I’ve been thinking about the way us white fans engage in talk about fandom racism and how I’m starting to suspect it’s all wrong-
This is super important, especially the part about white folks taking on their responsibility to educate other white fans. Dealing with racism in fandom space is especially tiring for fans of color because fandom space is supposed to be recreational and fun but quickly turns into a hellscape because even within fandom we can’t escape racism. So we’re understandably tired and frustrated and angry. Sometimes we don’t have the energy to educate and we shouldn’t be expected to. But white fans who see the racism and know better can, at the very least, Google some links and info that PoC have already explained and written. None of this racism is new and there are tomes and tomes of articles and explanations that PoC have already written.
So just to add a couple points to the list:
- Don’t expect cookies, thanks, or congrats for doing the basic work of calling out racism.
- Don’t take up too much space/talk over PoC.
- If you don’t understand why something is racist, don’t claim it’s not. Listen and attempt to understand why it is.
Honestly, to me, the best way white fans can combat fandom racism is to give characters of color the respect and attention given to white characters. Include them in fanworks prominently and treat them like human beings. (And to be mindful that some things that are normal and acceptable in white dominated fandom, especially white slash fandom, come off as racist if applied to a CoC.)
Call out racism, yes. But white fans, imo, can make a bigger impact by writing fluffy fanfic and sweet fanart featuring Coc than trying to lead a charge against fandom racism. You’re the ones with the numbers, you can contribute to change in that way.
Also this! White fans who recognize the racism running rampant in fandom should definitely double their efforts to create and produce works that properly prioritize and value CoC.
Tag: important
To the Fandoms Helping Out:
We want to keep this event Abbie Mills specific. We are joining together to combat systemic discrimination in the media. However due to Abbie Mills’ unique place in television we want to make sure to keep this event focused on Abbie herself.
Please remember when speaking of the discrimination that Abbie faces, speak directly to her blackness, while Abbie is woman of color she faced discrimination specific to that blackness. In 3 seasons of television:
- Abbie Mills was not kissed and had no onscreen romance
- Abbie sacrificed herself thrice for the world, her partner Ichabod never did
- she was repeatedly sidelined and displaced while white women were pushed into her place (said women were then horribly written besides)
- Sleepy Hollow itself was originally promoted as diverse show making their treatment of the black actors and characters on this show that much more egregious
- the “don’t need no man trope” which is specific to black women was applied to her by the writers room: “Abbie loved Ichabod, but Ichabod was in love with Abbie.”
- Abbie also faced colorism from her own fandom as some viewers repeatedly called for her to be replaced by her light-skinned, acceptably curly haired sister
- originally Abbie was supposed to die mid-season, that’s right as far as the writer’s of Sleepy Hollow were concerned this co-lead, only black woman leading a genre show, arguably fan favorite’s death didn’t even warrant a season finale
- her final words to her partner were that “her purpose was to carry him forward and she had nothing more to do”, in an interview with one of the writers they said: “she had served her purpose”
- she existed solely for the benefit of a man
- while she started strong Abbie was diminished in every way as her S1 love interests were written out apropos of nothing to make room for story line’s that centered the conflict around her white male partner (now I like Ichabod, but their storylines needed to be equally important)
- all POC supporting cast were either killed off or slowly disappeared from the show: John Cho, Orlando Jones, Jill-Marie Jones, Amandla Stenberg,Nicholas Gonzalez.
- Nicole Beharie herself was not invited to the season 2 DVD commentary, she recently had to ask the Sleepy Hollow fox twitter account to follow her, she was told that no one wanted to see her at conventions without Tom Mison
Essentially they hired an amazing Julliard trained actress and diminished her and the character she played in every conceivable way. The simple human wastage is disgusting, the constant slights are an outrage, and the blend of racism and sexism she endured is beyond the pale. And all of it is specific to her blackness so remember that when we work this trending event.
She is not simply a WOC, but a black woman. The strong woman who doesn’t need a man trope is specific to her blackness, being a pack mule whose feelings are not considered is specific to her blackness, being considered disposable is specific to her blackness and being only considered for her usefulness to her white co-workers is specific to her blackness.
When we are tweeting we cannot forget her blackness. Some of you will feel an urge to say WOC rather than black when speaking of her. Resist this urge, that is the racism that we all internalize growing up in this world. To combat the problem it must be identified and properly. Please refer to her blackness and use the term misogynoir to talk about what happened to Abbie Mills, Nicole Beharie and her fans.
Even if your voice was shaky and you stuttered on your words, you still spoke up and I’m so proud you did.
Trump is emboldening white nationalists.
My father, on the Merritt Parkway in Connecticut, passed a car with the iron cross on its side and a “White Power” flag. This is the second time within the span of a week or so that he or I have had to contend with literal Nazis.
Please be careful out there.
Trump is a lightning rod for what’s already been building.
The KKK and other white supremacist groups really started recruiting hard after Obama was elected. In real life, I heard stories from friends in undergrad about how their brothers and cousins were invited on fishing trips and other outings by new friends only to find out they were Klan recruiting trips. Online, Stormfront has pushed its Swarmfront program, using places like reddit and 4chan to sway people to their side.
The online component has taken many forms. Some have been overt, like the “white genocide/anti-racism is anti-white” copypasta and attempts at distinguishing white supremacy from white nationalism (and softening the image of the latter). Some have been a little more subtle–handwringing about black pride vs. white pride, questioning Black History Month, pushing false-but-common ideas about affirmative action programs, maligning Black Lives Matter, talking about “black culture” vs. “black people,” using intentionally misleading statistics in debates, etc. And some have been sneaky as hell–like white supremacists posing as business owners or workers seeking advice on consistent problems with black patrons, white supremacists posing as black people to make black people look worse or spread ideas within more manipulable segments of the black radical community that support white supremacist viewpoints but look on the surface like pro-black concepts, and so on.
This works well because we’re at a cultural period that is fertile soil for fascism. There are many reasons for this, but one thing that highlights it better than any list of points could is comparing our current cultural state to Huxley’s Point Counter Point. The book was written between the World Wars, and it was published in 1928–two years before the Nazis really started gaining power in Germany. It’s set in a London that feels eerily identical to 2016 New York. Until a character gets a telegram late in the book, it could be set in Brooklyn and the Lower East Side two weeks ago and barely a word would need to change.
In the book, there’s a character called Everard Webley, who is a fascist. Throughout, he states his views, and what’s striking is how identical they are to those of libertarians, Men’s Rights Activists, and, yes, Donald Trump. He speaks in a prospering country with a generation of youth feeling disenchanted and lost about the weak being powerful over the strong, women having power and advantage over men, and the nation no longer being great for these and other related reasons. He speaks of the leadership of the mighty and the subordination of the weak, of social Darwinism, of all these ideas that sound familiar today because of how much of a grip they’ve taken over a not-insignificant portion of our generation and those a bit older in the last few years.
Ron Paul was a sign of this wave starting. And like Trump, Ron Paul had the endorsement of David Duke and many, many white supremacist groups. But Ron Paul was not a candidate who could capture the average person who was primed and ready to accept this sort of candidate. A thin, hunching old man in wrinkled, ill-fitting suits with a high-pitched, quiet speaking voice, and who (for all his many faults) tended to choose speaking on his views above personal insults toward his opponents, was not the type of leader this portion of the electorate could really gather behind. But Trump is.
And what’s worse is that we have a generation of boys who entered this world because they started off trying to annoy people on the internet, who learned that saying bigoted things could get a rise out of people, who found their enemies in people who stood against bigotry, and who from there found themselves being convinced of bigoted ideas in earnest by those around them. The boys of our generation have been easy prey, and the boys of the next generation are even easier prey, and we thus stand on a dangerous precipice.
I don’t think people really understand how dangerous of times we really live in. Not bodily, not of property, but of our culture and society. The progress we’ve made is in danger, and I worry about how much we can really do about it.
Leave room for people with memory problems in your activism. First off, stop expecting everyone to know off the top of their head which famous people (or activists, or tumblr users) are problematic and why. Some of us literally cannot remember this information.
And when you’re arguing with someone about something social justice related and they can’t come up with any specific examples, keep in mind that they might have memory problems and this doesn’t necessarily mean you’re right.
Remember that people with memory problems exist and we can’t participate in activism the same way that others can.
And just to add little: Memory problems are fucking weird. If someone can remember the scientific name of every crop plant in the allium family, that doesn’t mean they don’t have a memory problem or just a bad memory.
People are allowed to remember some things easily and some things terrificly badly.
That and PLEASE don’t say things like “you remember what you want to remember.” Like no sometimes it’s completely fucking random or maybe the only reason why you think the things I remember are ‘weird’ because it doesn’t interest you. =.=
yes hello this is me
People with good parents get so offended when abused children speak negatively of their parents. Like…REALLY offended lol.
They say things like “Your mom would do anything for you” and “Your parents sacrificed a lot for you!” and “I don’t respect anyone who talks down on their parents.”
But just because YOUR parents would do anything for you and sacrificed a lot for you doesn’t mean it applies to all parents. We don’t have the same experience boo. You can’t tell me shit about what my mama would do for me. All moms and dads are not created equal.
Don’t scroll past this. Kylie Armstrong was diagnosed with breast cancer and these small dimples were the only signs. She posted the image on Facebook so everyone knows that “that breast cancer is not always a detectable lump.” Here’s how Kylie is doing today.
(If you’re not sure how to do a self breast exam, instructions can be found at BreastCancer.org.)
This could save a life!
Every time you look at a tiny house, ask yourself: “can a wheelchair fit in there? Can someone with limited mobility live there? Why not? Could they go up and down the stairs to that loft bed? Could they pull down the folding bed?”
If your answer is “it shouldn’t have to, this isn’t for everybody,” then what you’re really saying is “this new world I want to build doesn’t have room for disabled people in it.”
Admit that to yourself. At least be honest about your ableism.
What the fuck
how does this relate? when you build them you can make them accessable for disabilities I’ve seen it done?get off your high horse? it all depends on how you want it built calm
In case you’re wondering what defensive, non-apologetic ableism looks like, I found one!
Edited to add: seriously, if I start out with ‘ask yourself’ and follow up with ‘if your answer is that this isn’t for you’ then maybe you should #notallabledpeople yourself right out the fucking door if you decide you want to come fuck with me right now.
Today is not a day where I have patience.
The whole fad seems to be catered to young abled hipsters. The ones I’ve seen don’t seem to be built for people who need room to cook for large families, can buy their own property, don’t need to live in a big city (or have their own transportation to commute/ move their new home easily), and the ones I’ve seen where kids ARE involved never seem to capture the ‘STOP TOUCHING ME’ that young kids in the back seats of cars develop, or anyone with claustrophobia. I also haven’t seen that come with physical basements, for people in areas likely to get hit by tornadoes. Mind you, I don’t follow the show very well – my parents like the idea, so I usually see some when I’m home – but that seems to cut out an awful lot of people, right off the bat.
What has fascinated me about the response to this post the most is that a large number of responses to it have come in the form of IT’S MY HOUSE DON’T TELL ME WHAT TO DO or CLEARLY WHEELCHAIR COMPANIES HATE PEOPLE WHO CAN WALK, THEY’RE NOT BUILT TO USAIN BOLT or whatever.
And all that this tells me is that people jumped as fast as they could to what would allow them to be pissy, and didn’t actually follow the things I said. And that’s cool, I guess. But what I was actually explicitly addressing was the idea that small houses (which are touted as the new, environmentally-awesome, space-okay, cost-efficient, way to live) don’t need to be accessible, because tiny houses are, by definition are just not “meant for you.”
That, yes, is ableist. If the “new way of building” and so on – if this movement actually gets off the ground – is explicitly exclusive of disabled persons, that’s a problem. And if saying ‘trololol this isn’t for you, why are you making my house about you’ is your response, yeah, that’s pretty ableist, guys!
And this isn’t theoretical in its long-term effects. There’s a pretty predominant house type that was faddish a while ago near where I live – a tall, skinny rowhouse that’s really, really not accessible at all. If you want to buy a house near where I live (and no, “just move” isn’t an answer), the affordable houses are all these tall, narrow rowhouses. The difference between buying one of these homes and a house which either is already accessible or can be made accessible is an order of magnitude. The ranchers or potentially-accessible homes cost literally twice as much.
These buildings have narrow doors; narrow, turning stairs which are not even easy to install a chair lift on – even if your insurance company will pay for you to get a chair if you live in one, which, guess what, that’s why my wheelchair was declined; they usually have multiple sets of stairs leading up to the front door, making installing a wheelchair ramp nearly-impossible.
These houses were built more than a generation ago, and cannot easily be modified to become accessible. (I know, because we’re currently trying to find a way to make it so that I can get my wheelchair into and out of my house without someone else doing it for me. That’s kind of the opposite of accessible, if an able-bodied person literally has to fold up my wheelchair and carry it down two sets of stairs for me to take my wheelchair out of the house.) They also form the entirety of affordable housing where I live.
“Just rent an apartment” isn’t an option either. Not only is that a blindingly ableist response in and of itself, because inherent in it is “you don’t get to/need to have the stability of a mortgage payment, or the ability to built equity or eventually have a house that’s paid off” but rent for an accessible apartment around here actually costs more than my mortgage. I could absolutely not afford an accessible apartment where I live – the last time I checked, a ground-floor, wheelchair-accessible apartment in a neighborhood similar to mine cost half-again as much as my mortgage payment.
Which is kind of my point. Housing movements and trends matter across generations & if you dismiss the entire thing as “well this is my house, it’s not about you, why should this movement have to think about you?” then, yeah, that’s exactly the ableist mindset I’m saying is pretty bullshit.
California housing is just as bad. My family has a townhouse, because that was what we could afford and it was also the least scary looking place we could find after months and months of looking. The stairs are too narrow for a lift of any sort and the railing is… not good. We can’t afford to fix that. We are all disabled to various degrees, I’m the worst off when it comes to mobility, but my parents are looking into maybe trying to find a single floor place in a few years because we just cannot and should not deal with stairs.
We probably won’t be able to afford one though. None of the places in this area that we can afford (that are also not clearly the set to a horror movie) are single story. One we looked at 5 years ago was on fricking STILTS.
And every time I need to go down to get food or go up to the shower or my bedroom I am reminded of the time i had to crawl from my room, down the hall, and down the stairs to get to the car and go to the ER because I was fine one minute and then I was suddenly in too much pain to sit upright or stand…
I am constantly in fear of one of the joints in my leg popping out while i’m on the stairs, or my spine acting up like that first time, and falling down the stairs… I have in fact had joints pop out on the stairs and caught myself on the walls and caused myself more injuries doing it.
And this isn’t accounting for any of the other dozen quirks of the house that make my life more painful because I am not able bodied. Accessible housing needs to be a more easy to come by thing.
So the USA is trying to starve its poor to death. Not even an exaggeration.
The SNAP program is getting some work requirements applied again which are expected to leave up to (or more than) a MILLION people without benefits. Of these people, 97% are at OR BELOW the poverty line.
And the only way to “earn” your benefits – the way to “prove” that you don’t “deserve” to starve to death – is to work 20 hours per week, or 80 per month.
Either pull a job out of your ass (earn your paycheck AND qualify for food assistance), OR participate in 80 hours of UNPAID labor (PLUS the expense and time of transportation to and from a set, unflexible location).
And after working 80 hours (plus paying money you don’t have for transportation to get to the designated “program” location/s) for the state to “prove” you don’t deserve to die, you get… are you ready?
I’m gonna use the Florida figures, because that’s what I was reading up on.
Less than $200 in food assistance. The average is actually less than 150.
Care to do the math?
$150 for 80 hours.
$1.88 per hour.
The USA is a fucking dystopia.
What the ever living fuck.
@fullten @lady-feral I…what
Yeah, I was hit with this. We’re okay right now since we’re staying with family, though feeding us puts a strain on them as well.
I make some internet money that works out to about 125 a week so if I wanna keep getting my food assistance I have to itemize that so it qualifies as a 20 hour a week job, which it probably does, but it’s ridiculous that anyone has to do this and most people under the poverty line will not be able to.
I HAVE had real jobs. I’ve had enough real jobs that the taxes taken out of my own past paychecks already cover all the food assistance I’ve used and plenty to come. I have already paid for this food myself.
And every day a politician somewhere in this country wastes enough money to feed our entire fucking population.
I WANNA ADD SOMETHING IMPORTANT for anyone who thinks they might need to sign up for food assistance, cause a few people just asked me some stuff about it.
In your interviews and applications, they are going to ask “do you ever eat with other people.”
This is a trick question.
You’re gonna probably think “well, technically, yeah, I had lunch with my friend last week…my mom made me a dinner….”
STOP
Answer NO. Always always answer NO.
This question is designed to weed people out. If you admit to literally ever sharing a meal with another human being, that actually allows them to deny or alter your benefit amount. Even though this is legally referred to as “supplemental” food assistance and it isn’t enough to live on by itself, Republicans already don’t want anyone to have even that, and they want to consider it “fraud” if you both receive food assistance and EVER share food with another person, whether you’ve used your benefits to buy ingredients for someone’s birthday dinner or your mom made you a casserole one visit.
The correct thing to say when asked these questions is “I purchase and prepare my own food” or “we eat separately.” Even if you’ve already told them you live with family or a roommate.
Remember: Republicans don’t even want assistance recipients to be able to buy “luxury” items like fucking pasta sauce.
They would limit you to nothing but gruel if they could. They’ve fought and pushed to load the benefit process with “tricks” and catch-22′s like these to treat as wide a range of people they can as lazy fraudsters and moochers.
Dear non-natives
The Plains warbonnet is not a Cherokee thing. It is not a Navajo thing. It is not an Indian thing. It is a Plains thing.
Stop calling every silly thing you draw that even vaguely resembles a native “Cherokee” or “Navajo” or “Aztec.”
Stop drawing the warbonnet everywhere as the apparently definitive native thing. It isn’t part of all of our 600+ cultures.
Same goes for the tipi, not part of every one of the 600+ indigenous cultures.
Stop thinking that if a native person doesn’t have dark, “mahogany” skin, that their heritage is invalid. Even without admixture, we actually do have varying skin tones.
Stop wearing crappy fake warbonnets.
Stop wearing redface.
Stop using us as your silly mascots. We are people.
Stop saying “spirit animal.” It’s derived from a New Age bastardization of a something that actually exists in some of our cultures.
Don’t smudge. Cleanse all you like, that’s fine, but don’t smudge.
Don’t call us “Indians.” “Native American” isn’t great either, it is not our name, but it’s slightly better than “Indian.” “Indigenous” is also fine.
Don’t use NDN/ndn. That is ours.
Step off about our hair. If you meet a long-haired native, admire it if you like, maybe even ask them about it (RESPECTFULLY), but do not touch. The same applies for someone with short hair, but additionally for those with short hair, don’t say things like “oh you’d look more native/Indian/etc if your hair was long.” We didn’t all traditionally have long, flowing hair. Believe it or not, there are actually different haircuts existing in our various cultures, and aside from that ultimately it’s a personal choice, one does not need to have long hair if they don’t want to. Doesn’t make them any less native to have short hair.
Don’t pray to our spirits/gods/energies. Native spiritualities are closed, they are not for outsiders.
Don’t say “The Native Americans believed…” Firstly, the past tense is silly, we still exist and do things. Secondly, we are NOT A MONOLITH. As I mentioned before, there are upwards of 600 different Native American cultures.
Don’t ask about someone’s “Indian name.” That’s not only insensitive, the name you are referring to in that instance is something sacred, and might not be something that person wants to share with you.
Don’t call yourself silly crap like “howling wolf” or “flying eagle.” That’s also racist and insensitive.
Regardless of whatever you might think you’re doing, or what your intentions may be, if a native person tells you that what you’re doing is disrespectful, STOP DOING IT.
You aren’t honoring us. You’re just mocking us further, demonstrating your continued ability to treat us like shit and get away with it even now, centuries after our colonization began. Your feelings are not more important than our history and survival.
To those doing your best as allies, thank you, keep doing what you do. HOWEVER, don’t let opportunities to educate others escape you. By letting them continue to be ignorant, you are failing. Spread the message.
There will be no “please.” It’s been more than 500 years, and we still are made to be invisible in our homelands. Still we are treated like less. Some even think we all died long ago.
We are still here
We will still be here
Treat us with respect.
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