural and in culturally important styles. Black men who choose body modifications like tattoos or piercings are branded as thugs. Black men who have children and black men who don't have children are both regarded as players, hounddogs, absent fathers, and baby daddies, as if the logical answer is that no one's first choice of partner and father of their children would ever be a black man.
"no one judges a man's worth based on his clothes"/"a man isn't ever in danger no matter what he wears"
Black men are required to look presentable and professional according to eurocentric standards, push themselves into clothes not made for their bodies, and be highly uncomfortable in their daily lives or else risk 'fitting the profile' or 'matching the description' and getting detained by police AT BEST for the crime of existing in public. Black men wearing comfortable clothes are seen as sloppy, thugs, gangsters, street rats, hood and ghetto.
"no man fears rape"
The rape and sexual assault of black men ties directly to black buck stereotypes and black fetishization to the point where liking a black person or having your dating pool be open to black people is treated like a sexuality much like being gay. People are both threatened by and aroused by our bodies and that leads them to perform extreme acts of violence on us, including rape, SA, coercion, trafficking, and more. Much like how "tranny" and "lesbian" is a porn category, so is Big Black Cock. Sometimes with us featured as the rapist. Sometimes with us featured as the victim. Almost never with us featured as intimate, passionate, loving, tender. Black men are either to be feared and reviled, or to be broken and forced to submit. Direct ties to slavery with white people still getting off to our suffering.
Just say you don't care as much about black people's suffering and go, jesus.
I have privilege because I sometimes pass as a man? Try walking in my shoes for a while. Turns out being a black man vs being a black woman isn't always so different.
firefox is just such a standard browser for anyone remotely interested in computers that remembering basically every normal person uses google chrome feels like a kick in the head
Some good news in this darkness. Lent starts tomorrow (I think) - praying Sudanese Copts are safe; Ramadan is still some time later ....
i keep watching youtube videos but you know what I need to do? not study, crochet, draw, or learn physics. i need to be going through my steam backlog because obviously this is the most important thing that needs to be done.
The thing is, the people who are most "entitled" to "taking a break" from talking about the atrocities happening daily are the ones who will continue talking about it non-stop, either because we actively live it or because we share similar plights. We cannot afford to look away because we all know liberation and decolonization and anti-racism are goals we all share and strive for, and the suffering of Palestinians is the same as the suffering of every formerly and currently colonized peoples.
Yet the ones who talk about "activism burnout" or "compassion fatigue" or whatever, who only want this to be "over" so they can watch Disney+ again and get their favorite Starbucks TM drink TM, are the ones least impacted by what is happening; globally, but in their own country and even community as well. Imagine living in such a comfortable bubble that your main concern isn't the horrific government-sponsored genocide, but whether or not you can "go back" to your fun daily routines without feeling mild guilt because the corporations you're getting your fun and convenience from are either implicitly or explicitly backing that genocide happening right now.
If you can afford to look away and play pretend you are not only appallingly privileged, you have blood on your hands as surely as the military personnel bombing hospitals do.
my favorite and arguably the best of mario's voice lines. he is soooo sweet! :]
as someone who grew up in an interfaith family it’s time to take a stance on christmas/hannukah cards. the best ones are for sure the ones where santa is gay married to a hasidic man
he/him | transmisogyny exempt | asian
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