Korra Is Not Tan

LOOKING FOR CO-MODS, MESSAGE ME FOR INFO. This started as a blog dedicated to the Avatar: the Last Airbender/Legend of Korra franchise and combating the racism within said fandom. We still do that, but now we aim to fight bigotry and promote diversity in all areas of life.

[somethoughtseeds]

[gahdamnpunk]

American Girl stories were the best tbh

[that-catholic-shinobi]

Dude, read the books, she and her mom freed themselves in Book 1. We don’t disrespect American Girl in this house

[allthefandomss]

Don’t you dare disrespect Addy, or any of my girls for that matter. American Girl used to be legit. Good stories, good dolls, good movies.

[smugkoalas]

Felicity’s story was set in the beginnings of the American Revolution, and addressed the conflict that she faced when her loved ones were split between patriots and loyalists. It also covered the effects of animal abuse, and forgiving those who are unforgivable.

Samantha’s stories centered around the growth of industrial America, women’s suffrage, child abuse, and corruption in places of power. Also, it emphasises how dramatically adoption into a caring family can turn a life around.

Kit’s story is one of my favorites. Her family is hit hard by the Great Depression, and they begin taking in boarders and raise chickens to help make ends meet. Her books include themes of poverty, police brutality, homelessness, prejudice, and the importance of unity in difficult times.

Molly’s father, a doctor, is drafted during the Second World War. Throughout her story, friends of hers suffer the loss of their husbands, sons, and brothers overseas. Her mother leaves the traditional housewife position and works full-time to help with the war effort. They also take in an English refugee child, who learns to open up after a life of traumatic experience.

American Girl stories have always featured the very harsh realities of America through the years. But they’re always presented honestly, yet in ways that kids can understand. They just go to show that you don’t have to live in a perfect time to be a real American girl.

[chaos-in-the-making]

Dont you fucking dare disrespect the American Girls in my house. ESPECIALLY Addy!! That was my first REAL contact with the horrors of slavery, as I read about her father being whipped and sold and her mother escaping with her to freedom, but also how freedom was still a struggle.

A slave doll. Please. Read the books.

[ironwoman359]

Don’t forget Kirsten, the Swedish immigrant who had to deal with balancing her own culture and learning the english language and customs of her classmates, or Kaya (full name Kaya'aton'my, or She Who Arranges Rocks) , the brave but careless girl from the Nez Perce tribe, or Josefina, the Mexican girl learning to be a healer.

And then there are the later dolls, that kids younger than me would have grown up with (I was just outgrowing American Girl as these came out), like Rebecca, the Jewish girl who dreams of becoming an actress in the budding film industry, or  Julie, who fights against her school’s gender policy surrounding sports in the 70s, or  Nanea, the Hawaiian girl whose father worked at Pearl Harbor.

These books, these characters, are fantastic pictures into life for girls in America throughout the years, they pull no punches with the horrors that these girls had to face in their different time periods, and in many cases I learned more history from these series than social studies at school. And that’s without even mentioning the “girl of the year” series where characters are created in the modern world to help girls deal with issues like friend problems, moving, or bullying. We do NOT disrespect American Girl in this house.

[razzleberryjam]

American Girl is probably going to be the only exposure young girls are going to get to history from a female perspective. This is actually kind of important considering that in history classes we dont really get that exposure. We dont hear about what women felt and endured during these time periods cause schools are too busy teaching us about what happened from the male perspective, which is not unimportant, but we need both. Girls need both.

[star-linedsoul]

These books were such a crucial part of my childhood and shaped my love of history, which still ensures today. These books can be a young girl’s first lessons in diversity and cultural awareness (hopefully burying that insensitive “we’re all Americans” tripe) and looking at history from more perspectives than just that taught in school. They also are an example of how women have ALWAYS been part of history, which some people would rather us not believe.

I think Kit and Kaya were the newest American Girls when I started “aging out” of the books, but hearing about some of these kinda makes me want to revisit them!

[breezeinmonochromenight]

I wasn’t gonna say anything, but you know what?

Nah.

OP (of the tweet thread) was either a actively trying to start shit or is just a huge fucking moron. Probably both.

I’d like to point out that the company that makes American Girl dolls actually doesn’t skimp when doing their research and they don’t make the dolls with the intent to be offensive in any way:

[physicsandfandoms]

And they departed from the norm in Kaya’s doll to fit her culture! The other dolls all show their teeth, and Kaya does not because that is considered rude in the Nez Perce culture!

It is absolutely true that these books covered the stuff in history that was absent from our history books. I still distinctly remember reading about Addy being forced to eat bugs she missed on tobacco plants, and that started me out from a different perspective and made it easier for me to know to reject the sanitized version of the slave trade we’re taught in school. And these books are targeted at ages 8+, which is a pretty critical time for developing your own thinking and morals.

[lunacorva]

Reblogging for general awesome

[hey-marlie]

when i was in 3rd grade i was reading the Meet Addy book at school & a couple boys made fun of me for reading a “doll book” - my teacher overheard & started reading Meet Addy to the class after every recess. everyone became extremely invested & by the end of the year we had read the entire collection of Addy books & did a presentation on the civil war at the end of the year that we all presented to the class one by one.

i think back on this & realize that as third graders we were talking about how awful slavery was & because we were simply innocent kids without any societal or institutional influence yet, all of us could kept saying “why would you treat a HUMAN like that ?!” this one girl for her birthday invited all of us for her party & she got the Addy doll - every single one of us (boys included) held her & was in awe of this doll - it was such a touching experience.

i went back home about a year ago & ran into my third grade teacher in the grocery store. she said that year opened up a whole new teaching structure for her. she now reads american girl stories to her students starting day one of class every day to calm them down after recess & she’ll get through maybe four or five sets of books a year. she has the dolls in the room with packets on information from the doll’s time period that her students can “check out” to take home for weekends to care for them.

we oftentimes overlook how powerful toys can be in influencing young children & american girl honestly knew that kids could read intense moments in history & synthesize the issues to learn how to be a better person. my grandma bought me my first doll, molly, when i was only six & the dolls became a huge part of my childhood. when i turned 21 a couple years ago - we were living in minneapolis - she took me to have lunch for my birthday at the american doll place in the mall of america & bought me the Addy doll for my birthday. it was such a powerful moment i hasn’t expected.

i’ve since gotten rid of majority of my childhood toys, but i still have every single one of my dolls & all the books that i plan on gifting to my future children.

[iamthecutestofborg]

I’m white and my first real introduction to slavery and the underground railroad was Addy. She was a young girl like me I could connect to and care about her story. American Girl does a great job of making history relevant to kids.

[boldlygoing-nowhere]

Also American Girl sells all sorts of books unrelated to the dolls. The Care and Keeping of You books were super important as I started puberty and were the most comprehensive, non judgemental account of what was going to happen.

They also have “the smart girls guide” series which covers topics like crushes, worry, middle school, drama and gossip, sports, friendship, the digital world, communication, money, confidence, etc.

[iamthecutestofborg]

Oh I had those too and I loved them!

[fishfrommars]

I want to say I think there was an American Girl Doll magazine series that came out, but don’t quote me on that. there were lots of helpful girl guides that used the American girls as examples for doing good or learning lessons or trying to understand why girls did what they did

I learned a lot of my core beliefs from these girls.

I remember being very invested in Molly, Addy, and Kaya. Mostly cuz I look like Molly, and the other two had a lot of information on two of my favorite time periods. But I owe a lot of my personality to these lovvely girls

[heywriters]

I learned survival skills from some of these girls! From Kaya’s simple meals, to Molly’s Girl Scout training, to Kit learning how to stretch a nickel, to Addy bravely sneaking through a Confederate camp, and straight-up Kirsten surviving bear encounters and blizzards. Good. Books!!

…i need to read these again

[readatrix]

Moral of the Story: Don’t Come for the American Girls.

[prismatic-bell]

Also. ALSO.

Challenge for the goyim:

I want you to name, off the top of your head (no googling), a YA story about a Jewish child that isn’t about the Holocaust.

Depending on how old you are, you might have come up with The All Of A Kind Family series. But it’s far more likely the first book you thought of when I said “a YA story about a Jewish child” was Number The Stars, and that when I got to “that isn’t about the Holocaust” you came up blank. Unless you happen to be a gentile living in a very heavily-Jewish area, the odds are buy-a-lottery-ticket good you’ve never read such a book, and even finding them in Jewish communities isn’t easy.

Do you have any idea, any at all, how important it is that Rebecca’s story wasn’t about, or set in the time of, the Holocaust? Let’s do another experiment. Once again, off the top of your head, no googling. I want you to name a movie that’s primarily about Jewish characters and not about 1) the Holocaust 2) a similar act of violence against the Jewish people. It doesn’t have to be for kids this time. It can be ANY movie about Jews.

What did you come up with?

If you said “An American Tail,” you get half-credit because the movie is actually about Fievel searching for his lost family and the “we’re fleeing persecution” part is kind of in the background, but you noticed it’s a Jewish story and you get points for that. If you said “Fiddler on the Roof,” I will remind you that Act One (in the movie: the wedding scene) ends with a pogrom, and the ending is forced expulsion from the shtetl of Anatevka. More likely if you’re a gentile and I say “quick, name a movie about Jews” with no other instructions, you come up with Schindler’s List. (Which technically isn’t even about Jews! It’s about Schindler!) Jews in American media are defined by our suffering and deaths at the hands of gentiles. We’re misery porn.

So to say “here’s an ordinary Jewish girl, who does face struggles but is AN ORDINARY GIRL,” do you know, can you fathom, how important that is??? What a change of tone from Schindler, Lois Lowry, and (you can all spit in disgust with me on this one) The Boy In The Striped Pajamas, what a wonderful message it sends to Jewish and goyische children alike????

Don’t you fuck with my American Girls. I’ll fuck with you, and you won’t like it.

[jabberwockypie]

The first limited edition American Girl of the Year doll, in 2001, was Lindsey Bergman, who was also Jewish.

(There are also currently some indications that the upcoming 1990s twin historical dolls will be Jewish, because the names being trademarked are Nicki and Isabel Cohen, or Nicki and Isabel Hoffman.  It’s early enough in the whole thing that it’s not confirmed yet - the recent 1920s doll, for instance, was originally trademarked as “Claudie Jones” before being officially “Claudie Wells”.)

[bedabug]

jane fonda got arrested the third week in a row at climate change protests. this time with ted danson

Legends only

For everyone complaining about how these two can get arrested and it won’t affect their careers, you’re right. It most likely won’t hurt their careers. That’s why they keep going out and doing it. They’re using their platform to their advantage. They’re both white, of an older generation, and famous enough to be recognized. They’re holding their generation accountable and making an effort to show up and enforce change. This isn’t them advertising a TV show or some bs, they’re there to help

[s-n-arly]

This is a very good way to use your privilege.

[amusedmuralist]

Jane Fonda has been involved in protest since the America Vietnam war

[weaselle]

Jane Fonda’s activism did, in fact, hurt her career, and she’s out there risking it all again. She wasn’t just involved in protest since the Vietnam war (tho that is what did her career the most damage, some lawmakers were actually calling for her to be tried for treason over it)

She was already under government surveillance before that for her support of the Black Panthers and her show of solidarity with two separate first nations re-occupations (Fort Lawton and Alcatraz). 

She’s not being silly or doing a bit or pulling a PR stunt. She’s just not letting the cops scare her. Because this is far from her first rodeo.

[thebibliosphere]

Jane Fonda’s mugshot from Nov. 3, 1970.

She was arrested on trumped-up drug smuggling charges, which an officer later admitted was their only way of booking her because god damn Nixon wanted her arrested for her anti-Vietnam War activism. The FBI and the CIA, and the NSA had been surveilling her for months without her knowledge.

If there is any celebrity whose activism is not empty lip service, it’s Jane fucking Fonda.

[deramin2]

For Juneteenth I want to tell you about Sarah Boone: inventor of the modern ironing board, and the second Black women to receive a US patent.

Sarah was born into slavery in Craven County, North Carolina in 1832. Legally barred from education, her grandfather secretly taught her instead. In 1847 she married freedman James Boone, and was herself freed for unknown reasons. They moved to New Haven, Connecticut before the civil war, and had 8 children together.

James worked as a brick mason, and Sarah worked as a seamstress and dressmaker. While other inventors of the 19th century had been slowly improving the design of ironing boards, Sarah found them inadequate for the job, so she set about making something better.

She wrote in her very detailed patent,

"The purpose of the invention is to produce a cheap, simple, convenient and highly effective device, particularly adapted to be used in ironing the sleeves and bodies of ladies’ garments."

Her ironing board was narrow, curved, symmetrical, and tapered so that the narrowest parts of a garment could fit around it flatly without ceasing while easily turning the garment for each side. It was padded so the fabric would drape more gently, also reducing ceasing. It had collapsible legs that started towards the center of the board so that there was plenty of room for clothes to fit around it while also being mobile and easy to store. It was easy and cheap to manufacture so that it would be accessible for anyone to buy. Especially important when Black people were (are) both poorer and more harshly judged for their appearance.

She submitted she her patient in July of 1891, and obtained United States patent number 473,563 in April of 1892. 132 years later we are still using Sarah Boone's design with very few changes.

She died in 1904 at the age of 72 and is buried in the family plot in Evergreen Cemetery in New Haven.

So next time you iron something, admire how well thought out and purpose built Sarah's design is. Black excellence and freedom made that possible. If she'd remained in slavery she would never have been able to design it or patent it.

I'm thinking about her story today and mourning the generations of Black innovation we never got because because of slavery. All that brilliance held back by such an evil and dehumanizing institution. All the Black innovation held back today due to the legacy of slavery and ongoing racism. The inmates who are still legally enslaved in this country and not given a chance to thrive and create. I'm thinking about how reparations could help other descendents of slavery have the money to work on their ideas. (Or just live other fulfilling lives because no one should have to be exceptional to be respected.)

Ironing boards are so simple that we never think about the care that went into their design or the woman behind them. But we should. And now you know the story.

[keitheaverage]

just in case you need to hear this today:

you are not a failure

you are not a waste of space

you are loved

you are wanted

I believe in you

you can do it!!!!

[pencildragons]

bro i LOVE indigenous fusion music i love it when indigenous people take traditional practices and language and apply them in new cool ways i love the slow decay and decolonisation of the modern music industry

[pencildragons]

I WILL !!! I WILL DO THAT

some of my favourite indigenous artists, in no particular order:

Inuit artists:

the jerry cans (esp their album Inuusiq)

beatrice deer

twin flames

Māori artists:

jordyn with a why

Indigenous australian artists:

tilly tjala thomas (i particularly love ngai yurlku nhiina)

kardajala kirridarra (srlsly check out ngajabu (Grandmother's Song))

i've also heard good things abt Baker Boy, but i haven't checked out his stuff yet

[columbidaae]

Another one for Inuit artists is Piqsiq! Two sisters who’ve been doing traditional throat singing since they were kids. They make some really gorgeous, eerie, atmospheric stuff. Highly recommend watching this video of them performing live a cappella using a looping machine, because they might be the coolest people on the planet actually

(Jo March nearly in tears voice) women,,,,

[aconissa]

For anyone into North Asian and Central Asian folk music, there's this incredible Siberian folk-pop band called Otyken! The group is mostly women and they're from multiple indigenous groups in Siberia, with songs being sung in their range of different languages. They're so much fun and their music videos are amazing!

[alqemizzy]

i'll go ahead and recommend The Halluci Nation (formerly known as A Tribe Called Red), an EDM group from First Nations Ontario that do really cool fusions of First Nations music with dubstep, moombahton, and hip hop.

[swordandstars]

Agalisiga Mackey is making brilliant music through pairing Cherokee lyrics with classic (like, 40s and 50s) country-western instrumentation. This man can YODEL like nobody's business.

Read more about his work here:

Agalisiga Mackey reflects on writing songs in his native Cherokee language

We hear from singer Agalisiga Mackey, whose song "Tsitsutsa Tsigesv" was a standout submission to this year's Tiny Desk Contest.

[fuck-u-maga]

[onlytiktoks]

[lezbadeez]

Holy mother of curb theory those are GOOD

See what happens when we do things for disabled people? We get shot like this that's just better for *everyone* AND accommodates for wheelchair users

[catmask]

in the wintertime you can remove the FRZN status effect by drinking some warm tea... but WATCH OUT! you may be inflicted with SLEEP status effect instead

[elierlick]

Pure genius

[sunkissedqueer]

This Thanksgiving National Day of Mourning, please consider donating to:

The Native American Rights Fund

Native Wellness Institute

Warrior Women Project

Sitting Bull College

First Nations COVID-19 Response Fund

The Redhawk Native American Art Council

Partnership With Native Americans

First Nations Development Institute

Native American Heritage Association

National Indigenous Women’s Resource Center

[onereallygoodlambonastick]

Help Quileute Tribe Move to Higher Ground

Indigenous Action Media

Restoring Justice for Indigenous Peoples

Native-owned businesses handout

Beyond Buckskin: Buy Native list. Ex:

https://www.haipazazaphezuta.com/shop <-bottle-less shampoo bars, soaps yall

https://www.indigenouswomanmade.com/

https://www.sakarifarms.com/our-story

Food & School Aid for Wayuu Nation in La Guajira: https://gofund.me/d522f1c9

https://www.pulasuco.com/ (organizing ^ funds and also delightful shop equitably platforming/paying indigenous women artists)

Cockpit Country Protection Lawsuit: https://gofund.me/c95a1f5d

https://www.blooddiamondofthepacific.com/

RISE Coalition

The Indian Residential School Survivor Society (IRSSS)

Indigenous Canada coursera

[notwiselybuttoowell]

I was going to link to Standing Rock Institute of Natural History’s gofundme, but it appears it is no longer active. Here’s the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe’s general donation page.

The Standing Rock reservation has an astonishing wealth of fossil remains, and a relatively young paleontology program, but not much in the way of resources. Here’s the program’s Get Involved page, and here’s a really cool video talking about the subject from PBS’s Prehistoric Road Trip, if you have six minutes to spare.

[cityslicker1-deactivated2024110]

DESTROY THE MAGAts!

🇺🇸🗽🇺🇸

[reading-writing-revolution]

Vote blue

[bi-trans-alliance]

Find your fucking polling place!

[biblianca]

YOU CAN ALSO SEE WHAT THE FUCK WILL BE ON YOUR BALLOT

[bi-trans-alliance]

A FUCKING GOOD POINT!

[korraisnottan]

evergreen post

[wayward-delver]

“DEATH TOME,” The Simpsons DEATH NOTE Parody (FULL)

It is animated by DR Movie who also worked on the original series.

[soberscientistlife]

[memehumor]

Silly fox

[itsclydebitches]

#ourgeneration horror stories

They find a book written in Latin… one guy doesn’t take Latin and doesn’t want to mess up the pronunciation. The girl is studying Mandarin. Another guy recommends sticking it into Google Translate but that’s likely to land them with gibberish. They leave it alone.

The car won’t start. They call an Uber.

The vampire captures the girl and insists that she wears the gown to dinner. The gown is actually hella cute. Only problem is it’s not in her size. Oh, it only comes in 2’s and 4’s? Sorry, vamp, you want me in that dress you contact the goddamn company and tell them to get their shit together.

“How did you possibly know that? It saved our lives!” “I’ve got two degrees and I spend way too much time on Wikipedia.”

They encounter a spirit that gains power the more people believe in it. One girl makes a vine and uploads with, “fakest ghost ever!!! Right??” Twenty minutes later the spirit is destroyed.

The circus is in town tonight. Except she’s lived her whole life here and the circus has never come before… it’s also in a pretty sketchy part of town, not somewhere you’d want to walk alone at night. She goes to a movie instead.

“You’d need an ARMY to fight this evil!” “Okay. I’ve got 20,000 followers, lets see how many can make it.”

The Evil Whispery Voice of Doom tells the jock that it’s going to kill his pretty blonde girlfriend. The jock gets offended because, excuse me, Cindy and I are just friends. However, Marty over there is my boyfriend and I’m not saying you should kill him, just stop making assumptions yeah?

“This spirit tried to convince me it was Jerry when it texted but its texting style is COMPLETELY DIFFERENT so yeah that didn’t work.”

We could have easily gotten lost and ended up at some creepy cabin in the woods, but luckily we all had functioning GPSs. Beach party, we’ve arrived!

“We have to find a way to destroy it! We—what are you doing?” “Looking up ‘exorcising demons’ on Google. Oh look, first hit.”

The child she bares will be the devil’s spawn. Good thing she doesn’t want kids. Or if she changes her mind she can always adopt.

“How can we possibly outwit this serial killer…” “… There’s gotta be an app for that. Lemme look.”

Only the virgin will survive… Turns out they’re all virgins. One is asexual. One wants to wait until marriage. Two just haven’t found the right person yet. One is meh about sex. So we all survive, yeah?

The girl does not fall. She was on varsity track.

“Quick! We need someplace to hide the artifact. And then decoys to confuse the beast! What have we got?” “… I’ve got a hundred plastic bags stuffed into another plastic bag.” “PERFECT.” 

[campercas-deactivated20150517]

i would pay to read a book of a collection of modern horror stories

[deactivated-this-account-deacti]

They’re trapped in a haunted cabin one of them inherited from a Weird UncleTM. Mysterious figures, things going flying, screams and drumbeats and chanting, blood pouring down the walls, the whole bit. They pull out the Ouija Board. “BRO, WHAT IS YOUR DEAL?” S…A…C…R…E…D…L…A…N…D “Oh.” “Oh geez. Oh no. This is Native American land. Oh goodness I am SO sorry.” “Um so, like I inherited this property and a couple acres, can I like…donate it?” W…H…A…T “Yeah man like, what tribe are you? I don’t want to live here, this cabin is grody and Uncle Tim was a fuckin’ weirdo. It’s your guys’ land, just like, what tribe?” C..H…U…M…A…S…H “Cool. Uh, I guess we’ll…call them…in the morning?” T…H…A…N…K…Y…O…U GOODBYE “Oh. Well fuck, like, that was easy.”

[juuls]

I was all set to dislike this when I saw the title, thinking it was gonna be another bashing of my generation post… then boom! Talk about saving the day!

[love-in-mind-palace]

These are brilliant.

[inthroughthesunroof]

On the camping trip the horny ones have sex in the tent while their friends keep the fire going and politely pretend not to notice. The murderer lurking in the dark woods is disappointed.