Strange Fruit

Black teen shot and killed in mostly white gated community he lived in while going to a convenience store to get snacks by a Neighborhood Watch official who said he looked suspicious

Via Global Grind: “17-year-old Trayvon Martin was shot and killed by a Neighborhood Watch captain inside his own gated Orlando, Florida community where he was living with his father, stepmother and little brother, according to the family’s lawyer. Martin was shot after returning home from a local convenience store, where he bought snacks including Skittles candy requested by his 13-year-old brother, Chad.

According to the family’s lawyer Ben Crump, the family is calling for the Watch captain’s arrest, saying Martin was “on his way home and a Neighborhood Watch loose cannon shot and killed him”…”.* Was the teen singled out and shot because he was black in a white neighborhood? Ana Kasparian and Cenk Uygur discuss if how race was involved on The Young Turks.

[strike out & italics are mine]
----

I can't even. I need to avoid everything so I have a good birthday, cause the pain in my heart.... In general. As someone who has a teenage black male in her life. I JUST had this conversation with my brother. JUST this week. About how CAREFUL he needs to be - though I was focused on cops.

Hah. Focused on cops. I WAS IGNORANT. I was naive and wishful.

Imagine telling a child to be careful while walking while male and black. That's MY Life. That's HIS LIFE. The consequences of that? That's this family's life now.

And sadly, in a way, this is news, but not news. The news, is the killer hasn't even been taken into custody. That's the news. The USA going backwards in time IS STILL BACKWARDS IN TIME, a place where black families have to curl up in their pain and mourning, 'across the street' from the killers of family members who're going about their daily business.

TUMBLR, and THE DAYS OF JIM CROW

Signal Fire:

TUMBLR is supporting Racism, Racist Language, Death Threats, Rape Threats, & Harrassment. They are doing so, by telling PoC, in particularly, PoC Women, that maybe they just shouldn't have caught 'Massa's Eye'. That maybe they just should have covered up more. That 'these good white people' have filed a complaint against them and now, THESE COMPLAINTS, by THESE GOOD WHITE PEOPLE, MUST be responded to, and the victims of vicious, callous, racist acts and harassment, need to STOP DEFENDING THEMSELVES.

People are speaking up about it and doing so here and here and here.

I keep a track of certain tumblrs, even though the system irritates me, and I could not grok it enough to start one myself; because it's filled with Conversations I Want To Track. There are conversations about white washing, white privilege, white f*menism's denial of WoC's humanity and more. And these conversations have drawn ire from many, many, many white people. Ire and abuse for which I've never seen a post saying 'Tumblr Support is on it' or 'Tumblr Support is investigating that'.

The conversations on Tumblr happen Daily. Daily! I can still remember what it was like to go through shit at that level of intensity for a good portion of the year back in 2009. And this is DAILY. Multiple conversations. And thus multiple attacks.

And TUMBLR SUPPORT does NOTHING. NOTHING, but come up to 'rescue' white people who complain about THEIR FEE FEES, even while they're telling other people to go kill themselves, hang themselves and the like.

I think TUMBLR; their support staff, their developers, their whole company needs to understand the racism they're perpetuating and supporting. Once upon a time in the Americas, a black person couldn't look at a white person 'wrong'. For THEIR standards of wrong. It could lead to brutality and death. It was a terrorist state. And now TUMBLR is perpetuating that. White people can call you ANYTHING. Harass you ANYHOW. But if you RAISE your voice against them, if you cuss at them, if you defend yourself, then YOU, are the bad guy and we will shut you down. Cause such is our power.

If anyone still reads me, and keeps wondering what they might do, what small action they might take towards making the world a better place? See if you can CONTACT TUMBLR SUPPORT; and/or CONTACT TUMBLR POLICY; contact them and let them know you disapprove of their actions.

Or maybe the path to take is via their investors:

Spark Capital, Union Square Ventures, Sequoia Capital, Greylock Partners, Insight Venture Partners, The Chernin Group and Richard Branson, Betaworks, John Borthwick, Fred Seibert, Albert Wenger, Martín Varsavsky.

Maybe you'd like to ask these groups and peoples why they're supporting racism and racist harassment of Poc and racist and sexual harassment of WoC.

Or at the very least, spread the word, light another signal fire, past the Public Service Announcement about what TUMBLR's doing, about who and what TUMBLR IS!

ETA: Policy@tumblr.com

Transethnicity Claims, Piracy, Faeries & Appropriation

Maybe it doesn't seem this way to others, but I can't help but think multiple things when I hear the words 'Trans Ethnic' (I will get into Trans Abled / Trans Disabled in a moment).


The 1st thing to hit me, is how mocking this is to transgendered individuals, that their situation is seen as so damn 'science fiction', somehow, that something as mocking as 'Trans Ethnic' can be set up as part of any kind of conversation. 'So, you think you're not the gender you physically appear to be / were assigned at birth? Ha! I top you. I don't think I'm the ethnicity 'assigned' to me at birth/ that I appear as. And none of this having a damn thing to do with the modification of birth certificates so that NDN people could pass as non-native for a chance at a better life. None of this gets into black who passed as white, to try and live a better, safer life within a white supremacist state. None of this gets into trans racial/cultural adoptees and their personal conflicts of identity and how they feel vs how they're treated.

It's just identity piracy.

The second thing that hits me about 'Trans Ethnic', is the purer cultural appropriation. How the more it's stressed, someone had to come up with something that they think is unassailable. "I can't be called an appropriating ass now, cause no one knows how I really FEEL, so if I FEEL___ insert non white identity here ___ then I can claim it, and act it, and use it and la de la la'.

Cultural appropriation seems to exist, because in order to be white and in order to be USian, various peoples several decades ago decided to put aside their cultural and ethnic heritage in order to fit in. The less you showed some distinct aspect of your identity the more it supposedly meant you were leaving it behind to embrace your new Usian life.

So goodbye, traditions, language, clothing, manners, foods, songs and stories. And now here we are, a couple generations later, with a set of people who want something to belong to, but even in this day and age of Ancestry.com (for white folk) they're not going back to research what they gave up. And I don't know if it's because the attitudes to give it up and leave it behind are still strong, if sub and unconscious. They're instead reaching towards those peoples who've fought and struggled and suffered to hold on to anything at all. And reaching towards peoples whose suffering and oppression has formed a new culture and new identity within this 'new land'. So I suppose it's not surprising so many people want to be Native American - because how much more 'belonging' to this new land could one be? Or that they want to be 'Black' which is an identity that was created on these shores (well these and other places of colonialist import of slaves).

But history and struggle, accomplishment and identity, folklore, stories and song, foods, clothing and culture are not something you can buy in a store.

It's odd, that sometimes I feel like I'm the only one who remembers the backlash by people in Ireland and Scotland; especially people of Celtic Heritage, screaming at Usians to get their grubby hands off the Celtic Harps and Celtic Knots and Gaelic language.

There was this sweep of; I'm totally Celtic! I was Celtic in a past life! I've totally got Celtic roots. And there was appropriation. There was entitlement. It wasn't - "I'm interested in Celtic History / Celtic Heritage / Irish History / Irish Heritage" and the like. It was 'I ALREADY AM and thus I will use all this stuff and don't tell me I'm doing it improperly'.

I can remember seeing Gaelic tourists watching USians in a store, oohing and ahhing over how authentic some music cd was, and I was pretty damn sure those words the tourists were saying could be translated into 'Damn Wannabes'. I remember feeling hesitant too, because I really liked harp music and certain tonalities, but I definitely didn't want to be viewed as a 'grabby/grubby hands'. So it was something that made me think to try and figure out the difference.

And thus the concept of respect and to whom a culture belongs (because it has been handed down, because it had been lived, because it marks them in some way) started forming itself in my brain. So it's now to the point it's difficult for me to remember that, well, the same people who didn't think about their appropriation then, damn well aren't the type to think about it now, or to have taught their children to think about it.

I get that it's sad to feel formless, and directionless and to recognize that something is missing, something has been lost. But the solution to that will never be to grab someone else's. If someone laughs at you because they think the sandwich you're eating is funny. The solution will never be, to throw your sandwich away, get hungrier and grab someone else's sandwich and tell them THEY HAVE TO SHARE OR THEY ARE SELFISH.

All that is, is asking for disdain, showing massive disrespect, a whole lot of entitlement, bad manners and frankly, the need for a serious ass beat down.

It is not the responsibility of others to compensate you because your ancestors tossed away their heritage for what they thought was a better cause. And if you have no clue at all what your heritage is? You don't get to go SHOPPING. You also don't get to belabour the point now, when there are millions of African Diaspora due to the slave trade who will never know their tribal origins. Your ability, as a white person, to track that down will always have smoother paths than a peoples who were sold away and sold away and moved around like cattle w/ no names, no personally identifying information.

At the beginning of this, I mentioned 'science fiction'; that their situation is seen as so damn 'science fiction', somehow, that something as mocking as 'Trans Ethnic' can be set up as part of any kind of conversation.". The first time I heard about 'inner aspects' or 'not being what I appear' in a transformative setting or conversation, that wasn't about transgender identity? Had to do with people discussing their inner self as a wolf, a bear, a rain elf or a dragon. And I admit, at first I thought it was kind of cute. I thought it / saw it, as a short-hand for philosophy, perhaps a certain kind of self made spirituality - as in living one's life as... In which case an inner wolf would symbolize someone who felt comfortable in close knit settings and put a value on loyalty, cohesion, community and possibly social hiearchy if they really got into it / had thought about it.

But the more I looked it up, the more I discovered I was both right, and very, very, wrong. Very, very, very, very wrong. Perhaps I stumbled into some extremist circles, the fringe of it. But whoa. Looking at the terms 'Trans Ethnic', however, makes me feel as if minority/non dominant/colonized culture and societies are somehow as mythical and unreal as fairies, dragons, and spiritual wolves and bears - because ANYONE can decide that's who and what they are and decide to pick it up and somehow 'live by it'. And while you cannot disrespect fairies and dragons, and disrespecting wolves or bears gets you murdered and dead - disrespecting non dominant ethnicities happens, is real, is hurtful and painful and dehumanizing and devaluing.

If your inner self is a water dragon, well, whatever. That's your thing. If your inner self is black? Fuck you. There have always been assholes (particularly teenagers), dressing in certain clothes, copying certain slang, listening to certain music and claiming they were down with __insert ethnic minority here__. New age dressing it up as 'Trans Ethnicism' doesn't change the asshole badge.

* ---*

I said I'd talk about Trans Ablism / Trans Disablism, and I will. Disability has a culture, it has many in fact. Deaf culture, isn't blind culture, isn't the myriad wheelchair cultures, isn't invisible disability culture, isn't chronic illness culture, isn't ... the list goes on. Those cultures too? Came out of struggle and strife, dedication, hard work and more. They were created to sustain the myriad peoples who're involved in them. They have their dark ass times, their deprivations and horrors, their triumphs, their moments of weeping for joy and of pain. There are institutions, schools, lock aways, slurs, words, language, music, dance, art, etc, and yes they were all created - some of them only a couple hundred years old. But they? Are REAL. You don't get to go shopping for them either.

Cause this shopping people are doing, has nothing to do with learning the history of anything, it's just another type of entitlement. It's grubby grabby hands. It's trying to fill some lack and hole with someone else's inheritance. It's grabbing someone else's sandwich cause they dealt with the jeers and kept their food, and you threw yours aside.

Now, I know there are people who believe they're double amputees etc, even up to the point of wanting surgery to remove a physically healthy limb because having that limb distresses them. I doubt those are the people coming up with the idea of 'Transabled / Transdisabled'. Because when I've read on them, or seen them, they talk about being, blind, or wheelchair mobile, etc....

And frankly, if someone is willing to deal with the bullshit of living in an ablist world, with all the inconveniences, then that to me is completely different than claiming something and being able to cast it off again when it troubles or frustrates you or stops being fun.

Personally, I've always thought of those people as cyborgs**. Mostly because when you, or at least when I read a futuristic SF book, there never seems to be any blinking at someone having a bionic arm or bionic leg. Unless some prior injury is specifically mentioned, it's treated as - these individuals wanted those specific limbs and don't feel they've lost anything. So to me, that mentality has to come from somewhere, and while true, not everyone's going to be a cyborg voluntarily; And cyborgism might be just an offshoot from disability - just because two paths merge, doesn't mean they weren't once two separate paths.

But I do admit? I don't have a physical disability wherein I would look at someone who says they feel like me, and go 'WTF'. Many people at some point later in life will use a cane. So I'm not claiming to talk for community at all. I have no idea how those individuals are looked at by various facets in the myriad disabled/differently abled communities. I just know the medical establishment seems to want to call the people I call cyborgs (in waiting), mentally ill; Which kind of already puts them in a disability community - even if it's just how other people may view them.

In the whole group of appropriation though? It's not possible to wake up Black, or Asian or NDN or Latino, to wake up Spanish or Caribbean or Jewish or Rom or South Asian or West Asian. You could, however, conceivably wake up one morning after surgery and be missing a limb.

But considering I've also seen the term Trans Fat thrown around (and not in regard to oils) I'm not thinking the majority of individuals using these terms are planning major body modification.

What I am thinking, is that instead of drugs or booze or sex or food, or anything else to use to make their lives feel less empty, or less dull or just less - they're 'Shopping For An Oppression'. They want to feel something. They want to feel something so badly, they're willing to fight and cuss and scream and cry about being 'disrespected' while they pirate someone else's experience and make a shitty, shitty copy.

And the saddest and angriest thing to me? Is that appreciation could become allyship. They could be working towards Size Acceptance. They could be learning more about institutional racism and the history of the people they claim to feel some kinship towards, they could be learning about dehumanization, the struggle for basic civil rights, and what they can do to help. But, they're not. They're shopping for accessories; it's that mentality once again of thinking non-white peoples, non dominant and colonized societies are somehow mere dressing on a white potato.

Transgendred individuals do not go SHOPPING for a gender. I am pretty damn certain of that. I'm pretty damn certain transwomen are very, VERY aware of the history of institutionalized sexism, of rape culture, of slurs, of disrespect, of expectations of what feminity is, of lots of stuff women deal with - because they aren't shopping, they aren't picking and choosing. They ARE women. They bloody well get everything. Transmen? They bloody well get everything too and more *with the masculine side of things. It's not a performance. It's not 'art'. It's not spirituality. It's not personal philosophy. It's who someone is, it's lived experience.

* ---*

To be, or not to be.

Deal with not being, white people; currently able bodied people, thin people and the like. Deal with it. Stop thinking you get everything, because you're part of the majority and you feel lonely, or lost, or lacking. It's fucking amazing and insulting that you run everything, rule everything, are represented damn near everywhere, but suddenly OTHER PEOPLE are so much more interesting so you want a piece of them too? "Oh s/he's ___ but s/he's got such a great personality!' And now you want to TAKE IT?

You don't want to see them, or talk to them , learn from them, listen to them, promote them or respect them. You just want a piece to feel better? To feel special? Because your own damn dominance is making it impossible for you to feel special?

The hubris. Seriously. The fucking hubris.

Claiming transethnicism to me, shows me who is an egotistical maw worm; someone who will just keep taking and taking and taking and nothing will ever satisfy them; because trying to consume someone else's identity, is like eating sky pie. It's not attuned to you, it's not within your dimension. Unfortunately you don't look pathetic, you look like what you are, a self involved, privileged asshole who needs a good smack in the mouth.



-----

An aside: Being a transgendered individual is different to being a drag actor/performer. And drag is a culture too (culture within a culture) with its own oppression and triumphs and histories.

Note: I am sure I have left out other identities that cannot be picked up like a pen on the floor - it was not meant as a slight.

ETA: *Clarified the more for transmen as being 'the masculine side of things'. Clarifying here further; transgendered individuals deal with awareness of gender essentialism, expectations on gender presentation, masculinity, femininity, what are 'appropriate' actions via society's lenses, the history of what does, could and has happened to people like them, and further things I can't quite think of in the moment but that cannot be avoided or ignored.

ETA: For transcultural adoptees w/ transracial.

ETA: ** Sat 25th Feb. A friend pointed me towards: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Body_integrity_identity_disorder and a short conversation later, I realized I'd focused on artificial limbs, and not the aspects of complete self/true self/physical parts owned by self.

So, my original concept is more clueless than I thought, and possibly offensive. In which case I apologise, because eeewh, offensiveness is not desirable, hurting people is never a thing I want to do, especially about sensitive areas of self .

(Although, yes, I still count the racist twitdiddles as not deserving of ME worrying about THEIR feelings. Pointing out their racism, appropriation and privilege isn't offensive, it's just painful for them to have truth in the face).

Caught Btween Racial Identity & Female Identity As Relates To A Cartoon

This stuff came up via conversations with some friends, well, vents more accurately put, about G.I.Joe: Renegades. It's an animated show, that combines G.I.Joe themes, with a bit of an A-Team plot and story hook. And after laughing my head off, having caught it randomly on channel and then watching two episodes and being intrigued, I hunted down some on demand sources and started watching from the beginning. And then, then I got hit in the face with some crap; squirm inducing, wincing, upset, wanting to fast forward through, crap. And so far it hasn't really been about race - so far it's all been gender.

In case you hadn't guessed? Here be spoilers....

*

*

*

Scarlett, is an emotional, obsessed woman, who when put in leadership positions manages continually to bring everyone into the utmost trouble or who somehow fails in some other way. When, however, she's in a support position; supporting one of the male character's decisions etc... then, she's right, solid, and good backup. On her own? Obsessed. And so far, the few times she's been right, haven't matched up to all the times she just plain... FAILS.

So here I am, all full of wee at the MALE PoC representation on the show. But feeling kicked in the stomach over how women are shown when Scarlett, Lady Jaye and the Baroness are the models.

The Baroness is obviously the underling of Cobra Commander and is shown quite knowledgeable in knowing her place . When a 'Firm Hand' is used to get her back in line, or reprimanded, it's by Cobra Commander himself, directly by him. She is HIS personal underling. So, a position of authority that is dependent upon a man.

Lady Jaye is initially shown as the military superior of quite a few men, who take her seriously. And that had me all a-squee, until things progressed and her role became a dual supporting role to two men. She's Flint's right hand in chasing down the 'Renegades'. And she's Duke's right hand in undermining Flint as needed. Sure she's sassy and all that, but she went in the space of the first two episodes, from superior officer to helpmate. And it does not help that Flint, who's her superior on the task force, makes comments about Duke being her boyfriend. It sets a certain tone; about who she is, how he sees her; as a woman, and a teammate and what her purpose is supposed to be.

Scarlett... Scarlett is the reason the Renegades are in trouble in the first place. She's so gunho about proving herself right, proving that Cobra is evil, that she plays fast and loose with regulations, orders, and other people's careers. The first episode is Scarlett being a flaming EVE to four ADAMS. And for me, it was painful. And I'm someone who's all reverent about BATMAN, who IS a vigilante! But of course, Batman, doesn't do vigilante things while wearing a military uniform and using military authority for his own ends and he is, as a character, usually shown to be very careful about involving others in his dangerous plans.

So here's Scarlett, a woman obsessed. And things happen, and go to shit. And I can't even admire her being right, or her being unphased about the outcome of things, because her focus is so narrow it comes across as dangerous. Worse, there's this undercurrent about her leadership ALSO being for shit. When she's in charge, THINGS HIT THE FAN. Almost always. When she's supporting another, a male, character's decisions, THEN she's right. And IN THE RIGHT. But on her own? It's wild and dangerous.

The thing is, if Scarlett were Scar, the character would still be dangerous. But it'd have a lot less baggage about women's leadership abilities. Scarlett is all intuition 'I just know!' / 'Trust me!'. And everything else flies out the window. Worse, I end up feeling like the only reason she's even survived as long as she has, is because she has Snake Eyes around to watch her back and clean up her messes for her (and considering, that despite what has been said, I think gaijin could apply as much to someone biracial as purely Caucasian so that's a MoC, running around looking after 'Miss Scarlett' and getting her out of her messes. And that goads. So. damn. much).

The other 'major' female character I've seen so far, has been Kimi/Jinx, Snake Eyes' student and part of his backstory. And she gets treated by one male as a trophy to be won or stolen back to suit his needs. Yes, she's a fighter. But her emotions are played and played and played again. And it could be her youth as much as anything, but with all the rest of the writing for female characters, I end up just shaking my head. Kimi/Jinx for all her spunk, is a damsel in distress. Agency is talked about around her, but she hasn't owned her own, and from what I've read up on, whatever she ends up having in the future is given to her.

Meanwhile, out of the PoC Males, there's a laid back, rock near heavy metal listening big, broad black dude, a Chinese-American Brooklynite, (Lady Jaye also looks Asian American to me btw, mentioned here before I forget), and a nickname giving somewhat daredevil black dude. And I like their portrayals. I so really, really do. If Snake Eyes is 'Hapa' (I think that's the applicable term) then he might be less 'white ninja' and that'll soothe and all that'll irk me is his lack of knowing any kind of sign language after how many years w/o a voice. It's a little upsetting to have a white woman interpreting what he says (on top of anyone else interpreting what someone with a disability really means or really needs).

But here I am, stuck, because wow, those male characters. And then damn on the women. At one point, in what I've watched so far, Scarlett can't find success and access she wants while pretending to be a lawyer or pretending to be a federal agent (I was left to ponder her opinion of small town people). But, playing a particular type of woman? Somewhat Jerry Springeresque? In short shorts and loose blouse and bra strap showing and pregnant - there she finds some success. And I winced. I just winced. Savvy disguise? Maybe. But of the three, the one that worked? It's the one that relied on 'feelings' / hers and the people she's trying to get past, vs any other sort of preparation; It's the one that relies on her presenting as female, presenting as female in a very biological way? Wince wince wince.

Other representations of women? Well, while I'm here, I am aware of the trope of, meek male, needs his 'woman' to be in true distress and then he'll 'man up' and do what needs done, and win the girl? The episode revolving around that, was also painful, not just because of the damsel in distress theme. But because that one act, to my mind, could not dissolve or undo the destruction caused by months/years of meekness. Finding his courage, fine. But did he have to get a prize for it? And that prize be a woman? A woman who, I'd hope in a more real life circumstance would consider the fact that her being in danger in the first place, imminently and then more broadly before the crisis point, had all been due to him NOT finding that courage? The message there, was that for one singular act that may or may not stick in his character he needed to be rewarded with herself? That's a message for kids? That's sick.

And speaking of acceptable feelings, rewards, prizes and gender bias - Scarlett haring off on her own intuition? BIG ARSE DUST UP. Duke on the other hand? Going it alone? His concern getting the better of him? He turns out to be right. He turns out to end up in the right place at the right time. He and the other males of the group, also turn out to feel more than Scarlett in general, about innocents that is. She's 'big picture' focused, obsessed. They want to stop and help the little guys.

Again I'm struck by if Scarlett were Scar; the character would be just as dangerous, just as obsessed, just as driven and focused, single minded, determined and having been right about Cobra's true face. But the baggage, of them not caring about others etc, would be very, very, different. Am I shocked at a female character who doesn't want to help general innocents? Or 'nurse', for various values of nurse (and that word is used deliberately) communities back to health? Maybe. Maybe I am. I'm influenced by the world as much as anyone. But the thing I pinpoint on, is that if Scarlett hates Cobra for taking advantage of people, for working at cross purposes to peace, unity and a peaceful Usian way - then, shouldn't she hate all manipulative bullies? Or at least consider the possibility that putting these bullies away means less possible future employees for Cobra?

Then again, I haven't watched enough to have seen if there's a specific reason she has it in for Cobra - though, maybe even then I'd expect some measure of empathy.--

-- And - Oh heaven. Oh crap. PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE, let Scarlett's lack of empathy not be some sort of underhanded lesson about what happens to a woman without a 'woman's natural empathies' to direct her. Please let this obsession with Cobra and all her risky behavior not be meant as a quiet understatement about what happens to women in leadership roles and all that associated bullshit. Let the writers just be clueless, privileged assholes. That's MUCH more preferable than a deliberate message to the younger generation.

And I know, know someone's going to wish they could comment to tell me that DUKE WAS ALWAYS THE LEADER. And uhm, I have watched a couple of G.I.Joe cartoons in my youth, ok? I felt a cold shiver down my spine when I heard about this century's live action movie (which I did not watch). I too thought Scarlett in the live action movieverse promos looked like nothing but cheesecake. And growing up? The bulk of the people I knew who liked G.I Joe? WERE GIRLS. G.I Joe slumber party. G.I.Joe birthday parties or just birthday cake, with Scarlett or Lady Jaye on the cover (and their action figures too). Running around the school yard playing G.I. Joe? Thinking up names and themes for themselves? Girls. I remember waiting with excitement for the G.I Joe movie (VHS) FOR that slumber party.

When the first episode of Renegades came on and I heard COBRA say "And knowing is half the battle" my heart leapt up in my chest and I thought 'OMG, that's TWISTED AWESOME!'.

So there, my itty bitty 'creds' as not a completely clueless female. WTFever. Cause 'creds' don't fucking matter, really, when it comes to what's going on in the here and now. Just like there's a generation who'll look at you one day and go 'Nick Fury was White??!!'. There's a generation now, that will know that Scarlett was introduced and often mentions the fact that she's Duke's superior officer. And yes, yes yes, she doesn't have his field experience. It's been mentioned. But field experience does not equal common sense (or rather her lack of it, or rather her complete obsession excluding all else including it).

So here I am. I want to know more about Tunnel Rat and Roadblock in this iteration. Hell Wikipedia says Nicky Lee is meant to be TRINIDADIAN CHINESE (or was). You think I don't want to be all up in that? And that it doesn't make me ponder hunting down the comic books? But how am I supposed to balance that squee, with the kick in the chest on how the female characters are treated? The same way I often end up walking away from things that have fine white female characters and PoC? WoC? Who's them? And until I know for sure about Lady Jaye, Renegades doesn't seem to HAVE, WoC, which earns serious cut eye.

I wrote out my thoughts to try and figure out things, to put my frustration down on 'paper', because it's been eating and eating away at me. And when I vent this much to people who care about me, they do tend to ask me why I'm still watching. Especially since they know I will walk away from media and people to spare myself/my life grief. This choice, however, or rather the phrasing of this choice (woman, or poc) is new. I haven't had to make this variation of the choice before / had to walk away from this variation of the choice before.

And it's really, really hard. Cause it'd be so easy, so easy to say 'Meh, Scarlett's just a stupid white woman'.

Me, My Strange Brain & I

I just happened to catch "Perchance To Dream"; an episode from Batman: The Animated Adventures, that surrounds a situation where Batman is given a chance to have 'the perfect life' via The Mad Hatter - via a dream. And I found myself thinking, after I finished watching, how much that show meant to me as a child/youngster/teenager, even if I couldn't then articulate it.

Unlike the Catholic Church that I had so far interacted with, it didn't say that I was somehow blessed due to the dysfunction in my family, or that it was a test or trial of spirit - it said simply that my pain was part of who I was. It made me me. I hadn't asked for it. I didn't necessarily want it, but it helped form me, it was a part of my foundation. Without it, I wouldn't be me, I wouldn't be who I had become and was becoming.

It said that being me was OK. Being me, was truth.

I joke a lot of the time that I belong to The Church Of Batman. And thinking about that episode, writing about it now, the joke seems less 'ha ha, tease' and more philosophical actuality. Sometimes it feels like everything I learned about surviving in life and how to be a good person, was pretty damn much directed by Batman*.

He will always be my hero for taking his pain and loss and directing it towards protection. For being an example who knew loss would define him, but chose how. Who reached out to others feeling similar pain and isolation and offered direction and guidance, or just a sense of purpose, and who created his own family. Batman didn't give up on having family, closeness, nearness, it's just in a perhaps unexpected, untraditional paradigm.

Someone showed me a page the other day; Wonder Woman shooting guns. I think they said Guns of Eros, or some such. And after I had my moment of eyerolling, I did end up wondering what story that told; story as in aesop's fable, moral folktale, ethical framework. Do people even realize that? Even though they themselves may often call the Christian Bible - The Greatest Story Ever Told?

Stories to live your life by. Stories to guide your perspective in the world; how you treat others; how you treat yourself.

The current crop of comics writers and execs and artists; are they story-tellers? Is there a story they want to continue with the characters? Something that builds on what drew them into that world?

Recently I caught up to Written World, by Ragnell and caught her late 2011 early 2012 OMGWTF over Captain America implicitly condoning torture and was reminded of Box in The Box, oddly enough. He has a theory that the current crop of writers detest heroes; Don't believe in them and thus do not create or perpetuate them.

And now I wonder, what goes through the minds of those who joke to themselves that they belong to 'The Church of Captain America'. How do they deal with someone like Cap walking out to let others torture for information? Is it like losing one's faith in a more traditional religion? Is there a sense of emptiness and loss, and crushing betrayal and despair? Do the writers of that tale; were they ever members of that Church? Or are these actions some odd kind of Cold War, an anti-evangelism? Or are they the types who think it's worth nothing but mockery to speak of these things in terms of religion, spirituality, ethics, personal templates?

Though if they did, would they still roll their eyes at concepts like diversity, intersectionality and social justice; cause those fit the mission of a spiritual philosophy very well.

All I know is for myself, and that suddenly it makes sense why I was both so happy to rediscover comics several years ago, and why I ended up walking away. I lost them because of being in an unfamiliar land and not knowing quite how to get back into them. It was like not knowing how to get to church, realizing you had no idea the name of your faith to even ask about the building. And then I found them again many several years later and had to face what they'd become... and were still becoming.

Heh, corruption in the church, I suppose.

But it does make sense to me, why I'd walk away and hold on to my memories, and the lessons I'd originally learned and not try to fit what was being displayed into the framework that helped make me part of who I am. Maybe some people can. I can't. I may not honor Hera or Thor or Pele or Kali Ma and my fondness for Mary may be vestigial. But I realize, I do honor Diana the Wonder Woman, Batman, and on occasion Superman. Funny, how so many call them 'The Trinity' and yet....

Maybe one day someone will explain to me how and why others hold on and pay money while hoping. Or perhaps why they believe DC and Marvel and the like hold exclusive rights to interpretations; can hold their honored figures hostage.


PS: It probably also explains why, for me, my personal iconography; Superman or rather Clark Kent remains a seeming Asian American adopted by two well meaning white folk in Kansas; why Bruce Wayne was a white mask for black Batman, and why I always wonder why Diana isn't brown and Greek enough on the paper.

* For the record Dad, you've always been my Batman, or rather Batman's always been my fictional Dad. You both had 'protecting the innocent' in common.

Happy Gregorian New Year

Happy 2012 & Best Wishes Folks

Hmm

I need to rewrite this post on Erasure, Dehumanization & Oppression. It was slippery when I wrote it, and it feels slippery still. Just started re-reading it, and I know there's a better way I can put it. I'm just not sure what that better way is yet.

But there has to be one, that doesn't make me feel as if the pieces start getting slippery one two paragraphs in.

Wonder Woman's New Origin

Via OddityCollector

Excuse me while I laugh.

I mean, the 'solution' to Wonder Woman, is NOT to have a writer with an understanding of mythology, is not to possibly be having her fighting the paranormal, (couldn't ever be as much as I would dislike it personally, to tap into the HUGE Paranormal Romance and Twilight crowd with a truly kick arse heroine), it's NOT to have writer and artist capable of mixing in a little 'Percy Jackson & The Olympians' or 'Harry Potter' - the whole child of legend and secret hidden worlds and battles the rest of mankind never knows about.

No.

It's apparently to make WONDER WOMAN into Kevin Sorbo's Hercules: The Legendary Journey's.

I laugh.

There's speculation all the time that they (TPTB) have got no market research going on, no clue whatsoever about readership etc... But this? I mean, on the road from Jody Picult to THIS right here? It just screams 'IF YOU DON'T HAVE A DICK WE DON'T KNOW WHAT TO DO WITH YOU!' It's so perfectly obvious that they're doing the fannish stories that have lived in THEIR heads about the characters THEY liked as young boys and when it comes to female characters, outside the range of bed interest, they don't know wtf to do.

Even as I try to avoid it all, the news comes up and there in my face is yet another arsewipe move.

Really? The only way Wonder Woman can be written about, is if you (DC) focus it through the lens of a man? If you're obliquely telling a man's story about his daughter?

These are your bright ideas? Wonder Woman via Zeus (ZEUS) OF ALL DAMN Grecian Deities - I can smell the built in fail in any future intimate relationships Diana could attempt with male characters from here) and Supergirl via the lens of how she's not Superman? How different she is?

Wonder Woman, child of clay, gifted with life and talent from a host of goddesses (and more recently, Hermes) - that's the myth, you ignorants. That's the lore.

Capturing A Thought I Had - And Where It Started Leading

Erasure is part of dehumanization. Part of the key issues of oppression is dehumanization. Erasure -> (leads) to Dehumanization. Dehumanization + Other Issues -> (leads) to Oppression. If those other issues are missing, then it doesn't lead to Oppression. But there is still Dehumanization. There is still an assumption of what fits parameters for normal human. There are still actions taken against people who've been dehumanized. Punishments. So called 'cures' and 'encouragements'. It's easier, after all to try and fix people who aren't yet fully human, or who need guidance to be fully human or who need to know their place will be to never be fully human.

(I originally wrote the part in strike out, but in re-reading before I even post it, I caught myself. The never be fully human + knowing one's place; That's slavery. That's part of the Other Issues that joins to Depersonalization to create Oppression. I fell into the trap of forgetting Erasure is only PART of dehumanization. When dehumanization has all parts, all necessary components, when it is fully accomplished, there's no attempt to save an individual, or cure them or teach them better. They're not misguided or lost. THEY ARE NOT HUMAN. And are no longer treated as such. Which is why it no longer matters what happens to them, from starvation and imprisonment to body parts cut off and being burned alive).

I keep coming across clashes between some parts of the Asexual Community, and various parts of the PoC community about whether or not sexual privilege exists and whether or not Asexuals are oppressed. And frankly, right now, I think the hiccup is confusion over what happens AFTER Dehumanization has been successfully accomplished. I think parts of the asexual community are hearing 'You are not oppressed! You have not been dehumanized!", but hearing it as. "You are not facing lack of recognition as a normal human being". The latter is true, I do not believe the former is.

But it's so EASY to forget erasure is only ONE PART of dehumanization. And that dehumanization is the FIRST STEP to Oppression. It's so easy to think of it as Erasure = Oppression. And thus, the PoC and SJ communities are hearing something that sounds very, very much, like ___ = 'the new black'. Or more appropriately. Asexuals Are The New N-------s.

That shit will get a body popped in the mouth, virtually or otherwise.

There are checkpoints to oppression. And thus oppressions can intersect. A person can, ultimately, be dehumanized for multiple triggers; being female, being PoC, being gender transgressive, being non binary. But there's more involved in dehumanization than erasure. There's hate, fear, desire to possess, desire for power, loads of things I can't properly think of off the top of my head. But it's ERASURE +. There's more.

It's what's possibly being explained over and over again in all these posts I see; what oppression is, all the weights that shift the dial to that place; to the bedrocks of an institutional, generational, foot on the neck.

Erasure is a start. But it's not the horrible, horrible, end game. It's not even the first volley on a war against a self. It's the prep work. It's the first step of stage one; Dehumanization. Dehumanization is the first step of stage two; Abuse & Exploitation. And right now, things are not so bad, societally speaking, that erasure of asexuals is likely to lead to oppression; oppression = dehumanization + abuse & exploitation + other issues I've likely forgotten.

Is the possibility there? Yes. The possibility is always there, when there's an institutional, generational set up decreeing who is normal, and how they should be rewarded for it; medals for towing the line. But right now asexuals are far more likely to come under danger of dehumanization via something else, some overlap they have relating to how society views women (which affects women and gay men and young boys who don't act masculine enough - for cultural values of masculine) or how society views 'darkies' be they African Descended (in the US or elsewhere) or West Asian, or South or East Asian, or of Islamic Faith. Or how society views the disabled. Or any others I've missed.

Is Erasure powerful, by the way? Yes it is. It does harm and hurt. If you can't see any reflections in the world of who you are, then maybe you don't exist, maybe you can never be or do... anything. Which is something often discussed about PoC in Media, specifically visual media; the importance of PoC as heroes, not sidekicks etc. But for asexuals, I would imagine erasure is very powerful. Until recently there hasn't been much vocabulary to try and break down attraction, not much easy non scholarly conversations about sexual arousal vs sexual attraction vs emotional arousal - not to mention a whole host of stereotypes about who feels what and why, usually bound up into perceived gender stereotypes. It's highly possible to not feel the way everyone else seems to be feeling (based on how they act) and leapt to the thing you HAVE heard about. Who's going to tell such a person they don't just have to try harder to feel content, or find the right person or... or or or - that there's a term for who they are, and it's not in a medical book under 'affliction'.

If no one says, for example, 'It's ok to be Takei' then you end up a fifty year old coming to terms with not wanting to die feeling so crap and/or unfulfilled or lonely or who knows what. So yes, erasure is a big deal and it's part of the control mechanisms of the kyriarchy. But it's a place with breathing space. And there's lots going on, online at least, making noise and raising visibility against that erasure of asexuals.

Which means when you claim Erasure = Oppression, you're devaluing a whole host of oppressed peoples and their struggles and their voices.

It's not oppression to tell someone who isn't actually oppressed, that they're not oppressed. The best example of people who claim that, are white folks screaming reverse racism. It's not very good company.

THIS!

So much THIS.

CHRONICLES OF MANSPLAINING: Processor Feminism and the Deleted Comments of Doom

After you read that, I would like for some of you, perhaps the thoughtful ones who have half a half a micron of a clue, to imagine the moment of intersectionality, that happens in incidences of mansplaining, when the woman in question is a woman of colour, particularly in America, a black woman.

I'm not asking you to hunt and peck substitute in white privilege for male privilege in that essay. I'm asking you to take the WHOLE of that essay and add just a little extra weight; what it might be like to have all of that going on AND the added weight that the man in question thinks you're worth even less than an ordinary woman, because an ordinary woman is white.

Because in such a context as was explained, a woman could be hurt, but for YEARS in the US and in countries colonized by whites, indigenous women, including black women, could not be hurt; because they had the shape of women, the body parts of women, but were less than women.

Back in the day you couldn't rape a black woman. Because no such laws existed. It had to be clearly stated as a hypothetical that a black woman had autonomy over her own body. As a fricking LAW. And well, jaywalking is on the books too, isn't it.

And if man = smart goodness and woman = not so smart then black woman =... ?

And just think about what that might mean when white men, and white woman can contribute to that assumption that your time, space, life is up for theirs to grab and use however and whenever they want.

And when the explanation over there, describes how this can happen in an online medium, think about what you've seen online against female bloggers of colour. The same steps. The same process. With that little added weight.

Just think about it.

You might even be able to put two and two together when it comes to all the blog posts about the book and movie 'The Help' and how it was a case of a white woman 'splaining - but that might be a bit too advanced. So just stick to the first lesson for now.


ETA: 301 Class - Intersectionality node of being a woman and disabled, or being a woman and an immigrant or being a woman of a certain age, or being a woman with children. 302 Class- Multiple intersectionalities; being a disabled woman with children who is also a PoC. This isn't about oppression olympics, remember, it's about how much more power in society a white male has, how much more entitlement he thinks he has to anything to do with that woman, how little she matters as a person with ideas, opinions, deserving of respect, even a hierarchy of needs, in the societal equation that's been drilled into his head.