#lets stop treating poc like a monolith

[chryblossomjjk]

...

[orange-orchard-system]

This may ruffle some feathers, but I think the plural community has an issue with treating POC as a monolith. More specifically, it seems that people often treat "POC" and "white" as two completely separate yet individually homogenous groups that have no overlap (as in, that each group is homogenous amongst itself, which is somehow completely distinct from the other group, creating a binary of monoliths), and it's just. A little concerning.

Whenever there's a discussion about particular cultural experiences, people talk about POC as if every POC has the background and authority to talk about those cultural experiences, even if they're not part of that culture at all. Or people will talk about cultural plurality as if white people don't have their own specific cultures, let alone cultures that may influence their plurality. These are just the two examples I see most frequently, but it's... worrying, I guess is the word. We're not two unrelated groups that just happen to have plurality in common, we're a bunch of unique people with a wide variety in heritage, traditions, culture, experiences, and lives that found community in other plurals and systems. Treating all of us as if we can be neatly separated into two boxes is not a good idea, especially when it's something like this. I would like for us all to avoid erasing who we and others are in the name of a binary that doesn't help anyone (seriously, what would this even accomplish? Congrats, you made it communally acceptable to talk over the people who are actually affected by a cultural issue! Look at you, you denied someone their culture and heritage in the name of assimilation and erasure! This doesn't do any of us any good!!)

Of course, this doesn't mean discussions about plurals of color and systems of color and those specific experiences should stop or anything (absolutely, they should continue), I'd just like to request that more people take the time to consider how they're talking about culture, heritage, and other related topics when they come up in discussion, whether about plurality, or something else. I've said it before, and I'll say it again: we're stronger together. But we can't have that strength and unity if we're all subconsciously or implicitly drawing lines in the sand between us and erasing the complexity of our own and others' lives. It doesn't help anyone. Let's do better.

[viscountessevie]

What really gets me is the Kanthony fans, some of them brown girls (!!!!), policing people’s reactions to Simone missing, accusing us of “living in misery” and to stop being negative. All day yesterday they were going on and on about dilf Tony. Disgusting how Kate/Simone isn’t even an afterthought for them. She’s just an extension of him just like the show will treat her

Answering all these together because pretty sure the first three are by the same anon and the last one is in a similar vein.

Related to this post and the fallout of leaving Simone out of the S3 filming announcement video (where the fuck was S2's video fuckers???)

Okay so I am revoking all these desi people's brown cards. Like I know we're not a monolith and you're allowed to want to be happy your fave show is coming back and not have criticism on your dash but guess what? Use the block button. Don't fucking invalidate everyone else's feelings about how racist production has been to it's main Indian lead who has been constantly sidelined since DAY 1. And don't use your brown card as if you speak for all of us. It just gives the yts leeway to use your voice to hurt the rest of us and it's fucking annoying. Just because you align yourself with them isn't going to make them like you. They'll stay rotten and love their racist fave.

I'm really disappointed in those Kathonys who only focus on Anthony. Like whooo the fuck do you think makes him a DILF? Also Simone Ashley isn't campaigning this hard for a baby since Peeta Mellark (thank you to Nia for this joke) for yall to be sidelining her. My interpretation/theory is it's not so much they only see her as an extension of him but rather they hate that Kate is a WoC now and can't project onto her and put themselves in her shoes as a self insert 😒 at least that's the vibe I get from Anthony lovers who don't like Kate anymore (which feels impossible cos how fo you not love Kate?? Well turns out when you're a Sai Bennet!Kate stan 🤢)

The second ask is a clarification to my post here.

Yeah as I said, toxic positivity ain't going to help any of us and stop invalidating the rest of us' concerns and frustrations. It really doesn't make you special to hear you say we're all just so miserable or talking over our voices when talking about how Simone and Kate have been sidelined during her own season.

Lol peaceful Kathonys, I honestly have never met one. Maybe on their blog they are but I bet they're all bitching away in their group chats. Listen the captains of our fandom are Anthony and Kate Sharma-Bridgerton. They are intense clowns who have no chill and we're a reflection of that. But yes it does show how much we love Simone when even the peaceful Kathonys are speaking up on the backlash as we should. We should just keep bullying production into giving us more Kathony after they fucked us over in S2.

Of course they think its easier to market the white guy especially since if they don't talk abt his sexuality they can just let him pass as straight 😒. Honestly I'm starting to see that this show was never for us. They don't care about the POC demographic, it's just tokenism porn for the yts to pat themselves on the back for being so "enlightened" and watching a show with diversity. Same with production for doing the minimum yet pretending like they did so much for their POC characters and audiences.

So yeah fuck this show and we really need to start taking our views elsewhere and since Mr. Malcolm's List is out, we should probably throw all the money at that team so they can create similar shows for us and hopefullly it will outshine the cracker season.

[Also I have this queued so by the time its posted I'll be watching Mr. Malcolm's List so feel free to send me asks abt it! I'll answer them after I finish the movie as a cleanser from discourse!]

[mprjanedoe]

Statement of Harm & Abuse caused by Steam Powered Giraffe’s former bandmember Michael Philip Reed

I am making this post after reading Steam Powered Giraffe’s recent tweets about Michael and also seeing another tweet circling around from a fan/friend of his as well. This statement is being posted publicly to make the Steam Powered Giraffe fandom and community aware of the breadth of Michael’s harmful actions. Steam Powered Giraffe also tweeted encouraging victims to come forward privately with more information, and because of this I have sent this statement directly to SPG so they are aware of this now as well. 

This post is formed by input from victims, occasionally about each other, and occasionally through observations about themselves directly, that occurred over a span of roughly 10 years, informally through text and private messaging, as well as casual conversation at parties and during socializing. His victims should not be subject to more retraumatizing or identification due to fear of retaliation. Along this vein, I also do not wish to identify myself. Frequently his victims of abuse are non-romantic partners.

Michael and I were friends for a number of years. We became friends when I was 18 and he was 26. During the entirety of our friendship I watched him make friends with young women and notably - minors, as well as pursue relationships with them that blurred the lines of platonic and romantic behavior. I watched him emotionally manipulate multiple young women + minors in their teens he had as friends, often causing animosity between the people he was manipulating, which he then used to his gain whenever confronted on his behavior by scoffing it off as jealousy. Part of the emotional manipulation that contributed to this that I witnessed and was also victim to was a deliberate effort on Michael’s part to be secretive about all of the people in his social group who were in the category of young women and minors, despite all parties involved knowing each other in some way because they knew he was “friends” with them. Michael specifically had no problem chatting about mutual friends who were adults and men - however there was a notably distinct difference when talking about young women/minors. He groomed multiple minors that I knew, engaging in physical affection and romantic/sexual emotional manipulation. In some cases he waited until they legally became an adult to make sexual advances. In others, with victims as young as 15 years old, he did pursue and act upon sexual advances. In case it is not abundantly clear - this is sexual assault and in the context of engaging in sex acts with minors is rape.

Even in the case of victims Michael did not form an ongoing intimate relationship with, Michael was consistently friendly around young women and minors (predominantly met through Steam Powered Giraffe and before and after shows) in inappropriate ways, often openly flirting with them upon meeting them and encouraging them to keep in touch. There were many instances he initiated obtaining direct contact info with fans after meeting them, some he was privy to were minors at the time. I have witnessed this in person, Steam Powered Giraffe has received reports of this, and I have been told this directly by fans and friends of friends who have met him in passing. He regularly held chat rooms with young women and minors and in those chatrooms often made innuendoes and flirty jokes. 

In addition to Michael being manipulative to many young, impressionable people, he was also an irresponsible friend - which in the context of having a social circle filled with young women and minors, was negligent and dangerous. He actively participated in peer pressuring and coaxing his young “friends” into illegal recreational drugs - predominantly psychedelics and alcohol and encouraged friends his age who did those drugs to peer pressure his young companions into these behaviors as well. He not only peer pressured and coaxed his victims into using illegal recreational drugs, but also personally offered them as he had them in his possession. He also would solicit his “friends” to hang out with him at night and drink (most if not all of whom were under 21, so he had to supply the alcohol) and then disappear or offer to let people crash at his place and then rescind his offer last minute. This put his young victims in danger and at risk, especially when under the influence of alcohol. On a number of occasions where I wasn’t directly affected by this, I was one of the people with a car who would pick up our mutual friends left hanging.

As evidenced by another tweet circulating, Michael has also said a number of racist things. He has wallowed in his white guilt openly and unproductively with multiple people of color, seeking comfort and to unburden his conscience. He has frequently made his white guilt a focus and expected emotional labor from POC, and has said some very offensive and distasteful things, like repeatedly saying he wished he was a black man, and that part of that desire was because he felt his music should be sung with a black man’s voice. His wishing to be black is grotesque for a number of reasons: - because he wanted to be absolved of his white guilt without taking any personal action to dismantle white supremacy, and also fetishizing black people as there is no monolithic black voice, black people are all individual and unique and to fixate on an idea of something they may have that he wanted is racist and inappropriate to say the least. He also made comments in front of friends and at parties to a POC he was romantically involved with repeatedly saying this person was white passing enough for him, as he wasn’t normally attracted to women of color. He also boasted to multiple friends that much of his friend group were people of color.

All in all, after years of knowing Michael, seeing his behaviors towards myself and towards others, these very clear statements need to be made. 

1. Michael is a pedophile who has a long history of actively and physically preying on minors and young women. Michael has preyed upon minors and young women, and has coerced minors (under the age of 17) into sexual activity - which is sexual assault and rape. He has calculatedly manipulated young women 5-10 years his junior to be his “friend”, often treating them and implying they were in a relationship, and lying to other people involved, creating an extremely toxic social circle of gaslighted young people being manipulated and abused. He cyclically pulled from this group of individuals one at a time and withheld attention from the others to maintain control and silence of the entire group. This is sexual abuse, in any context. He has used his fame and social capital and his brand of charming and kind dude to make excuses for his behavior and seem like he would never be the type to commit it. When called out on this- he directly lies. Lying about his behavior even when presented with evidence is frequent. 

2. Michael is racist. He has made multiple racist comments to people of color who were close to him over a number of years, he has sought out emotional support for his white guilt without addressing how he should personally fight against racism and white supremacy. He has fetishized people of color and fixated on them. 

Those who have gotten close enough to Michael know that despite his kindhearted exterior, he can be shockingly cold and lash out in very cruel ways unexpectedly. He has done this to every single one of his victims that I’ve known, including myself, and his victims are anticipating the potential that he will retaliate in response to being called out for his actions. Private and informal testimonies from sexual partners and friends of a variety of ages, forms of relationship, and gender indicate severe emotional abuse. 

I would like to acknowledge my role in accountability in this situation for those who may be wondering why I am privy to all of this information but have not spoken out sooner - 18 is not a monolithic age of wizened adulthood - and being that I met Michael when he was nearly 10 years my senior and he pursued friendship with me, I was also taken advantage of for my age and naivety. I was a consistent victim of his emotional manipulation, and felt vaguely uncomfortable for the entirety of knowing and interacting with him, but also personally looked up to him and was charmed by the kindhearted well intentioned image he cultivated both publicly and privately. Upon reading Bunny’s tweets on the matter and reflecting on all that I have been aware of has occurred, it became abundantly clear that it was crucial to make this statement. 

To all who have considered themselves friends and colleagues of Michael’s who are in his age group - do not mislead yourselves that there were no signs of Michael’s behavior. This should’ve been dealt with much swifter than nearly a decade down the line when great irrevocable harm has been dealt to Michael’s victims, and there were many publicly visible signs that Michael was way too close with young people - predominantly young women and minors, even if the deeper grotesque details remained in secrecy. The same things that enticed Michael’s young victims to believe being close to him was safe and exciting, are much of the same signs that should’ve been clear to his peers were deeply inappropriate. Based on Bunny’s tweets regarding Michael getting “too friendly” with young fans, and being caught kissing a minor after a show years ago, it is abundantly clear there was a pattern of harmful predatory behavior that was appropriately investigated enough to stop sooner. I ask that all those who have associated with Michael who were peers of him as adults to reflect on this and take open accountability for their role in enabling his behavior either actively or passively in turning a blind eye and/or not investigating his behavior/personally challenging it.

We are asking that this statement is posted on all of SPG’s public channels for visibility - and that fans spread this information and that Steam Powered Giraffe does everything they can to deplatform and demonetize Michael. We are also asking that there is space for this information to spread and breathe and that things do not immediately or quickly return back to status quo within the Steam Powered Giraffe fandom. People have been seriously impacted by this and the trajectory of the lives of many youths has been altered permanently. Considering Steam Powered Giraffe’s success and fame was integral to giving Michael influence over his victims and the opportunity to meet them in the first place, it is only appropriate that there is a significant period of pause - in respect of the victims, and for those finding out about Michael’s actions to process this information.

[blackgirlsuperherorants]

You can still be Black and racist. The BLM supporters laughing at and mocking Asian people through this whole pandemic have proved that. Time for Black voices to educate their community and stop turning a blind eye to it. Black on Asian violence IS OUR PROBLEM. Dismissing it as ‘just another way to’ decide is a convenient way to defer the blame elsewhere. BLM has done the minimal when it comes to Asian Hate, meanwhile Asians have marched with us and supported us.

BLM isn't supposed to do things for Asian hate except support them. I said Black people treating Asian people badly and attacking them is wrong, but this jump to making it about Black people attacking Asian people specifically is antiblack and promote stereotypes. No one is arguing that no Black person has ever hurt or discriminated against Asian people. Of course that's happened. And it's not okay. I'm not going to let you pretend I said it was. What's not cool is tagging antiblack posts as Black Lives Matter. Black Lives Matter is a movement against police brutality and other forms of racial abuse against Black people. It isn't a social movement to champion everyone's causes for them. Black people are constantly asked to take up everyone else's cause while we're still hurting and fighting for change, ourselves. The most we can do is support and speak out when we see Asian hate or anti-Asian violence, and amplify Asian voices, but we can't lead the charge, nor should we.

And again, when Black people attack Asian people, OF COURSE IT'S NOT OKAY. But to suggest that Black people specifically attack Asian people, or that Black Lives Matter is somehow involved (it's a social movement, so literally anyone can support it. That doesn't mean that the movement is about everything those people do, good or bad), is just misleading. I never saw one BLM post targeting Asian people, except to call out those complicit in White Supremacy, like Officer Thao. Anybody taking it to levels of discrimination against Asians was and is called out.

Also, no, Black people cannot be racist. Racism is prejudice + power. Black people can be bigots and discriminatory, but racism is not possible from oppressed people. Asian Americans can't be racist, either, technically. Just discriminatory. Which is why I use the term antiblack, not racist.

And you're not Black. You would know that. I don't appreciate you pretending to be Black in my inbox. We can always tell. Just be honest that you're Asian and you don't like what I said.

We can have this conversation, but only if you're going to understand that you don't post antiblack stuff in the Black Lives Matter tag, especially during the Derek Chauvin trial. I'm often in the Stop Asian Hate or anti-Asian violence tags trying to amplify and support in any way I can, so Black people would still be seeing your grievances. And it's a hard but necessary conversation, because Asian people usually harbor a lot of Antiblackness as well.

What I'm not going to let you do is suggest that I don't care or am anti-Asian, because I'm not. I feel deeply for you all, especially since you're experiencing the same types of hatred, violence and dehumanization that we experience and I relate deeply to it. Our struggles are extremely different, yet very similar in this country. And I feel that there's no liberation for any of us until there's liberation for all of us. I can't control the entirely of the Black race, so I can't get the ones who would hurt elderly Asian people to stop. But I can help by standing with you. Asian Americans and African Americans have a long history of supporting each other through our various struggles in American history. We let the LA riots split us apart, to our detriment, which is silly because most of us don't live in LA and weren't involved. We forgot about Asian movements supporting Black Panthers, and Black revolutionaries supporting Asians during the Chinese Exclusion Act and Japanese Internment. We have joy and pain, solidarity and division in our history.

We need to get back to solidarity post haste.

What doesn't serve us is putting posts like that in each other's tags. Black people don't condone the violent behavior of other Black people, and we're not a monolithic group that should be painted with a broad brush every time a Black person does something wrong. We have criminals just like anyone else, and we shouldn't be asked to answer for them. It's weird, it's unfair, and it's antiblack, yes, because it makes people have to explain the behavior of strangers just because they're the same skin color range.

To even suggest that Black Lives Matter condones anti-Asian violence, or supports it in any way, is just ridiculous and antiblack.

The only thing we can do is be there for you. There's nothing else we can do. Those of us who are anti racist tend to be completely anti racist, so I don't know how to answer for Black people who hate other groups of POC. Those people are just bad people, and they're also feeding into systems of white supremacy and that's what we're fighting against.

[dazedandlucid]

today an author who i very much admire and who i've been reading for as long as i've been in fandom announced that they were leaving due to the behavior of the fandom the last few days which i agree has been absolutely awful. people have been brutal and racist and i completely understand. however, this is making me question if i should still be doing this (i'm not a poc but i think the way fandom treats them is horrific) with this fandom, even though i enjoy writing for it. do you have advice?

this got long (hello it’s me) and i don’t want to clog anyone’s dashboard. i use you a lot to refer to the general you and these are just my opinions: 

i think everything in we engage with when it comes to popculture (life in general tbh) is about where we put the line. this isn’t static, we move the line and make concessions constantly. seeking moral purity in the art we love or like is futile. most of everything is complicit in some heinous institution in some way or the other. does this mean we should say fuck it and go off on our merry way? of course not. but this isn’t about moral purity. it’s about seeing the thing for what it is. it’s about “ i know this thing is fucked up and i engage with it knowing that”. at some point, that’s not enough with certain things. you need to disengage from it completely because it makes you feel complicit to something you can’t just ignore anymore. 

when it comes to your actual question, it’s a decision you have to make yourself. are the things you’ve seen enough to make you disengage completely? do you genuinely feel like continuing to participate in this space propagates and endorses toxic behaviors? our relationship to art and the people who make it doesn’t always make sense or lines up with our morals. but i think if you’re asking yourself this question, you already have at least the beginning of your answer. 

this can be a good time to reevaluate why you write and share at all. is it for you? is it for others? is it both? fandom is made up of people. and people are not a monolith. liking a certain thing, no matter how it markets and presents itself, says, and say it with me, absolutely nothing about the kind of person you are (within reason). there are fandoms that are swathed in racist misogynistic bullying that poc and women still participate in. people aren’t logical. art is about emotions. we project our feelings onto it and disentangling from it can be hard and have no sense. it’s easy to let go of somethings and not of others. but it’s not bad to ask ourselves why are we so desperate to hold on?

i don’t have illusions about the stuff i like. my music/film/art/book library is not pure and clean. no one’s is. neither are the other people who like those same things. but there’s a certain point where you can’t push that line anymore. some people argue that the entire kpop industry is racist and anti-black. that the entire music industry is. i bring this up because when we talk about rps we really can’t disentangle its greater conception from the actual thing it is sourced from. it does not exist in a vacuum. and for some the easy answer is “well then why don’t you just leave and stop being a hater?” and while the first part of that has validity (and the second is just stupid as fuck) part of reckoning with a thing is acknowledging it’s fucked up-ness. i rather that then acting like it’s perfect so someone can hold up some pure “i’m a good person” card. we’ve really turned liking art into worshiping the person who makes it. liking something should not remind us of being in a cult. i see the irony in saying that in a fandom that calls the people it’s based on literal “idols”. 

tbh, i don’t have an answer for you. anyone who is leaving this “fandom” right now or no longer wants anything to do with it or bts, is well within their rights. unless you are completely offline and just listen to the music (which hilariously so many don’t seem to actually do) it is impossible to escape the blind idolatry that went down this week (that’s always there but mostly just comes off as purposeful insanity and lately seems equal to being a racist). some people choose to focus on the positive. some say enough’s enough. but i think what some people are missing is that some people just aren’t down with bts’ music and image not syncing up with anything real bts actually does for them. 

i really think that if you just want to hang in your corner and write your stories, that’s valid. but if in doing so you feel like you’re saying okay to behaviors you don’t agree with, there’s a bigger picture to deal with. in the grand scheme of things, fanfiction doesn’t matter. neither does fandom or probably art in general. any piece of art or person we admire can be replaced with another. but as people we seek art. we make it even if we don’t call it that. we can take breaks. leave. come back. find other ways to engage with it. deep down, most of us are trying to do the best we can. there’s no shame in reevaluating what that means and how we hold ourselves and other accountable.  

[theconfusedartist]

can i say something?

like. i post a lot about what yt people do and why i don’t trust them, but its like....

in principle. i have no problem with yt people, i grew up with them, a lot of them used to be my friends, and i know that they aren’t ALL bad

but. and this is a BIG BUT yall

in the same vein that i grew up with them, it was the casual dismissal of my feelings, space, personhood, and general wellbeing as a person that i remember most vividly--even by the people that claimed to be my friends

like, for my entire school years (all the way from elementary to high school and even some of this in college) people would touch my hair. they wouldn’t ask, they wouldn’t warn me, they wouldn’t even always be strangers--they would remark about how ‘weird’ my hair looked, how it was wrong, or just how they were *fascinated* with it. when i told them that I wanted them to stop, that how they treated me made me feel uncomfortable, it was brushed off, ignored, i was given false equivalences so they didn’t have to address my discomfort, or worse mocked me for not letting them do as they pleased with a smile.

it got to the point where i physically had to start hitting people (that called me and I considered them my friends! mind you!) to get them to stop because asking them did absolutely nothing to stop their behavior. instead of the takeaway being that i was viscerally uncomfortable with their treatment of me, it turned into a great debate, how i was ‘hurting’ them, how it made *them* feel, or ostracization because i set clear boundaries for my body and feelings!

and this trend didn’t just stop in irl either! every time i go to a virtual space, i see yt people asserting themselves over poc, i see them playing the victim bc someone asks to have their space and boundaries respected, i see outrage bc poc talk about their experiences with yt people and they don’t like being generalized

and like. i know that yt people aren’t a monolith, i never wanted to claim that they are, but they have certain behaviors that are afforded to them for their race that they use to make spaces unsafe and hostile to people of color and rather than dissect this behavior or try to change what they’ve seen--they just. double down.

so. all this to say. on one hand--i get it. i hurts to be treated as a monolith and to be grouped together by simply the color of one’s skin, but on the other hand i’ve learned that if i don’t say ‘white people’ as a group, they’ll pretend like they’ve never done these things, that it never happens, or invalidate the person bc they don’t like the narrative that’s unlike their own to the point that they’ll make things harmful and hostile to the people that talk about it--and that’s including the people that call themselves allies too!

until white people can get past that knee-jerk ‘not me’ or ‘that’s not true’ reaction, they’re never going to be anywhere bc they refuse to see any other point than their own and demonize, minimize, or belittle the people that talk about their experiences with their group. and it just creates an unending cycle of hurt

[huntypastellance]

“You can’t ship the Paladins/Allura with the Galra! It’s imperialist, colonialist, oppressive & racist! All the Galra are evil, they’re adults, they should know better than to genocide!”

- Keith is a mixed Galra. Are you saying that it’s x-ist for a person to be in a relationship with someone with the same ethnicity as they are? Does he only count as Galra when being shipped with Allura, but not with Lance or other Galra?

Why the hell are all these “Altean Lance x Galra Keith” AUs perfectly fine but Kallura is “EVIL OPPRESSIVE GARBAGE”?

- You heard it from the antis, folks. If you’re at war with another race, you can’t marry one of the people from that race. Guess that means that all American/North Korean & American/Middle Eastern marriages are no longer legit. They are OPPRESSIVE & ABUSIVE & RACIST.

(Does this mean that Lord Pastel Lance’s mere existence is oppression??? ^ Half Chinese & Half Taiwanese)

- Also all mixed race people are now considered oppressors. (Except when they’re not.)

- The Galra were clearly shown to have a caste system & a monarchy which lasted for many years even BEFORE the 10,000 years that Emperor Zombie Zarkon ruled. Blaytz could not even chat with a Galra servant without being criticized for being “inappropriate”. Why would the Galra “know any better”?

-> The Original Paladins were even shown to be fighting each other for GENERATIONS before they came to a diplomatic agreement & became friends, so politics were NOT at all stable back then either. Without Voltron, their bonds would have been gradually weakened by their responsibilities to their own planets/systems/people & old generation-long conflicts that were never fully resolved, thus leading to more clashing politics, internal conflicts & the Other Reality “Altea-Galra-Names of the races of the other Paladins that we never got” War.

File name is literally “And_in_some_cases,_had_been_warring_for_generations” Blaytz is clearly shown using Altean weaponry here, so the Alteans were DEFINITELY involved in this war in some way. They weren’t peace-loving monks like the Air Nomads. (Did everyone forget in s1 when Allura said that even Altean CHILDREN were trained to fight gladiators drones?)

-> As mentioned above, ALL the races had been at war, some for GENERATIONS. They all grew up hearing & seeing their parents & their grandparents & their great-grandparents trying to kill off the other races for their entire lives up until recently! Rulers being best friends does not suddenly erase years of political tensions & war between people! Why would the Galra or even the Other Reality Alteans “know any better”? They would not have seen each other as people, just as enemies.

^They had literally less than even HALF of a generation (Allura’s lifespan + the years before she was born, even if it’s an alien generation & not a human one, that’s still like what? Less than 50 years?) to get used to peace & even then, their “peace” was degrading to something more like “non-hostile low-contact” tensions near the end.

You know that your diplomacy is turning into shit when it’s been years since your leaders last visited each other. (Especially when they both have warping tech).

- Allura was raised under a similar monarchy considering that Alfor found nothing unusual about the Galra’s caste system, just that Zarkon should “lighten up” a bit.

-> She & Coran have shown “racist” tendencies & pro-Altean anti-non-Altean biases in the past, calling the human Paladins’ ears “ugly” & their brains “primitive” despite Pidge being able to hack & manipulate the Galra’s advanced tech (already 10,000 years more advanced than Altean technology, Slav even complains about the castleship being outdated as it uses ziplines instead of the warping tech that the Alteans already use) with ease & other alien races being much more conventionally “unattractive” than humans/Alteans/Galra (or not having any ears at all). It is not unsurprising that with the war escalating for political reasons (rather than “ZOMBIE ZARKON WANT BLACK LION”), that Other Reality Allura would come to view other non-Altean races as barbaric & unnecessary.

->IMPORTANT: Generations of war in alien years can translate to centuries or millenia in human years. Coran said that he saw his Grandpa build the Castle of Lions 600 years before the start of the series. Think about that. The races of the Original Paladins were fighting for THAT long. Is it any wonder that they were all biased against each other in some way? That Allura believed that Alteans were so amazing compared to other races & that the Galra were so awful?

It is extremely confusing when antis claim that the alternate reality episode is racist because Allura is a “black girl” who became a tyrannical dictator.

- She is not ethnically African/African American. She is not even a POC. Those exist back on Earth.

She was literally BORN before racism was even a thing! Humans were still hunting giant woolly mammoths back then!

Her race has never experienced slavery (slavery that the Africans/African Americans were subject to - this is very different from Galra slavery, which takes mostly from Ancient Roman style slavery as they used people for as either Gladiators or miners), voting restrictions & gerrymandering.

To equate the two is to dismiss the suffering of real Africans/African Americans. Her voice actress, Kimberly, who is black, has said so before that Allura is NOT black.

- Since the Other Reality had Alfor stay to defend Altea, no Voltron & no super advanced quintessence-based Galra war technology ready to be used, the war would have been much more drawn out, more intense & more brutal with both sides being unsure of victory (they don’t have Voltron or the Galra mega-ships to achieve near-instant victory).

-> It is also possible that without the Voltron meteorite creating a rift on Daibazaal, Honerva & Zarkon would have never met & gotten married, thus the Galra & the Alteans would have a much more unstable & shaky peace treaty to them as compared to our reality, which at least had an Altean in the Galra royal family. Thus, they would have had less common ground & become more distant from each other, giving more room for anti-Altean & anti-Galran opinions to spread. (They already disliked each other enough to war for years until the 5 original paladins agreed “Yeah war sucks, let’s kill space bandits & be friends!”)

-> Since Alfor stayed behind to defend & the war took longer, more Alteans would be alive, including morally corrupt, morally grey, evil and manipulative Alteans who could easily persuade their grief-stricken newly crowned Queen Allura to become a cruel tyrant in the name of peace & her dead father. People are not a monolith. Not all Alteans are good & kind people.

--> See Honerva (although her behavior could have possibly been influenced by the purple quintessance/quintessance poisoning)

Is Honerva an evil witch or just possessed by a rift creature? Who knows. Would she even have magic powers if she wasn’t possessed?

--> Since original Voltron is based off of Golion & Romelle is one of Lauren Montgomery’s (VLD showwriter & creator) favorite characters, if Romelle was introduced, then there would be “EVIL” Alteans. Romelle was from a group of Alteans who split off many generations ago for being “war-like” & “violent”. This may or not make an appearance in VLD, but even if they don’t, Alteans are NOT all peaceful. Again: warring with the races of the other Paladins, some for generations.

-> Coran probably wouldn’t even say anything to stop them, he didn’t bother to correct Allura when she treated Keith like dirt after finding out that he was part Galra.

-> It was implied that Other Reality Allura genocided the Galra, which is something that Our Reality Allura (pre s2-e08) may have agreed with as she viewed ALL Galra as evil. However, she only ever mentioned Zarkon & not any Galra in particular who she felt betrayed by. (The s3 flashback suggests that after Allura’s birth, the relationship between the Galra & the Alteans cooled down until they barely visited each other so she probably did not actually know Zarkon or any Galra that well.)

^Remember, this was right after Voltron was first formed. When Allura was still a baby & was just gifted that Golion Lotor helmet.

Would the peace have lasted this long if there wasn’t Voltron, the marriage & the threat of the purple Quintessence monsters to keep everyone together & to distract them? Or would it have fallen apart more slowly until it was when Allura was an adult & not a teen that the war finally began again? We were never told how old Other Reality Allura was when she lost her dad or when the war happened.

- Zarkon/Honerva still got married even though their people had been at war for years. Honerva continued to side with Zarkon & the Galra after her marriage. This does NOT make her a race traitor. She is & always will be an Altean, for better or worse. Just like General Hiira from the Other Reality. She, her men & Other Reality Empress Allura are Alteans. It does not matter what OUR Reality’s Allura said, Hiira is still an Altean.

It would be a miracle for Other Reality Allura, with no friends & no Voltron to give her hope, guidance & character development, surrounded by only politicians & other Alteans, to focus on keeping the entire universe safe instead of just keeping her people safe from THEM. You can see how she could convince herself that she was doing this all for keeping her Alteans & New Altea safe from the “barbarians”. A peace treaty forged by diplomats & monarchies could not keep her father alive. Voltron, the symbol & the legend, does not exist.

Our Reality’s Allura still has that hope & Voltron. (Which is why she naively believed that the peace that Hiira was talking about was peace that was debated & agreed upon by several races & NOT forced on them by the Alteans.)

- And lastly:

If you’re so against victims of racial oppression, genocide & colonialism being in relationships with their oppressors,

Then why aren’t you against relationships in real life where white people date/marry POC? Why do you allow mixed antis into your group if you categorize Keith & all the other mixed Galra characters as “oppressors” (except when they’re not)? Why do you allow mixed antis to call themselves POC & “victims of racial oppression”? Why don’t mixed antis yell at their white parents for “oppressing” & “abusing” their POC parents?

Why don’t you care about this stuff in real life if you’re going to care so much about its fictional nonequivalent?

[mediaeval-muse]

Tips on How to Be a Critic of Media on the Internet

So, I’m going to give you all some tools for criticizing media (books, movies, tv shows, etc.) in a way that advances conversation in a meaningful way. I’m a bit fed up with people whose bar for quality is whether or not they personally like something or whether or not it meets a vague list of desirable attributes for Good Quality, so we’re going to go over a few things right now. In no particular order. This is literally my entire job as a college English literature instructor.

Whether or not you like a work in itself is not a valid criticism. Go beyond “I liked it” or “I didn’t like it.” Why or what did you like/dislike? Then continue to work on the whys until you find something useful to share. Screaming at others for liking something you didn’t like or vice versa is pointless and doesn’t generate discussion.

How closely a character, story, etc. matches reality or your own personal experience can be interesting to talk about, but it is by no means the yardstick by which you should measure quality. Just because something is different from your personal experience, doesn’t mean it isn’t good. Put aside your (in)ability to relate and focus on other things. Sometimes, a piece of media isn’t created for you.

Consider the actual medium of the work and what its goals/limitations are. A movie cannot do the same things a comic does. A book can’t do things a tv show does. And so on. All have different goals and are influenced by different forces (like budget, number of people involved, amount of creative freedom, etc.). To expect them all to work the same way is to misunderstand how they are fundamentally different and how those differences influence storytelling.

Consider the goals of the work without projecting your personal opinion onto it. Most creators don’t make things to terrorize audiences or to ruin childhoods, so put that aside. Instead, think about what kind of story a creator was trying to tell and whether or not he/she met that goal. This doesn’t mean that what we, as audiences, got out of it is invalid, but it does help weed out opinions that fault a work for not being what we wanted it to be (as opposed to what it was meant to be). Ask if the creator’s goals are clear to an audience or if the things within the work line up with those goals. Sometimes, the gaps between those things are where real criticism comes into play, not whether or not the creator’s goals match the audience’s goals or tastes.

Recognize that narrative is important, but not the only thing that should drive a work. Characterization is important. So is mood. Aesthetics. How do they impact a work? Just because something has plot holes doesn’t mean it’s Bad. Sometimes plot takes a backseat to emotion or aesthetics, and learning to see that takes practice. For example, some of us may like moments where emotion is emphasized, but some may not - saying a moment in a work is “overly emotional” based on personal taste doesn’t necessarily tell us anything useful. Evaluating how that emotional moment serves (or dis-serves) the overall story is useful.

Recognize that just because something is diverse or has good representation, that doesn’t mean it’s entirely without drawbacks. A work can have a whole cast of POC but still tell a story that promotes or glorifies harmful ideas. For example, Hamilton is almost entirely POC, but it glorifies a colonial narrative. Think about how the love for the actors and creators of a diverse work obscures actual problems with the work without seeing it as an attack on identity.

On the flipside, let underrepresented characters have diverse narratives - just because they aren’t perfect protagonists, that doesn’t mean the work is racist, sexist, homophobic, etc. It’s ok to point out that some characters are never the heroes that others usually are, but don’t reduce POC, female, lgbt+, etc. characters to tropes in your effort to get better representation. For example, you can point out that the Bury Your Gays trope exists and is harmful, but if you insist that lgbt+ people can never die in a work, your ability to see characters as having complex narratives is limited. Instead, think about the events that lead to that character’s death and whether or not it was meaningful before writing a story off. For example, criticizing The 100 for mishandling Lexa’s death is valid because of the circumstances that led to her death - the goals seemed to be shock value, and the circumstances didn’t make a lot of sense. On the flip side, Atomic Blonde killed off a lgbt+ character, which, depending on the viewer, can be offensive - but there is more to her death than just shock value, and she dies for more reasons than just her sexuality. Similarly, just because a POC character isn’t perfect doesn’t mean the story is racist. Consider why the character isn’t perfect or whether the imperfection is part of a character arc.

Consider historical context. An older work isn’t going to have the same aesthetics and values of today. This doesn’t make everything in the older work okay, but it does mean that we can’t write something off just because it doesn’t measure up to contemporary sensibilities. For example, the Christmas song “Baby It’s Cold Outside” seems to have lyrics about sexual assault in it, but considering when it was written changes the lyrics to be about the very real existence of curfews for women and the culture around alcohol consumption. Likewise, a work might reveal that tastes were different in the past than today, and that’s ok. For example, we might see some medieval literature as disorganized, but people listening to it back in the day might have valued meandering narratives with lots of references to other works (more than we do today). That doesn’t mean the work is Bad.

Let things be complex. Works are rarely entirely good or entirely bad. People are complex, so they create things and like things that are complex. It’s ok to like Buffy the Vampire Slayer despite Joss Whedon’s record and the racist episodes. It’s ok to like a video game with female characters that were obviously designed by straight men. That doesn’t mean someone is a bad person or that the work is entirely without merit. On the flip side, don’t let love for something blind you to its faults. Viewing a work as a complex object allows nuances to be explored and prevents monolithic evaluations.

Separate your identity from works of fiction when it comes to criticism. I know it can feel like any criticism of a work can be a criticism of yourself. Some people have tied themselves so closely to Harry Potter, Star Wars, etc. that any negative thing said against it feels like a negative thing said against a person. It’s ok to be shaped by these stories, and it’s ok to love them. It’s not ok to shut down valid criticisms or to insist that other people “won’t let you enjoy things” just by saying something against it.

Recognize when to criticize and when to let something go - being overly critical can kill the love of a thing. This involves knowing what to emphasize, what to ignore, and who to say it to. Does it matter that a movie adaptation of a book got the eye color of a character wrong? Maybe not, but it certainly matters if the skin color is changed in the adaptation (like in The Hunger Games). One of these things is a more important point than the other.

Recognize when you don’t have enough information. It’s ok to admit you lack knowledge. Put your thoughts on hold and go look up some information or ask an expert for their input.

Avoid the “hot take.” Let thoughts marinade. Our culture is obsessed with the hot take - the criticisms and think pieces that are written 2.5 seconds after the release of a piece of media. Sometimes, our initial thoughts aren’t the best. Take stock of your initial impressions and let them sit with you a while. Challenge them. Let them change, grow, or evolve.

Learning to see another side doesn’t mean that you approve of it. It’s ok to understand the motivations of a character without approving of them. It doesn’t make a critic a bad person for it. for example, just because someone understands what makes a villain do what they do, that doesn’t mean they endorse the villain’s goals or behavior. But learning to understand these motivations allows someone to see the work more complexly, which is always the goal of criticism.

Stop being concerned about being right, and stop expecting people to perform rightness when it comes to criticism. If you only criticize a work to show how non-sexist or non-racist you are, your criticism is more about you than the work. By all means, criticize the racism, sexism, homophobia, etc. in a work, but don’t let the entirety of your criticism be a performance of how Good you are as a person. Criticism should be about the work, not about you, the critic.

Learn to see when something is exploitative and when it is not. It’s valid to insist that the industry include more creators of color, lgbt+ creators, etc. It’s not helpful to insist that only POC creators can write POC characters, that only women can write women, etc. If a white man is writing a story about a woman, it’s not necessarily exploitative. Think about the purpose of the story: is it a story about female identity? Then it may be a problem. That story would better be handled by a female creator. Is a white creator writing a story with POC in it? It might not on principle be exploitative - but if that story is about black identity, then it might be. Learn to see those gaps, but don’t treat all instances the same. Luke Cage is deeply rooted in black identity and needs to be helmed by POC creators. Wonder Woman is the first blockbuster superheroine movie, so it should be helmed by a woman. BUT The Expanse is written by two white men but handles its diversity (arguably) well. It’s not on the same level as exploitative media, such as Ghost in the Shell, Gods of Egypt, etc.

I’m probably forgetting things or articulating them poorly, so add on as you see fit, fellow tumblr critics.

[wikkedscorpion]

#Repost @oneikatraveller (with @report.for.insta) ... 🥰*4 SIMPLE WAYS TO BE A BETTER ALLY TO BLACK PEOPLE* I couldn't let Black History Month end without leaving the following PSA for White folks and non-black POCs! Successful allyship doesn't always have to be loud or laborious-- it's often couched in the small and simple gestures. So here are 4 VERY easy ways you can do better. ___ 1. 👊🏼 Stop participating in the "Struggle Olympics". Example: when I'm talking about Black Lives Matter, please don't interject with All Lives Matter. If Black people speak about their oppression, suppress the urge to one-up them with your own tales of woe. Trying to compare or one-up struggles is disrespectful and dismissive. 2. 👊🏽Don't "whitesplain" away our lived experiences of discrimination. This is even worse than the "Struggle Olympian" above. Can't relate or don't believe us? Smile and nod or simply don't engage. Don't tell me I'm imagining things or minimize what I've been through. 3. 👊🏾Stop getting defensive about Black Pride. Celebrating Blackness is a direct response to systemic and systematic anti-Black racism, historically being treated like 2nd class citizens, and lack of representation in mainstream arenas. Also, being pro-Black doesn't equal being anti-White or against other POCs. 4. 👊🏿Stop treating us like a monolith.  The African diaspora is vast and varied.  Expecting your black friend/colleague/mentor to speak on behalf on the entire race is silly, if not non-sensical. (Seeking information? Get thee onto Google and educate thyself. There are already SO many demands for the (unpaid) intellectual labour of Black people, it's exhausting.) Also, just a friendly reminder that Ghana 🇬🇭 and Guyana 🇬🇾 are indeed two different countries, on two entirely different continents 😭😜 . There's so much more to be said on this topic but I'll stop here. Happy Black History Month! (at Durham, North Carolina) https://www.instagram.com/p/B9LE_vnJ6hH/?igshid=1u1oa4cdmux4s

[wellesleyunderground]

#FollowFriday: The Badass Women of Identity Politics

The Women of Identity Politics: Ikhlas Saleem ‘11 and Makkah Ali ‘10

In case you haven’t heard, Identity Politics, the brainchild of Ikhlas Saleem ‘11 and Makkah Ali '10, is a podcast on race, gender, and Muslims in America—and it’s just what the doctor ordered.

May Sifuentes ‘09, a Wellesley Underground editor, had the chance to talk to this #blackgirlmagic duo about their podcast and why you should tune in. Read their interview below, and better yet, share it with the world.

You can find them on Facebook, Twitter, and online. You can also subscribe to their podcast on iTunes, Soundcloud, Acast, and Stitcher. E-mail them with questions and ideas at identitypoliticspodcast@gmail.com.

May: Thank you so much for meeting with us! I was listening this morning, I’m so excited that you started this project. I want to hear more about Identity Politics—what the series is, how did you start it, why did you start it, and also, what does it mean to have a podcast that is named very similarly to, perhaps, one of the most controversial terms of the last election?

Ikhlas: Back in 2010 I started my blog Haya wa Iman, which literally translates to ‘Modesty and Faith’. I was inspired after going to a conference with Makkah called ‘Pearls of the Quran’ in DC and one of the speakers talked about the notion of modesty and faith. Typically you see Muslim women in the media and it’s always about what they are wearing, when we talk about and care about so much more than that. I wanted to spin that into a spiritual reflection of what it means to be Muslim in America today.

For a year and a half I blogged on that topic and had been talking about starting a podcast because I wanted to reach more people. I wanted to be able to share more stories and experiences from within the Muslim community. My husband put a date on the calendar for January 7, 2016 and said “this is the day you are going to release your first episode.” It actually happened on January 9, but that was the push I needed. After the first few episodes, I asked Makkah to join as a co-host and the rest was history.

Makkah: To add on to that origin story, Ikhlas went to Harvard Divinity School and got her Master’s in Theological Studies. I remember visiting her in Boston years ago and talking about how there weren’t adequate discussions happening publicly about life at the intersections of different topics. You can study and discuss classical Islamic texts or you can discuss contemporary gender studies or you can focus on critical race theory. We were frustrated that it was hard to find folks looking at these topics from multiple lenses, even though we live our lives that way. I don’t wake up one day and live just as a woman with all of my experiences happening purely from a woman’s lense, and then wake up the next day as a black person or a Muslim and experience life from those perspectives, one at a time. 

Even outside of academia, we were seeing people speak about “Muslim issues” with flat portrayals of our community that didn’t reflect our rich diversity. Muslims are not a monolith. So having a Muslim expert on the news or a Muslim character on a TV show isn’t enough unless there’s an explicit recognition that the way they understand and experience their Muslimness is also influenced by their race, nationality, gender, language, and so much more. We are more complicated than any one checkbox that we are told to check. These conversations are ones we are having with our friends. It’s like a Tower Dining Hall brunch conversation, brought to your headphones. I’m super grateful that Ikhlas launched this platform and feel very fortunate to be part of it.

May: So what are those conversations that you are having with your friends, your communities, and with your families that you want to infuse all over Identity Politics as a podcast?

Makkah: For example, both of us are the daughters of converts to Islam. For Ikhlas’ first episode, she interviewed her mom; in a later episode about Muslims in love, I interviewed my parents about their love story. Ikhlas and I always talk about how when we were in our early 20s, we don’t think we would have been down for a major life change like choosing a new religion. This is also a conversation I have with my friends who are children of immigrants, whose parents moved to new countries when they were our age. We like learning about what motivated those choices and how different identities influenced the way they experienced these changes—whether it was coming from another country to America as a woman, or converting to Islam from Christianity as a Black American.

We also did an episode about race with some of our white friends. I talk to my white friends all the time about feminism, spirituality, and race. But more often than not, you just see people of color talking about race and white people listening. While it’s important to let people of color narrate their own lives, I also recognize that if we exclude white people from conversations about race, they will continue to just sit in their privilege and never have to assess their own problematic cultural baggage in the ways that POC are often called to do.

We aren’t just two black women talking about race to other black people. We talk to descendents of slaves and African immigrants and Asian Americans and Arab Americans and white Americans because we know that being Muslim is not a single race, practice, or culture. Being Muslim is a spiritual and religious identification and American Muslims are the most diverse Muslim community in the world. We talk to American Muslims of all backgrounds about real issues to give a fuller, deeper, broader picture of what it really means to be Muslim in this country.

May: I think that all of us Wellesley Women who are not white are having similar conversations. As an immigrant to this country, as a Latina, I’ve been trying to see how to get Wellesley Women who may be activists and allies and white to take action—what is the next level for folks that we went to school with and that are our friends? In the era of Trump, it is now very important for them to step it up. For you, what are some of the most interesting outcomes from the many conversations you’ve had with your friends and what do you want to happen with those allies?

Ikhlas: This is something that I thought about early on when starting the podcast. Of course I had a target audience, and we still do, where our primary audience is black Muslim women. But we also try to make the podcast accessible to any group.

One of the earliest pieces of feedback I received was from a white woman who wasn’t Muslim. She listened to the podcast and she said “I had to stop listening because I felt that this was a conversation that I shouldn’t be hearing, that I shouldn’t be a part of.” I thought that was such interesting feedback and I understood where she was coming from. We should be talking about these things within every community—how are we navigating race, how are we navigating gender, how is that influencing how we relate to each other? Even if you aren’t Muslim, you aren’t black, you aren’t South Asian, you aren’t Arab, these conversations translate into our lives in America, into our world. Where do we draw from when we are thinking about “how am I going to treat this black person walking into the store?” Where are those things coming from, and how can we work to improve that?

Our audience has widened over time. We do have a lot of Wellesley Women that are white and love our podcast and listen to every episode. It’s meaningful because they are sharing these episodes with their networks and we are just getting a greater understanding of who we are and how we relate to each other.

May: In this particular space, you are filing a void. You are sharing some stories that are not being shared. So as young women, as Americans, what does it mean to be young, black, and Muslim in the United States to you? Life pre-November is very different that it is now and what it’s going to be. You have so much to share with us.

Makkah: What does it mean to be young, black, and Muslim in America? It is to be on constant alert. I don’t have the luxury of not paying attention to what is happening around me in the world, whether it’s through conversations about race, about police brutality, about sexual assault, about student loan debt, about terrorism. I have to know a lot more about what’s happening because it’s so closely tied to who I am. It’s a burden but also a blessing because, again, this podcast is about understanding that we live our lives as full, complex beings, not just as one thing. So I feel like my experience right now is a complete manifestation of that complexity, of really understanding that the world is grappling with a lot of complicated topics right now and that each thing is not happening in a vacuum. What is happening with Islamophobia in this country is tied to what has happened with black movements in the past, it’s tied to feminism, white supremacy, immigration, it’s tied to many things that I know about from different contexts. It’s been very interesting, particularly being black and Muslim, talking to Muslims who are not black. We’ve found that many of aren’t as familiar with the history of surveillance of black communities in this country, for example. Or even the history of the surveillance of Black Muslims in this country. So the surveillance of their Muslim communities came as kind of a surprise.

I think it’s been a real privilege and blessing, in some ways, to be able to pull from different contexts and different historical backgrounds and talk to people who may be at different cultural intersections about how their understanding compares to ours. Ikhlas, does that make sense?

Ikhlas: That totally makes sense! I’m still thinking about how earlier, May you mentioned that life is very different post-November. And if you listened to our Life After the Election episode you kind of know that I’m a little pessimistic about politics, so life for me kind of still feels the same under Trump. I feel like a lot of my life—being young, black, and Muslim—you are pretty much ignored and not seen as legitimate outside of black American Muslim circles. So, just having those encounters where you constantly have to -- and I don’t do this anymore-- but where you have to prove that you belong, prove that your identity as a black person matters, and you have to constantly remind other Muslims that black lives matter and this should be a concern for the Muslim community. I think we are improving upon that as a “Muslim community,” which is exciting.

I’m excited because black people and people of color in general—I’m seeing the height of our creativity right now. Digital platforms have allowed our voices to be heard, our work to be heard. Whenever I go on Facebook and I see that a friend has this new art piece out, it’s very exciting. People of color are still living under terrible conditions, but we have this young force that is pushing back on that and forcing everyone to take steps towards improving conditions for everyone. To even have you asking us about this podcast is exciting because I really did think that only a small circle of people would be attracted to this.

May: It’s kind of incredible, isn’t it, how even just the three of us seem to be so different. We have different lived experiences. But as you are talking and as you are sharing your own experiences I am remembering feeling those feelings-- in different circumstances, of course-- but feeling them nonetheless. And it’s kind of incredible how we’ve walked different paths but at the same time we do have shared experiences, shared feelings. It’s awesome. Thank you for being here and sharing.

What’s the final pitch for those folks reading the interview—Why should people listen to Identity Politics? What should they expect in the next few months?

Ikhlas: Wow, you really come with the big questions, eh? I think a big thing about Identity Politics is just learning to value human life and, this is a big statement, how to learn to take people for who they are, you know? Recognizing and embracing all of their identities—as a Muslim person, as a black person, as a woman—and factoring in all of these things when we are learning how to be in relationships with one another. I think that’s one of the big things, when people listen to Identity Politics I would hope that they would listen and not just listen for the laughs, but that they take these learnings and implement them in their daily lives so we can be in better relationships with one another. This is my lofty goal for the podcast: that we learn to value one another and treat people with the respect and dignity that they deserve.

Makkah: You know, we got kind of lucky with the name “Identity Politics.” We decided on this name last summer and then it became a huge media catchphrase. So props to us, I guess, for having the foresight and understanding that this was going to be an important concept!

On a serious note, with the name Identity Politics, we are intentionally referencing this idea that who we are— our social groups, our racial, cultural groups— who we are can influence our politics and our decisions. And that’s a controversial concept and people are now trying to figure out whether that’s a good thing or a bad thing. But we chose this name because although we know that one’s identity can influence their behavior, we also know that people have multiple identities. So the question then becomes, how are we negotiating which parts of our identities influence which decisions?

Through this podcast we just want to bring people of different backgrounds together to discuss which parts of who they are, on any given day, are impacting their perspectives on various topics and their lives as Muslims in America. There are many other awesome podcasts hosted by Muslims, but there are none dedicated to covering the intersections between Muslims and the many other communities that we are part of in this country. That’s what we’re adding to this space — we want to unpack what it actually means to be Muslim to different people in America.

Ikhlas and I want to break through this two-dimensional portrayal of Muslims as model minorities that you should respect because we’re your veterans and engineers and doctors. No! We are also your cab drivers, your security guards, we run your gas stations, we’re incarcerated, we succeed, we fail, and we do everything in between. We are human and that is why you should respect our humanity. But if people don’t know who we are and what we care about, they definitely aren’t going to know how to “stand with” us. Hopefully listeners are deepening that understanding so that we can build stronger alliances across our differences.

May: Wow, mic drop. I feel like I have so many questions. I’d love to invite you back in a few months to chat, especially about feminism, womanism, and about this constructed notion of womanhood. It would be awesome to talk to you about it.

Do you have anything final you’d like to say, any final comments before we close up the interview?

Ikhlas: We’re always open to new ideas and suggestions. We are currently in a growing phase, figuring out what the issues are, and sometimes we miss things. As intersectional as we are, there are still things we don’t know about. So we encourage you to listen to the podcast, and to e-mail us, Tweet us, Facebook us, so that we can learn from you and so we can grow.

Makkah: If you are interested in better understanding the diversity of Muslims in America, whether you are part of the Muslim community or not, then this is the podcast for you. If you are interested in smart but accessible conversations about race, about gender, about religion, and about how this very distinct marginalized community in the United States is grappling with some of those issues—that maybe your community is grappling with in a different way—then this is the podcast for you. I think, in these trying times, we really do need to build more solidarity, more empathy, and more knowledge about different communities. And there are great lessons to be learned across different groups.

So listen today! And don’t forget to review us on iTunes to make it easier for others to find us.

[wikkedscorpion]

#Repost @oneikatraveller (with @report.for.insta) ... 🥰*4 SIMPLE WAYS TO BE A BETTER ALLY TO BLACK PEOPLE* I couldn't let Black History Month end without leaving the following PSA for White folks and non-black POCs! Successful allyship doesn't always have to be loud or laborious-- it's often couched in the small and simple gestures. So here are 4 VERY easy ways you can do better. ___ 1. 👊🏼 Stop participating in the "Struggle Olympics". Example: when I'm talking about Black Lives Matter, please don't interject with All Lives Matter. If Black people speak about their oppression, suppress the urge to one-up them with your own tales of woe. Trying to compare or one-up struggles is disrespectful and dismissive. 2. 👊🏽Don't "whitesplain" away our lived experiences of discrimination. This is even worse than the "Struggle Olympian" above. Can't relate or don't believe us? Smile and nod or simply don't engage. Don't tell me I'm imagining things or minimize what I've been through. 3. 👊🏾Stop getting defensive about Black Pride. Celebrating Blackness is a direct response to systemic and systematic anti-Black racism, historically being treated like 2nd class citizens, and lack of representation in mainstream arenas. Also, being pro-Black doesn't equal being anti-White or against other POCs. 4. 👊🏿Stop treating us like a monolith.  The African diaspora is vast and varied.  Expecting your black friend/colleague/mentor to speak on behalf on the entire race is silly, if not non-sensical. (Seeking information? Get thee onto Google and educate thyself. There are already SO many demands for the (unpaid) intellectual labour of Black people, it's exhausting.) Also, just a friendly reminder that Ghana 🇬🇭 and Guyana 🇬🇾 are indeed two different countries, on two entirely different continents 😭😜 . There's so much more to be said on this topic but I'll stop here. Happy Black History Month! (at Durham, North Carolina) https://www.instagram.com/p/B9LE70qJUBK/?igshid=1kgcii52cumgl