#performative allyship

[icedsodapop]

So... I saw this post that screenshot the discourse between two Black women on Twitter over the usage of "Rest in Power" for Aaron Bushnell's self-immolation is appopriate. As non-Black leftists, I don't think we have a right to wade into the discourse among Black leftists in regards to this. However, I am disappointed and unsettled by some of the notes left on the post by non-Black users:

Black culture, AAVE in this case, has already has been appropriated for a long time, and the term, "Rest in Power" has been co-opted to hell and back by non-Black people. Black people on Twitter have said that they were being harassed for their criticism over using "Rest in Power" for Aaron Bushnell:

It is important for us as supporters of Palestinian liberation to acknowledge and honor Aaron Bushnell, I also believe that for non-Black allies of Palestinian liberation, we can do that in a way that do not co-opt the language of Black radical movements and definitely does not dismiss the concerns and critiques of our fellow Black allies. Please remember that we always have to be aware of perpetuating antiblackness within the Free Palestine movement. Are we being inclusive in our activism or are we just being performative?

Here are some tweets by Black Twitter users on this:

[hilacopter]

"oh no guys be careful right-wing nazis are using the palestinian cause to try and make us antisemitic!!! I know they're very convincing and it's so so hard to see what's nazi propaganda and what's not, but we don't want to prove the jews- I mean evil zionazis right when they say we're being antisemitic right? remember, it's not enough that antisemitism is bad on it's own but that it's harming our cause specifically. unfortunately soooo many jews will call everything antisemitic these days so looks like we'll have to trust our instincts to determine what counts as antisemitism. remember guys antisemitism in the movement is so horrible because it drives away the good jews™ and we don't have any obligation to protect half of the world's jewish population from it. those evil colonizer babykillers, they should have all rot in the concentration camps. remember to send love to your jewish mutuals!!! punch a nazi!!! 🔯💓❤️✡️💖🕎💗✡️❤️💓🕎✡️💞"

[deaddee-anime-brownfanlady]

I'm not sorry, but anyone who proclaims themselves to be a so-called Leftist or "ActiviSTS" and claims to care about minorities but have no issues with racist-ass convicted rapist Trump taking presidential power again is nothing more than a piece of horrid shit to me.

No, seriously, I'm sick of rat-fuckers' self-righteous fake performative Losers that wanna act like they are on the same levels of actual hard-working Civil rights leaders that actually put in the real work of getting things done when these assholes can't even be bothered to get off there asses and Vote to stop America from becoming a possible nightmare theocratic dictatorship nation.

Yet they're still hoping for their imaginary Revolution to come through and fix everything,

If real deep shit were to go down, ya'll definitely wouldn't last and likely be the first ones to die and wouldn't know what the hell to do. But still want to cosplay as Revolutionaries and act like they give a Fuck about marginalized people,

I'm sick of performative ally nonsense.

Anybody who is willingly voting third-party or refusing to vote against Trump but still wanna act like they are being " GOOD allies " for minorities are fake-ass people who are performative activists. They are just Fascist supporting scumbags who are pretending to be Progressive.

I refuse to tolerate useful morons who seem to be alright with letting a unhinged mentality declining by the minute bigot who have said multiple times that he wants to be a dictator when he takes Office and will use his power to do the most heinous horrific shit imagble to those he sees as "The Enemies within ".

Anybody who is willingly OK to let this White-supremacists loving bastard take power again and refuses to do anything to stop him from doing so but still wanna believe they are a " inherently GoOd Morally Pure person " isn't as good of a person as they think they are.

[odinsblog]

These mask off moments aren’t anything new.

It’s official: White “feminists” like Julianna Margulies, Amy Schumer and Patricia Arquette have no clue that Black women, Black LGBTQ people, and Black Jewish people are actual categories of people who exist.

Worse still, they completely ignore that it is often white women who have been responsible for some of the worst harms inflicted on other women, Black people and NBPoC.

White “feminists” constantly acting like they’ve done the most - when they’ve only helped themselves and then pulled up the ladder afterwards - then demanding the labor of marginalized Black people in return for their so-called “help” is disgusting. Their transactional, conditional allyship, and their focus on one singular identity at the expense of all others, is the polar opposite of intersectional feminism.

Black people have had some real allies from every race, color and creed, but let’s get this straight: Black people fought our own fights and when we lose, we most definitely do our own dying. Nobody “gave” us anything because Julianna Margulies put a fucking black square on her Instagram pfp when George Floyd was murdered. And Black people don’t owe any of these racists a damn thing for their extremely limited, performative, paternalistic, and self-serving “allyship”.

[fandomshatepeopleofcolor]

On anti-racist academic and advocate Jane Elliot's antiblackness:

The other day, a friend posted an Instagram story about one of our favorite anti-racist advocates, Jane Elliot, using the "N Word" at a casual social gathering.

Given this, it's not hard to believe that this outspoken, unapologetic "anti-racist" professor is also against the distribution of reparations among Black people. Her reasoning isn't different than the typical white supremacist argument against reparations that attempts to muddy the water, spotlight a "more deserving" recipient, and justify that it would be too complicated.

(Emphasis mine)

- mod sodapop

[troythecatfish]

[liminalweirdo]

Do people who say things like "blue eyes are weird as fuck" and "you can't trust a person with blue eyes" realize they are just exacerbating the hated and prejudice between peoples which we should be working to fucking eradicate?

You might think that what you're saying might mark you out as an anti-racist or whatever, but the goal of us marginalized groups is actually equality, not a position of power or desirability over someone else you consider inferior. You're basically just saying, "actually, I think we should perform eugenics and perpetuate social stigma against this arbitrarily undesirable group of people instead," when you could just, you know, be fucking normal about it and actually realize that it's intersectionality and acceptance or nothing. That lateral aggression does nothing but waste everyone's precious time?

You cannot just throw other groups of people under the bus for physical features and traits they cannot help, what is wrong with you?

[shyjusticewarrior]

Good time for a reminder that hbomberguy is an abuse apologist and enabler

[icedsodapop]

Norman Finkelstein's response to Edward Said's criticism of Chomsky:

Source: I’ll Burn That Bridge When I Get to It!

I will quote two tweets in response that I think are applicable to Finkelstein's condescending attitude to Said's valid critique:

[underleveledjosh]

I can't believe that person is actually doubling down on the stance that it's wrong for a fanfiction website to ask for donations without making a performative monologue about how bad genocide is. Do they really need every single person and entity on the planet to step aside like Dora the Explorer to say, "Now remember! Genocide is BAD!" Yes, the situation is awful and there needs to be a ceasefire, but what do they think they're achieving by railing at AO3 Just Because and getting violent at random Tumblr users? People are just...

Yeah, exactly. There is a time and a place for everything. A site whose main goal is to maintain a censorship free site for fanfic ain't it. They focus on keeping the fics safe, and that's it. They had a pretty nasty security breach last year, so they absolutely need donations to make sure security is even better and as tight as possible.

Also, not everyone is comfortable talking about their political stances publicly, especially online, where a healthy and productive discussion is damn near impossible to come by. A lot of people prefer to keep their political beliefs their own personal business. Not everyone needs to be an activist, and just because they don't publicly state they support Palestine, it doesn't mean that they don't support Palestine. It means they keep their politics private, and I believe that people must respect that.

[deaddee-anime-brownfanlady]

I will never understand certain people who deemed themselves as " Leftists " or "Progressives " or so-called "allies " for minorities and marginalized groups and pretend to act like they give a Fuck about said groups of people. But have no issues throwing many of said minorities and marginalized groups under the bus as "acceptable collateral damage " with Trump if he gets back in Office again.

Because they idiotically believe that Trump would bring out their glorious "Revolution."

These people aren't serious at all about politics and have deeply lost touch with reality with this stupid belief of theirs that is nothing more then just pure fantasy.

I so badly want these people to stop acting like they actually care about black and brown people or immigrants and LGBTQ people and women, also religious minorities and such.

When in actuality, they have no problems with putting a highly unhinged, unstable, reckless convicted dangerous criminal bigoted piece of shit wannabe dictator back in power again.

Truly Fuck these phony fake-ass people who claimed to care about these groups, but actually have no problems with Fucking over said groups and have them suffer solely because they want to punish democrats for not being " Super leftist enough " or try to "punish" Biden because they want to live their Hunger Games Revolutionary dreams.

That they seem to think America losing complete democracy and turning into a far-right authoritarian theocratic country no better than North Korea or Russia or any other dictatorship nation isn't a problem because they believe that a dictatorship "Isn't that BaD " or living under a theocratic regime " Won't be a Big DeaL ".

I swear these people aren't real Leftists and should just admit to themselves that they don't actually give a flying shit about the groups of people they pretend to care about and that they are fine with authoritarianism rule.

Really Fuck these people, my family and loved ones and everyone else I care about aren't you're "acceptable collateral damage" for your imagery Revolution.

[odinsblog]

Schumer and Arquette act as though these are discrete category checkboxes that have no overlap (“you may only pick one” white feminism)

Remember kids, people actually dO exist who are simultaneously more than one of the following identities: Black + woman + Jewish + Palestinian + LGBTQ

Arquette and Schumer’s transactional, conditional allyship, and their focus on one singular identity at the expense of the others, is the polar opposite of intersectional feminism

[adulting-sucks]

Wow. So, now people are performative if they don’t trash and make fun of Evans? I’m sorry, but for anyone trying to claim people who posted about the racism and antisemitism but aren’t dragging someone is performative, stop.

Everyone is sick and tired of this bullshit drama. But every single time, it’s the same hypocritical people.

Don’t EVER speak on anyone’s behalf regarding this issue. You think I’m performative, but the only thing any of the hypocrites have ever done is make fun of Evans, drag Evans. These people are exactly the same as the supposed people they’re attacking.

I have spoken out about all of this since it was brought to light. I have sent in asks explaining my experience with racism. Funny how the people this group is going after are the only ones who actually posted them without making fun of me.

So no, we aren’t performative. We’re just not about turning our blogs into Baptista blogs, we’re not about stirring up shit when there’s nothing left, and we’re certainly not the ones causing the issues in the fandom.

Their allyship is absolutely performative. Not one of them had any issue using the racism and antisemitism to justify making fun of someone who they frankly still don’t know if he is truly racist or not.

Am I still disappointed in him? Absofuckinglutely. But I will never forget those who spoke over me or made fun of me vs the ones who actually listened.

Y’all know who the fuck you are. Block me. Please. Cause the most hypocritical thing you’ve done to me has just happened. Fuck every last one of you.

[noperopesaredope]

Just Received a YouTube Comment Reply That's Left Me Speechless

So about a year ago, I watched this video by Nicque Marina about how mixed and lighter skinned black women tend to interrupt/talk over darker black women when dark-skinned black women are talking about colorism and misogynoir. Under that video, I wrote this comment:

"I'm a white-passing mixed teen, and even though I've delt with some self-hatred issues because of it, I'm perfectly aware that there is a lot of BS that I won't go through. I have a younger sibling who is a bit darker than me and not white-passing, and she has to go through so much BS from White people. And she's still relatively light skinned! I can't imagine what kind of shit many dark skinned Black women need to put up with all the time.

I can't possibly understand why some mixed/light skinned Black folks talk over darker skinned Black folks. And if you really feel like you're being excluded from the community for "looking white," then by acting like a white person and bulldosing over the needs of other, darker Black folks, you are kinda proving their point. That's my thought process at the very least.

I'm one of the palest half-black folks you'll ever meet, so trust me, I know all about the invalidation and stuff. But because of my unique experience with my racial identity, I am aware that I need to tread carefully, because I know how hurtful racism can be, and I know I have the power to inflict that pain on those around me. That's why I choose to lift up other people's voices, and will only speak about my own experiences if it is to validate darker folks, in a space made for me to talk about my identity issues, or IN FUCKING THERAPY.

If you are lighter skinned, you have power over others. So use it to help others with less privilege then you, not push them down."

I was proud of this comment and put quite a bit of thought into it, since I truly mean this on a personal level. I do face issues, but my main goal when talking about anti-black racism is to lift up my darker peers who deal with some of the worst of anti-blackness and colorism. I fight not specifically for myself, but for my darker loved ones whose lives and safety I care about.

The comment was about acknowledging that my insecurities are valid, but that I also have a privilege and must not use it to put others down.

And then, yesterday, I got this fucking reply:

"We all know that. But these same people you taking up for will lie on and hurt you for having a pretty light complexion. And taunt you for being the pretty girl that men want. Basically jealous of you. Keep living."

I....I don't even know how to reply to that. I....wtf. There are layers to this comment.

It pretended to be supportive of me while completely ignoring everything I just said (a classic way of talking over POC)

It's extremely misogynistic (perpetuating stuff about women being jealous and catty)

It's putting down dark skinned black women to lift a light skinned mixed "woman" in one of those "coddling a white woman from the 'mean black woman'" (which is wild after I specifically stated I didn't need or want protecting)

Villainizing dark skinned Black women in general

Implying that I'm "prettier" because I have light skin

Lowkey fetishizing me in a way that made me feel really gross and uncomfortable. Maybe it's also the misgendering and assumption that I'm straight, but I feel weirdly objectified by the whole "pretty light complexion" and being referred to as being "the pretty girl that men want." It makes me want to throw up. Maybe I'm being over dramatic and I don't think it's quite as bad as all the shitty stuff they said about dark skinned black women, but it's part of what's been bothering me and feels so icky

On that last point, while I didn't say my age, I did refer to myself as a teenager, so it's extreme weird that they said that about me

The whole thing is just wild and I don't even know what to say. I want to reply to them and maybe chew them out a little (especially because I think it would be best for me specifically to do it), but I wouldn't even know where to start.

Anyway, just wanted to show everyone the audacity and ask for advice.

[troythecatfish]

It’s crazy that “leftists” in Los Angeles can openly partner with the U.S. Military and Raytheon in Texas and then come back home and pretend they’re pro-Palestine and the whole LA left just gives that shit a pass. You are helping the genocide. Don’t pretend you’re on the right side of history now.

[newnitz]

https://www.tumblr.com/newnitz/765971733385789440/are-they-using-the-final-letter-variants-of-all

Do you think the voters who receive this would be incredibly insulted, or just laughing too hard from the sheer nonsensical gibberish?

No idea. We found JVP tremendously insulting because they claimed to represent us and Sukkot as Tuchus merch hilariously sad since it was such an epic fail in catering to us. I don't presume to know which side Arab-Americans see AoC as.