I’m not sure if I’m more mad or scared these days. Between senseless violence and the government just doing its thing, there’s a lot to balance emotionally and mentally. On those days I’m ready to just throw things, I’ve found a glass of wine and a happy movie calm me down enough to return to reality and educate myself. Now is not the time to shove our heads in the sand. Bad things keep happening, we must be vigilant (constance vigilance!) in our campaign to make the world better. I know, it sounds corny, but by addressing these social issues and helping usher in change is making the world a better place. I would hate to look back on my life and remember all these things that made me angry and didn’t do or say something. If you were looking for a sign, here’s your call to action, get mad about something and then go do something to make it better.
In proper fashion, people are losing control and doing things that just make other folks mad. From black face to a shooting to nationalism, I got you covered, fam! If you weren’t mad about something before reading this, you will be slightly perturbed if not full on raging. If I missed what you’re mad about this week, I’ll happily incorporate what else y’all mad about today.
Black Face
When will Halloween come without white people trying to either show up somewhere in black face or justify black face? We go over this every year, don’t be racist. I get it, we have different don’t be racist phrases depending on the season and which minority group gets to speak up and say “stop profiling me.” Halloween is kind of a catch all for all bad ideas white folks have when it comes to appropriation. Native American, Mexican, and East Asian themed costumes that typically throw respect into the wind will undoubtedly make appearances this fine October, in addition to some type of face paint used for a brown/black face. And the winner of the costume contest is ultimately Colonialism!
Someone didn’t tell Megyn Kelly black face is out until today. There are two camps mad in this one, folks. The camp that knows that under no circumstance is it actually okay to paint your face black for the sake of a costume (my skin is not your joke, especially when its value is already less than yours). Then there’s the camp that thought Megyn Kelly was onto something with it being okay, as long as you’re in character. Now these folks are more angry for the social media criticism Megyn Kelly received. I suppose there’s also Megyn Kelly who got shredded on social media, so she’s likely hella mad about that. All valid issues for people to be mad in this instance. Black face should be avoided (it’s easy to do, just don’t do it). Asking for clarification about something by asking “What is racist?” is also a very good habit to pick up, so then you avoid a black face disaster. And nobody likes being bullied on social media, so yeah, Megyn Kelly has fair reason to be mad. The moral of this story, be respectful and avoid cultural appropriation. I know, it’s a tall order, but I have faith in all the white people who were going to paint their faces brown for parties this weekend. Just don’t do it, man.
Let me tell you a simple story of injustice that gets my blood boiling. A woman filed a report with the university police in regards to a man harassing her. That woman is now dead. Find in this story where things went wrong. It wasn’t the woman filing the report for a man harassing her. A man who lied to her about his identity (he was a registered sex offender) then took her life. Please stop wondering why women have a fear of upsetting men. This woman couldn’t even break up with a guy without his response being to wait outside her apartment and shoot her.
My heart breaks for the University of Utah, Salt Lake City, Pullman, and PAC12 communities that are impacted by the loss of this woman, Lauren McClusky. There is no circumstance that a life should senselessly be taken away. Violence towards women needs to end, and that begins with men no longer seeing us as objects to be taken. If a woman breaks up with you and you have some strong feelings, might I suggest talking through it with a therapist before committing a crime. How many women have to lose their lives before we are all advocates and allies?
Living in this fear hurts. Being overly cautious about how you go about your life can be exhausting. Not feeling supported enough to come forward when you feel threatened or have been assaulted should not be what women today experience. Yet here we are. We tell women to be nice to men and worry about how their actions impact a man’s behavior without holding men to similar expectations, or even the expectation that they don’t fly off the handle in the face of rejection. And we wonder why violence against women is a problem in our society.
Nationalism
Things that are in this season, plaids, scarves, nationalism, and red wines. Might I suggest a nice merlot? It pairs nicely with the “president” of the United States declaring himself a nationalist.
I read these books in grade school about a man who was a great leader, he helped his country out of a depression. He was well spoken and charismatic, traits that helped him rise among the ranks and become the leader of a country. This man sounds nothing like 45, they do share a nationalist outlook when it comes to their countries. Who can blame them? The man I read about was leading a superior race, so of course he had great pride for his country. President Trump leads a country he’s trying to make great again, so of course he too has pride for his country. Many folks love the rhetoric of their country being superior to other countries, it opens to door for allowing certain behaviors because you see yourself as superior to other groups of people.
In my humble opinion, people aren’t mad enough about this comment. While I’m for a love of your country, I cannot support nationalism, for it leads down a path where you don’t think critically about what’s going on in your country. We still treat people as second class citizens based on things like race and gender, we’re not exactly a model country. It’s great to want to improve and get to a place where your country pride grows because you see everyone coming together. Unfortunately, we are not that country in the current times, so nationalism isn’t quite the view anyone should have, especially someone with significant power. Ya girl is pissed because this comment is about to lead down a road I don’t really want to experience. I apologize for this fit for not wanting to deal with more open white supremacists.
Like every auntie will inevitably tell you, “mind ya business.” While the country is experiencing some “growing pains” (seriously, look at the stock market, I’m not just being dramatic because I can be), the government is actually spending time defining genders to be male or female so that gender is “unchangeable, and determined by the genitals that a person is born with.” I’m going to sound insensitive towards both the trans community and these overly conservative fools, WHY ARE WE STILL TALKING ABOUT THIS?! Mad, people are just mad when it comes to any gender conversation.
Elected government officials, Imma need y’all to focus on the important things here for two seconds: clean water in Flint, MI; sex education in public schools; listening to women when they come forward about sexual assault; axing white supremacy in the government; healthcare; tax reform that doesn’t only help the 1%; education. Notice how not a single one these issues (not a comprehensive list in the slightest) address defining gender. Why are we so obsessed with this? Let people identify how they want to and be kind to them, it’s not that big of an ask. Furthering the disenfranchisement of communities, while it may serve as a good tactic to maintain the social order we currently have, I would like to argue for not doing this. One, it’s a waste of time, energy, and resources (sorry to begin fairly cold). Two, we’re furthering a divisive agenda in a country that desperately needs to find unity before another country comes in and hustles us, I’m not trying to learn a slavic language in my lifetime, fam. Three, the trans community experiences enough hate and terror. Why add to it by making them feel smaller? I will never know what it’s like to go through life transgender, but I think I would feel very wounded by a government whose intentions are to push me further into the margins all because of gender.
My question to folks who feel deeply convicted that gender is unchangeable is why do you care so much?
You Mean…Elected Officials Actually Try to Stop Other People from Voting
Girl, yes. These fools are out here finding all kinds of ways to stop minorities and poor people from voting. Voter suppression is all the rage (right next to being a nationalist). I guess if you’re the secretary of state and you run for the governor of that state, there isn’t a conflict of interest even though you oversee the election for governor in your current position. Something is afoot in Georgia, my friends. Unfortunately, the issue of corrupt leaders who also try to deter disenfranchised communities from voting happen to be the same people. Funny how that happens. The issue of voter suppression is a country wide issue, which is why it’s imperative that you go out and vote in the coming weeks. The people in office are the ones who impact the ease of access to voting for the common American. We’re not trying to move towards a country where only rich, white, men vote. We tried that once, as I recall, it did not work out well. Minorities need to come forward and vote. Elected government officials need to stop creating barriers to access to voting for those marginalized groups. This is a hard truth, friends, we gotta vote these fragile folks out in favor of candidates who actually will voice the needs of their communities up through the government. I’ll get off this soapbox, but make sure you go out and vote.