SOME OF US ARE BRAVE NEEDS YOUR HELP!

I covered this program in an issue of Make/shift and it is important IMPORTANT that we support these sisters in whatever they need to come to a fair and equitable representation of their interests



BRAVE NOTES

from



Some of Us Are Brave: A Black Women's Radio Program

Vol. 1, No. 5 9.26.2010







"The mission of SOUAB is to provide an empowering space for women of Afrikan descent - to assist them in finding their voices and speaking their truths, their experiences and their perspectives to the world; to be a resource for the communities from which we come; and to make a contribution to the global movement for racial, economic, political and social justice and peace"















"Please Support Those Who Support You"

Greetings Listeners, Supporters, Friends of Some of Us Are Brave. It's been awhile since we communicated with you. So many things have been going on; and just when we were about ready to send you a newsletter to tell you some of these things, our time got cut.

"Some of Us Are Brave: A Black Women's Radio Program" moved to Saturdays at 11 a.m. back in March. Last week, we were moved to 1 pm by Interim Program Director Alan Minsky and the show was cut to 30 minutes.

While we do not have a clear reason for this cut, we do know that the times for at least 3 white programmers at the station were increased. The rationale for this will undoubtedly be financial however the spirit of community radio and the non-profit Pacifica Foundation are not supposed to be financial. But alas, this is what they have become.

Interestingly enough, SOUAB has been pre-empted during station funddrives throughout its history, making it almost impossible to consistently cultivate a spirit of financial support amongst our audience (even though a lot of ya'll still plege and mention our name when you do - and we love you for that!).

We were not consulted on this latest decision by station management, nor were we given a chance to dialogue with station management.

To say that 30 minutes is simply not enough time to give to the voices, views and experiences of Black women is an understatement.

“Go Harrison,” which airs Mondays and Tuesdays at 3 pm, has been given a third 1-hour show on Wednesdays; Lila Garrett, who hosts “Connect The Dots” on Mondays, has been given an additional 30 minutes for a show called Celebrity Speakout; and Ian Masters, whose “Background Briefing” broadcasted for one hour on Sundays for several years, now has a “prime drive time” Monday through Thursday at 5 pm … in addition to keeping his 1-hour show on Sundays!

What is fair and equitable about increasing the time of those who already have while taking from those who have so little?

Even dead white men are more valued at KPFK.

Alan Watts, who has been dead for 37 years, regularly broadcasts on Sundays on KPFK for 30 minutes. This dead white man also occasionally makes appearances on "Something’s Happening with Roy of Hollywood" during late weeknights.

But we’re supposed to accept that there is no space for Black women or revolutionary activists?

KPFK added a prison show to its roster hosted by Geri Silva, the executive director of the Los Angeles-based Families to Amend California’s Three Strikes (FACTS), which airs immediately after SOUAB. A show dealing with prison issues is long overdue on KPFK’s airwaves but this show is also only 30 minutes long. Perhaps the decision to place a “prison show” directly after a Black womens’ show was an unconscious one; we don’t know if that’s the case or not but we do know that both these shows cannot be heard anywhere else in Los Angeles and both deserve a minimum of one hour to speak to the communities they represent.

Likewise, “Home, from Home,” which is geared toward immigrants and hosted by Christable Nsiah-Buadi, airs for only 30 minutes immediately before Freedom Now! (FN!); FN! was abruptly moved to Saturdays at 5:30 pm which removed Noticias Pacifica, a long-running Spanish language news show, to a week night. FN!’s former slot, Tuesdays at 8 pm, was given to American Indian Airwaves.

The decision to put FN! in possible conflict with immigrants, Native American and Spanish-language constituents is not lost on us.

The Pacifica Bylaws, the “contract” that binds the non-profit Pacifica radio stations, talk about how programming decisions must be made in a fair and equitable manner.

There is nothing remotely fair or equitable about the treatment meted out to SOUAB, FN! or the Spanish-language programmers while increasing the airtime of three middle-to-upper class white individuals.

And there is no one who can say that it is.

KPFK, licensed to Los Angeles and Santa Barbara, is a PUBLIC radio station.

That means that it belongs to all the people of these areas; not just the white ones.

If you have been a listener of Some of Us Are Brave; if you have been a guest on Some of Us Are Brave; if you are a friend of a guest who was on Some of Us Are Brave, we ask that you contact the Local Station Board that is charged with governing KPFK. When management does not act in a fair and equitable manner, it is the job of the Local Station Board (LSB) to step in and insure fairness and equity:

leslie@radiojustice.net

Your e-mail will be received by a current member of the LSB and shared amongst all the current members.

We also ask that you contact the Executive Director of the Pacifica Foundation, a former producer and host of a women’s radio show in Florida:

Arlene Engelhardt, Executive Director

Pacifica Foundation

1925 Martin Luther King Jr Way

Berkeley, CA 94704

Arlene@pacifica.org



If you were supposed to be a guest on Some of Us Are Brave …

If you need to be a guest in the future – so that your voice, your view, your experience can be amplified …

Please raise your voice now for Some of Us Are Brave now and for the next 30 days.

We ask that you tell them to do the following:

- Immediately reinstate SOUAB to its one hour time slot;

- Increase the time for the Prison Justice Radio show to one hour, should the producers desire that;

- Immediately reinstate Freedom Now! to its one hour time slot;

- IMMEDIATELY rescind Ian Masters’ 1-hour time slot on Sundays; Harrison‘s additional 1-hour on Wednesdays and Lila Garrett’s new/extra 30 minutes

- We also ask that you tell the Local Station Board and Pacifica’s executive director that it cannot continue to “barrio-ize” Spanish-language programming in a city that is almost 50% Latino.



leslie@radiojustice.net



Your e-mail will be received by a current member of the LSB and shared amongst all the current members.

KPFK is by no means perfect, nor is it the worst place on earth. But it must do better.

It needs help in order to do this.

We need your help in order to do this.

We come to you for your support because we are sick and tired.



Thank you.



someofusarebrave@gmail.com



You can subscribe to a podcast, download, and/or listen to the past 90 days' worth of SOUAB on the KPFK website @ kpfk.org. You can also find info on our guests there. Just look on the left side of the screen for "Audio Archives" and scroll down to "Some of Us Are Brave."

It don't feel right

I am an ovary posessing cis gendered woman experiencing an odd hiccup in my cycle now .

I feel like hot buttered death and am cramping and have diarrhea, common symptomps but my period is Late . I'm spotting but it's late.

It don't feel right.

And I am reading ( and reblogging) these birth rape articles . And besides my instinctive

" Dear person who is not the person having the experience , now commence you should with the shutting the fuck up !"

is the flip the scrip question in my head.

Why are so many big name corporate feminists so enamored of the idea of " claiming" rape for their own terms?

The link ma'ia adds here

is SUPER IMPORTANT.

Because bluntly there is no feminist gain from being at crosshairs with doctors and the medical industry

The birth rape issue makes the ability to spear head and speak for "women" right down to it's biological imperative essence and it takes the science of birth and teh study of women's bodies back to it's really nasty and slavery and class enforced begginings.

BIrth Rape is a place where money, education, privilege and power alliance don't go together as smoothly in denying the voices of others.

Rape a raison d'etre in corporate women's rights is NOT just an assault on women's safety and security and well being and her control over her ability to decide

It is an assault on the ability to be a powerful and controlling member of a ruling class.

If rape is the first for you . You are not at all disturbed by the concept of birth rape . It makes a disturbing perfect sense. This is how they ingrain your place in society. Is birth a welcome into a new world ? Your entrance into being. OR a production assembly where you learn very quickly that you by the very essence of what brought you in are more or less than?

If you believe the second then , well there is an order to the things and structures to be protected and the feelings and bodily integrity of some woman who doesn't have the good sense not to be poor or not to express herself in a way where doctors can understand her isn't enough

( Sidenote this is why you will also note the rise in designer birthing articles and services , they know this shit is real they also know that fighting the system isn't what they want . It's about assuring the system guides the CORRECT people to safety)

becuase then we would have to have discussions based on shit like FEELINGS and not the tears anger entitlement usually used to manipulate tactics commonly pushed for " feelings"

but that kind of bone deep sense of balance equilibrium and safety that

CAN NOT BE MASS MARKETED in a way that keeps these women in yoga mats.

If birth rape and birth and sexuality are very much individualized and at the essence in need of a system that respects that....

So is gender . Essentialist arguments about who gets to speak who doesn't what constitutes motherhood are proven to fall to the BODY OF THE PERSON IN QUESTION?

Erasure and segregation of women without vagina's , or people who classify along no binary aren't " things we need to work on" They're just damn wrong.

There is no standard , it just feels right or it doesn't.

There MAY be a norm but that norm is now more for healing than policing or correcting.

So is ability. A body is what it is what is and that has to be respected. No mourning no pathologizing just need for a system ( environment) that heals and provides safety. Can't fix what ain't broke

So is race . You can't decide what it is or isn't . You can't wash it away cause you're tired of it . You have to deal with those who've lived it.

Women's healthcare is often defined by a belief that we have no bloody idea what we are talking about when it comes to our own bodies. That someone else knows better

not techniques for treatment

surgical skills

diagnostic pathways

but literally what we feel and what we should feel.

And we only get to protest if we can CONVINCE THEM what we need.

Birth Rape is a great issue to establish a feminist monoculture around. One that re-enforces classism, racism ( did you know gynecology was mostly found on cutting slaves, and natives in America and the poor everywhere else?) classism , jingoism, able ism, cultural appropriation( well if you have a properly liscensed paid staff and doula you can have a native birthing pool!!!), transmisogyny( WE KNOW WHAT WOMEN'S BODIES SHOULD AND SHOULD NOT DO !!!)

under the guise of rationality and reconciliation and being an emissary to talk to these poor confused women who thing they should know their own bodies. It's a nice way to reassert a belief that being publicly prominent is as good as a reason to be considered expert as being ACTUALLY KNOWLEDGEABLE.

With technology and social communication consistently stripping the need for their previous roles as gatekeepers and information controllers, they now must set logical standards to keep employed. And birth rape is FAR too big to leave to the participants

Because this issue means that we would have to go immediately to two sets. Women who give birth and those who caretake.

And teh rest of us would have to support each side and let me tell you .For prominent feminist writers they are telling us flat out there is

NOTHING IN IT FOR THEM TO SUPPORT MOTHERS

It don't feel right to them so they could give a hell if it feels right to us

and it's the first step to making whatever don't feel right to us a disease

We're supposed to be impressed

So there is a CNN article about the " inness" of ethnic beauty.

I want to parse out all the way this is just rage inducing , and I will leave the

1) All of these women are light skinned and or actually just white
2) The non white women are multimillionaires
3) Kim Kardashian inclusion and how it seems to relate a lot towards the race of her previous partners
4) The LACK OF ANY FLIPPING WORD on non mainstream cultural influence ( hip hop etc) and the very MAINSTREAM economics of why THIS SHIT AIN'T NEW

to people ( hopefully ABW is one ) with better linear skills cause my brain went hey at something to something Sarah Jaffe posted to Tumblr from the Los Angeles Times about Gaga and sexuality and (barf) Camille Paglia.

But I read it and felt a very deep twinge of oh THAT's what's bothering me!

I am entirely and utterly unimpressed by " the changing beauty standards" or Lady Gaga or the ever present discussions around (mostly white) sexuality , development of empowered sexuality or sexual personae.

I think it's necessary , I think it is ( sometimes) well done, I think it is critical to PERSONAL development but I often question it's prominence and permanence as an " issue"

And in popular musical culture.
I challenge both the CNN article and Moss' assesment of Gaga a in the pantheon without a specific race analysis.

And I came to it because of a woman in neither article.

M.I.A

The thing about the CNN article that has galled me and the LA times article ( and I KNOW I am not expressing this the way I want I am expecting challenges) and the original Paglia debacle

are its deep desire to debunk re bunk full of bunk is about

Impression

We're supposed to be IMPRESSED with Gaga . We're supposed to be impressed with a take down of Gaga we're supposed to be impressed with a takedown of a takedown .......

And we're not supposed to point out that Gaga's thing is very much done by not Madonna but the whole fashion arthouse performance thing was done by

GRACE JONES

Not JUST respect or honor it or like or be amused by it

and our impression is completely hinged on the fact that we perceive the " obstacles" they face as so FANTASTIC

( a woman isn't with a guitar ... I'm gonna say it out loud and I know it's a little O.O but the connection to ACTUAL oppression is tangential as hell. Not to mention straight up as a singer and a BLACK woman singer and a black rock fan, I still get really personally annoyed at the fetishizement of the phallic object. It's this well what are the BOYS getting credit for that put contributions form black soul female singers in such interesting places. I dare any rock fan to say ANY of em have a career with out Mama Thorton, Tina Turner and Aretha Franklin, but let's ignore AGAIN whose the desirable or VALID intellectual work. I respect what John Frusciante does with a guitar , but I DARE your ass to tell me what Aretha did with " Respect" or Eleanor Rigby is ANY LESS)

that we have to gasp. We can't point out that GaGa was fully funded and taken care of her entire time, that she collaborated with MANY people.

Her record company deal WAS PUSHED INTO ACTION by Akon who literally said this girl is special . And while he is rarely mentioned at ALL anymore

M.I.A is continually asked about Diplo to the point he's asked about the condition of her work on albums he had shit to do with !

BUt Gaga being pointed out for such

It is somehow diminishing her talent

We will forget history or insist it is irrelevant to identify with a powerful figure .

BUT if the powerful figure is of color

or the beauty of people of color

that is entirely dissectible and vendable.

The thing that we are supposed to be impressed with in the CNN Article and she makes sure to highlight that while " the beauty standard" which is mysteriously raceless because we all know what the standard is .

If a young able bodied white woman cis gendered woman ( and part of the hilarity is that GaGa proves her Cis identity in her telephone video) experiments with her persona

( I think a lot of what makes me go MEH the most is that for all fo Gaga and let's be real Madonna's playing at transgression a huge part of whatever identity or make overt heyw ent through was about affirming that under all of the goop or the posing they are either Pure experimental entertainment done by an able bodied cis thin white woman or reinvention. Unlike Bowie who even for moments became Thin White Duke or Space Man , Lauper who really is was unrepentant open she bopping freak , or Jones who still probably hasn't been fully explored it never was transformation of self but a wholesale ingestion of power symbols or appropriation of subcultures to present next to thos power symbols . As a see WE CAN DO IT TO! Let's be honest about who that message is too , for and aimed at . As well as what CORRESPONDING message everyone else got)

She's taken seriously AS A WHOLE. As challenging SO MUCH or INNOVATING so much or NOT. Regardless of who takes from OR what she avoids experimenting with or whether she is experimenting instead of rehashing old tropes or herding a little monsters
( other thing I always think about much of Gaga's performance art is consumed by young queer people who are unaware of it's history because of the disconnect from their own queer forbears because of the marginalization of these segements of their cultural legacy)

Beyonce is deconstructed into attainable parts FOR people in Gaga's demographic. ONLY in the sense that in the beauty "competition"

here is how you'll neutralize these " new" challengers

Because mind you the ultimate goal is to adapt to have what they have

and here we include members of the youngish white demo to prove that( Christina Hendricks and Scarlett Johannson)

it is possible.

Ethnic beauty while "new" not THAT far fetched but it still has to earn it's way!

And often WITHOUT it's consent.
I am always amused at analysis of Beyonce and her " boring" or non personality when to MANY peopel who more than tangentially know a certain kind of sister. She's not unfamilliar but she's not credited as a mastermind ( she runs her own performances ) or a trendsetter

We don't want her look, her views on sexuality , her personae experimentation or any part of her on the part landscape ( even though AHA she was the one who reached out to GAGA for collabo primarily)

We want her parts while ALSO emphasizing her parts can be part and aren't that special.

I think my point all this ramble and this is not my sermon but my thoughts


Is that these two articles bring up a big ole pain in my side. That SOME women's gender exploration is powerful, empowering and important enough to garner serious analytical sociopolitical attention. Even if it's crap , it's debate is treated as vital .

While other women get piecemealed for their body parts . Why is Nicki Minaj's classical training, various personae , meteoric rise shunted aside for comments on her body and sexuality EVEN by critical/women writers? Why haven't I read any serious articles about love and physicality in Janell Monae's futurism.?

And it's not to say it's an envy thing or an I wish we had it .

However

I get less and less likely to feel solidarity with it when THAT phenomena where in your experimentation , goals for what inclusion looks like , and execution are serious matters and the stuff you got it from , the places it came from aren't even notable .

As well as EVEN less likely to believe it's just experimentation or poking and prodding when certain aspects of those personae like your race,class, sexuality are seemingly

a) ignored

or

b) only poked in ways that continually exhibit you as a edgy for a member of privileged class or consistent appropriator or chosen vessel.

It's not my job to tell you haw to do it but if you wish to explore why is THAT section so often missed .

But it is also not my job to make it EASY for you to do it of MY History , present and at the expense of my future

And it is not alright to continually portray it as a two sided argument where in the righteous could never be as bad as the damned

as if a whole world isn't going

" SURE WHATEVER"

You want to have it be this breathtaking world changing act.
ACTIVELY
deal with those realities.

From my tumblr

I LOOK like this woman not in a generic sense but she and I are comparable size. I’m taller but let’s be real when was the last time you saw aa picture of this that didn’t come iwth a very deep undercurrent of for sale/ nasty/odd or desperately performing for someone’s sexual pleasure

That’s what so often happens with celebrating whiteness or reclaiming or being excited about representation

It’s always representation in some kind of capitalistic consumptive but DEVOID of desire bend

and when you very exsistence is structured around a PARTICULAR perverse and destruction concept of you being consumable and ownable through you perseverance and hardiness

( or survivability through submission or spiciness or earthiness or naturalness or disability etc)

You don’t necessarily WANT to be lauded for simply moving the status of being essentially owned up.

You don’t want or desire any MORE invasive attention

You don’t want to be worshipped

You want some one who looks at you with your amazing floppy boobs strong legs and stretchmarked tummy and thinks you’re smart

or can be listened to

and can be strong and still have a massive breakdown

and if you ask to blow your fucking back out with kinky shit doesn’t see you as failing or proving those stereotypes about “those”

and doesn’t need to be spread open like a pigroast to be proven

and doesn’t need or earn a metaphorical cookie for it

want to do something Revolutionary make that able to happen more frequently in everybody’s life

and my response to the caption being removed

I am deeply touched that people love this photo so much as I did.

And I ma by no means THAT impressed with my writing

BUT

I am troubled that when it comes to ” fat positive” blogs using this photo the caption

which EXPLICITLY deal with

the questions and motivations behind my loving this picture.

Like the usual gaze of ownership.

As well as why it’s not JUST about being yeah BIG GIRLS

and why I ( and many women I talk to ) have reservations about sexualization and commodification of fat AND thickness as a whole

Reblog away have a blast at it , but those are thoughts I put in there for a reason

and those are thoughts that I assume got taken out for a reason as well.

The state of the media cuase I said so

but damn it it's worth

or what people are lying about by omission and how it affects you

or why you're going to be reading I promise you more radical AND Power Negotiating pieces in " progressive literature and online discourse"

or why feminists and progressives are floundering while the black young professional is hot

or all the ish I couldn't put in my book review.

So to ground my upcoming ramblings I need to introduce you to this article(s) about teh future of web design and web access

long story short .

The internet didn't kill life and or traditional media the way so many ( white/middle class dilettantes)

thought it would .

The article offers that it's an A) Us abandoning fro sleek and shiny or B) Them the scheming capitalists

I'm going to say it's a little bit of both and features C-G. And it doesn't matter as much as Wired wants you to believe

if you aren't concerned with trendiness.

What that means however for progressive/feminist media starts around 2008 with

yep Obama's election or more so . The primary.

The primary showed us a couple things one of the most important and the one that is least of all talked about DIRECTLY but is very evident in the way progressive and feminist writers ( not activists) but writers now write.

is that in the large scale of things the relationships between black people and white people is fractured and could be more fractured

Feminist unity is definitely hierarchical and often ego boosting rather than movement making and very willing to throw black women under a bus EVEN when supporting the black candidate.

Black women are not to be trifled with and even in the midst of feminist dischord can and will mount strong community/social network based action WITHOUT needing or wanting feminist approval. and Black People in general had deep social networks that WERE NOT ALWAYS REFLECTED ONLINE ( this is gonna be REALLY REALLY important in a little bit I promise).

Which shouldn't be scary or disturbing unless you have spent a good amount of time discounting Black women ( and other women of color ) as part of your Build a brand business model.

..................... Yeah About That...........

This becomes even more important as the early prog/fem web writers based a lot of their early writing on the Web being a kind of sixth column outside mainstream medium . Some of it will claimed as high minded idealism, some of it lack of for site, but a good deal of it was...

Rank self interest capitalism and well idiocy.

They were on the web " first" no one had really figured out how to get paid doing it so no one was gonna come in and muscle them out of territory, and if they could build up enough of an audience on the web they could get into positions of influence within the democratic and feminist " power brokers" to shift and " create change"

Note to this day what that change is is never well defined , no real common values , and the common enemy is other well funded power structures that could theoretically be inhabited just as easily by them. They could also depend on the fact that due to hegemonic structures , marginalized people would sort of had to depend on the idea that this was.

If it sounds like supporting and betting on power structures than challenging them ....

Well yeah but hold on

Then a couple things happened well one thing and it had been happening for a while but they were politicians and "activists" and concerned about REAL problems

WEB 2. motherfucking 0 ( swear I won't curse)

this is important because of what I call the Gladwell effect ( people of a a certain class and propensity to self congratulation without historical context over estimating malcolm Gladwell but it works here)

Damn you Zuckerberg.

Now information and NETWORKING are power they have been to some extent but in a couple ( mosty facebook) sites . It is now possible to see ( and to sell ) and to activate without intermediaries the trends and connections of your audience

who thanks to narcissism , social pressure are given up the ghost freely ( and profitably)

which means that large much more funded sites corporations can get the information these " pioneers" have been cobbling together

MUCH faster much quicker

and offer much larger , more frequently updated sites with LOTS more backing

or previous sites can attract bigger splashier names to participate in what was a childs play medium

AND

these pioneers are no often relegated to chastizing and following the way these news sources report on what had been their purview

Especially now that their "communities" no longer see the value entire of being farmed as cheap labor or content makers

UNCONNECTED TO ANY BRANDED ACTION

now in the meanwhile books have been published and websites have gone form the meat to supporting their endeavors in what we said was dying mainstream media

because

That's where the MONEY IS.

and then teh economy FALLS THE HELL OUT

so those dreams of freelancing or living large while doing so .......

are no HINGED on being appealing to groups that you WERE supposed to be fighting

and that's not gonna happen advocating destruction

that's gonna happen advocating mastery of a topic , authority and makings ure to BURY any voices or evidence of dissent or challenge

by infantalizing or stigmatizing challengers

BAD for movements

GREAT for careers!

Because women middle class white socially liberal fiscally fluid and personally narcissistic are a big market

SNARK! and challenge men while implicitly enforcing your heteronormativity.

GO TEAM LIBERAL GO GO

and there is a woman candidate

or a " sexually available" ( please ignore the wife in the background even as you can't keep shoving her into it) arousing black man

but he WINS

and the black women I todl you to hold on to further up...

AIN'T HAPPY

and have this weird thing called memories

and thanks to that wife we kept ignoring

are now

INTERNATIONAL sources of wonder

so go get you some.

Features, small columns etc etc

FAST as they are ( and have been )

web writing themselves and now aren't hidden behind your "protective" wings

and those dreams of Mastery of the Web leading of the new intelligentsia

ehhhhhhhhhhhh

As new INTERSECTIONAL issues that you thought were sidelineable gain national MSM exposure , your record is crap

and you've got to hope

AND HOPE HARD

that your new addin and your previous hegemonic privilege will render people memoryless

not to mention they are getting their news from their friends

which means you currency as a figure head

is drying up fast

well lets summarize the progressive liberal situation will we.

-----

Technology means that your head start ain't gonna be worth ish anymore as people can direct each other with out your input OR any loyalty to you to the content that matters most to them which is being funded by the big boys with MUCH more money and clout

CRAP

The conversations are stagnant as the fodder for new ones ( innovation, diversity , breadth, same measure of non pompous assininty) are difficult because folks have either given up or figured out they can be fetted and paid by people who ain't you

so you thanks to your own self importance are out and yelling at the Republicans who are at least taken seriously by tehir larger structure while you

ehh you've told them how much you cost and didn't notice how little it was.

They can talk to the people directly

and that mainstream media

has figured out ways to get stories for free !!

so why should they pay you?

You have to pay the ends with yourself in the middle

Which is why you're getting more of these I am sad what do i do with teh web it is now

AND more bullshit authoritarianism.

Amanda Marcotte's ass end article about birth rape isn't about telling anyone SHIT , it's about afirming teh idea

that their is a hierarchy that even " feminists" those wacky people who think women deserve body autonomy respect

that WILL NOT CHALLENGE entrenched ( and fiscally safe) power structures

and that THIS woman on a major site will toe that line.

so we should continue to pay her

while affirming taht any woman who really cares about her baby will bow down OR

have enough money to leave that structure

and tiny cat pants basically explains the fat articles

they ain't talking bout us persay but them

and why their important

and that MS. thing well now they have basically missed the web as they got into and even that's on the way out.

Gotta prop it up like a rugby team

and you can not NOT mention well any RECENT feminist support to women of color or marginalized in these large scale manners cause well ( and I'm gonna point out that teh three books she mentions 1 is not explicitly feminist but activist, one is nearly 8 years old by a press actually well known for being boycotted by some people of color, trans and gender queer people due to their racism and ableism , as is the third as well as being marked by plagirism , and straight out questionable writing that she deigns not mention)

it'd be kind of hard

IF YOU USE THESE AS YOUR EXAMPLES

and what does it mean for actual workers, thinkers, writers

etc

Very little .

The internet, web 2.0 etc are tools not end results , so we make new ones , go back to old ones and straight up redo em on the fly.

Because it's a necessity .

That's not all that new , or even shocking. It's what it is

Part 2 : The rise of the Black Middle Class or Collective Amnesia at it's finest.

Antoine Dodson HAS to be HILARIOUS

shamelessly inspired by Prof Sussuro's amazing post , Crunk Feminist's hitter , and well Sylvia stays awesome

So I spent a good amount of my Guyana time reading about George Carlin and how he crafted and grew his comedy and i highlighted one of his passages in my ubiquitous note book :

The reason I prefer the sledgehammer to the rapier ad the reason I believe in blunt violent confrontational forms for presenting my ideas is beacause i see that's what's happening in the lives of people is not rapierlike, it is not gentle, it is not subtle. It is direct,hard , and violent. The slow slow violence of poverty, the slow violence of untreated disease. Of unemployment ,hunger,discrimination. [...] The violence that goes on every day,unheard,unreported,over and over multiplied a millionfold.
- George Carlin, Last Words

Antoine Dodson is a lionheart . But for the rest of us he needs to be funny. He needs to be an internet meme , funny poor black guy,autotuned to death.

Prof Susurrois so amazing with her analysis of the three groups ( myself included ) that are full of teh fail , but I want to break em down a bit

Dodson has to be hilarious , because if his situation isn't funny it would have to be enraging.

Dr. Goddess gives an excellent summation of what brought us this young lionheart ( i am calling him that forever) to national media attention.

There is a serial rapist in his community.

*record scratch*

Yes if you are laughing about what got Antoine Dodson so angry you are laughing because serial rape is funny!

Keep that in your mind for the rest of this

Prof Sussuro's three institutionalized groups who :

In the midst of this institutional racism are the actions of three groups that cannot be ignored:

1. the viewers and listeners who openly mocked Dodson, completely ignoring the rape survivor narrative embedded in his story
2. the white middle class hipster-nerd comedy troupe that made money off of the rape and attempted rape of poor black women and girls and the one man willing to stand up for them
3. the mainstream feminist blogs and feminist communities who have remained largely silent on Dodson’s sister despite the core issue of rape

When Dr. Goddess brings up the fact that Dodson himself and his family went through all the steps of contacting the police notifying authorities, friends, family

And no one thought this was serious.

So remember by the time we are first introduced to Antoine he has been trying desperately AFTER an altercation with a man who is probably larger than him , in his home , who SEXUALLY ASSAULTED HIS SISTER.

Please let us be clear, while he foiled a more egregious physical attack , the woman he was defending was still sexual assaulted , and as Crunk collective points out has been rendered invisible by almost everyone EXCEPT for Antoine.

It's a young black family in the hood with elements of sexuality put in as Baratunde Thurston says in this NPR article but here is where I digress. HARD.

This isn't about stereotypes , or comedy persay. It is about funny . And the funny we think of when at it's natural outset the thing we expect to happen doesn't happen.

Antoine himself a small, effeminate southern , black male is not supposed be persistent enough to become truly and utterly enraged that he finally gets someone to pay attention. He is not supposed to think that an assault on his sister is a global thing . Even when it becomes evident that well yes there IS AN ACTUAL SEXUAL ASSAULT WAVE HAPPENING , he's not supposed to say protect EVERYONE because we all know it's usually happening to women right. It's not a *gasp* community crime.

Rape is not actually supposed to be an ANGRY making . It's regrettable , it's a " fact of life". Rape culture is a pop culture time of critique thing. It can be used to critique large institutions , internet memes, and smack ( usually white)pundits around but as an actual assement that welive in a culture where people are often openly appraised for their rape-ability and that fact isn't ponder worthy

but flat out beat a motehrfucker's ass worthy .

Antoine's sister pointed out that her attempted sexual assault didn't happen just cause she was cute. And more than a few people thought that was also something funny. But to me it brought up what I feel was an excellent post by Karnythia ( on her livejournal) about being " pretty" . And what pretty means for people who are not protected by other privileges.

That being pretty makes you a walking target , that victim blaming can turn the characteristics of your body into easy excuses for why no one should ever respect your autonomy and safety.

See the tits on her !

Look at dat Ass.

She was breathing while trans.

Shorts in SUMMER . She's gotta want it

And yes this isn't about street harassment ( a cause celebre ) but about your literal ability to get help and aid when you are violated and what will be said about you.

Pretty ( poor/black/trans/sex worker/ WOC/queer) girls are being audacious by even CLAIMING pretty ( one of the most common things I heard and saw in the few mentions of Kelly is how dare she think her poor self was pretty , mind you no one DENIED it but somehow saying it aloud made he rinstantly unsympathetic and her attack more ignorable)

Those pretty girls are largely unable to be presented as perfect victims either patriarchaly or within liberal agendas. They are mouthy and brown and too " other" to wrap our minds around or come with too much baggage or are merely side notes to the more important story.

And thus the inherent dangers of our abandonment are pushed aside at their peril, and often the cost of their lives

This time how " funny" Antoine Dodson is. So we mock them and ignore them and tut them the minute we can divorce ourselves from them as realities and instead morn them as statistics.

Kelly Dodson ,negligble and undesireable

1 in 4 unnamed women , horrible but suddenly actionable.

And the comedy troupe capitalizes on that. Because we all know this is "funny" that someone like Antoine could command a camera and get out a message with such fire . That he could be sharp and snappy and attention grabbing.

What he's actually saying ...

Doesn't matter it's relevant !

( as far as I know Antoine is the only contributing towards community/family change for himself with his share , they pocketed their money and yet and still made NO REFERENCE whatsoever to the fact they autotuned a sexual assault warning)



and the ghetto on him!!!! HILARIOUS

because it is about what's embarrassing for middle class black people and intellectuals. That white people might be laughing AT us . Antoine's greatest achievement is not that beyond EVERYBODY's best efforts he has consistently focused on

THE RENEGADE RAPIST WHO IS GOING THROUGH his community and how he needs to MOVE HIS FAMILY for their basic safety

but that he could monetize this and profit from it. Antoine doesn't prove his worth by his good spirit, protective instinct ,self and family defense , willingness to connect this to other assaults in his community.

No it's with his good capitalism!

His sister ehh. But because he can demonstrate a proper desire to not want to be hood , well it's forgiveable and can be used for when my white friends make me uncomfortable or I have to defend it at work

Not that you know people prey on poor black communities SPECIFICALLY because people are so quick to have no sympathy , that cops can often obfuscate duties with a level disdain that is so heartbreakingly common that Antoine himself is shocked because well

" Everybody steps on us"

( and yes interviewer you should be a bit stuttering in the presence of that much grace )

But I said this before and I will say it again , this young man has a lions heart. His last youtube post ( does contain abelist language) talks about the fact that his first concern is

THE SERIAL RAPIST THAT STILL ISN'T CAUGHT.

The sister that can't sleep in the bedroom ( It is the print's interview on his youtube channel that breaks your heart and makes you furious as this girl was VIOLENTLY VIOLENTLY assaulted so TRIGGER Warnings )

and is having what sounds like strong PTSD symptoms. and how people are moving against his family

but as I was saying

Antoine Dodson has to be funny to us. For our culture to work , we have to have the idea that someone who experienced that kind of sledgehammer like violence , would dare think that he had a right to come back the same. That he would fight to be heard , and not care enough to modify it for our tastes , that all 130 of him drenched in clothing would fight off a larger man, call somebody till he got a response, and take messages intended to mock him ( if they actually considered him at all) and use them to a) protect his family b) continue to push for justice
when folks with so much more ignored it

won't do it

justify it

Oh my god he HAS to be HILARIOUS

because if he's not HILARIOUS

we have to be accountable

and that is a lot less funny.

HI!!!!

Hi Everyone

I am back and will be blogging regular( ish)ly

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