navigatethestream:

“Do I get stress headaches at work? Yes, definitely. From the moment I get in, it’s “Denise we need this! Denise we need that!” Which is stressful… ‘cause my name is Linda. Denise is the other black woman that works here. By 10am, someone in the copy room makes a joke about Kobe Bryant, and everyone looks at me to make sure it’s ok. And I smile like it’s ok. But really, my head and neck are starting to throb. Then I spend the rest of my afternoon training my interns, and answering their questions, like, “Yes, black people use shampoo”, and, “No, I don’t know any good reggae clubs around here”, and, “Yes, Condoleezza Rice is very articulate, why do you sound so surprised?” And, “No, I can’t tell you where to buy weed!” And that’s when I reach for Excedrin.”

three snaps for truth

Queen Latifah. <3

Heartbreaking. Amazing. Truth.

swarajist:

their high school principal
told me I couldn’t teach
poetry with profanity
so I asked my students,
“Raise your hand if you’ve heard of the Holocaust.”
in unison, their arms rose up like poisonous gas
then straightened out like an SS infantry
“Okay. Please put your hands down.
Now raise your hand if you’ve heard of the Rwandan genocide.”
blank stares mixed with curious ignorance
a quivering hand out of the crowd
half-way raised, like a lone survivor
struggling to stand up in Kigali
“Luz, are you sure about that?”
“No.”
“That’s what I thought.”

“Carlos—what’s genocide?”

they won’t let you hear the truth at school
if that person says “fuck”
can’t even talk about “fuck”
even though a third of your senior class
is pregnant.

I can’t teach an 18-year-old girl in a public school
how to use a condom that will save her life
and that of the orphan she will be forced
to give to the foster care system—
“Carlos, how many 13-year-olds do you know that are HIV-positive?”

“Honestly, none. But I do visit a shelter every Monday and talk with
six 12-year-old girls with diagnosed AIDS.”
while 4th graders three blocks away give little boys blowjobs during recess
I met an 11-year-old gang member in the Bronx who carries
a semi-automatic weapon to study hall so he can make it home
and you want me to censor my language

“Carlos, what’s genocide?”

your books leave out Emmett Till and Medgar Evers
call themselves “World History” and don’t mention
King Leopold or diamond mines
call themselves “Politics in the Modern World”
and don’t mention Apartheid

“Carlos, what’s genocide?”

you wonder why children hide in adult bodies
lie under light-color-eyed contact lenses
learn to fetishize the size of their asses
and simultaneously hate their lips
my students thought Che Guevara was a rapper
from East Harlem
still think my Mumia t-shirt is of Bob Marley
how can literacy not include Phyllis Wheatley?
schools were built in the shadows of ghosts
filtered through incest and grinding teeth
molded under veils of extravagant ritual

“Carlos, what’s genocide?”

“Roselyn, how old was she? Cuántos años tuvo tu madre cuando se murió?”

“My mother had 32 years when she died. Ella era bellísima.”

…what’s genocide?

they’ve moved from sterilizing “Boriqua” women
injecting indigenous sisters with Hepatitis B,
now they just kill mothers with silent poison
stain their loyalty and love into veins and suffocate them

…what’s genocide?

Ridwan’s father hung himself
in the box because he thought his son
was ashamed of him

…what’s genocide?

Maureen’s mother gave her
skin lightening cream
the day before she started the 6th grade

…what’s genocide?

she carves straight lines into her
beautiful brown thighs so she can remember
what it feels like to heal

…what’s genocide?
…what’s genocide?

“Carlos, what’s genocide?”

“Luz, this…
this right here…

is genocide.”

How I Learned To Stop Worrying And Love Feminists. (via popmuslim)

gonna staple this to the shirts of everyone who tries to equate domestic violence solely with a nationality or a religion or a culture and not let them take it off until it sinks in.

(via intricate-veins)

Have I reblogged this already? Y/N? In any case, here goes.

(via neetainari)

alexandraerin:

Imagine a minefield… a strip of land seeded with traps that will maim or kill you if you put one foot in the wrong place. What’s the wrong place? You’ll know when you step there. There’s no rhyme or reason to it. The pattern that gets you safely through one part might get you killed in another part.

It isn’t that every square inch of soil in the minefield means certain death, of course. But what would the ratio of safe ground to mined ground have to be before you could actually relax, before you could feel safe… before you could be safe, in practical terms?

Imagine that you and your entire family are woken up at dawn every day and made to cross the minefield in order to just live your lives. You’re not allowed to take the same route as each other. You have to watch each other as you make your way through an invisible deadly maze, never knowing if today will be the day but always knowing that it could be.

And one day, while you’re in the middle of that maze, watching your children or your siblings pick their way carefully around you, you say, “I HATE EVERY LAST INCH OF THIS FUCKING MINEFIELD.”

And then you hear a voice from up above you, from someone who doesn’t have to walk the minefield… someone who’s allowed to use a footbridge to bypass it every day while you’re inching your way through it, someone who gets a head start on everything compared to you and yours because they don’t have to go through the minefield…

And the voice says, “That isn’t fair. Sure, some of the minefield will kill you if you step on it, but it isn’t all like that.”

genuineeeegenuinee:

can we pay attention to this?

fearandwar:

So we know that the cop who investigated the Trayvon Martin murder has a history of racial problems. We know that one of the cops changed a witness’s testimony. We know that Zimmerman fired a warning shot and Martin begged for his life. We know that the police lied about Zimmerman’s criminal record. We know that Zimmerman has a history of being a self-appointed vigilante. And most importantly, we know that Martin was unarmed and could never pose a credible threat to a man who had 100 pounds and a gun on him.

And yet, the police think it was self-defense.

This is not an isolated case; this is what institutionalized racism looks like.

karnythia:

Can we just talk about how flat those calls for solidarity from white feminists are especially at times like this? You can talk all you want to about sisterhood, but when you claim race isn’t a priority, while I have to worry about my kids being killed for their race? I know I can’t trust you. I mean, let’s be really honest about Trayvon Martin’s death & the subsequent lack of consequences for his killer & how society is structured to allow people like Zimmerman to get away with it. Children like Emmett Till & Trayvon Martin are killed & white people (male & female), are complicit in those deaths & the subsequent lack of justice. You want to talk to me about solidarity & sisterhood? Talk to me about my kids being safe when they walk down the street. Make it so that I don’t have to worry about people I love dying because of the color of their skin. Stop expecting me to worry about your equality to white men & start worrying about my ability to survive. You want me to stop worrying about my kids & start worrying about you? Farreal? Mammy doesn’t live here & she never will again. Take that shit somewhere else.

I’m so sorry for how much you and other WOC I read on Tumblr are hurting right now. I’m so sorry. I can’t really understand, and I know that. I can only witness.

I just want you to know that I stand with you. I have blogged and Facebooked on my own behalf and on behalf of the feminist group I coordinate, describing this as a feminist issue and a reproductive justice issue, urging people to educate themselves about the case, asking them to sign the petition to the state attorney to prosecute. I signed it. I called to protest. If there is something else I can do, I will do it.

I’m sorry so many other people like me don’t ante up. I’m sorry for all the times I haven’t before. But I’m here now. I don’t want a cookie or a pat on the head. I just want you to know that some of us do stand with you - not in understanding, because we can’t, but in sorrow and solidarity. 

kateordie:

This morning, I put out a call for Sex Ed horror stories from former and current teens, after reading about Utah’s decision to adopt an abstinence-only policy when it comes to teaching about sexual health. Of course, that’s ridiculous - but not as crazy as some of these testimonials. Read on, it’s fascinating.

On Periods & Other Ovarian Mysteries

“Our sex ed in biology class was very good, it was our teacher of religious education who told us bullshit: he once said that men can’t have sex with women during their period, because the the period blood forms crystals which hurt the penis. One of the girls in our class asked him if that’s what his wife told him.” - lostwiginity

Read More

kimosabe:

WE SHOULD REMEMBER THIS MORE OFTEN:

approachingsignificance:

1. That it’s important to take good care of your body. 
2. That our body does a lot for us, even though we’ve bashed it over and over and over. 
3. That exercise is meant to be enjoyed, so you only practice the physical activities that are fun and truly make you feel good. 
4. That you’ll still have days where you probably hate your body and your life. And that’s OK. 
5. That your negative thoughts are not actions. So just because you feel bad about your body and want to restrict your food or over-exercise or miss that get-together doesn’t mean you will. It’s just a thought. You can choose to act on it or not. 
6. That a positive body image means more than liking your thighs, butt and belly. That it encompasses not just taking good care of yourself but also honoring your body, respecting your boundaries and seeing doctors for regular appointments and when you’re sick. 
7. That sleep does a mind and body good! 
8. That you always have time to take care of yourself. 
9. That you’re more than a few body parts. You’re an entire, amazing package. 
10. That you’re worthy and deserving of respect at any size, shape or weight. 
11. That weight loss isn’t a magical elixir for everything that’s wrong with your life. 
12. That ads and magazines are preposterously Photoshopped so that the actual actresses and models don’t even look like that. That’s why they have to “train” so hard for their fashion shows. (And by train hard, I mean engage in super unhealthy habits.) 
13. That eating is flexible and enjoyable. 
14. That you can wear whatever the heck you like, not just supposedly slimming black clothes or bulky cardigans and sweatshirts. 
15. That you don’t have to wait to lose weight to pursue your dreams. You can. do. it. right. now. (And I hope you will.) 
16. That people who make mean remarks about your body are jerks, and their comments are more about them than you. 
17. That just because everyone around you is dieting doesn’t mean it’s the healthiest thing to do. (If everyone was jumping off a cliff…just kidding.) 
18. That your feelings are not scary or to be avoided at all costs. Instead, they provide you with valuable information about your needs and the actions you might want to take. 
19. That having a positive body image is a process. Day by day. It might seem oh-so impossible at first but if you start small, it’ll improve. 
20. That you deserve to love your body at any size, shape or weight!

By Margarita Tartakovsky, MS