#black disability politics

[lesbianboyfriend]

Attention to accessibility [in activist work] not only ensures the participation of disabled people, which, as [Lorrell] Kilpatrick notes, can transform the practices of an entire organization, but also ensures that people can participate in movement work in sustainable ways because the multiple needs of their bodyminds are being considered and care, for one's self and each other, is valued. As Dustin Gibson contends, "All of the influx of sustainable practices that we in disability justice work] center for survival will be key to actually being able to do the work long term."

Sami Schalk, Black Disability Politics

[theacecouple]

TOMORROW is the start of ACE WEEK 2023!!! :D

To kick things off A-specs Committed to Anti-Racism is hosting a book club on October 22nd.

If you're interested, you can get more details and the link to join on the Ace Week Website

[alwaysbewoke]

[sirenium]

'I think it's very disrespectful to both, really. Whether it's Indian or black, I think it's very disrespectful to both' okay, so Trump is willing to misconstrue what it means to be biracial in order to leverage himself. That's super fucking insulting to me, and I hope it's insulting to other biracial Americans. If you don't give a fuck about trans or disabled people, at least you can acknowledge the guy's strategic racism. In the very least. Because this guy doesn't care about minorities, he doesn't even care about his fanbase of white people who, to me, appear to be mostly cishet and abled with some exceptions. If there are people who still go on to vote for this scumbag, that says a lot about them as people. They're self-entitled, stupid individuals who really think Trump has their interests in mind, and that's all that matters to them is that their own interests are being acknowledged and upheld... no matter how many people are harmed in the process. Sickening.

[alphasunpup]

I see what's happening. To all the black, Indigenous, queer, disabled (including mental illness and neurodivergence), trans folk ESPECIALLY in my age range: You cannot kill yourselves.

I'm being serious too. You cannot allow him to be the reason you die. Pick anything, any ONE fucking thing and cling onto it for dear life. Whether it's Arcane Season 2 dropping, a best friend, a lover, you must kling to life. You being alive is now an active form of political resistance. This is how you fight, you stay alive. No. Matter. What.

Things to actually do:

Pick up a trade. Any kind of trade or hobby. Keep your mind occupied and learn a new survival skill.

Pick up some survival skills. Know some basic first aid training, foraging, herbology, hunting, fishing, anything practical even sewing and knitting

Keep up hobbies and skills that make you happy. Stay in touch with friends, make a little community. You can survive and you will. We lived through this once and we live through it again. Keep hope alive in your hearts, you are incredible human beings and deserve to be here. Don't let them take that away from you.

[sundemonlord]

[queerpunktomatoes]

Hey, I know talking about revolution and constantly facing the atrocities happening in our world is so so necessary, but it's also really hard, and I see you, and I appreciate you. I love you very much, I acknowledge and respect you as a person, and you're doing great.

[crystalsandbubbletea]

If I were the US president, I would have ended ties with Israel long ago.

Israel has stated multiple times that they don't care about the civilians in Palestine, hell they don't care who gets hurt in general. All Israel wants is genocide, anyone who supports Israel wants genocide, and anyone who goes like "Well it's complicated" or remains silent is genocide complicit.

Silence.

Is.

Violence.

There's a poem, it's called "First they came for" and it's by Martin Niemöller, it shows that silence does nothing, and in the end, there will be no one to help you because you were silent.

I wanted to do a modern retelling of it, here it is (Note: This is from the perspective of someone who is silent on politics):

First they came for the socialists—and I did not speak out—because I was not a socialist.

Then they came for black people—and I did not speak out—because I was not black.

Then they came for the disabled—and I did not speak out—because I was not disabled.

Then they came for trans people—and I did not speak out—because I was not trans.

Then they came for gay people—and I did not speak out—because I was not gay.

Then they came for unionists—and I did not speak out—because I was not a unionist.

Then they came for Palestinians—and I did not speak out—because I was not Palestinian.

Then they came for me—and there was no one left to speak for me.

[houseofpurplestars]

[Image id: a picture of Jasmine Sherman, a beautiful Black non-binary person. They wear multi-colored beaded braids, glasses, and a septum piercing. They look confident and capable. /end id]

If you pass up this opportunity to vote for a disabled Black femme enby, I won't listen to anything you have to say ever again.

[lesbianboyfriend]

Dustin Gibson argues that "race and disability were pathologized in a way that we can't separate them now.... I think we can't literally talk about ableism without talking about racism"; therefore, he continues, "I don't think that there's such thing as anti-Black ableism ... ableism is inherently anti-Black.”

Patrick Cokley similarly explains that in some regards "ableism is very much one and the same with racism because what we're really talking about is who has agency in our culture."

The relationship between racism and ableism (and other systems of op-pression) is most expansively articulated by TL Lewis, whom I quote at length in order to make clear not merely how Lewis and other Black disabled activists and cultural workers understand the relationships between these systems conceptually but also how this intersectional understanding shapes political approaches to social change. Lewis states:

I always chuckle about this because my brain doesn't disconnect them. There is no racism without ableism. There is no ableism without racism... you quite literally can't have one without the other.... There is a fundamental lack of understanding of the connections between racism and ableism, classism, and other structural and systemic oppressions that is killing us because if we understood those things—how they are connected, how there's an unbroken chain between asylums, plantations, zoos, circuses, and prisons—then we would be able to actually fight all of those things collectively and very differently.... [If we did make those connections,] then we would be able to have a much more holistic understanding of what is going on in our society but also a much stronger framework from which to unearth the histories... these collective histories and then dismantle the system—all of these systems....So long as we continue to allow people to think that it is just one or the other, we are going to keep spinning our wheels and not being able to identify the cause of the harm, which is all of these systems operating simultaneously.

Sami Schalk, Black Disability Politics

[theacecouple]

We have SO MANY awesome events coming up during Ace Week this year! Kicking things off on Sunday the 22nd, we have an Aspec book club!

More information about how to join on the Ace Week Website!

[rareblackcat]

Hearing people talk about why they voted for trump just proves that people care about money more then they do about actually human lives. They would rather have lower gas prices and see you suffer.

[alwaysinbetweeninsaneandinsecure]

This family needs help fleeing Sudan. There are children, elders, and disabled people at risk in this family. Please give what you can & share!

[void-thegod]

Defund billionaires

Defund corporations

Defund the military/police

Defund the Vatican

...

Oh wow. Look at that.

Now let's just get rid of all the nazis and fascists in positions of power.

I wonder how.

Hmm.

How would we do this. Not just voting. Not just protesting. But.. maybe ALL the means we have available?

(Looks at rich people)(looks at people with more spoons than I have ever had)(looks at people who have had more love and support than I have/will ever have)

Hmm. Maybe NOT relying on your most disenfranchised, disillusioned, and disabled to do the heavy lifting would get this done faster. Unfortunately (normies?) Don't know how to treat brown, weird, queer, and crippled folks like humans a lot of the times..

So we are very much here. Despite having -negative life-force at this point.

[girl-with-bones]

Hey. You. Yes, you.

Stop scrolling for a second. Breathe with me.

You don't need to decide who does and does not validly exist. You don't need to decide who is and is not guilty of crimes. You do not need to decide exactly who does and does not benefit from complex webs of systemic oppression.

Breathe with me again.

You do not need to have any part in any discourse. Keep practicing care and compassion for you fellow people, that's what really matters.

If you want to debate, go ahead. I know I do sometimes. But, one last time, breathe with me.

You don't have to be right. You don't have to be perfect. You're allowed to use debate as a way to figure out what YOU believe.

Figure out what causes YOU are for,

Then fight like hell for them. With kindness, support, rallies, donations, and yes, anger. Sometimes. Where it is due - not at your fellow activists.

But please, breathe with me.

If it feels like infighting, it probably is. You are allowed to just. Breathe.