#antiracism resources

[sentientsky]

just a friendly reminder that, just because slavery was formally "abolished" in the so-called united states* in 1865, enslavement itself is still ongoing in the form of incarceration, which disproportionately affects Black and Indigenous people

(*i say "so-called" because the US is a settler-colonial construction founded on greed, extraction, and white supremacy) recommended readings/resources:

The New Jim Crow: Mass Incarceration in the Age of Colorblindness by Michelle Alexander

"How the 13th Amendment Kept Slavery Alive: Perspectives From the Prison Where Slavery Never Ended" by Daniele Selby

"So You're Thinking About Becoming an Abolitionist" by Mariame Kaba

"The Case for Prison Abolition: Ruth Wilson Gilmore on COVID-19, Racial Capitalism & Decarceration" from Democracy Now! [VIDEO]

[opencommunion]

"Big Tech corporations are modern-day East India companies; they are an extension of American imperial power. They colonise the global digital economy and reinforce the divide between the North and the South. As a result, the US profits from the ownership of digital infrastructure and knowledge and the extraction of resources from the Global South.

Digital colonialism is hardwired into Big Tech’s DNA. Its close relationship with the Israeli army is not only lucrative, but it serves the broader geopolitical interests of the American Empire, from which it benefits.

Tech corporations’s support for Israel exposes their fake image as companies espousing antiracism and human rights. In reality, they are complicit in Israeli crimes, much like other organs of American imperialism. What we are witnessing is US-Israeli apartheid, colonial conquest and genocide, powered by American tech giants."

[fairuzfan]

It's the zionist concern anon again. I will say for now that with what you said about prioritizing Palestinians I do agree. The people going through a genocide are a bigger priority than people who are not going through a genocide. I just fear that due to the fact I am neither Palestinian or Jewish that I may end up embracing stances that I do not actually understand and that innocent people may suffer because of it. I do not want to be irresponsible. I am also someone who lives in a country built on stolen land, so that does to some sort of extent influence my feelings on Isreal as I imagine many people in Isreal share my thoughts on the fact we have lived our entire lives on stolen land. As I said before, I also do not know any Palestinians personally so I find it hard to know who I can ask about the history, Hamas, technical details of politics, etc without risking being taught the wrong things. On a much more selfish note, I also struggle with debilitating mental health issues that make it very difficult to navigate moral issues especially if the moral issues do not impact me on a personal level. So if I am being honest, my questions are not entirely selfless as I have very self-centered fears on if I am actually a horrible person. I thank you again for being so understanding, but I figure the right thing to do here is admit I am likely not as pure intentioned in my questions as I should be when a large factor to why I worked up the courage to ask is in hope I am worrying too much about my quality of moral character from a selfish perspective. Again, I thank you for being so understanding and willing to answer these asks instead of just brushing me off as a horrible zionist.

I don't think you're a horrible person at all I just think everyone has underlying zionist biases because it's a product of the society we live in.

And I do understand where you're coming from, honestly. Something that always helps me is remembering something that my parents taught me as a kid: always stand on the side of the oppressed. Now as I grew up I realized you have to define what oppression means and I think exploring that will also help you get a better understanding of how to combat other forms of racism/antisemitism/transphobia/etc.

If you do want to learn about hamas tho, I would suggest taking a look at Tareq Baconi, he has a lot of writings about the history of Hamas and he's Palestinian. There are also Palestinian podcasts and social media accounts. I understand that not knowing a palestinian personally to help you guide yourself through these things is daunting, but there are plenty of resources to help! It's why I'm here on this blog honestly, I don't mind you reaching out to me for questions or anything.

A good principle to remind ourselves with is "how can I ensure that justice can be had?" And to find the answer to that you need to look into multiple types of antizionist thought. Some blogs I like to check out for a diverse antizionist opinion are @el-shab-hussein and @bringmemyrocks as a couple of examples. Plus I'd look to Black American thinkers on antiracism (like Angela Davis and James Baldwin and Kwame Ture) because they do a good job of showing you how to examine your internal biases which we are all subject to.

I don't think this selfish to want to be a good person. I have the same worries. I actually do get worried that sometimes I'm *actually* a bad person secretly without me realizing and I reach out to friends and family to talk it out. Something that helps me through this is realizing that you have to forgive yourself for previous beliefs you've had and promise yourself to do better because at the end of the day youre human and you make mistakes.

But really my biggest advice is to read and listen to a variety of schools of thought and if you can, interact with local communities dedicated to antiracism. Even if theyre digital communities! That will help a lot with identifying any problem points.

Again, feel free to reach out with any questions. I don't think you're a zionist at all! Please don't worry and thanks for reaching out :)

[multiplicity-positivity]

To our followers:

It has never been a goal of ours to police other people’s lived experience, much less their online experience. However, this is a shift we feel is necessary for us to make.

It is with a heavy heart that we are adding to our DNI followers and fans of @/sophieinwonderland.

Why?

This has everything to do with racism within the plural community. We have seen many conversations circling recently about tulpamancy terminology, its harm, and how it directly negatively affects marginalized groups (specifically Asian/Tibetan Buddhists).

As a white system, we believe it is crucial to center the voices of affected marginalized groups when discussing issues that directly concern them. Because of this, a few members of our system have compiled a list of testimonies from Buddhist POC involving their thoughts on tulpamancy language. We’d encourage everyone to check out that document, which we will link below:

The fact of the matter is, Sophie of @/sophieinwonderland has ignored, brushed off, or flat out denied the concerns and struggles of Buddhist POC regarding their language being appropriated. She has fearmongered to warp this issue into one that centers tulpas as those being discriminated against, rather than the racial and religious minorities whose culture has been stolen.

We cannot stand for this. As a white system aiming to unlearn racial biases and push for antiracism in our spaces, we feel it is imperative to bring this issue to light on our positivity blog and adjust our DNI accordingly.

We are more than happy to answer questions for anyone who is still confused or has concerns. And we will include a small FAQ below a cut to answer questions we anticipate may arise.

Thank you so much for reading, everyone! Of course, we cannot ensure that 100% of our interactions are coming from people who don’t support this user. However, we can rely on the basic human decency and respect of others and trust that they will respect our wishes on this matter. You are welcome to unfollow us, block us, do what you have to do. But we will not budge on this matter until the voices of Buddhist people of color have been acknowledged and recognized!

FAQ regarding this change:

Q) Can tulpa systems still interact?

A) Yes! Our biggest issue is with this particular user’s unwillingness to listen to racial and religious minorities concerning issues that directly affect them. While we are moving away from tulpamancy language ourself, we understand it may take some time for others to make this change for themselves!

Q) What terminology can be used instead of tulpamancy that is not cultural appropriation?

A) Thoughtform, parogenic/paromate, paro/paromancy, willogenic/willomate!

Q) I don’t want to have to choose between y’all and Sophie! What can I do?

A) In this situation, we politely ask you to choose anyway. And if that is too difficult a choice to make, we can make it for you and ask you to go ahead and unfollow us.

Q) What about (x user) who is a pro-tulpa Buddhist Asian/Tibetan?

A) Currently, we have resources from 8-9 individuals expressing concerns over tulpamancy language. If we can hear from a similar number of actual Asian/Tibetan Buddhists stating otherwise, we will happily reconsider our stance. It’s important to listen to people of color when they say something hurts them.

[grumpyoldsnake]

Stamped From the Beginning by Ibram X. Kendi does a really good job of explaining and contextualizing the various racist ideas and justifications that have been used throughout US history, with plenty of quotations from primary documents.

I recommend it, especially if OP’s point is new to you or if you want a better idea of what these ideas are and why they’re harmful.

hey writers if you want to make a metaphor for racism, please maybe remember that racism is literally based on nothing. Africans weren’t enslaved en masse because the Robo-Musa threatened to destroy the world, they were enslaved because it was economically rewarding and politically convenient. If at any point your allegory for racism includes “so <oppressed group> did this major catastrophe and” then you have not only missed the point but you are literally reinforcing the ideas that racism have let racism self-perpetuate (that e.g. black people are naturally dangerous and violent and must be contained or begrudgingly accepted by the Nice White People)

[olderthannetfic]

So end-otw-racism seems to want a few things mostly, to see a commitment to antiracism: hiring a diversity consultant, prominently displaying antiracist resources, a newly-created ability to get racist fanworks taken down via reporting to the Abuse team, stuff like that. That is in fact a great plan. But here's the problem.

Say they get their wish and there's a diversity consultant (which I think is a good idea) and a lot of people of color on the abuse team (again, a good idea). There are still undoubtedly going to be many, many instances where this ideal team - made up of people with varying tastes - still replies with "We've taken this report under consideration and we find that this fanwork/author doesn't warrant a removal/ban." Do I believe that most of the people reblogging, and who created the initiative, will be okay with that and are truly asking for this in good faith? Absolutely. Some of the asshole crazies reblogging it, though...

Are we supposed to believe that this group is going to take that lying down? Or are they going to start screaming about how all these people of color are in the pockets of white racists and are just trying to be liked and blah blah blah? Like, where exactly does it stop - are the people who are truly just fandom bullies pretending to care about this stuff (or people who care about it genuinely and are fandom bullies anyway) truly committed to a fair process, or will they blame the team if the fic they reported gets to stay up or the person who posted it gets to stick around?

I'd like to see some straight answers on that from the people in question, honestly.

--

I imagine they'll say that they can't be responsible for what every asshole who happens to agree with their platform does.

[puttingwingsonwords]

I’ve been seeing a lot of posts encouraging people to build community and organise, and also a lot of posts/comments on these posts saying it’s okay and just as important if all you can do is survive. I very much agree! There’s a big spectrum there, though. So, here’s a list of

Things You Can Do to Organise & Build Community

(additions welcome)

These are not necessarily in order, as you can start from different places and go different directions, except that 1 & 2 should definitely be first.

1. Survive (you cannot pour from an empty tank, put your own oxygen mask on first and other such (very true!) cliches)

2. Be covid cautious (this is part of surviving, as well as protecting those around you)

3. Build a relationship with the people around you (neighbours, family, friends, other locals, online communities)

4. Join a movement (union, mask bloc, mutual aid collective, food distribution, local anarchist/communist group etc) or start one if there’s none in your area

5. Use and optimise your available resources and skills (money, cooking, administration, art, outreach, etc. etc.)

6. Pick an area to focus on (disability justice, antiracism, trans rights, union organising, etc.; this does not mean ignoring all other struggles, but to narrow down your sphere of influence because one person cannot solve everything; all our struggles are connected)

7. Study history and leftist theory

8. Stay up to date with news in a productive way—no doomscrolling, focusing on in depth, insightful journalism over contextless and possibly unverified factoids, and mainly on your personal area(s) of activism

I recommend going through this list and thinking on what you can do for each point. Be honest about what you can do—don’t overexert yourself but also don’t underestimate or coddle yourself. If you’re unsure about which way you lean in those terms, talk to someone about it. You will also get better at this over time. I’m disabled and can do very little on any given day, so I’ve had to think a lot about how to get the most out of my will to organise. I’ll add what exactly I’m doing/planning on doing in a reblog in case that helps people.

[thatdamnrookie]

Twitter dogpiles (though you can see them elsewhere, at times) are interesting because they’re more often about someone’s old ignorant tweets or badly-worded take - or even a completely benign post that was so wildly misinterpreted that it’s barely conceivable - than anything truly heinous. But what’s really fascinating to watch is the degree to which thousands of people collectively attempt to define what an acceptable apology is – and as the party under fire sees these terms, they attempt to respond in accordance with those demands, only to quickly learn that they apparently haven’t done so adequately. So they adjust, and it’s not enough, but for a new reason, and so they adjust again and again, but it’s not enough. And it’s never enough.

They’re told they must apologize, and so they do. But the apology was too casual, and not in depth enough, and it needs to address more. So they’re told to do it again, but more groveling this time, but no no, that’s not right. That wasn’t sincere enough groveling, clearly they aren’t sorry. And why haven’t they explained why they did that? Have they learned anything? So they explain, which is also wrong. Clearly they’re trying to justify the unjustifiable. Maybe they should have shut up three explanations ago. So they shut up. ‘Why aren’t they saying anything?’ people ask – ‘it’s so clear they just want this to blow over, so we should make sure to never let it go. They can’t just get away with this.’ Also, why didn’t they delete that bad post? They must be proud of it, then. They want people to see it. So the person under fire deletes it, and people ask ‘why are you hiding what you’ve done?’ Bystanders and friends are told that it is not their place to forgive – only those who are socially vulnerable to the ignorance that was expressed can forgive. But then some of those people forgive, which is also not allowed. They are resented for forgiving, because there are people who are still angry, and they did not forgive.

And certainly people are free to make their own choices as to how sincere they think an apology is, or what they ‘forgive’ - particularly if the person at the center of the controversy displayed an ignorance that’s particularly close to home for them, one that they can’t so readily forget about. But that is, I feel, a very personal decision, and it’s actively harmful – malicious, even - to run people through the grinder again and again and again because they make a mistake (or are perceived as making one). Ignoring the more obvious point – that people can grow and change  – is the fact that the notion of justice in punishment is antithetical to all the little progressive sentiments people love plastering on their pages, and certainly antithetical to my own values in basically every way. People with the most adamant, impassioned arguments for prison abolition and better treatment of workers and increased mental health resources and antiracism and LGBTQ+ rights and anything else you can think of will turn right around with no discernable self-awareness and leap at the chance to wear (often vulnerable) people down with waves of abuse and call their workplace owned by the walmart corporation or some shit and beg they be fired, and often the subject of abuse is part of the very same marginalized and vulnerable communities their detractors hail from, and it is worth reiterating that this is so rarely because the accused was a threat to those communities or acted with malice, but because they crossed some invisible line or (at worst) said some stupid jackass thing.

I think part of this riles me up because (without revealing too much) my own personal life resolves heavily around all these social justice-y issues, and I meet all kinds of people from all kinds of circumstances, and many are lovely but many are ignorant – often about groups of people I belong to, tbh - , and many have thought and done far worse than the average thing that blows up on twitter. I think most people have *said* far worse than much of what blows up on twitter, because the nature of a lot of social ills and discrimination is that a lot of fairly shit things go unquestioned as we grow up. But even then, I’m happy to help people get food and find jobs and get to a better place in their life, and more often than not those stupid things they believe can be worked on, and ignorance is not necessarily proof of deep radicalization, and I see people change all the time. If you personally have a low tolerance for all that and are picky about where you place your trust, or what you forgive, that’s your right. But the boundless enthusiasm to punish and punish and punish at the slightest chance is so fucking incomprehensible to me that it makes me wanna eat nails

TL;DR Everyone on twitter has a bunch of loose change dangling around in their heads I guess

Also I don’t expect this to do numbers, but on the off-chance someone chooses to dramatically misinterpret the point of the post, know that you should assume this is not written to cover literally every scenario or exception you can think of and that asking for clarification is much better than making weird assumptions, thanks in advance

[beardedmrbean]

Boston University’s Center for Antiracist Research, headed by critical race theory activist Ibram X. Kendi, revealed last week that it was laying off about 40% of its staff as part of organization restructuring. About 15 to 20 of its approximately 45 employees were let go. Testimonies from former employees have exposed alleged mismanagement of Kendi’s center, which in turn has exposed the fraudulence and fragility of the diversity, equity, and inclusion complex.

Disgruntled former employees have accused Kendi of mishandling grant funding, failing to complete major projects, and fostering an exploitative company culture in which he ruled with an iron fist yet was routinely missing in action. The center has raked in $43 million since its inception, according to 2021 budget records obtained by the Daily Free Press. It received corporate support from Peloton, Deloitte, Stop & Shop, TJX Companies, and Deckers Outdoor Corporation, according to a 2020–2021 donor report. Only six weeks after its launch, then-CEO of Twitter Jack Dorsey gifted $10 million without conditions.

“Your $10M donation, with no strings attached, gives us the resources and flexibility to greatly expand our antiracist work,” Kendi posted at the time. “The endowment is vital, as we build our new Center.”

Despite the investments, the center did not deliver on some key priorities, such as the much-hyped Racial Data Tracker that would document racial inequities in all sectors of society to finally root out racism.

“I don’t know where the money is,” Saida Grundy, a BU professor who worked at the center from fall 2020 to spring 2021, told the Boston Globe after the staff cuts.

Multiple other BU professors served as faculty leads on various projects at the center. Professor Sanaz Mobasseri of BU’s business school led the Antiracist Tech Initiative, professor Kaylene Stevens of BU’s education school led the “Designing Antiracist Curricula” team, and political science professor Spencer Piston led the Policy Office, for example.

In December 2021, Grundy emailed BU provost Jean Morrison that the organization had been showing a “pattern of amassing grants without any commitment to producing the research obligated” by them.

Like its umbrella idea DEI, “antiracism” actually translates to, well, nothing of note. Serial academics such as Kendi have built careers around racial fearmongering, even inventing new disciplines to study racism and its early-stage minutiae “microaggressions” and “implicit bias.” Rather than confront actual crimes of racism, these courses seek to aggressively manufacture racist intent.

Despite all this bureaucracy, academic DEI projects have unclear aims and products. Kendi’s center published just two research papers since its founding, the Washington Free Beacon reported. A January paper, "Association of Neighborhood Racial and Ethnic Composition and Historical Redlining With Build Environment Indicators Derived From Street View Images,” found that predominantly black neighborhoods had more dilapidated buildings than white neighborhoods. The center released a report from its "Antibigotry Convening” from fall 2021 and winter 2022 that included many intersectionality themes such as “Ageism,” "Anti-fat Bigotry,” and “Transphobia,” further confusing its purpose.

Rachel Lapal Cavallario, spokeswoman for Kendi’s center, told the Boston Globe Wednesday that BU had “received some complaints from individuals questioning whether the center was following its funding guidelines. We are currently looking into those complaints.”

However, the center rejects the “characterization of it not having produced important work insofar as antiracism is concerned,” she said.

To raise Grundy’s question again, where did the money go? Echoing that sentiment, BU has launched an “inquiry” into the center amid the scandal, the Daily Free Press said.

The situation is reminiscent of the lawsuits against Black Lives Matter, another embattled racial justice organization. In 2023, Black Lives Matter reported a $9 million deficit for 2022 after raising $90 million in 2020. Only 33% of that massive sum went to charitable activism, federal filings showed, as a significant chunk was squandered on the leaders’ mansions, personal expenses, and favors for friends. Both Kendi’s center and BLM followed a similar model: drum up rumors of racism, prescribe DEI, create an apparatus, lure in donors, get paid.

The racial grievance business welcomes little accountability — or accounting, for that matter — which explains why it’s found a home in academia. Many colleges, such as Boston University, or my alma mater Boston College down the road, charge their students exorbitant tuition for useless degrees and boatloads of debt. Tenured professors collect big paychecks while hawking critical race theory, turning students into activists instead of real scholars.

Despite its self-destructive tendencies, the DEI racket continues to spread throughout academia. Some colleges are trying to meet demand for so-called DEI experts by creating a corresponding major, USA Today claimed. At least six colleges across the country offer DEI degree programs or will in the future, according to the publication’s analysis. Tufts University and the University of Pennsylvania even have DEI graduate programs.

Some universities have also woven DEI into their academic missions. Duke University in 2020 launched a Racial Equity Advisory Council, composed of four subcommittees including faculty members and students, which will propose “measures to assess and foster racial equity” to the university’s leadership. Every year since fall 2020, the Duke Endowment has sponsored professors with seed grants to pursue research proposals related to race as part of the school’s anti-racism mission. That’s more money down the drain.

DEI in America’s prestigious colleges contributes nothing, wastes money, and fuels a bubble of empty courses, professions, and promises. But if the shakeout at Kendi’s BU center is any clue, it might be starting to pop.

[havrs]

yes i like the pirate show. i think it was cute, funny, i even post about it! but i am honestly embarrassed to be called a fan of it now seeing what is happening in the fandom. people who claim to be empathetic and to care about the oppressed are spending hours and hours and thousands of dollars desperately trying to get an already-cancelled comedy show back when there is a GENOCIDE happening.

if you claim to care so much about antiracism, donate to help palestine. their race is being targeted and killed. if you claim to care so much about queer people, donate to help palestine. there are so many lgbt+ palestinians who need help.

bombs, famine, and destruction do not discriminate.

it's an absolutely unreal experience to see one post about how desperately palestine needs our help, then to scroll down and see a picture of what the 'renew as a crew' campaign spent thousands of dollars on: ... a billboard. imagine what those thousands of dollars would have meant to the people of palestine.

put other people's lives first please, always. if you have any money at all to donate, please reconsider to which cause you give it. not giving even a single dollar to help humans just like you, when you give it so freely to get your favourite tv show back is not ever okay.

it's sad that the show is gone. but it's not the only queer show. there will always be other queer shows to carry the torch. shows are replaceable, human lives are not. we dont need a show, but palestinians need food, shelter, medical care, even the basics of survival.

let's please take all the enthusiasm and resources we had for 'renew as a crew' and use it towards sending aide to a population who needs it. please reconsider what causes you put your time and money towards, and how it affects others.

[djuvlipen]

Someone went through my blog and reblogged a post where I was sharing resources (a resource center for pregnant British Romani women) and another post compiling information about anti Romani racism in the USA, before deleting everything whe they realized I was a female-centered feminist. Don't ever pretend TRAs support antiracism and women's rights -_-

[owl-liberation-now]

While a reasonable introduction, by omission this video makes it sound like the Nakbha was less violent than it was. It wasn't simply millions of citizens displaced; displacement in this case means a bunch of soldiers coming into villages with guns and shooting at everyone until they were all dead or had managed to run away (Leila is a great movie about this on Netflix). At least 15,000 Palestinians were murdered by the occupying Zionist movement from 1947-1949 (source: Time magazine). This figure is likely lower as information on the Tantura massacre and other similar sites was obfuscated for decades and continues to be denied by the Israeli administration.

Also, incredibly important to point out, Israel's institutional racism doesn't stop at islamophobia. while underrepresented and invisiblised, there are many non-white Jewish identities each with their own histories dating back centuries (((and Israel is racist towards them)))

Despite continuing to vote far right, Mizrahi jews face discrimination in all aspects of Israeli society:

"Examination of the social structure in Israel shows that for economic and other reasons, members of the Mizrahi communities are underprivileged. This applies to ‘old inhabitants’ as well as new immigrants" - Haaretz

"The ethnic division between Israeli Jews, especially between the European Ashkenazi Jews and the Asian and African Jews, most of whom hail from the Arab world, is as old as the Zionist project, although it did not become explosive until after the Jewish settler colony was founded in 1948. Israeli officials would especially denigrate Moroccan Jews, the poorest of what Israel called the "Oriental communities", who later became known as the "Mizrahim". Israel’s first prime minister, David Ben Gurion, had the following to say: "Those [Jews] from Morocco had no education. Their customs are those of Arabs." He asserted that "The Moroccan Jew took a lot from the Moroccan Arabs. The culture of Morocco I would not like to have here (...) We do not want Israelis to become Arabs. We are in duty bound to fight against the spirit of the Levant, which corrupts individuals and societies, and preserve the authentic Jewish values as they crystallised in the [European] Diaspora." - Middle-East Eye

Anti-Yemini racism (Stealing kids of Jewish-Yemini parents and giving them to Ashkenazi Jews):

One of the crueller chapters of this period involved the kidnapping of hundreds of children of Yemeni Jews from the transit camps in Israel. Some of the children were given to childless Ashkenazi couples for adoption in and outside of Israel. Yemeni parents whose children were sick were taken from them to hospitals where the parents were prevented from going. The parents were later told that their children had died. Twenty years later, in 1968, the Ministry of Defence sent military draft notices to the addresses of the parents of these children. (...) the affair was sophisticated enough to produce death certificates for some of the kidnapped children and to obstruct for decades all attempts by their parents to investigate the crime." - ibid.

Racism against Sephardi Jews (Ashkenazi Jewish parents refusing a court order to make their school racially integrated):

"With the resistance of the Immanuel parents to the court-ordered integration, the Ultra-Orthodox Sephardim have been forced to wake up from their complacency and see Ashkenazi racism anew. Feeling that they have properly assimilated into the Ashkenazi Haredi world, these Sephardim have been unpleasantly surprised to find that they are not welcome as equals in that world." - Huffington Post

Sephardi Jewish Erasure by Cultural Ashkenormativity:

"Middle Eastern Jews have for many decades lived as stigmatized citizens of Israel; their traditional Arabic culture and form of Jewish religiosity frequently objects of scorn and prejudice. Less obvious than the second-class status of Sephardim in Israel has been the gradual assimilation of Sephardic Jews into the dominant Ashkenazi collective. In spite of the fact that Sephardim comprise a substantial percentage of the Israeli Jewish population, in socio-cultural terms they find themselves in a subservient position vis-à-vis the Ashkenazim." - ibid.

Falash Mura Jews were denied the right to return until 2020, and even then they only allowed 2000 citizens in:

The Falash Mura community descends from members of the Beta Israel who were converted to Christianity by European missionaries in the late 1800s. They have since returned to practising Judaism but are not officially recognised by Israel's interior ministry as fully Jewish. The issue of whether they should be allowed to come to Israel at all is a divisive one, even among Ethiopian Jews in Israel (...) Ethiopian Jews' integration in Israel has been challenging, with the community suffering disproportionately high levels of unemployment and poverty as well as discrimination, although their situation has shown signs of improvement in recent years." - BBC News

And if you think that's bad, imagine how it is for gentile racial minorities. (it's bad; it's not good). Ethiopean refugees face extreme stigma and the same anti-migrant rhetoric seen in Europe.

Finally, in 2013, 35 Jewish-Ethiopean women claimed they were coerced into taking long acting contraceptive injections in order to be let into the country:

Figures show that 57 per cent of Depo Provera users in Israel are Ethiopian, even though the community accounts for less than two per cent of the total population. About 90,000 Ethiopians have been brought to Israel under the Law of Return since the 1980s, but their Jewishness has subsequently been questioned by some rabbis and is doubted by many ordinary Israelis. Ethiopians are reported to face widespread discrimination in jobs, housing and education and it recently emerged that their blood donations were routinely discarded. "This is about reducing the number of births in a community that is black and mostly poor," said Hedva Eyal, the author of the report by Woman to Woman, a feminist organisation based in Haifa, in northern Israel. - The National

This one is potentially spurious as direct evidence was never found (so it's often dismissed as anti-zionist propaganda, this one is from IsreallyCool which is admittedly a great pun). However we do know from an investigation in 2012 that the birthrate for Jewish Ethiopeans halved in ten years, and we also have a verbal confirmation of the Depo-Provera affair by the Deputy Health minister at the time:

"In 2013, (...) Yaakov Litzman admitted that they had administered Depo-Provera to Ethiopian immigrant women without their consent, after reproductive and civil rights activists in Israel called for an investigation after a drop in the birthrate among Ethiopian women: close to 50 per cent within the previous decade." - Sage Journals

I bring this up not just for transparency (or because I accidentally spent 2 hours researching this) but because I think it's a great example of how oppressive regimes are able to obfuscate the extent of the harm they commit, or otherwise position themselves as not responsible. It's the same thing as Brianna Ghey's murder not being tried as a hate crime (despite texts clearly showing it was motivated by transphobia), or the acquittals in the Rodney King verdict (despite video evidence of their involvement), or the UKs continual denial of its participation in the 1953 coup against Mosaddegh (despite explicit testimony from one of the MI5 agents, or the goddamn Cass report. Systems of power conspire to evade culpability, and as a result some of the worst events in history disappear without a trace (like the massacre at Tantura almost did). This is why it's so important to do your research and stay informed!!

I hope this helps with that.

Israel is one of the most racist countries in the world.

[pumpkin-knots]

What you'll find on my blog

Here's a list of things that you'll find on my blog. I am trying to do my very best with tagging my posts but thought I should make a pinned post just in case. If any of these aren't your style, no hard feelings but this might not be the blog for you :3

TERFs, transphobes, racists, transmeds, pro-life, abelists (including but not limited to people who don't think mental health self-ID is valid) DNI

Cats

Pomeranians

Posts of a non-explicit but potentially mildly salacious nature (I WILL TAG)

The Beatles

Classics stuff (particularly the Iliad and Odyssey rn)

Furry art (not salacious unless I have tagged it as such)

LGBTQ+ stuff (e.g. posts about my identity, support for other queer people whose identities don't align with mine, tips about resources, personal accounts by myself and others)

US politics related things

Kink stuff (vague and tagged and usually not about specific scenarios, I'm just very much in support of not making people feel weird about the stuff they do in consenting adult company and I will reblog stuff about that)

Social justice things (e.g. LGBTQ+ activism, intersex allyship, antiracism, pro-palestine, disability advocacy, mutual aid tips)

Dungeon Meshi

Gravity Falls

Supernatural (just a little bit, a sprinkle)

Autism/ADHD/mental health (things I relate to and also positivity for other people)

[religion-is-a-mental-illness]

By: Robert F. Graboyes

Published: Feb 28, 2024

Egalitarianism vs Who-Knows-What

The titanic social struggle of our era pits those favoring equality (in its traditional sense) against those demanding “equity” (in a sense far from its traditional meaning). One who advocates equality is an egalitarian, and his philosophy is egalitarianism. One who advocates “equity” has no name—or has scores of names; the same is true of his philosophy. This asymmetry of nomenclature and the divergent meanings of “equity” put egalitarians at a powerful rhetorical disadvantage. For effective argumentation, egalitarians need to level the rhetorical playing field, and I believe the most efficient way of doing so is to refer to anti-egalitarians as “equitists” and to their philosophy as “equitism”—as we’ll do here. 

Following is an excellent example of how equitists themselves distinguish egalitarianism from equitism:

“Equality means each individual or group of people is given the same resources or opportunities. Equity recognizes that each person has different circumstances and allocates the exact resources and opportunities needed to reach an equal outcome.”

Egalitarians aspire to equalize individual rights and opportunities, and perhaps to equalize ex post outcomes across individuals via social safety nets. Equitists, well-intentioned though they may be, pigeonhole people by immutable characteristics (race, gender, sexual orientation, nationality, religion, disability, etc.) and then seek to equalize average outcomes across groups. Someone in charge (an equitist, naturally) must devise a taxonomy of mankind, assign every individual to some cell in that taxonomy, rank each cell along something like an oppressor/oppressed spectrum, and then allocate rights, privileges, opportunities, and wealth among these cells.

Generally, egalitarians seek to define “equal” objectively (e.g., equal rights, opportunities, access to education, income), whereas equitism’s definitions of “equal” are subjective. Equitism is largely an outgrowth of Frankfurt School critical theory, which rejects the very notion of objectivity. (My “Equity-toonz: One Meme Is Worth a Thousand Pictures” explores how explanatory memes that equitists often employ can mislead readers—intentionally or not.) 

The subjectivity of equitism can be seen in “antiracism” guru Ibram X. Kendi’s prescription: 

“The only remedy to racist discrimination is antiracist discrimination. The only remedy to past discrimination is present discrimination. The only remedy to present discrimination is future discrimination.”

In Kendi’s formulation, no metric can ever signal that equality (between groups) has arrived. Instead, there is never-ending retribution for ancestral sins, subjectively administered via an authoritarian “antiracist constitutional amendment.” 

And yet, as odious as Kendi’s ideas may be, the absence of a word like “equitism” leaves egalitarians flailing. Kendi calls his version of equitism “antiracism,” allowing his enthusiasts to declare that if one is not antiracist, then logic dictates that one must be proracist. This false dichotomy forces egalitarians into convoluted, never-satisfying rebuttals. Declaring one’s opposition to “Kendian Equitism” would present no equivalent difficulties. 

And “antiracism” is only one of many names an egalitarian must battle. As the artwork atop this essay shows, these interconnected doctrines have been called antiracism; wokeness; diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI); critical race theory (CRT); environmental, social, and governance (ESG); postcolonialism; anticolonialism; social and emotional learning (SEL); safetyism; intersectionality; oppressor/oppressed; white fragility; identity Marxism; identity politics; fighting white privilege; postmodernism; identity synthesis; social justice; critical social justice; political correctness; progressivism; and more. All are closely related, but just different enough to sow confusion, accidentally or deliberately—e.g., “Antiracism is not the same thing as critical race theory, which is not the same as DEI.” 

Sun Tzu said, “He who occupies the high ground will fight to advantage.” The absence of an umbrella term for these highly interrelated philosophies hands equitists the rhetorical high ground. The key to cleaning this Augean Stable of lexicon is recognizing that the revisionist definition of “equity” is the one common thread running through every one of these movements or concepts. This simple trio of terms—equity, equitist, equitism—can level that battlefield of ideas.

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Name the Target, Freeze It, Personalize It

Many have commented on the absence or multiplicity of names for this anti-egalitarian tendency—and the rhetorical mire this shortcoming imposes on the whole egalitarianism-versus-whatever-you-happen-to-call-it-on-a-given-day debate. On the political right, Thomas Klingenstein said, “Rhetorically, our side is getting absolutely murdered … We have not even come up with an agreed-on name for the enemy.” In the center, Bari Weiss said, “[T]his new ideology doesn’t even like to be named.” On the left, Freddie DeBoer titled an essay (without asterisks), “Please Just F***ing Tell Me What Term I Am Allowed to Use for the Sweeping Political Changes You Demand,” adding, “You don't get to insist that no one talks about your political project and it's weak and pathetic that you think you do.” 

Many have suggested names, but none has caught on. This is because an effective name must meet seven separate criteria—and no previously suggested options have checked all or even most of the seven boxes. Here are (1) the criteria; (2) examples of why current terms fail; and (3) why equity-equitist-equitism could succeed. 

[1] FLEXIBILITY: There must be a trio of terms naming the aspiration, the advocate, and the philosophy.

If you call the philosophy “wokeness,” then who advocates it? Wokesters? Woke folk? Persons of the woke persuasion? They have no name.

With equity-equitist-equitism, one can say, “Someone who supports equity over equality is an equitist, and his philosophy is equitism.” All grammatical forms are available, and their interconnections are logical and intuitive.

[2] BREVITY: The trio must consist of simple, single, clearly related words.

“Critical race theory” demands three words and seven clunky syllables. Who is its advocate? “Critical race theorist” might describe academicians, but not activists. “Someone who subscribes to critical race theory” entails a mind-numbing seven words and thirteen syllables. “CRT” is brief but obscure.

In contrast, one can easily say, “He is an equitist,” rather than ponderous phrases like, “He is someone who supports the idea of equity over equality,” or the audience-euthanizing, “He is someone who supports equity, but I’m talking about the modern anti-egalitarian definition of equity, not the traditional definition.” 

[3] BREADTH: The terms must be applicable to a broad swath of the many allied movements comprising this philosophy.

Enthusiasts swear (sometimes) that CRT is only a legal doctrine and not, say, the clearly derivative concepts taught in K-12 settings. ESG applies only to business investment. You need a term that covers all these related doctrines.

The re-engineered definition of “equity” is the common thread that connects all 21 movements listed above (along with others), and equitist-equitism follow suit. Does any other word fill this niche?

[4] COHESION: The quest for breadth must be offset by parameters that limit the philosophy to a focused topical range.

“Political correctness” may cover many equity doctrines, but it also incorporates lots of barely related concepts—etiquette, scientific doctrines, etc. Maybe SEL derives from postcolonialism, but applying the latter label to the former would likely stall the speaker in a futile argument over arcane lexical points.

Using equity-equitist-equitism limits the conversation to the notion of allocating rights, privileges, resources, and wealth across groups rather than across individuals. It leaves cultural tics and attitudes to other days. 

[5] CLARITY: The trio must be sufficiently novel to insulate egalitarians from both innocent confusion and deliberate shenanigans.

To naive listeners, “I oppose Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion” (the doctrine) sounds exactly like “I oppose diversity, equity, and inclusion” (three separate, benign ideals). This can lead to confusion among thoughtful, well-intentioned listeners and speakers—and it allows some disingenuous “equity” enthusiasts to frustrate meaningful debate by means of motte-and-bailey rhetorical tactics (i.e., using a term that has two meanings—one controversial, and one not). 

Equity-equitist-equitism quashes the motte-and-bailey problem. “Equitist” and “equitism” have no familiar, traditional meanings with which they can be easily confused—accidentally or purposefully. The word “equity” remains a problem, but one easily dealt with via scare quotes or quick clarifications like “equity, in the equitist sense.”

[6] FAMILIARITY: The trio must not be so novel as to be incomprehensible to those hearing them for the first time.

Yascha Mounk suggests that these doctrines be referred to together as, “identity synthesis.” But one would need a fairly comprehensive explanation before using such an expression. Terminology, like iPhones, should be usable without requiring an instruction booklet. 

Someone who has never heard the terms equitist or equitism can intuitively sense their meanings by thinking about the obvious root word—equity.   

[7] RESPECTABILITY: The terms must not be patently frivolous or insulting.

“Wokeness” is widely viewed as an insult and, to be honest, the word is usually invoked specifically to deliver scorn or insult. Yes, “woke” was once a self-description that seems to have originated with blues musician Huddie Ledbetter (a.k.a., Lead Belly), but there is always danger in outsiders trying to co-opt in-group slang.

“Equitist” and “equitism” have a staid, neutral vibe. Equity-equitist-equitism is precisely analogous to equality-egalitarian-egalitarianism. While some equitists will object to being called equitists, their complaint will seem more petty and unreasonable than their current objections to “wokeness” or “political correctness.”

Equity-equitist-equitism has an additional bonus virtue. Google Translate is able to translate all three into at least some other languages. (e.g., Equidad-equitista-equitismo for Spanish; Equité-equitiste-equitisme for French). Since these doctrines are debated internationally, this multilingual flexibility is important. This brings us to the following.

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Equity-Equitist-Equitism as Self Description

Interestingly, one can find some (obscure) equitists on the Internet who have suggested calling their philosophy “equitism.” Billionaire entrepreneur Marc Lore aspires to build a visionary city (“Telosa”) based on a somewhat-related concept of “equitism;” Telosa’s website says, “Equitism is inclusive growth,” and speaks of the project’s “commitment to DEI” to be administered by a municipal DEI department. A group calling itself the Atlas Movement (of whom I know nothing) wrote: 

“Equitism is the political, social, and economic doctrine promoting the idea that to maximize peoples’ well-being, society must ensure equitable rights and opportunities for all. In short, we want to systematically improve society by applying the value of Equity (from Aequitas, justice & fairness) to all its areas.”

There was also a 2022 opinion column in Ecuador’s El Heraldo: “La filosofía del equitismo” (“The Philosophy of Equitism”). Written by Guillermo Tapia Nicola, who calls himself a legal and political advisor to Ecuador’s National Assembly, here are some relevant passages (translated from Spanish):

“This endeavor … the result of everything that has happened in recent decades, is what has been called ‘Equitism,’ conceptualizing it as a new ideology for a new stage, which is supposed to guide political and social work. ... Then, talking about democratic equity, equity in vaccines, institutional equity, climate equity, or equity in matters of rights, and verifying the actions that are actually taking place on these issues, will no longer sound strange to the ears ... Ultimately, the effort and determination put in by those agents of change, promoters of equitism, could well give us a spark of hope, two years after the pandemic ... In short, it is about maintaining the audacity of those actions that provide balance, and it is only matched by the audacity of that new vision and philosophy. Equitism.”

I agree with these writers. The movement they describe should have a name, acceptable to honorable advocates and adversaries alike, and I believe the best option lies in equity-equitist-equitism.” Apply these words to the proponents of “equity” and to their philosophy, and let the real debates begin—on level ground, at last. 

[genderfluidjapan]

Moreover, in terms of Miami specifically (since it was noted above), the MDPLS (Miami-Dade Public Library System)'s page is easily viewable here.

Searching for "American Girl" here brings up many results stating "on shelf at one or more locations", and as of lately they'll even note which locations in the results.

Through MDPLS you can Get a Library card here:

"eCards are free for residents and property owners in the Miami‑Dade Library taxing district, which includes most of Miami‑Dade County except for Bal Harbour Village, Hialeah, Homestead, Miami Shores, North Miami, North Miami Beach and the Town of Surfside.

Residents of Hialeah, Homestead, North Miami and North Miami Beach are still eligible to receive a free Miami‑Dade Public Library eCard (and vice‑versa) due to a borrowing agreement between Miami‑Dade County and these municipal libraries. Residents who live in Bal Harbour Village, Miami Shores, the Town of Surfside or outside of Miami‑Dade County may obtain a non‑resident library card for an annual fee of $65.00."

"eCards are available to residents of all ages; however, patrons that are 16 years old and younger need to confirm parental authorization prior to applying."

Via the Interlibrary Loan page: "With a valid library card patrons can request books, articles and audiovisual materials from a vast network of libraries at no cost to them. We always try to find other libraries that lend their items for free; however, this is not always possible and loan charges may apply. Patrons will be notified through their online account if any charges apply. We will not proceed with the request until the patron notifies us that they accept responsibility for any charges.

Patrons with reciprocal library cards and non‑verified addresses are ineligible for the service.

In order to comply with the American Library Association's National Interlibrary Loan Code, items published within the past 12 months, reference works owned by the Library System, and whole issues of magazines or newspapers cannot be requested."

They also have a "Libraries @ Your Door Home Delivery Service"!:

"Can’t make it to the library? Use our Libraries @ Your Door Home Delivery Service to have books and other library materials mailed directly to your home for free. Simply log in to your library account online or call your local branch to request items.

Once you're ready to return your items, simply drop them off at any library location, use the book drops or pay return postage to mail them back."

girlies all the historical ag books but felicity are banned in florida lmao

[multiplicity-positivity]

hey. thanks for your posts. tw for race-related identity issues i guess.

vent:

okay so, I never really considered myself any particular race. i'm european and live in america. it makes me uncomfortable when people talk about white/poc like its a neat divide.

i don't really like, feel attached too much to the culture i was raised in, maybe this is just an american thing but idk. i know it's important to people but it just wasn't for me. i feel sososo bad abt racism and i feel bad that i can't really do anything.

also, i have some anime fictives who don't want to change their names. they very rarely front, and it's always co-fronting with a body-matching alter. advice? thanks.

Hi! We’re not really sure what kind of advice you’re looking for or what we can provide. We’re not an expert on race or ethnicity, and can only say what we’ve learned from listening to POC and reading books by writers of color.

What we can say is this: everyone who lives in and engages with society has a race and a culture. Even if they don’t understand it or feel like they don’t have a race… they still do. It’s okay to feel disconnected, to struggle to comprehend how these things affect you, but as we understand it, race and culture aren’t something someone can “opt-out” of.

We believe that if someone lives outside of a certain culture or does not belong to a particular ethnicity, it is a sign of respect for them to not take a name with those cultural ties and connections. We’re not saying you or anyone else has to do this. We’re just saying it’s a respectful thing to do, especially for white folks (who often have ingrained racial biases that will affect many areas of their lives if not confronted and reckoned with).

We like this article on name appropriation:

We’re pretty firm in our beliefs here! Because this is what we have learned and understand from other people of color.

Also! You say you feel bad about racism, and feel like there’s nothing you can do… but we really disagree with that sentiment! There’s tons of things white people can do to be actively antiracist in their spaces and communities.

Here’s some things that ANY white person, no matter their age, class, or ability, can do to help combat racism.

1) Call it out!

Call out racism when you see it. Don’t let racist jokes or comments slide. Even if it makes you uncomfortable, calling out the bigotry you see is one way to let others know that you find racism unacceptable and something you won’t stand for. Whenever friends, classmates, coworkers, family members, neighbors, or strangers choose to be racist, you can choose to fight that racism by calling it out, saying “hey, that’s racist!” and creating an environment where racism isn’t just ignored, but stamped out.

2) Educate yourself!

Seek out books, articles, films, and other works by creators of color. Try and diversify what you consume. Ask yourself hard questions, and search for answers provided by people of color. Don’t shy away from discomfort, and don’t let your white guilt or shame keep you from finding answers. Don’t rely one one person’s perspective (like the token Black friend, or the token Japanese coworker) for answers to difficult questions about race. Gather resources from all sorts of places and all sorts of marginalized people, and then come to your own conclusions.

3) Educate others!

Once you’ve done some work to unlearn internalized racism, you can try and help other people in your life take on that work as well. Whether that means recommending a book to a family member, having a long conversation about antiracism with a classmate, suggesting books and films by people of color for book/film clubs and events, there’s lots of things you can do to try and educate other white people about racism!

Remember when attempting to educate: don’t speak over people of color, don’t claim to be the end-all-be-all for unlearning bigotry, and recognize that unlearning racism is a process that is often lifelong.

4) Promote people of color!

Support POC-owned businesses, donate to POC-run charities and gofundmes, recommend POC creators to others, and uplift and center POC voices in your daily life. Learn about movements like Landback, StopAAPIHate, and BLM, and understand what these movements hope to achieve and the issues that they address.

5) Get involved!

Join local groups that advocate for POC, uplift them, and recognize their struggles. Volunteer with activists and engage with the antiracists within your community. See what sorts of local organizations near you are doing work to benefit POC in your city. Even volunteering for an hour or so once a week can have a big impact!

You don’t have to do all (or any) of these if you don’t want to. We’re not trying to tell you how to live your life. We’re just saying that these are ways in which white people can combat racism in their everyday lives - it doesn’t have to be hopeless, and it’s not true that there’s nothing white folks can do to combat racism.

We hope this helps!

Most of what we’ve learned can be attributed to the Race & Ethnicity college courses we’ve taken, documentaries by people of color about their struggles, books we’ve checked out from the library/bought on Amazon, and POC content creators we follow on Tumblr and YouTube. With a little digging, you can curate your own collection of works by people of color that can help you educate yourself on racism!

🌸 Margo, 🐢 Kip, and 💚 Ralsei