hm, do I send a message to the bunches of people who are reposting my art without credit orrrr not
Recently Virginia legislators attempted to pass a series of bills that would limit women’s access to contraception, abortions, and other basic health necessities.
Governor Bob McDonnell repealed the law prohibiting employers from discriminating against and unlawfully terminating the employment of LGBTQ individuals.
Within the past week Confederate-pride types have been marching in Richmond and waving their flags.
Everyone is surprised, everyone is saying how “scary” Virginia is now; no one can seem to believe this is happening.
And I cannot help but roll my eyes. Truth is, Virginia has always been this way. These recent events are not shocking to me; in fact, they are something I have been expecting for years.
If you are a transplant to Richmond or if you grew up in the northern suburbs, I can only assume you don’t know the full story of Virginia. I assume you don’t know about racial tensions in southern Virginia schools and the constant threat of community violence between members of the KKK and the black community. I assume you know nothing about the lack of sex education, the repression of women, or the perpetual sense of “otherness” one feels when you don’t fit heteronormative social roles.
I assume you know nothing of being the “nigger lover” of your school because you dated a black guy your sophomore year, a relationship that lasted three months. I assume you’ve never been to an after-prom party where a mob of rednecks tried to lynch that same guy. Did you hear them call out, “where’s the nigger?”
Did the cops refer to the black side of town as “browntown?” I guess your high school’s idea of fashion wasn’t “dixie pride” shirts with confederate flags on them.
Were you involved in a group called “gifted and talented” which took you on fun, educational field trips? It was supposed to be for the “smart” kids, but a lot of those kids weren’t smart — they were white and had influential families in the community.
Maybe your high school honors classes were for the intelligent, or maybe they were for those same white kids with influential families.
I also assume you didn’t petition your high school to bring a date to prom that was the same sex as you, and I assume you didn’t have to deal with the failure of that petition. With your peers looking you in the face and refusing to sign because you’re “sick” or “evil” or “unnatural,” or because it “goes against” their religious beliefs.
Two years after your best friend, who is gay, graduated high school, did you still have to deal with homophobic comments about him?
I assume you’ve not been chastised and targeted for being the smart girl in your class. I assume your male classmates haven’t specifically tried to prove you wrong because, in their mind, you’re not allowed to be smarter. I guess teachers didn’t give you a hard time for being a girl.
Maybe you didn’t grow up with your friends’ parents telling you abortion is evil and that they use aborted babies for all kinds of terrible science experiments — and that they put the dead babies in your shampoo.
Don’t give me that shit about Virginia being “pretty scary right now.” It has always been this scary. If you think otherwise, you have been blind until this point.
Welcome to reality, y’all.
Welp! That’s great! Gonna rant now!
AS USUAL WHAT ELSE IS NEWBefore he was 8, things were fine and dandy and he’s a happy adorable snotrag!
He isin’t treated any differently and if he is, he’s too young to notice at the time.
He’s 10. He’s talented at creating animation and draws like a pro.
Early primary school; things are fine but he feels a little confused that he’s one of the very few black kids in his school. Apart from that, he enjoys school and no trouble making friends. Still a witty & bright little smartass!
12 years old. Parents are called into school because teacher feels my brother cheated on a test (he was one of the few that scored the highest. Also the only black boy in his class).
Brother is confused. Says he didn’t cheat on anything. Parents tell him not to cheat and to work harder.
The year goes by. Parents are called in again. Teacher puts my brother at the very back of the class because “he was late for school”.
13 years old. A little bit wary of how his teacher only seems to target him- and only him- in his entire class of 20+ pupils. Notices he’s the only one in class not getting enough attention for homework stuff. Doesn’t put his hand up in class for questions much anymore because parents are always called in because ‘he asks too much questions’.
14years old. Last year. There’s a group science project (the group with the best science model gets to represent their school and meet the President of Ireland). Years of being good with drawings, animation and now physics helps him a lot. Other teacher remarks on how great his science model was. His group wins. He gets to meet the president.
Principal tells my brother he’s no longer allowed in his own group work. He’s replaced with a white boy that’s not even in his class. This boy and the rest of the group are the ones to meet the President and be on local newspaper. With his science project on the front.
My brother is devastated. He cried so hard the entire night. He was frustrated, confused, angry and shocked.
The principal asks my brother to join the group again right after they other boys have met the president. My brother joins but he’s raging. He’s wary. The president will never know that the boy who made the science project that was on the newspapers was him. A black boy.
He doesn’t talk much in class anymore. He doesn’t raise his hands up anymore. He doesn’t care. School sucks. Parents are called in about his ‘bad attitude’. Parents are alert at what’s going on but say nothing because they threatened their son with expulsion.
Brother knows his teacher hates him and singles him out. He has learnt to not be smart in class. He now hangs around a rough crowd (he’s never done this before). School sucks, who cares when your teacher mocks u in front of everyone else?
He gets into big trouble these days. His grades are slipping. He even smashed a neighbour’s window ‘for fun’.
He’s watching other black kids in his area stereotyped as lazy hooligans.
He is sort of becoming one. He still loves to draw and is still a bright boy in school. Teacher not happy with it because he prefers if my brother does nothing.
I’m MAAAAD when I find out finally why my brother has changed so much. I hate the world. I hate white people sometimes. You have made my brother believe that he’s good for nothing at school. He was a bright and smart-assy kid.
He’s a wary and quiet boy now.
And you have no fucking idea how exhusting it is to remind him everyday that he’s just as good as all the other boys. Fuck you. I fucking hate this world. I fucking hate you for telling me that ‘racism is over, its all in your head’
I fucking HATE that my little sister (8) is being mocked by the kids in her class for ‘having chocolate fingers he wants to eat’. My sister is uncomfortable in that class when that kid is around.
I hate you for telling the world that black people aren’t good enough unless they are at the back of the class, shutting the fuck up. I hate everything at this moment.
If racism completely alters my brother’s perception of himself, i will cry. I will rage. And I will be called the angry black fucking woman.
And tomorrow and the rest of his childhood, he’s going to have to get over this and pretend it doesn’t happen. Pretend racism doesn’t happen.
I’ve seen this happen in my rural school. It is sad; it is an injustice. Do not allow yourself to be blind to it.
(via reem-ster)
If I had to pinpoint what bothers me most about the subject, though, it’s that our ratings system in this country is so broken that a film that contains a sustained, brutal rape sequence featuring full-frontal female nudity can breeze right through with an R-rating, but if you include a sequence in which two people engage in spirited, consensual sex and we see anything that resembles reality, you are automatically flirting with an NC-17 or going out unrated. We have created a code of film language in which the single most destructive act of sexual violence is perfect acceptable to depict in the most graphic, clinical detail, but actual love-making has been all but banished from mainstream film."
— Drew McWeeny (The Bigger Picture: What happens when we find The Line as viewers? - HitFix.com)
(via sexisnottheenemy)
