Chronicles of a Fox

sonic-hip-attack: deliciouskaek: blackinasia: youngbadmanbrown...

Thu, 04 Apr 2013 16:35:37 -0400

deliciouskaek:

blackinasia:

youngbadmanbrown:

tehblackbirdincardigans:

bluntlyblue:

drunkonstephen:

How do YOU view the Republican party survey.

Omg. White koolaid in action, jfc I didn’t even notice that. That is so fucked up,

Holy shit.

jesus fuck

damn

welp

ouch

Goddammit, these abs are wonderful. Time to really kick my abs...

Sun, 17 Mar 2013 14:23:02 -0400

Goddammit, these abs are wonderful. Time to really kick my abs into overdrive, they’re lagging behind my other body parts. #TimeToPutinThatWork #fitness

thisiswhitehistory: Day 2 of White History Month: The Founders...

Sun, 03 Mar 2013 18:03:49 -0500

thisiswhitehistory:

Day 2 of White History Month: The Founders of the United States

The “Founding Fathers” of the United States are often touted to be the most respectable individuals in the history of the United States. They are said to represent liberty, justice, and freedom. In reality, their purported respect for liberty and freedom did not extend to Black or Native American people, nor to women. The enslavement of Black people was justified by the founders through the use of natural law - this same justification was used to justify the subjugation of Native Americans and women.

Most of the founders were slaveholders and supported slavery and slaveholding as an institution. At the constitutional convention in 1787, at least 40% of the men there were slaveholders. George Washington, for example, lent money to French slaveholders to quash rebellions in Haiti. He earned much of his wealth through the enslavement of Black Americans and theft of land owned by Native Americans.

Thomas Jefferson enslaved hundreds of Black Americans during his lifetime, including his own son, Eston Hemmings (who was not freed until his death). He harshly punished fugitive slaves. When he said “all men were created equal” he was only referring to white men.. In his book, Notes on the State of Virginia, he argued that Black people were naturally inferior. Jefferson was largely responsible for the draft of the Declaration of Independence where he accused the British King of violating the life and liberty of colonists and even of slavery. Even though he occasionally made statements on the harshness of slavery, he supported sending Black people to Africa were they to ever be emancipated.

Benjamin Franklin argued that mixed race Americans were both inferior and degrading to a “lovely” whiteness. Franklin was a slaveholder who later became an abolitionist, yet not for moral reasons. Franklin later opposed it because of the negative affect on the whiteness of the population (despite the fact that most mixed race children were fathered by white men).

Historians may present slavery as a nonissue early in the founding of the United States, but as far back as the 1787 Constitutional Convention, the issue was important. Northern states were moving away from an economy benefiting from slavery and thus some of them began to hold abolitionist sentiments. However, the influence of Southern slaveholders would continue to influence discussions on commerce and taxation, among other things. George Mason, himself a slaveholder, noted the wretchedness of slaveowners saying that “every master of slaves is born a petty tyrant”. He did not, however, note the suffering and extreme oppression suffered by the enslaved Black Americans. Elbridge Gerry of Massachusetts was one of three men who refused to sign the constitution in part because of its allowance of slavery - but only because he felt reliance on slavery made the nation vulnerable.

The founding fathers were only looking out for the best interests of white men.

Brown Skinned Lady.: theuppitynegras: bad-dominicana: Atheists always wanna talk about...

Fri, 15 Feb 2013 22:44:00 -0500

Brown Skinned Lady.: theuppitynegras: bad-dominicana: Atheists always wanna talk about...:

theuppitynegras:

bad-dominicana:

Atheists always wanna talk about religions with human sacrifice,
Okay.
What say you of science based on infecting black people w deadly diseases and splicing and dicing woc’s bodies in cold blood? How is that not human sacrifice?
Crickets.
Thats…

Yeah. I really don’t understand the analogy that was being made. If anything, maybe it shows that one doesn’t always need religion to do bad things, but the Tuskegee experiments and forced sterilization of WoC weren’t carried out in the name of Atheism or something. O_o

anarcho-queer: Greek Police Arrests And Beat Tourists...

Sat, 12 Jan 2013 10:24:53 -0500

anarcho-queer:

Greek Police Arrests And Beat Tourists Mistaken For Immigrants

Greek police have stepped up efforts to catch illegal immigrants in recent months, launching a new operation to check the papers of people who look foreign. But tourists have also been picked up in the sweeps - and at least two have been badly beaten.

When Korean backpacker Hyun Young Jung was stopped by a tall scruffy looking man speaking Greek on the street in central Athens he thought it might be some kind of scam, so he dismissed the man politely and continued on his way.

A few moments later he was stopped again, this time by a man in uniform who asked for his documents. But as a hardened traveller he was cautious.

Greece was the 16th stop in his two-year-long round-the-world trip and he’d often been warned about people dressing in fake uniforms to extract money from backpackers, so while he handed over his passport he also asked the man to show him his police ID.

Instead, Jung says, he received a punch in the face.

Within seconds, the uniformed man and his plainclothes partner - the man who had first approached Jung - had him down on the ground and were kicking him, according to the Korean.

In shock, Jung was by now convinced he was being mugged by criminals and began shouting for help from passers-by.

It was only when he was handcuffed and dragged 500m (500 yards) up the road to the nearest police station that he realised he was actually under arrest.

Jung says that outside the station the uniformed officer, without any kind of warning, turned on him again, hitting him in the face.

Inside the police station, Jung says he was attacked a third time in the stairwell where there were no people or cameras.

Jung was held with a number of migrants from Africa and Asia who had also been rounded up as part of the police’s anti-immigration operation Xenios Zeus - named, strangely, after the ancient Greek god of hospitality.

It is thought that up to 95% of undocumented migrants entering the European Union arrive via Greece, and because border controls make it hard to continue into the rest of Europe many end up stuck in the country.

According to some estimates, immigrants could now make up as much as 10% of the population.

But while more than 60,000 people have been detained on the streets of Athens since it was launched in August 2012, there have been fewer than 4,200 arrests.

And some visitors to Greece have been detained despite having shown police their passports.

Last summer, a Nigerian-born American, Christian Ukwuorji, visited Greece on a family holiday with his wife and three children.

When police stopped him in central Athens he showed them his US passport, but they handcuffed him anyway and took him to the central police station.

They gave no reason for holding him, but after a few hours in custody Ukwuorji says he was so badly beaten that he passed out. He woke up in hospital.

“I went there to spend my money but they stopped me just because of my colour,” he says. “They are racist.”

This is disgraceful. And to think I wanted to see Greece at some point in life…fuck all that now, I LIKE my life :S

thewhitemankilledthetruth: fyeahlilbit2point0: It’s on. Fuck...

Fri, 11 Jan 2013 00:06:17 -0500

thewhitemankilledthetruth:

fyeahlilbit2point0:

It’s on.

Fuck Namor

Namor dun fucked up.

Esoterica: my full twitter response to the 'bury the ratchet' campaign.

Thu, 03 Jan 2013 19:50:15 -0500

Esoterica: my full twitter response to the 'bury the ratchet' campaign.:

so-treu:

tionam:

-folks talking ‘burying the ratchet’ first need to have an understanding of the etymology of the world as it has evolved over the years.

-im from the south. ratchet was a word that first described a behavior. much like getting ‘turnt up’ like my cali folks.

-the…

racismschool: Bruce Lee generally being better than you, me and...

Wed, 02 Jan 2013 23:04:02 -0500

racismschool:

Bruce Lee generally being better than you, me and everyone we know.

What in the blue fuck?!

….Bruce, you tha man. *Bows* *curtsies*

RIP <3

Esoterica: Whiteness Unchained: When a National Shame Becomes Camp

Wed, 02 Jan 2013 01:27:28 -0500

Esoterica: Whiteness Unchained: When a National Shame Becomes Camp:

whiteseducatingwhites:

Only recently did I learn of the longstanding feud between Spike Lee and Quentin Tarantino. This was a result of internet research I did after seeing a preview for Tarantino’s new movie Django Unchained, and after a dear friend sent me a link to Lee’s refusal…

sapphrikah: moniquill: poopitypooppooppoopers: gingerhaze: fo...

Sun, 30 Dec 2012 14:42:56 -0500

sapphrikah:

moniquill:

poopitypooppooppoopers:

gingerhaze:

fornax:

Finished The Hunger Games on break at work, had a pretty clear image of Katniss in my head! quick cool-down before bed, trying to get more oomph in character designs

wowowow

yes perfect

Actually olive-skinned and dark-haired? Actually sharp and underfed-looking? Grim, blank stare of closeted emotion?

Wow, accurate Katniss is accurate.

Oh my! This is pretty damn cool.

thefluffingtonpost: Baby Bunny Buys Towels for New...

Sat, 29 Dec 2012 19:07:57 -0500

thefluffingtonpost:

Baby Bunny Buys Towels for New Bathroom

Having recently renovated her mater bath, baby hare Petunia set out on a mission to acquire the perfect linens.

“She’s not a Bed, Bath & Beyond kind of gal,” says Tony Chambers, a source close to the situation. “She likes the luxurious stuff, and she’s willing to pay.”

She finally located a set of Egyptian cotton towels at a boutique home furnishings shop downtown.

“They’re almost softer than her,” says Chambers. “Almost.”

Via ermagawd.

My thug has just evaporated looking at this! :-)

My path towards nonbelief has been an interesting one. As I was going about accepting my new life...

Fri, 28 Dec 2012 13:29:25 -0500

My path towards nonbelief has been an interesting one.

As I was going about accepting my new life perspective—-which as someone who was very unsure for the majority of my life—-I was thinking about my time when I practiced a religious faith that employed a metaphysical/spiritual healing method called “Johrei.”

To paraphrase (probably badly), how this thing works is, you wear this amulet that somehow has the power of the Sun and utilize its power to heal yourself and others via eliminating toxins in both their physical and spiritual bodies(if you believe that humans have spiritual bodies along with physical ones). The more these impurities are removed from the body and spirit, the more one’s health and daily life improves as a result of the purging.

And after having subjective experiences that I felt meant this was a path I should consider going, I accepted & participated in this belief for about a year or so.

To believe that in spite of whatever imperfections you have as a human being that somehow you can do your part to help people and save the world is a big thing; it’s very seductive in nature. And if you’re feeling as lost and depleted as I was at that period in my life, you’re willing to try anything that offers you a community, a place to try to rebuild yourself and be surrounded by those you feel have your best interests at heart. And after reading the documented accounts of followers who’ve had positive experiences with it, it’s hard to be skeptical about it….or, is it?

Besides the fact that I ended up joining the group in part because my ex-boyfriend bought me into it and I still wanted to be in his life, and partly because I didn’t have enough love for myself to not live my life by the opinions of others, I gave the group a try. And because of everything I was going through at that time, I felt that my life was incomplete without being a part of religion, being able to tap into whatever that higher power was. For a while, as a member in the group, I thought I was connected to a higher power, and then….I had dropped the amulet by accident one day. I can’t remember how I did, but when I had told the members what happened, they told me that the power within the amulet was gone since it was dropped.

I…was…a WRECK.

I did what the facilitators said, waited a while, paid the monies to start the process over again, and then, there was a ceremony to reconnect the amulet to its power source. And I was once again reconnected with this awesome power.

And then….I wasn’t. HUH?

I went into this thing like any person who knows how to use the scientific method, even on a base level. The practitioners made claims that this shit works, so I tried it, paid attention to what happened afterwards, and made my assessments. In the beginning, things happened that I thought were related to my doing Johrei. But now, I’m not seeing consistent results, if I see anything. So…what happened? Was I deemed less worthy of using the power? Was I just incapable of attaining this higher connection that everyone else seems to get with ease? What was wrong with me?

And even before I started dealing with THAT, I found myself having issues with the proselytizing part; this was when practitioners would go to the parks and offer to do Johrei to people. Here’s the thing with me and proselytizing:

Uhm….

I HATE IT. HATE HATE HATE IT. HATE IT WITH THE FURY OF A MILLION SUNS.

Between feeling that I wasn’t able to connect spiritually with anything, and doing all I could to not partake in proselytizing, I started reverting back to my usual agnosti-deist self; thinking and considering the following:

-the experiences I had were coincidence; they were products of my mind from wanting to believe in the faith so badly

-maybe there IS something out there, but it may not be able to be named or understood(an agnostic+deist combined perspective)

-wondering if I really needed religion and spirituality and not really caring about god or prayer because in the end, I’m the one who has to live life and get myself through each day.

But yep, this is what I believed in at one point. I wanted to feel connected and a part of something “above” myself so bad that I’d give anything a shot, as long as I got what I wanted. But sooner or later, as is what always happens to me when it comes to accepting someone as THE truth, I started feeling doubts. When it came time to spread the word around and proselytize to others, I found myself unable to do it. Why? Well, I guess I just have a natural inclination to be afraid of giving my entire mind over to religion and religious doctrine entirely, especially if it means not being able to question or critique, or just live without having to try to persuade or force anyone to live and believe as I do. That’s the one line I can never cross.

I was also getting tired of being around people and feeling excluded, and like an open wound. I also didn’t want to bring the group down via not being true to myself, and I needed to get away from my ex and start reclaiming my own life in a more healthy and positive way…though that would take another year or so to happen.

Wait…..

…oh snap….

…hold on. I think I just had a moment of clarity. It JUST hit me. Right now, as I’m sitting here, adding more to this draft to finish it, this thought hits me:

This amulet is supposed to give its user a link to god, a link to the powerful energy of the sun, right? This object is supposed to be powerful and wondrous and you’re telling me that this thing will lose all of that power with even the tip of it touching the floor or touching a surface?

Really, son? REALLY?!!

Ultimately, the results from johrei weren’t consistent, and I couldn’t carry on practicing it. Also, if this practice really cured every sort of ailment, why so hesitant to say, try to use this power on cancer patients to cure them of their ailments? Or an HIV/AIDS patient, even? Using such a power to only clear up regular ailments like colds, flus and for when people are feeling emotionally down is just small potatoes, is it not? A lot of the claims of its effectiveness that I read from other members—-which I accepted during my time with the faith—-, whether the ailment was physical or mental, cannot really be repeated with the same results; I thought I had gained more self-awareness in regards to how people react to me (I really didn’t LOL), and I thought that I’d forever be menstrual-cramp free as long as I did Johrei to myself (results weren’t consistent, not to mention that even before I’d started w/this practice, there were some instances during that time of the month that went by painlessly, so…back to square one!). Looking back objectively, neither of those things really happened like I thought in the past. So subjective perspectives and experiences can’t be used to prove empirically the existence of that a power, or a god.

…which is why now, as an atheist, I reject them by default. Not just because of the questionable claims, but because I no longer need that or any other religious faith/dogma to fulfill my life. For me, this faith functioned as a crutch, as a less expensive form of therapy (that didn’t identify the root of my problems; indeed, it probably exacerbated them, and had me going in circles! lol), or some sort of “drug” that I felt I desperately needed in order to not just feel complete, but to keep someone in my life that I should have allowed to just move on.

Those are never healthy reasons to believe in ANYTHING. PERIOD.

I’ve met some people during that time who became important to me, and though I don’t see them, I know they’ll be alright. :) There are others that pretended to care about me, but then showed me who they really were once I began to make significant changes in my life which couldn’t include them, and well….too bad for them, and fuck ‘em for trying to deter me from growth and progress.

All in all, my time in the Johrei way was an adventure, to say the least, yet once it ended its course and I let it go fully, my life actually started to change, and over the years, it’s changed for the better. And I didn’t need to depend on a faith or a “higher power” to help facilitate that change.

Fancy that.

Recap on 2012 & Goals for 2013

Fri, 28 Dec 2012 00:30:43 -0500

Welp, 2012 is pretty much on its last legs. Soon, 2013 will be here, and many exciting adventures, events, and experiences await. But before that happens, I think I should take this opportunity to reflect and look back on what I’ve done and accomplished throughout the year, and think about how I want to go into 2013.

2012 was a very interesting year for me. This year I became more active on social media. I meet some new and awesome folks, online and offline. I finally started vlogging on YouTube, thanks mostly to having to record speeches for my Intro to Speech (Communications) class I took earlier this year. I took steps to take my physical fitness to the next level and hooked up with a personal trainer, and thanks to her help, I now know how to push myself and have a better grasp on how much lifting I have to do to see metabolic changes. My poly-fi triad and I hit the three-year mark in our relationship (this is pretty much the longest and healthiest relationship I’ve ever been in! :D )

In 2012, I also decided to educate myself more on being a womanist+feminist of color, so I read a few books: “Sister Outsider” by Audre Lorde, and “Women, Race, and Class” by Angela Davis. These books have absolutely resonated with me on numerous levels; even though both books were written years ago, the content and perspectives expressed are still relevant. My entire outlook on the feminist ideology and where I’ve seen it go this year is forever altered, and I’ve grown so much just from having read these wonderful literary works.

But, there are some things that it looks like I need more work on…much, much more work on, and that’s myself. I still have a lot of internalized baggage regarding sexuality—-owning it and owning myself more—-and I need to rid myself of it. I need to get as close to exorcising it as I can, because it’s having an effect on my self-confidence. It makes it easier for me to put sex on the backburner when other things start to take up more of my time. Even with the type of relationship I currently have, I still deal with these internalized “voices” and experiences that inhibit me, that come out and tell me when I engage in expressing my sexuality that I should be ashamed to do it, and that there is no pride in being able to enjoy it and having a skill set to enjoy it more.

But it goes a bit lighter that that; I remember being into learning pole dancing, and I’ve been to a couple classes for it, and that just fell off, too. It’s tied into how I feel about myself, and my lack of being able to express myself and have control over my body. Plus, it’s fun! So, that is something I think I’ll invest some energy in again.

So, things to work on for 2013: self-liberation, ownership over myself and my sexuality, pride in both those things, and…dancing! There are other things too, like building up my portfolio for school, and the possibility of learning to prep for a bodybuilding show( not the “fitness” or “figure”, but “bikini”). I’m not exactly sure if I’d enter, but I do want to push my body to the next level, and really get better at clean eating. So I’m thinking that maybe if I have some sort of more concrete goal—-like to be ready for a show in 6 months—-I’ll push myself and see faster and better progress!

So, thanks, 2012. You’ve been pretty damn good to me. In three days, you’ll be gone. And I’ll keep moving along.

Cheers.

"People ask me about racism in Hollywood…Why would I acknowledge racism? When you acknowledge the..."

Thu, 27 Dec 2012 17:46:18 -0500

“People ask me about racism in Hollywood…Why would I acknowledge racism? When you acknowledge the obstacle, you actually give it power by the acknowledgement of it.”

- Will Smith (via femmeblackchick)

Will, baby, no. That is untrue. “If you are silent about your pain they will kill you and say you enjoyed it.” Nothing in the world ever changed for the better through people being silent.

(via a-tropical-elf)

Ugh, I absolutely cannot.

(via sapphrikah)

O big Willy. Why?

(via howtobeterrell)

He said something like this on Oprah too!!! SMH negroes get money and tell negroes without money that’s its all in our head… Will be seated baby… Be seated…

(via jcoleknowsbest)

lol i’m sorry but if you didn’t see this coming from will you’re a straight up fool

we been knew he was smoking that morgan freeman shit

(via crackerhell)

Love ya Will, but ignoring racism hasn’t solved a GODDAMN thing.

"My Traditional End of the Year Reflections on Life Post"

Tue, 25 Dec 2012 02:11:18 -0500

“My Traditional End of the Year Reflections on Life Post”

- Will be coming shortly. I’ve got a LOT to look back on, I think.

searchingforknowledge: deejaybird: In Bogalusa, Louisiana 1964...

Tue, 25 Dec 2012 02:08:21 -0500

searchingforknowledge:

deejaybird:

In Bogalusa, Louisiana 1964 civil-rights workers were surrounded by a horde of Ku Klux Klansmen. A Black man named Charles Sims saw that the chief of police was merely observing what could have been lots of bloodshed. Charles Sims walked over to the police chief and told him: “You better stop `em. Cause if you don’t, we’re gonna kill them all.” The top cop saw armed Black men staked out in protective formation around the building housing the civil-rights workers. There was no Klan violence that night. Sims later declared, “That night a brand-new Negro was born.” Cross burning ended suddenly in Jonesboro, Louisiana the night that a cross was set on fire in front of a clergyman’s house. The Deacons for Defense and Justice began busting shots at the KKK as the torch touched the cross. The Klan departed and never repeated that trick. In early 1965 Black students picketing Jonesboro high school were confronted by hostile police and fire trucks with hoses prepared to hose the black students until a car of 4 Deacons emerged and in view of the police, calmly loaded their shotguns. The police ordered the fire truck to withdraw. During a 1965 summer demonstration, white hecklers turned violent and threw a brick which struck a Black woman, Hattie Mae Hill. The white mob surrounded the car the Deacons were using to aid the terrified woman. As the white mob closed in on Deacon Henry Austin he fired point blank into the chest of Alton Crowe who was in the front of the mob. While Crowe survived, the fun of beating up on blacks died that afternoon in Bogalusa. No longer able to attack Black people without fear of retaliation from gun-wielding Deacons, the Klan began to lose its power-hold on the region. With the threat of violence greatly diminished the Deacons for Defense and Justice’s visibility declined. After 1968, the Deacons were inactive. The wife of one of the last surviving Deacon leaders says “I became very proud of Black men. They didn’t bow down and scratch their heads. They stood up like men.” SALUTE.

Movies are needed on this shit.

I would love to see a movie or documentary about THIS. Especially since you don’t learn about this in history class as a kid these days.

daintyblackpegasus:

Tue, 25 Dec 2012 01:48:33 -0500

daintyblackpegasus:

crackerhell: blackraincloud: 2547567: This jigaboo here...

Fri, 07 Dec 2012 10:36:56 -0500

crackerhell:

blackraincloud:

2547567:

This jigaboo here asserts her black power and supposedly stands against “racism and predjudice” but apparently it only extends to her black people because she flat out has quotes from Lauryn Hill on her blog, who is known to have lyrics that are derogatory towards Asians, perpetuating stereotypes like Asians in nail salons.

When called out about it, she gives the typical black person response which loosely translates ” I don’t give a fk about that, I’ll just look that over because Lauryn Hill is MY PEEPS and is black pride and power. Who gives a rats ass if she’s known for racist statements against Asians!” :)

http://maybeicouldbesofly.tumblr.com/

Wait, wait wait… Is this person talking about “look at what you be in hair weave like europeans, fake nails done by Koreans. Come again.” in Doo Wop(That Thing)? ::blink blink:: Well, then….

that awkward moment when Koreans are known for purposely going into business in black communities put never put a dime into the community

i seriously hope this person dies

Wait.

This person is complaining about so-called racist statements by Lauryn Hill (which weren’t even racist), yet goes on and calls someone a “jiggaboo”.

This person has a problem with Anti-Asian racism, but uses Anti-Black racial epithets in communicating their frustration.

Yeah, they can go feast on a trough of donkey dicks.

Question From the Inside: Kil Ja Kim

Fri, 07 Dec 2012 10:22:52 -0500

Question From the Inside: Kil Ja Kim:

crackerhell:

warcrimenancydrew:

crackerhell:

Does Asian American + POC = Anti-Black?

By Kil Ja Kim

For a long time, I have considered myself a person of color (POC).  I remember the first time I became really invested in POC politics was when I attended a predominantly white liberal arts college.  As a Korean woman I gravitated towards the Black students socially and organizationally on campus.  I had been involved in Black student activities in my high school, and socially was very comfortable around Black people compared to many of the white students.  So “choosing” between Black and white was the option for me as an Asian teenager with few Asian people to be around.  I chose to hang out with the Black students.

Many of the Black students on the college campus referred to themselves as people of color.  But it became clear throughout my four years that we had very different perspectives of what this meant.  I thought it meant all non-white people.  My racial analysis was not that complicated, but I thought in terms of white and non-white and so anyone who was part of the latter was a person of color.

Black students and the Black administrator, who was the only one in student affairs, tended to think differently.  Not uniformly across the board of course, but enough did.  To many Black people on my campus, people of color was equal to Black.  Activities planned for people of color were geared towards African American students in terms of content, outreach and invited guests.

And me, the Asian person who had “found myself” with the support of Black people, was pissed.  I resented what I considered Black people’s reverse racism, selfishness and limited perspective.  I would suggest, more like demand, that people of color be a more expansive term.

Black students and the Black administrator would (patiently) explain to me that they had struggled to get people of color activities for Black students, that they had only so much of a budget and that it was a priority for them to recruit and retain Black students.

I never stopped to think of how much more likely Asians are to go to college than Blacks.  Instead, I was just pissed.  I made demands such as asking them to change the name of a Black organization to something having to do with people of color so I could feel included instead of “tokenized.”  Again, Black people had to patiently explain to me why it was important to have an organization for Black people but that I was welcome to participate.  I wanted to be co-editor of a Black campus magazine, feeling I had “earned” this responsibility because of all of my involvement.  I would meet with white administrators demanding to know why they did not fund Asian American oriented programs as much as they did Black programs.  I would accuse the white administrators of being racist towards Asian Americans and demand that some of the budget for minority student affairs reflect “all people of color.”

Later, I set off to “find” my Asian American identity, beginning my own organization on campus and demanding classes be taught to reflect “my experience.”  I stopped supporting some of the Black student events, resentful because I felt “used” and “overlooked” by those I had shown support for.

And all along, it was Black students who supported me and showed up to my events.  Some even nominated me for a Martin Luther King Jr. Award my senior year and the Black student organization gave me a student leadership award at their Black baccalaureate ceremony.  At the ceremony, they did not present me with a Kente cloth, as is traditionally done with Black graduates.  During the planning stages of the event I had made sure to remind them, “I’m Asian, not Black!” And so to accommodate me, they had gone to great lengths to buy me a Korean flag.

It has been almost seven years since I graduated from undergrad.  But the fucked-up tendencies I showed were not isolated to my early college years.  Nor were they isolated to me.  As I became more involved in racial politics off of college campuses, I learned more that my behavior was not just that of some immature, self-centered college student trying to find her racial and cultural identity.  Indeed, I have come to understand that anti-Black racism and hostility was the means to finding myself and expressing what it meant to be an Asian American and a POC.

When I got involved in Asian American activism, it was not from the vantage point of not wanting to do activism with white people.  For some, that is how we get involved in POC work. We have been isolated or have isolated ourselves to working with white activists.  So many POC are very hungry to be around anyone not white.  For me, though, getting involved in both Asian American and POC work was really a way to escape working with Black people.

Of course, POC work involved Black people here and there.  But POC work was a way for me to “not be stuck” working with just Black people or getting “used” by them.  It was a way for me to see myself as more “worldly” and “more cosmopolitan” than those I had dismissed as “nationalist” Black people on my college campus, long before I even really had a better understanding of what nationalism was or the variations of it.

In short, POC work was a way for me to be both Asian American and “buddies” with Black people.  I could soothe my conscience by saying I was not like others because I am not totally “abandoning” Black people, as is the case with most of us who find meaning in our lives by interacting with Blacks but then dump them when something better comes along.  Instead, I saw myself as some sort of “bridge” between communities.  I was also conducting research on Korean-Black conflict and wanted to “heal” the rift, a gesture that made me feel better.  Like some weird post-1965 missionary activist, I saw myself as someone who, because of my past experiences, was some kind of innovative “border crosser.”  I was able to have it three ways, I could be friends with Blacks and be Asian American and be a POC.

Now I did not, of course, acknowledge that I thought I was better than Black people.  Instead, I wanted to “find” my true self and “expand” my horizons and others.  Or at least that’s what I told myself and others.

I came to find that other Asians, those who had been in similar situations coming up politically, felt the same way.  I remember talking to an Asian woman who told me how she “saved” her boyfriend from being Black by giving him books written by Asian Americans.  Her boyfriend had been politically and socially engaging Black people and politics, but this was not his “true” identity.  The woman felt the need to intervene.

This story is not an isolated one, as I have met more Asian Americans who develop an affinity with Black politics and people but then jump ship when they get a chance to be with Asian Americans.  Many of us, Asian American or not, have drunk from the fountain of knowledge we call Black politics only to spit the water back into the well when we are no longer thirsty.

See, Asian Americans don’t tend to jump ship for ethical reasons.  It is certainly not an issue of feeling that they shouldn’t have more power compared to, or over Blacks, or because they shouldn’t have too much control in Black people’s affairs.  If they felt this way, they wouldn’t adamantly defend Asian business owners who create business enclaves in Black neighborhoods or they wouldn’t be so quick to establish Asian hip hop or spoken word collectives that tell off Black people at the same time appropriating from them.

And so me, I jumped ship like the rest of them.  I got involved in Asian American politics to the point where I saw myself as Asian American, read and wrote about Asian American affairs, and presented myself as Asian American at political events, college settings and social gatherings.  The fucked up part of it though is that I was able to solidify my identity as both Asian American and POC by being anti-Black.  My sense of myself politically was basically established by distancing myself from Blacks.

Me and other Asians would solidify our bonds with one another politically in forums, private organizational meetings or just quick conversation by talking about how selfish Black people were or how there is more than just Black and white and how people need to recognize Asian Americans in the mix.  I would cheer loudly for racist Asian American spoken word performances where Asian American artists would loudly sound off about “Don’t exotify my culture!” to some implied Black and white audience, at the same time using hip hop slang and Black colloquialisms or signifying Blackness through their gestures and cadences.

I would try to get funding and support by pointing out to administrators (usually white) and others (usually Black) that “Black people are not the only ones who experience racism.”  I would be vocal about the need to go “beyond” Black and white and would confront Black activists and friends if I felt that they weren’t being “open” enough to Asian American concerns.

And I would shut down any conversation that had to with the differential value and power Asian Americans have.  If someone wanted to talk about why so many Asians own businesses in Black neighborhoods—bam, shut down, then some nice, intellectual conversation about how Blacks don’t appreciate the struggles of immigrants to “make it” in a globalized economy.  If someone wanted to talk about Blacks in prison—bam, shut down, then some commentary about how Asians are in prison too and a mention of prisoner David Wong.  If someone wanted to talk about Blacks being racially profiled—bam, shut down, then some treatise on Asian immigrants getting deported.

Overall, I had become a master at shutting down conversation with Blacks while at the same time appearing as if I wanted to seriously engage their concerns or even listen to them.  I had become the quintessential Asian American.

I also remained the quintessential POC.  There is a reason why POC politics is so heavily driven by Asian Americans.  As much as wanting to be a POC instead of identifying with white people, I also wanted to be a POC because it made me feel better about my anti-Black politics and it also helped assuage the nagging guilt of knowing that Asian Americans get less shit and have a lot more than Blacks.  As a POC I could see myself as someone who was being “who I am” but at the same time not be like Black activists, who I dismissed as nationalists.  I could see myself as someone who was “making connections” and “helping to expand the dialogue” between different non-white groups.

But in the end, I was still anti-Black.  I was only willing to listen to other Black people who were similarly into POC politics and who would basically put up with my shit.  I still learned how to shut down critical dialogue with Blacks and deflect their concerns, using jargon such as “We’re being divided and conquered and that’s what the system wants!” and “I’m not going to play the ‘Oppression Olympics’” and even appropriating Black writer and activist Audre Lorde by proclaiming, “The master’s tools will never dismantle the master’s house!”  I would only support Black political work and activists if they dealt with Asian Americans in their campaign and analyses, because that was the more “worldly” POC way and not just the “nationalist” approach.  I would shun Asian activists who tended to support Black politics because I thought they were “dupes” and full of “self-hatred.”

It took me a long time to understand how violent Asian American identity is to Black politics and ultimately to Black people.  That the only way I knew how to become both Asian American and POC was by being hostile to, or shutting down Black people is indicative of something, isn’t it?

And even with all of the politicking that I did in Asian American and POC spaces, I didn’t develop much of a vocabulary for describing and identifying anti-Black racism in society, let alone in our own work and as part of our identities.  Some Black intellectuals I know that helped me to understand that a person can have an analysis of white supremacy but not of anti-Blackness and that a person can profess a critique of whiteness and white people and still be anti-Black.  And me, I was proof.  I was very critical of white supremacy at the same time espousing Asian American and POC rhetoric at every opportunity, but especially when Black people were present.

And the sad fact of the matter is that it has usually been Black people who supported my exploration of identity, who cheered me on when I confronted whiteness, white people and white supremacy and who listened sympathetically as I talked about feeling socially and politically isolated.  And how did I repay them?  By becoming someone whose identity was bound with hostility and resentment towards them, their political activity and ultimately, their liberation.

At this point, I have been trying to figure out what it means to be a non-Black person of color engaging in politics in the US.   I am wondering, how can people with an Asian body or whose origins are in Asia engage in liberatory politics in the US without being anti-Black?  I genuinely care about Asian people in the US and elsewhere and our experiences with white supremacy make me sad, angry and even furious.  But I want to speak out and organize against white supremacy in a way that doesn’t reproduce or get heard because of anti-Blackness.  But I am beginning to doubt whether or not this is possible.  I am looking for some good models of how this might be possible, but I am struggling to find them.  Any suggestions?

1/28/04  (kiljakim2003@yahoo.com)

Kil Ja Kim  is a writer, educator and activist currently living and working in Philadelphia. Her intellectual and political interests are Asian American politics, immigrant politics, and Black-Asian American relations. Kil Ja is currently working on working on a research project that examines the role of global racial politics in shaping the disproportionate presence of Korean immigrant business owners in Black neighborhoods in the US.

* * * * * * * *

I really could not bold enough of this post. I really could not.

It’s literally like watching the Asian people here on tumblr. More specifically, the East Asian people here on tumblr. When fuckyouimadinosaur and that entire crew was fucking up, they were literally employing every. single. fucking. tactic. that Kil Ja Kim mentioned here.

Every one.

I don’t know how I feel right now.

But I know I feel disgusted that people’s entire identities as PoC are built on trying to fuck me in the ass despite me being most likely to support them.

don’t just read the article y’all, read riley’s commentary too.

as an asian-american, i know i’ve done shit before in activism where i was like “wahhh why is this organization only built around the needs of black people and not south asian american muslim women like myself?” and it really takes a selfish, self-interested, antiblack person to say shit like that. i’ve worked beyond that point by now, but it’s so terrible & disgusting that so many asian-americans genuinely feel they have the right to usurp a level of organization and activism that black people came up with and black people have worked hard on and we step in at the last moment to try to take it over without any thought about how ignorant and hurtful we are to the very people without whose work and knowledge and support we would literally not have the sense of racial politics & understanding that we do.

And that’s what it is. This person stepped in at the LAST MINUTE wanting to take all the work that Black people had done and make it for them. HELL NO you don’t get to come in on a dime having done not shit for work and then make that shit about you.

HELL NO.

Wow. Quite the eye-opener on race/POC politics.

Idris Elba reveals the story behind the name of his production...

Thu, 06 Dec 2012 21:35:49 -0500

Idris Elba reveals the story behind the name of his production company ‘Green Door’ [x]