@dakotakd - Tumblr Blog

ok every time I see this post I find it necessary to point out Jesus was a carpenter like he legit would’ve used the fuck outta a nail gun

fomysquad

Injustice in America #DavontaeSanford

Davontae Sanford might’ve been a man when he was exonerated, but he was no man when he was wrongfully framed, forced into a confession and convicted for a quadruple murder he did not commit.

He was just a boy — a black boy, completely blind in one eye and developmentally impaired — who was found by police wandering in a Detroit neighborhood in his pajamas the night the murder took place in a nearby drug house.

^^^^^^^Vincent Smothers, who was later found guilty for the slayings, was barred from confessing at Sanford’s trial.

He wasn’t bloody. He didn’t have a murder weapon. He wasn’t covered in gunshot residue from the dozen bullets he would’ve had to fire to kill four people. He wasn’t seen going in and out of the house by eyewitnesses. He wasn’t known as a local thug who’d kill you if you crossed him.

He was just young and black, in the wrong place at the wrong time. Only 14 years old, Davontae Sanford, after being picked up by police in his pajamas and taken to a local precinct, was interrogated for two days without an attorney or any family present. Finally, Sanford confessed. Any child under so much pressure would’ve considered the same thing.

Think back to when you were 14 years old and imagine what it would be like to spend every day of every year for nine years in prison for murders you didn’t commit. When I was 14, I barely had my first real kiss, still loved playing video games and had sleepovers with my buddies. From ages 14 to 23, I was assaulted, had three spinal surgeries, recovered, graduated high school, moved to Atlanta to attend Morehouse College, met the love of my life, got married, became student government president at Morehouse, traveled to Africa for the first time, earned my college degree, got my first real job as a school teacher and became a father. Those nine years might’ve been the most formative years of my life.

Source

#DavontaeSanford #Justice #AmeriKKKa #BlackLivesMatter

#StayWoke

Our justice system isn’t broken. It’s operating just the way it was intended.

dakotakd

My heart aches :(

awitcheswhispers

socialpsychopathblr

toobittertobesalty-blog

As the kid of a doctor and a biologist, let me tell you something that just miiight go over some people’s (*cough cough terfs*) heads:

- XX and XY (or any other combinations - there are others) chromosomes are a thing and are medically important

- genitals are a thing and are medically important

- horomones are a thing and are medically important

- the idea of a “biological sex” is still completely unnecessary. If you have XX chromosomes, you can tell your doctor that. If you have a penis, you can tell your doctor that. If you have high levels of both estrogen/testosterone, your doctor should probably know that already but I guess if you go to a new one you can tell them that. There is no situation in which one has to say “I am biologically male/female”

sometimestheresgodsoquickly

^say it a little louder for the transphobic educators who tried to tell students otherwise

camillahect

I teach intro biology labs at the college level, and I try really hard to get all of this through my students’ heads at the earliest possible opportunity. The biological definition of a sex is l i t e r a l l y just:

Does this organism produce: many tiny energetically cheap gametes, or few large energetically expensive gametes?

That’s literally it. There’s no other qualifiers, there’s no other anatomical characteristics involved in that definition, and even that scientific distinction exists on a spectrum! No species of animal ever 100% across-the-board conforms to this sexually dimorphic biological system! There will always be individuals of any largely gametically-dimorphic species that exist somewhere in-between, and there are a number species where the sexes all produce gametes of similar sizes!

IN NO WAY EVER does even that gamete size distinction ever confer gender upon anyone. Chromosomes and genitals and hormones ARE medically important, but these characteristics NEVER dictate gender, and they’re NEVER anyone’s business but your own unless you choose to involve another person in discussions of your strictly physical health.

There is no such thing as being “biologically [gender]”. The idea is a toxic social construct, and don’t let anyone try to shoehorn you into believing otherwise.

princess-of-pentacles

The Tarot and Gender/Sexuality: aka, don’t be afraid to queer up your tarot

One of the interesting things I’ve been noticing about doing the DIY posts is how to talk about the tarot without placing an emphasis on “traditional” gender and sexuality. As someone who is genderqueer and identifies as bisexual, it’s interesting how much some of the common online descriptions of the tarot rely so much on antiquated roles. The Empress, The Emperor, and The Lovers come to mind as posts that were a touch hard to do as I researched my usual haunts.

I’ve been trying my best to write the posts in a way that addresses this. I personally love female Emperors and I loved finding examples of them to show. Ultimately, I think when you try to remove stereotypical gender roles from the card, you find a much deeper meaning - the Empress is someone who is defined by what they create and what they nurture, the Emperor is someone who is defined by what they lead and what they control. You can then go forth and explore various concepts of masculinity and femininity with these cards, or not. But there is no need for it to be a stark dichotomy or emphasis unless that’s what you want to use your deck to say.

There’s nothing wrong with wanting a strongly male or strongly female card either - the Empress can be your power woman, power mother, center of inner femininity card, and many people of all kinds draw sincere inspiration from this. Or, she doesn’t have to be. What I’m getting at is that there’s always a choice, and there’s always way to take what you need from a card and remain true to the original vision without having to uncomfortably acknowledge a gender or sexuality that does not suit your need. If an archaic or overly gendered definition or depiction you find is bothering you, do not be afraid to rework it or look deeper for something that does include you.

If you are queer (and even if you aren’t), I strongly encourage you to apply queer ways of thinking to your deck. Make these cards something you can relate to! I wrote my Lovers post with asexuals and aromantics in mind and ultimately felt like I researched and uncovered something more meaningful. It was more rewarding than just regurgitating a shallow description that would alienate a good degree of the population, and not speak to the actual depth and power of the card.

In short, recognizing where the tarot can be used to invert, upset, remove, work in lieu of, or deeper extrapolate gender and sexuality of all kinds can make for a richer, more powerful deck.

bethanyxdingus

// world at large //

universalequalityisinevitable

Peter Joseph on structural violence, from this video.

ebonykalokoh

Brilliant

unapologeticexistence

Spot on. Like Coretta Scott King said, I must remind you that starving a child is violence. Neglecting school children is violence. Punishing a mother and her family is violence. Discrimination against a working man is violence. Ghetto housing is violence. Ignoring medical need is violence. Contempt for poverty is violence.

queerrisk-deactivated20190206

chicken-snack

sweatshirt dom

thewomanofkleenex-blog

During the first season or two of Roseanne, Roseanne Barr was treated horribly by the producers, who wanted to get rid of her, even though she was the creative genius behind the show, which was based entirely on characters she had developed. She went with “success is the best revenge,” working extra hard to make sure the show hit the #1 spot, knowing at that point she could seize creative control. She hung out with the crew and supportive castmembers (including John Goodman, who flat refused to do the show without her), and put a list on her door. That list had the name of every single person who worked on the show. When they pissed her off, she’d cross off their name in red. Everyone in red was to be fired the second she was in charge. She took this policy from Machiavelli, and she made good on it. Her first move was to fire everyone who had tried to shut her down. She also promoted a number of women writers and fired a number of men writers for being sexist. So, this shirt is no lie.

dakotakd

i don’t know if this makes me like her more, or makes me like her less. she already holds a v complicated space in my heart.

mostlysignssomeportents

Portraits of the women of Botswana's heavy metal subculture

South African photographer Paul Shiakallis produced a series of photos, “Leathered Skins, Unchained Hearts,” of the “queens” of Botswana’s heavy metal “Marok” scene, mostly in their homes.

The portraits were shot in the Gaborone, the capital city, and display the tension between traditional Botswanan patriarchy and transgressive self-expression. The Maroks cross over with Botswana’s biker scene, which, in turn, borrows elements from the country’s farmers, like leather vests.

http://boingboing.net/2015/12/24/portraits-of-the-women-of-bots.html

dakotakd

my heros. link to the photographer’s page (even more epic photos): http://www.paulshiakallis.com/2594099-leathered-skins-unchained-hearts