#history is never black and white

[opje]

For the love of all that is holy, please stop saying that Robert was a Communist. You are completely misunderstanding who he was as a person if you honestly believe that that was the only political ideology that he subscribed to. He believed in aspects of Communism, and he realized after two of his friends returned from Russia that true Communism could never be achieved. He believed in giving to the people who were going to get shit done, but he himself was a New Deal Democrat (aka a Socialist). I am so heartbroken that people to this day continue to call the man a Communist when he made it clear to Chevalier that he had never been one. This was long after his security clearance was removed that he said this after Chevalier wrote a shit book that was so clearly based off of Robert. No doubt to sell more copies, but thankfully most of the scientific community and historians knew that that was bullshit.

[envolvenuances]

mentioned Ibe in the previous post so in case anyone doesn't know him he is a doctor who makes medical illustrations showing black people.

and my personal favourite:

[zevranunderstander]

number #1 tactic that people use to not sound as racist as they are when they talk to black people: 'uhh so you AMERICANS need to stop pretending everything is about YOU. why should i know this im not from the us :/' (= is talking about like. a phenomenally internationally well-known black artist)

[patzweigz]

i've been kind of glib about this (and perhaps not making things any better by giving the show my attention with redesigns without making it very clear they are borne from criticsm), but speaking more bluntly i don't think vivziepop has earned any kind of congratulations for getting hazbin hotel made until she intentionally and wholly apologizes for, at the very least, her history of anti-blackness as it manifests in her show.

in particular she needs to apologize for everything involving alastor-- it is frankly quite stunning how he both encapsulates the vilification of black people's spiritual practices and long-standing stereotypes of those of african decent (portraying voudou as an evil magic and his noted cannibalism) and yet is simultaneously whitewashed of any clear signifiers that he is black/biracial. as a black louisiana creole myself (as he is as well), he is the most egregious example of the kind of disrespect she feels for black people and their cultures, and as long as he continues to exist in an official capacity in her lineup she has earned nothing but ire in my eyes.

[jewishbarbies]

an executive producer of The Handmaid’s Tale was cheering that trump won under an insta post from justine bateman and idk why anyone is surprised when the lead actress has always been balls deep in Scientology

[sleepynegress]

Love this interview... I have been semi-checking in on Zawe's journey since before certain stans were feeling some kinda way about her recent familial additions. I do for certain Black actors/creators especially, who seem to be moving in interesting ways in entertainment/film media...

-A remnant from a period when I used to go to screenings and blog about films (and was published a few times in a major national newspaper)... So, I knew of Zawe through the grapevine of her mentorship, i.e. she is the reason why Rege Jean Page of Bridgerton fame got to work in U.S. markets, as she sponsored him. And she is known, as one of those "good eggs" who will be accessible and help/advise especially young actors of color. ...But, I have some other stuff to say. This isn't about proving that she's an amazing human being. It's about a certain brand of misogynoir that some of these people far beneath her in self-knowledge, self-love, and just plain grown-ass-woman-personhood...keep letting fly in what they *think* are compliments, but actually are just trite microaggressions. Saying things like "as long she makes [T-blank H-blank] happy then she's alright" as if he's the centered human and her attachment renders her worthy somehow. Babies, as long as SHE'S happy. Yall. He's marrying up.

WAY UP and the fact that he knows this? Actually elevates him. She's been there.

She tells a story in the above interview that reminds me of Uzo Aduba's anecdote about her name , - of an incident when she was called to an early job (at 6!) and someone there said she wasn't pretty because of her gap and her Ugandan mother took her on past this person and into the room, ANYWAY.

... She learned a specific self-knowledge and self-love, that is necessary in very white western spaces that constantly pressures a narrow sense of worthiness and beauty, especially from Black women, something a lot of these small-minded stans don't even have a notion of seeing beyond. Zawe is biracial, and her features, aside from her skin tone are very African. So while she benefits from colorism, featurism is something I've seen those bigoted stans, pick on as well. She knows those features are what makes her beautiful and knew that, w/o and before her partner saw that too. And people who aren't blind narrow-minded ignoramuses can *also* see that. This is why I assert the fact of featurism needing to be in the conversation of light/dark privilege conversations. Lips, nose, gap, and even the set of her eyes are ethnic beauty markers within quite a few spaces in the Black African diaspora... My mom was an absolute stunner because of her gap.

Even the old school white model Lauren Hutton got there because of her gap. Uzo Aduba, who I have already mentioned has a deeper skintone and has similarly large round striking eyes, gap, and a non-pinched-nose *rightly* played Glinda in NBC's production of The Wiz a few years back, with Dorothy saying she's so beautiful *because* of those features, not despite them as a very narrow white-washed gaze would wrongly assert.

And while we're here that includes sizes and shapes too. I'm saying your boy is enjoying all that plush. A lot of yall need to read or reread Maya Angelou's Phenomenal Woman, for comprehension.

Anyway... All this to say I know Zawe is and will be fine regardless.

P.S. Maya Angelou *also* had height, and gap and was very much known for her beauty/magnetism as a woman when she was alive. :

[hussyknee]

K. J. CHARLES, I LOVE YOU.

...

— Wanted: A Gentleman, K. J. Charles (2017)

That's the emotional thread that runs through the whole novella, coupled with his conflicted love for the Conroys' daughter he helped raise. It runs in parallel with Swann's own shackles of ursury and exploitation, which, while not comparable with Martin's bondage, still inspires his empathy and compassion.

Cesar Picton

Black Georgians: The Shock of the Familiar

FUCK YOUR BRIDGERTON-ASS WHITE LIBERAL DIVERSITY-COOKIES REPRESENTATION. THIS IS HOW YOU WRITE BLACK AND BROWN PEOPLE. We've always been here, bitch. Pay attention and be curious about our interiority for once.

[wasabikitcat]

community college is so funny because half of the teachers are like "For this class you need to use lockdown browser for all quizzes and tests. You need to buy this 70 dollar textbook, and all papers turned in must be in APA format with a title page even if they're only 500 words long. I will not accept late assignments. Also you have a minimum of 4 assignments a week." and the other half are like "you don't need proctoring for the final exam I trust you. here's a download link to a pirated copy of the textbook. as long as your writing is coherent and demonstrates an understanding of the material I literally could not care less what format you use. I can't figure out how canvas works so I'm not giving you due dates, just make sure it's turned in before the grading period ends. your only weekly assignment is a forum post with a minimum of 100 words."

[gingergari]

winter fun is not forever 💔

companion/sequel post to this

[hotsugarbyglassanimals]

i feel like this site leaning heavily into the "pedophilia and incest and rape kinks are good" angle lately can be attributed to the mass expulsion of sex workers and black ppl on here ngl

[tariah23]

Oh... this is not….

[stellerssong]

ok sorry the OTHER thing about lucienne is like. as previously stated she is dream's handpicked emissary from the waking world to the dreaming she's the diplomat in chief she's the translator she's the bridge. because the dreaming is, in a very real way, dream's own psyche, this is tantamount to giving lucienne a tremendous degree of access to his interiority and by transitive property also tantamount to entering into a deeply emotionally intimate relationship with her (unimportant for the purposes of this post whether that relationship is platonic or romantic).

now, in general, looking at the pattern of dream's close emotional relationships—dream doesn't share himself with people as a rule (beyond the access that all things that live have to the dreaming; but i'm talking about his self here, the one he doesn't like to acknowledge he even has), but when he does share with people, it's with people who have some shadow on the soul, so to speak. just looking at attested relationships in show canon, his deepest emotional connection seems to be with death, who embodies the duality of light and dark even better than he does himself. calliope is the muse of epic poetry—heroism and tragedy—and also bears the sort of divine pride that led her to cut dream off for hundreds or thousands of years when he wronged her. the less said about that other guy, the better, but he's no sunshine-rainbows-unicorns type—he's a soldier of fortune, a bandit and a killer, a man who profits from the sale of human life. even best bird matthew, in comix canon, had a sordid past that will maybe be partially retconned for the show but has still been gestured at.

dream likes the complicated ones. he's drawn to them. they speak to something in him that he won't acknowledge in himself (he has to be Whole, fully integrated, without reservation, because he is the king and he is the dreaming and if the dreaming ain't whole then the universe is in trouble—but he feels that ache nonetheless).

all that is to say: when people try to portray lucienne as dream's Designated Well-Adjusted Neurotypical Friend, i begin to harm and maim.

[littlefankingdom]

Playing Assassin's Creed Unity as a French with a bachelor degree in history and a passion for revolutions wasn't that much of a good idea...

Like, the radical revolutionaries are with the Templars? Yeah, no, they were very against religions, especially catholicism because of its connection to the French monarchy (the crown and the Church had a pact to maintain each other's power). They literally decapitated statues of saints on churches, like Notre-Dame (the heads we have now are new heads because we lost them for centuries). They hated catholicism, they would not have been with the Templars.

And that's only one of the issues I have. But at least, it seems we have Alexandre Dumas' father, the General Dumas, which is nice. (I think it's him, they didn't present him yet, but it could another black generals they had at the time)

[whataboutmysanity]

I’ve somehow hit the discourse of “I’m white and I know what rap is about 🤓” side of things and it’s reminding me of a guy i knew in high school reciting the importance of Fuck The Police to me as if I’ve never heard it before. Then he proceeded to play Tyler the Creator’s Flower Boy in full (the album had just dropped at the time) and go track by track on all the lyrical meanings and I felt like I was trapped in a Genius video.

My point is, trying to pull the “I’m not racist, I UNDERSTAND your struggles” is off putting imo cuz to white people can only understand to a certain degree. I’ve known white people who are these raving mad rap fans and then the second I start bringing up current black issues all I hear is “well, it’s just always been that way. What am I supposed to do about it?”

FUCKING GIVE A SHIT ABOUT BLACK PEOPLE EVERY ONCE AND A WHILE AND NOT JUST WHEN THEY DROP AN ALBUM!!! LISTEN TO THE BLACK PEOPLE IN YOUR LIFE TALK ABOUT THEIR STRUGGLES AND STOP USING THE VAST UMBRELLA OF RAP AS A LENS TO SEE ALL BLACK PEOPLE THROUGH!!!

The fact that we’re still at a point where even the “good guy” white folk think that because they heard a couple tracks and watched the This Is America music video once they’re the most perfect ally when that’s just not true.

[dezertvideogames]

What's crazy about those people who respond to new video games in disgust, claiming "wokeism" ruined their fave game series is they all would've instantly responded to these games as the same thing if they came out today

Undertale

Pokémon X & Y

Battlefield 4

Wolfenstein (The whole series)

Fallout New Vegas

The Walking Dead

Spec Ops: The Line

Bioshock Infinite

Metroid (Majority Series)

Assassin's Creed (Majority Series)

Ace Attorney

Team Fortress 2

Dishonored

Borderlands

Detroit: Become Human

Hitman

Elder Scrolls: Skyrim

Watchdogs

Mass Effect (Whole Series)

Last of Us (Whole Series)