Ethnic Minorities Deserve Safe Spaces Without White People

Alright, here we go. This article with the same title of this blog entry, was put on my radar a couple of days ago. I left it alone because it stated the obvious for me, but here's the thing.
People (as you could probably see in any discussion where this article pops up) have a problem with the idea.


Yes. People have a problem with the idea that ethnic minorities should have a space for them. They think this article is pro segregation and is divisive to the so called 'melting pot' that is America.

Well, as predicted, I'm going to tell them to GET THE FUCK OUTTA HERE WITH THAT BULLSHIT AND SIT AAAALL THE WAY DOWN. My target audience already knows why, but I'll tell anyone else who may be reading this in case they don't know.:

Any time a minority seeks to belong to a group that caters to their interests, lo and behold, some "well  meaning" White person has to interject, and say something like :

"If White people did this, it would be considered racist. Why can't White people deserve to have safe spaces without minorities?"

Here's why:

There are many places that cater towards a White only audience. White is considered a general norm. They can turn on any television show and feel represented in many lights. There are restaurants that serve food targeted for White audiences that exist (Irish pubs for example), and they can feel at ease whenever they go anywhere.


But what they fail to realize is that anybody could go and spend money in any establishment geared towards another ethnicity.
It seems the only time they have problems is when Black people seek safe spaces. 

Here's the thing:

Nobody is forcing White people to visit clubs, business, etc that cater towards Black people. No one is forcing them to tune in to BET (which serves as a go to argument for those who want a White Entertainment Television channel). In fact, Telemundo is a channel geared towards people who speak Spanish. If I wanted to brush up on my Spanish, I am free to watch it. Again, nobody is forcing people to watch Telemundo against their will.  All of these things, and spaces are optional.

And that's the point. 

In a country where a person may be made to feel isolated, it feels nice to have your own "safe space" where you can let your hair down so to speak. This is a luxury afforded by many White people. They can go anywhere and feel invited because their whiteness in the United States has been set as the norm. However, this luxury had been denied time and time again when it came to the needs of Black people.

This goes back to what I've said before regarding Black businesses:

No one balks about other nationalities starting businesses that cater to them. No one balks when people of Asian descent start up their own businesses. In fact New York has a prominent Hadisic Jewish neighborhood that caters to the needs of Hadisic Jews. And yet, no one has called any of them racist. In fact, these neighborhoods are looked at as tales to tell the rest of the world that they too, can make it in America. It's just that when Black people want a taste of the American dream, they get deemed as racist and chided for wanting to cater to their own people. And that includes the feelings towards the desire for Black people to want our own safe spaces. 

Even when Black people expressed outrage regarding excessive killings by police, someone somewhere decided that #AllLivesMatter instead of #BlackLivesMatter.  

Really?  

Really. 

It's like they're saying the following, "We really need to stop their little protest and correct them because ALL lives matter, and not just Black lives! Why are they not acknowledging us too?" 

And you're left standing there looking at them like this.

And whenever Black people go online, faceless users decide it's okay to hurl racial slurs when playing video games, send death and or rape threats, and hack into their computers to obtain personal information, in hopes they can expose you and maybe find out where you live. Or they'll just do the old fashioned thing and troll their spaces with racism, and/or by asking deliberately obtuse questions that reflect their biases. Reddit's blackladies forum experienced that on many many occasions, and it could be seen in other fine sections of reddit. One of which is called "The Chimpire", which is plethora of subreddits * dedicated towards the hatred of Black people. I mean, they even took the time to create mock subreddits with similar layouts of the original Black subreddits they were mocking in the first place. They even troll the internet in order to fabricate Black stories as well as pretend they're Black in order to disguise their slander.

Now if all that doesn't make a race or subset of people feel unsafe among the majority race or subset, then I don't know what to tell you. 

Why don't they just go ahead and admit that anything centered towards Black people will be met with hostility and the fact that its possible for such spaces to exist makes them feel nervous and they'll be forced to deal with some issues they are too afraid to touch.

And that's really why they're uncomfortable with the idea in the first place.

But then if they admit it, they'll look like a "bunch of pussies", so their only option is to keep the fuckery alive instead of address those underlying issues, I guess, which makes them well... look like a "bunch of pussies".

Maybe that's the Catch  22.

*As of 8/21/15, The Chimpire has gone private, meaning one must sign up in order to make posts or become a member. This change has been brought to us by reddit's quarantine program. It's where the formerly public subreddits have been given a "safe space" on reddit.  Meanwhile, r/blackladies, whose motto is literally "a safe space" enjoys the treat of more harassment.

Why I Write How I Write : Another Introduction

Fun fact. I went to college to become an English major. You wouldn't know it by the way I write. These days, I am not interested in writing in a way that appeals to other English majors, or professors for that matter. I write what's going on in my mind, and I write how I speak. That means, my writing is riddled with grammatical and punctuation errors, and various other things that would drive an English major or professor mad. That's okay because I write for those who understand where I'm coming from, besides, if my memory serves me correct, that technique is called "free writing" in the literary world. This writing technique should not interfere with a person's reception of my feelings nor should it be used as an attempt to discount what I have to say. Using that as an intellectual cover to do so can really undermine a person's credibility because they dismiss what you have to say and focus on semantics. << That's the shit I don't like. Therefore:


If their argument goes along the lines of, "You missed a comma here therefore your argument is moot", then they can get the hell on somewhere. It means they really weren't interested in anything I had to say in the first place.

Sure, people need to effectively communicate in a professional manner. I completely understand the need for that. This writing would be unacceptable for a college paper, nor would it be okay for a resume. That's a given. But you see and understand each and every word and the meaning of those words are appropriate for the context.

nowifiwaswritinglikethis, or If I was writn leik dis, or. Maybe I was. writing like This THEN there is a problem.

Or maybe that's just my own snobbery coming out. I don't know. However, I have told a person or two that punctuation is their friend. That means a person needs to at least separate their sentences. I can't read a single run on sentence that turns into a big paragraph with no spaces in between. That's really hard on my eyes. Anyway, I'm rambling. I need to go do something else.

Bye y'all.

Voting!... Against Your Own Self Interests.

We all know that Republicans took Congress, right? Well since then, they've been making many proposals to cut welfare benefits for those whom are poor. Missouri was one of the states to make a 15 month cut to welfare benefits.  They also want to ban poor people from eating steak and seafood. And Kansas had thoughts of them using their aid to gain access to public swimming pools, psychics, and tattoo services.

I saw this video that brought up how the residents of Owsley County, Kentucky  which is known for being the Food Stamp Capital of America have voted for the welfare cuts.

Here's the video:



The funny thing about this is... when they balk about the change for THEM, their neighbors will say, "At least you're not a nigger."  And the first person will agree.

And they will blame Black people for it.

They're probably going to blame Obama for this because (according to a lot of conservatives) Obama made the country more racist. They will reference this event as the outcome of the country being "Obama's America."

Now as far as blaming Obama goes, well, the reason America has become MORE racist after Obama became president is because the racists can't stand the idea that Obama is in that chair. In fact, the citizens spent a lot of time talking shit about him, making shooting targets of him, threatened to kill him, called him an 'uppity nigger' in so many words, and cursed him out all the way through both terms. In fact, they said Obama was Hitler, and that Obama's America was going to be crazy, when in actuality, all Obama did was sit down in the chair. They didn't like him in the chair, so they bucked against everything he did. They even talked big shit on his wife.

I suspect that exposed racism and hatred was exactly what the Obama haters were afraid of. They would be unable to control themselves now that "Obummer" (their words, not mine) is in that chair. They wanted him to go along to get along, which is expected of any Black politician. Even when he won fair and square, people were saying that the Blacks and the so called "Illegals" (their words again) swayed the election when in actuality, Black people only make up about 13 percent of the population, and many of them are incarcerated. Incarcerated people don't get the right to vote. Illegal people don't get that right either, so they can't say its possible the victory happened solely due to this particular subset of people.


I digress. I wonder if anybody has told them about this thinking. I wonder if anybody has ever let them know how ridiculous they sound when they complain about how this country is going down the drain ever since Barak became president. I suspect nobody has done it. But then again, I suspect if someone did bring this to their attention, they'd have to be White because honestly, some of them have prejudices so thick that a Black person mentioning anything important is just... well, a talking nigger. Oh well. I won't be the one telling them because no matter what, they'll still think what they want to think. 
And later they will both complain about their children being hungry.  But hey, you get what you vote for according to the mantra that Black folks have been told all of these years due to low Black voter turnout. 

Meanwhile when Black people actually turn out to vote, republicans call it disgusting. 

Go figure.

Black Women, Depression and the "Strong Black Woman" trope.

Okay. I saw this article regarding how Black women are pressured into being superwoman all the time and how it affects us. One of those ways it affects us is that it shows up in the form of depression. It doesn't explain why we become depressed, so I'll tell you.

America created the "Strong Black Woman".  We have to endure, thrive and live. We face a lot of obstacles while living in this country. We have to navigate everything and everywhere, and deal with a lot of foolishness. Some days, it's like, "What kind of bullshit I'm going to have to deal with today?" So we act accordingly. We lose our tempers, we get cagey. We try to ‪survive‬. Now, the "Strong Black Woman" has turned into a racist trope. You can see the trope online and on tv. They're trying to make us look like crazy hoodrat type people. They mock us, and when they talk to us, they start rolling their eyes and necks. And they put on this "voice" they think we all sound like. That's a bunch of bullshit right there. They wonder why we are mad. Well, if we didn't have to deal with a bunch of straight up ignorance then we wouldn't be mad. And now this article comes out.

As a person who has to deal with depression, I understand this article. BUT one has to examine why a lot of us experience depression and anxiety. It's because of the world we live in. Our hairstyles, names, and addresses determine whether we get the job interview. We're lucky when we get the job in the first place. And when we get the job, we have to deal with ‪fuckery‬. Sometimes the work environment can get hostile, so we get depressed because it happens everywhere we go. It's supposed to be a joke that we should be able to take. We are tired. We are tired of the bullshit we have to endure because somebody wants to make jokes.

We can disagree with someone and all of a sudden we're aggressive, or rude. The same thing happens when we bring up different ways to handle something. They expect us to smile and nod. We are only there for the background. And if we look good enough (where "enough" is subjective), they might take a picture for their pamphlets. This happens everywhere. And it weighs down on you.

I should know.

For those who have turned the "Strong Black Woman" into an online meme and or trope, I 'd have to tell them to GET THE FUCK OUTTA HERE WITH THAT BULLSHIT.

That goes for all and any media outlets out there who wish to make fools of us for trying to exist in a circumstance THEY created.

All Dogs Matter- Another police brutality post

Ok. In my area, there is a large concentration of White people vs any minority. I've noticed some stuff that occurs in my area in regards to police brutality. They are against police brutality in theory, but only if their dogs are involved. That's right. 

Dogs.

Yes, dogs. Because dogs are considered family members.

Lets be clear. I love dogs. I've had a total of 6 dogs in my life. I've trained them as well.

I'd be upset if the police shot my dog. BUT if they shot my dog and overlooked me, then I would be okay with that.

I can live without a dog. But there's no guarantee the dog would have a good life without me because I don't know where the dog would go, or how they would take care of it.

But why come (I have to say it like that) when the subject of police brutality against minorites comes up, all of a sudden I hear," Yeah, but dogs too. They get killed. They are shot for no reason, and I'm sick of it. They wouldn't want anybody to shoot their family member, and my dog is family. (Dog or dogs) is/are my baby/babies. (Dog or dogs) is/are like my kids." ?

All Black people want is to be treated like humans. That's it.

And then this real not satirical article came out with the following title:

Black Baltimore Residents Aren't "Animals", We Punish People for Killing Animals

I've seen people at anti police brutality rallies holding signs about killing their dogs. Most of these people were White and some were Brown.


I have to tell them to GET ALL THE WAY THE FUCK OUTTA HERE WITH THAT BULLSHIT!


Let me say, it's a goddamn shame that article had to be written in the first place. Really? Placing dogs above Black people is just inhumane. But anecdotes don't count as proof of what I'm talking about, so let me show you another article.

Apparently in Wykoff NJ police shot a five year old German shepard named "Otto" and now they're rallying against it.

Now the question I'd like to ask is, will the "pro police" crowd create something to counter the #AllDogsMatter rallies?  Would they come up with  t-shirts that say "All Dogs Go To Heaven" instead of the "I Can Breathe" t-shirts the NYPD wore so shamelessly? Or the "I Support Darren Wilson bracelets, and t-shirts." worn by the Ferguson, Missouri Police Department. Will they race to their pocketbooks in order to fund the officers that shot the dogs with the same fervor and zeal they showed for Darren Wilson?

Something tells me that I already know the answer to that question.

 Maybe that "All Dogs Go to Heaven" t-shirt would be just what people need in order to get them to stop killing us.

But nope, if anything gets done, I think they'll just stop shooting dogs instead.

"These cops are tired of white people getting freaked out by their black neighbors"<< Here we go

Yeah. I've been making a lot of posts about police brutality lately. But now this article came out talking about how cops are tired of White people getting "freaked out" by their Black neighbors, and I've got to say SOMETHING.

Here we go.  If there are any cops out there reading this blog, I have one question for you:

WHY THE FUCK DIDN'T YOU DO SOMETHING ABOUT IT?!

And that's why I have to tell them to GET THE FUCK OUTTA HERE!!

I've been the victim of stuff like that and I've straight up asked the cops about implementing a process where they charge the people who cry wolf. They stammer, and say they don't have a way to do so. I even asked them about how they can track phone numbers when people abuse the emergency services (911) and they say the dispatchers handle that.

It's all bullshit.

That's why I have to tell those officers to GET THE FUCK OUTTA HERE!

They had NO intention of doing anything about it. They're just playing brand new.

During my last police encounter, I asked if they charge people for bogus 911 calls. They said they do. I asked them why it keeps happening. They said if the person is a "problem" then they will charge. I asked them, "How many calls constitutes a charge?" They said three or four. I then asked, "What if they make a bogus call and that call is the one that causes somebody to get killed?" I cited John Crawford as an example.  The caller in his case should have heavily fined and locked away for murder.

They didn't have an answer for me.

FUCK OUTTA HERE. 

On Police Brutality

I'd like to paint a picture for you:

I'm sure you've done some traveling where you'd have to visit an airport.

You know the part where they have to search you and have you go through the medal detector?

Well, let's say they make you spread your legs, they go inside of your pants. YES inside of your pants in order to make sure you aren't carrying anything dangerous. They touch you inappropriately, make you spread your butt cheeks apart, they make you open your mouth and take off your shoes. They even check your socks. They take off your hat, search it, and forcefully run their fingers through your hair. They do all of this while interrogating you about where you live, whether or not you're driving YOUR car even if the name on the licence and registration match), whether or not you have insurance, where you work, etc. This is also done when your car looks "too nice", meaning it looks like a car that "somebody like you" wouldn't normally be seen in.

What if you have a job that allows you to have that nice car? You get interrogated. They don't believe the car belongs to you so they run the plates AFTER they finish running your name and registration. Then they make you wait for another officer so they can search your car. They tear your car apart, find nothing, and leave you with the mess to clean up. 

Let's say it happens so much that you automatically "assume the position", which is where they make you turn around, face a wall (or something stationary) with your hands up, put your hands on the stationary object, and spread your legs far apart. And they keep pushing you to spread your legs further. And you can not spread them that far. Not because you are hiding something, but because you just aren't that flexible. And they keep pushing you around, grabbing you and telling you to comply even though you are already doing so. 

They insult you as they continue violating your personal space. They joke about it. They talk about you like a rare fish they caught over the weekend at the lake. They mock you.

And you can't do anything about it because if you move, they might kill you.

I'm sure you'd be royally pissed about that happening to you, right?

Well let's say that happens to you anywhere and without warning. You could be enjoying the sunshine by going on a walk, and all of a sudden the police show up and make you "let them" search you. 

Let's say you file a complaint against said officers. Nothing gets done and the officers are free to transfer into different departments. 

If you're unlucky, that report gets back to the officer. That officer decides to retaliate against you whenever you run into them again. 

^^ This is the sort of thing that happens in Black neighborhoods all the time. I've watched it. I've been searched before. Let me tell you. It makes a person feel dirty.