“Traditionally, in american society, it is the members of the oppressed, objectified, groups who are expected to stretch out and bridge the gap between the actualities of our lives and the consciousness of our oppressor. For in order to survive, those of us for whom oppression is as american as apple pie have always had to be watchers, to become familiar with language and manners of the oppressor, even so sometimes adopting them for some illusion of protection. Whenever the need for some pretence of communication arises, those who profit from our oppression call upon us to share our knowledge of the oppressed to teach the oppressors their mistakes. I am responsible for educating teachers who dismiss my children’s culture in school. Black and Third World people are expected to educate white people as to our humanity. Women are expected to educate men. Lesbians and gay men are expected to educate the heterosexual world. The oppressors maintain their position and evade responsibility for their own actions. There is a constant drain of energy which might be better used in redefining ourselves and devising realistic scenarios for altering the present and constructing the future.”
–

From: “Age, Race, Class and Sex: Women Redefining Difference” by Audre Lourde

For all the people who are tired of teaching white people about white privilege, or straight people about hetero-privilege etc. 

(via shakepaper) (via ihatethismess)

the english language and racism

recently, i’ve been seeing a lot of discussion about white privilege, mainly with ihatethismess. while we can talk forever about the existence of white privilege, let’s face it it’s blatantly there, we don’t really ever talk about why it’s there. of course, it exists, because rich, white men quite literally rule the world and attempt to mold that thoughts of everyone on it to do their bidding. their bidding is usually to do anything that makes them money. that being said, i believe there is more to it. the discussions i have been seeing are all in english, so i’ll discuss english since it’s obviously the language i personally speak. 

language is an integral part of culture. so much so that it’s believe it itself is the core of a culture, that cultures cannot exist without language. we use language to create history, art, relationships. language reflects our thoughts and our feelings. if the english language itself is racist, then how does one truly expel that? the only answer i can personally think of is to change the language. sure, others will make fun of you and call you politically correct. however, language is the most powerful tool we have to date, and they’re obviously ignorant if they don’t see that.

if i’m going to say english is racist, i should probably explain why i think that. first things first, we portray anything as black as negative: black-balled, black-listed, black magic, etc. the very definition of the word black only verifies this:

–adjective 
1. lacking hue and brightness; absorbing light without reflecting any of the rays composing it. 
2. characterized by absence of light; enveloped in darkness: a black night.
3. a.pertaining or belonging to any of the various populations characterized by dark skin pigmentation, specifically the dark-skinned peoples of Africa, Oceania, and Australia. b.African-American. 
4.soiled or stained with dirt: That shirt was black within an hour. 
5.gloomy; pessimistic; dismal: a black outlook.
6.deliberately; harmful; inexcusable: a black lie.
7.boding ill; sullen or hostile; threatening: black words; black looks.
8.(of coffee or tea) without milk or cream.
9.without any moral quality or goodness; evil; wicked: His black heart has concocted yet another black deed.
10.indicating censure, disgrace, or liability to punishment: a black mark on one’s record.
11.marked by disaster or misfortune: black areas of drought; Black Friday.
12.wearing black or dark clothing or armor: the black prince.
13.based on the grotesque, morbid, or unpleasant aspects of life: black comedy; black humor.
14.(of a check mark, flag, etc.) done or written in black to indicate, as on a list, that which is undesirable, sub-standard, potentially dangerous, etc.: Pilots put a black flag next to the ten most dangerous airports.
15.illegal or underground: The black economy pays no taxes.
16.showing a profit; not showing any losses: the first black quarter in two years.
17.deliberately false or intentionally misleading: black propaganda.
18.British. boycotted, as certain goods or products by a trade union.
19.(of steel) in the form in which it comes from the rolling mill or forge; unfinished.

all of the definitions that are in bold are the ones with negative connotations and/or denotations.

in addition, english as a language seems to be by white people for white people. the perspective, the underlying assumptions, are in favor of them. for example, let’s look to the word flesh. it has many meanings, but look specifically at flesh as a color:

–noun

the color of a white person’s skin; yellowish pink; pinkish cream.

the word for this purpose originated in the early 1600s yet it’s still used. flesh generally means meat, whether it be metaphorical or literal. well, persons of color have meat. they’re just simply not made out of the same things as white people, right? that’s why flesh only describes the skin of a white person?

also, it is said that (and i can totally be wrong here) we as humyn beings cannot conceive of something that our language does not lay out for us. an example of this is the ona, a food foraging society (the best kind of society if you ask me), they have no words pertaining to property. property is not part of their culture, so there is no need for a word explaining that describes it. that being said, what’s the opposite of racism? is this something that for people who speak english as their primary language is even conceivable. i went to thesaurus.com and took a screenshot of when i looked up the word racism:


we don’t have an opposite of racism, and while it may come of as a moot point or as something small, i think it makes complete sense. racism is so easily taken on by the masses, because we do not even have the opposite of racism in our language. if it’s not in our language, it’s not even in our thoughts, which, to me, explains why it can be incredibly difficult for those who grow up with white privilege to not only see that we as english-speakers are inherently racist but also to grow beyond that, to unlearn that behavior/thought process.

did you know cows could live up to 25 years if people would let them? oldest cow to date died 3 months before her 49th bday.

goodvibespromo

thanks for the follow

» Feminism is Evil!

leahxvx:

ianpaxson:

vanessaxvx:

lipstick-feminists:

“I’m not going to sugarcoat this article in an attempt not to offend anyone. Feminism is rebellion against God’s AUTHORITY! I don’t know where the term “feminazi” originated, but it accurately describes the Feminist Movement. So many pastors today are afraid to preach against the evils of feminism. The truth needs to be told! “

Oh good.

I’m laughing.

The feminist agenda is not about equal rights for women. It is about a Communist, anti-family, anti-Christian, political movement that encourages women to leave their husbands, kill their babies, practice witchcraft, abandon homemaking, and become lesbians.

my favorite part so far

I’ve been wondering where all of these urges have come from since I became a feminist! All these years of wanting to carve a pentagram onto my kitchen floor and sacrifice babies on it while making out with other girls.. and never knowing why I wanted to do it! And now you know.

it was coined by rush limbaugh. does that not say anything? a white, upper class male coins term that depicts womyn who give a shit about being treated equally as the blind (like a sheep), genocidal soldiers that made the holocaust possible. does that not in itself say anything?

i just think it’s funny that feminists who identify as men are never mentioned. we do indeed exist.

elitc: adailyriot: redguard: via www.couragetoresist.org bradley manning is the only modern war hero i can think of.

elitc:

adailyriot:

redguard:

via www.couragetoresist.org

bradley manning is the only modern war hero i can think of.

» Anarchy! San Diego

fantasmafish:

» Chomsky’s Advice for Anarchists | Revolution by the Book : The AK Press Blog

(via blackpendulum)

FBI Admits Investigating Howard Zinn for Criticizing Bureau

Those who knew of the dissident historian Howard Zinn would not be surprised that J. Edgar Hoover’s FBI kept tabs on him for decades during the Cold War.

But in a release of documents pertaining to Zinn, the bureau admitted that one of its investigations into the left-wing academic was prompted not by suspicion of criminal activity, but by Zinn’s criticism of the FBI’s record on civil rights investigations.

“In 1949, the FBI opened a domestic security investigation on Zinn,” the bureau states. “The Bureau noted Zinn’s activities in what were called Communist Front Groups and received informant reports that Zinn was an active member of the CPUSA; Zinn denied ever being a member when he was questioned by agents in the 1950s.

“In the 1960s, the Bureau took another look at Zinn on account of his criticism of the FBI’s civil rights investigations.”

On Friday, the FBI released a 243-page file on Zinn, who died in January at age 87. The release describes the historian as “radical.” The documents show the bureau taking an active interest in Zinn since the late 1940s, when he was a student at New York University. The interest continued through the 1950s, as Zinn worked on his PhD at Columbia University.

When the FBI again took an interest in Zinn in the 1960s, documents show the bureau evidently tried to have the historian fired from his job as professor at Boston University.

In a document from the Boston FBI office (see PDF file here), an FBI “source,” whose name was redacted from the publicly released documents, was quoted as being outraged over Zinn’s comment at a protest that the US had become a “police state” and that prosecutions of Black Panther Party members were creating “political prisoners.”

The bureau’s Boston office then indicated it wanted to help the source in his or her campaign to unseat Zinn. “[The] Boston [office] proposes under captioned program with Bureau permission to furnish [name redacted] with public source data regarding Zinn’s numerous anti-war activities … in an effort to back [redacted] efforts for his removal.”

The bureau’s response to the request does not appear to have been included in the released documents.

The FBI notes that its investigations of Zinn — three in total, over 25 years — “ended in 1974, and no further investigation into Zinn or his activities was made by the FBI.”

Zinn had harsh words for the FBI during his academic career. In a paper published not long before his death, Zinn said the best thing the public could do to curb the FBI’s powers was to “continue exposing them.”

Of the FBI, he said, “They don’t like social movements. They work for the establishment and the corporations and the politicos to keep things as they are. And they want to frighten and chill the people who are trying to change things. So the best defense against them and resistance against them is simply to keep on fighting back, to keep on exposing them.”

(Raw Story reporters will continue to mine through the documents for more details. If you want to help, you can view the FBI files here, here and here (PDF). Send us what you find to tips@rawstory.com.)

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View this story online at: http://www.alternet.org/story/147693/