Trans-cultural Adoptee Short Films and Panel

Sume blogs about an upcoming on May 29, 2009 in Australia:

This will be a half-day event in Australia run by a volunteer committee made up of trans-cultural adoptes. It aims to present a selection of short films about trans-cultural (and trans-racial) adoptee experiences, and will also feature a panel session featuring adoptees and special guests who are adoption educators, authors, artists and researchers.  The event will be held around the country. The event will also produce a publication of film maker and speaker biographies, film reviews, interviews and list of adoption resources.

Private Lives, Proper Relations: Regulating Black Intamacy

The blogger at Feminist Review posts a book review on the book Private Lives, Proper Relations:

Why is contemporary African American literature — particularly that produced by black women — continually concerned with issues of respectability and propriety? Her first book, Private Lives, Proper Relations, Candace M. Jenkins looks at how African American writers express the political consequences of intimacy for the susceptible black subject. Jenkins argues that this fascination grew from recurrent beliefs about African American sexuality, and that it expresses a basic aspect of the racial self: an often unexpressed link between the intimate and the political in black culture.

Transracial Adoptees, Permanent Homes, Forever Families, and Their Home They Are Forced to Leave

Sume blogs about the intracacies of what is really home and family while being a transracial adoptee:

In the case of domestic adoption, can more be done to keep families in tact? What roles do racism and class play in creating and perpetuating environments that feed children into system? Have we as a society become too reliant upon adoption as a solution because of lack of a better one?

And let us not forget that adoption is an industry regardless of it’s mutually beneficial appearance. As an industry, adoption has created as many or more problems as it has presumably solved. On one hand, it gives children to parents who want them, but on another, it feeds and sustains a voracious baby market. As potential adoptive parents seek cheaper, quicker ways to acquire children those only too willing to provide that without much thought to ethics will appear. Adoption as an industry will do what’s necessary to stay alive.

Oprah and Black Children

Terry Howcott comments on “Black do-gooders” and Oprah:

For me, the straw that broke the already weakened camel’s back was when Winfrey criticized Black children in the U.S. as an explanation for why she traveled to the other side of the planet – first – to invest in Black girlhood. She essentially suggested children of African descent in this country weren’t up to snuff with her skewed, extremely controlled, culturally cleansed perceptions and social standards.

Transgender/sexual Bashing

Apurva posts a cartoon from amptoons.com on the absurdities of feminists criticizing trans peoples.

On Blackness

Macha, on her first post for Double Consciousness, blogs about “Blackness” and on what it meant to her back in the day and now:

I realized one day not only was I being played, thinking maybe I wasn’t Black enough, I had let someone else define what being Black meant to me. Blasphemy! It wasn’t even Blacks who defined it. My parents did a great job, but they were competing with millions of media messages and the day to day of, well… White people. I said to myself one day, Do you see how stupid this is? Someone else has defined Blackness for you. I continued with questions like, who decides this? Is there a committee somewhere in the world that defines Blackness? How come I’m not on it?

Identity Politics

In a post on Slant Truth about identity politics Thinking Girl blogs:

Relativism is thrown out when someone wants to derail a discussion. It’s the philosophical equivalent of trolling, if you ask me! Relativism is supposedly about giving equal weight to all points of view, cultural contexts, systems of social organizing, etc. Which, to many, sounds fine and dandy. But in reality, what this does is quite similar to totalization, because it ignores relations of power. One can’t claim to have a view from nowhere, and one can’t claim to have a view from everywhere, either. We are all of us steeped in our own contexts; we cannot simply escape them or set them aside, not ever – and we can’t simply adopt another viewpoint or context just like that. Just as we can’t claim to inhabit a neutral position, we also can’t claim to inhabit every position equally. It’s an epistemological limitation.

That One Black Kid

Vegan Kid posts a comic strip about “That one Black kid” in his blog.

The Use of “Ghetto Chic”

Wendi Muse, who writes for Racialicious, blogs about the term “ghetto chic:”

Over time, the term “ghetto” has been used in a way that separates it from its history, a dark one of ethnic exclusion (i.e. forced isolation of Jewish communities) and government-sanctioned segregation (i.e. communities of color in the United States). Little thought is given to the true meaning of the word and how people ended up in ghettoes to begin with when it’s used. Along the same lines of a proposition made by Robert B. Moore in his essay “Racist Stereotyping in the English Language,” I’d like to make a little proposal of my own. Moore challenges typical methods of teaching and discussing the history of the United States by making his readers take a closer look at those who were oppressed in order to create it. He suggests that the “next time [we] write about slavery or read about it, try transposing all “slaves” into ‘African people held in captivity,’ ‘Black people forced to work for no pay,’ or ‘African people stolen from their families and societies.’” Imagine if we replaced “ghetto” with something like “the only place African-American men (who had fought for their country’s freedom from totalitarianism) and their families were allowed to live due to redlining, racist real estate monopolies, and restrictive covenants” when used as a noun. Or what about “a type of behavior I associate with the poor even though I don’t know anyone who lives in the projects or has had to struggle to make ends meet”/ “a style of dress that I associate with poor blacks and Latinos becauseI am racist and classist deep down inside, but cover it up by using this word instead of saying what I really mean because it’s more socially acceptable” when used as an adjective. So that’s a little harsh, but it would put a whole new spin on saying something or someone was “ghetto,” now wouldn’t it? It might make people think twice before applying it to any and everything that they deem as sub-par.

The Use of “Ghetto Chic”

Wendi Muse, who writes for Racialicious, blogs about the term “ghetto chic:”

Over time, the term “ghetto” has been used in a way that separates it from its history, a dark one of ethnic exclusion (i.e. forced isolation of Jewish communities) and government-sanctioned segregation (i.e. communities of color in the United States). Little thought is given to the true meaning of the word and how people ended up in ghettoes to begin with when it’s used. Along the same lines of a proposition made by Robert B. Moore in his essay “Racist Stereotyping in the English Language,” I’d like to make a little proposal of my own. Moore challenges typical methods of teaching and discussing the history of the United States by making his readers take a closer look at those who were oppressed in order to create it. He suggests that the “next time [we] write about slavery or read about it, try transposing all “slaves” into ‘African people held in captivity,’ ‘Black people forced to work for no pay,’ or ‘African people stolen from their families and societies.’” Imagine if we replaced “ghetto” with something like “the only place African-American men (who had fought for their country’s freedom from totalitarianism) and their families were allowed to live due to redlining, racist real estate monopolies, and restrictive covenants” when used as a noun. Or what about “a type of behavior I associate with the poor even though I don’t know anyone who lives in the projects or has had to struggle to make ends meet”/ “a style of dress that I associate with poor blacks and Latinos becauseI am racist and classist deep down inside, but cover it up by using this word instead of saying what I really mean because it’s more socially acceptable” when used as an adjective. So that’s a little harsh, but it would put a whole new spin on saying something or someone was “ghetto,” now wouldn’t it? It might make people think twice before applying it to any and everything that they deem as sub-par.

Caste, Reservations, and a Divided India

Shivam Vij comments on the latest caste based violence in Rajasthan by quoting B.R. Ambedkar:

The literature of the Hindus is full of caste genealogies in which an attempt is made to give a noble origin to one caste and an ignoble origin to other castes. The Sahyadrikhand is a notorious instance of this class of literature. This anti-social spirit is not confined to caste alone. It has gone deeper and has poisoned the mutual relations of the sub-castes as well. In my province the Golak Brahmins, Deorukha Brahmins, Karada Brahmins, Palshe Brahmins and Chitpavan Brahmins, all claim to be subdivisions of the Brahmin Caste. But the anti-social spirit that prevails between them is quite as marked and quite as virulent as the anti-social spirit that prevails between them and other non-Brahmin castes. There is nothing strange in this. An antisocial spirit is found wherever one group has “interests of its own” which shut it out from full interaction with other groups, so that its prevailing purpose is protection of what it has got. This antisocial spirit, this spirit of protecting its own interests is as much a marked feature of the different castes in their isolation from one another as it is of nations in their isolation.

An Open Challenge to Angela McGlowan

The Field Negro challenges Angela McGlowan to a debate and also states:

So anyway, girlfriend is doing the whole woe is me bit, and crying a river about how liberals on the left are attacking her. She talks about her Daddy from Mississippi, and she evokes the memories of Emmett Hill, Dr. King, and Fredrick Douglas. She goes after the usual suspects, Sharpton, Jackson, and Bond, which is proof positive of just how out of touch she is with her own race. She even recites the same old saying about “giving a man a fish and he eats for a day, teach a man to fish and he eats for life or some such bull shit. Geeez! Talk about pathetic. Angela, if you teach a man to fish and there is no fish in the f*****g lake, he still ain’t gonna eat!

“White” People of Color Bloggers

Donna writes:

I won’t name names, because I am not interested in starting a new flame war. But these white POC bloggers tend to not write about racial issues but say things like, I am glad I can talk about anything, and not race, because my readers are colorblind. Psst, the only reason your readers are colorblind is because you do not talk about race. Or their racial posts boil down to, “Oh my, racism is bad and a problem, what do you (white folks) think?” And then bails from the conversation, does not give any direction or insight, because the white POC has none. They actually sound the same as clueless white liberals who want to start a discussion about race to make themselves sound like they care, but they haven’t done the research, read and/or commented on POC blogs, or have actual relationships with POC in the real world, to know anything because they don’t really care. These white POC don’t care either, they got theirs and that’s all that matters. But they know that their white fans are expecting something and have to throw them a shallow, cursory, post about race that makes everyone feel good and enlightened.

“White” People of Color Bloggers

Donna writes:

I won’t name names, because I am not interested in starting a new flame war. But these white POC bloggers tend to not write about racial issues but say things like, I am glad I can talk about anything, and not race, because my readers are colorblind. Psst, the only reason your readers are colorblind is because you do not talk about race. Or their racial posts boil down to, “Oh my, racism is bad and a problem, what do you (white folks) think?” And then bails from the conversation, does not give any direction or insight, because the white POC has none. They actually sound the same as clueless white liberals who want to start a discussion about race to make themselves sound like they care, but they haven’t done the research, read and/or commented on POC blogs, or have actual relationships with POC in the real world, to know anything because they don’t really care. These white POC don’t care either, they got theirs and that’s all that matters. But they know that their white fans are expecting something and have to throw them a shallow, cursory, post about race that makes everyone feel good and enlightened.

“O Canada! Our Home and Racist Land!”

Kersplebedeb blogs about a First Nation student who refused to stand for the Candadian national anthem and was kicked out of class for it, in the blog Sketchy Thoughts:

Does it really take a white rocket scientist to see what Indigenous kids across this continent have no trouble grasping? Does colonial privilege really make people that stupid?

This is a song celebrating the establishment of Canada (“with glowing hearts we see you rise”), and its military defense (“we stand on guard for thee”). What exactly do you think the establishment of Canada meant, every step of the way? Dispossession, rape, exile, and death for Indigenous people is what it meant. That’s why one of the main groups against whom military defense was necessary were the land’s first inhabitants.

And you can add to this the special sexist allegiance owed to it by young men; “true patriot love in all thy sons command” – just some masculine quid pro quo for getting to rape Indigenous women and children would be my guess.

“O Canada! Our Home and Racist Land!”

Kersplebedeb blogs about a First Nation student who refused to stand for the Candadian national anthem and was kicked out of class for it, in the blog Sketchy Thoughts:

Does it really take a white rocket scientist to see what Indigenous kids across this continent have no trouble grasping? Does colonial privilege really make people that stupid?

This is a song celebrating the establishment of Canada (“with glowing hearts we see you rise”), and its military defense (“we stand on guard for thee”). What exactly do you think the establishment of Canada meant, every step of the way? Dispossession, rape, exile, and death for Indigenous people is what it meant. That’s why one of the main groups against whom military defense was necessary were the land’s first inhabitants.

And you can add to this the special sexist allegiance owed to it by young men; “true patriot love in all thy sons command” – just some masculine quid pro quo for getting to rape Indigenous women and children would be my guess.

Growing Up Texas-American

The blogger of No Snow Here writes:

The fact that the legitimacy of the existence of the United States of America is so rarely called into question (and usually then by indigenous activists or allies only) reveals a whole culture of denial, ignorance and collective memory loss. Sometimes I think about how I was proud to be American before I knew all these things. Like being in a basketball stadium full of people, all singing the national anthem with their hands on their hearts; my heart pounding, singing along, feeling so happy and proud. Needless to say, I’ll never feel like that again.

Love of Drag Queens and Trans People

Queer Kid of Color writes about drag queens and trans people and the roles they have played in society:

It may be difficult for people to understand why many look up to these parodies of women and why many find them funny and how they became prime in the gay community. The truth of the matter is that drag queens deserve every adulation that comes to them, because they set the standards, they redefined gender, and they were the main component in the revolution against ignorance and what we now come to know as the Gay and Lesbian Civil Rights movement. On June of 1969, not thinking of the consequences of her actions, Sylvia Rivera, a then 17 year old drag queen initiated the Stonewall riots. This tall, thin, fragile being led what would become known as the start of the Gay & Lesbian Civil Rights movement.

Anouncement: Erase Racism Carnival April Edition Is Out

The April 2007 edition of the Erase Racism Carnival is out at the blog Double Consciousness. Some of the issues tackled include Don Imus, white male supremacy, racism within the leftist movement, and trans-Korean adoptees.

Muslim and Sikh Youth in Britain

In part 2 of a piece on Muslim and Sikh multiculturalism Sunny writes:

The British Sikh experience is closer to the British Muslim experience than most people think or even acknowledge. Dr Gurharpal Singh’s article below illustrated how the fight over religious exemptions started with the former decades ago. This negotiation for exemptions is not the death-knell of secularism but should be part of any society’s committment to tolerance and respect. It applied to Jews before them and so on. The line isn’t clearly defined of course – it has to be negotiated and deliberated in each case. For example I’d support exemptions for halal food or turbans but not different criminal laws for groups on the basis of race or faith.

Originally linked on Brown Blogger Brigade.

The Commodifying of Japanese Culture

Latoya Peterson, writing for Racialicious, discusses those who try to appropriate Harjuku culture:

And it was then, that it struck me – maybe the desire to learn is what separates someone who fetishizes a culture from those who merely wish to appreciate it. As I get deeper into anime and Japanese culture, I learned what causes some of the issues I see. I read about the rampant sexism in Japan, and their colonization of other Asian nations, which explained some of the more unkind images of Chinese and Koreans in manga illustrations. I learned that a social trend I thought was cool — the ability to pick up a part-time job for a day and be paid in cash as a student — was in some ways an outgrowth of Freeter culture which is becoming a bit of a trap for youth in Japan. The anime glitter was knocked out of my eyes, and I started to understand that Japan was… just Japan. Another country, with its own struggles and issues and cool parts of its society — not perfect, not horrific, just Japan.

Times Are Changing

Bronze Trinity writes about a change in her blog and a change in her outlook and personal well being:

Some of you may have noticed a change in the tone and subject matter of my recent blog entries. It is because I am discovering my culture and history and each new thing I learn changes me. I realize now that in the past I really hated myself, and I think I also hated people like me but I didn’t know that until recently. Now I am trying to immerse myself in my culture and unbrainwash myself. Some of you may not like it and feel uncomfortable, but it doesn’t change what I am feeling and thinking.