Middle of Nowhere.

S/he carved a dagger into hir leg.

[jamiebunce]

[asylumforaderonke]

Join the campaign here: http://oncaus.es/1i7zcqj

[redblankets]

Asylum in the UK for Aderonke

[redblankets]

Spring in London

[khafraco]

We love Solange Knowles’ shoot with Harper’s Bazaar.

After the breakup she relocated to L.A. with Julez, and recorded a more adventurous second album, Sol-Angel and the Hadley St. Dreams. Filled with eclectic R&B, Motown, and blues influences and an equally diverse crew of collaborators including Cee-Lo Green, Pharrell Williams, and Mark Ronson, the record earned nearly unanimous critical praise, and even broke the Top 10 on the Billboard 200. Its success signaled the arrival of a new, liberated Knowles. She also revamped her wardrobe. Gone were the gaudy pink ruffles and awkward fedoras of her Solo Stardays, and in came a playful mix of bold prints and saturated colors, always accessorized with killer shoes and her now signature red lip. “You can pull images of me from seven to 14 years ago and I was absolutely nuts,” she says. “I have always been drawn to interesting pieces and colors, but I didn’t quite know how to limit myself and make those statement pieces work.” That epiphany took one simple thing: having a closet of her own, which she got when Julez started school in L.A. “I had to stabilize our lives and stay in one place,” she says. “It sounds silly, I know, but having space for my clothes made a huge difference. I was able to get organized, free myself of clutter, and develop a style that felt like me.”

Peep the entire interview HERE.

[redblankets]

We love Solange ♥

[fashionistasblackbook-deactivat]

Colors of succulents via Pinterest!

[redblankets]

Um my dream family

[untrustyou]

Daehyun Kim - Detached, 2014

[redblankets]

I used to feel like this during withdrawal

[amanialki]

London, England, February 2014 (One of my favourite humans)

[redblankets]

Me with my friend and brother

[redblankets]

I love this person - I strive to be this brave and accepting of my body. And I agree, it is really fun to fuck with people when you pass as a woman with a beard/moustache

[brujacore]

I think the fact that white people have been the most prone to decide whether I’m sufficiently authentic as a Latina or a WOC really speaks to the amount of authority these people sincerely believe they have, even with regard to cultures/groups they don’t even belong to. I mean really, what arrogance.

[redblankets]

I think the fact that EVERYONE ELSE seems to decide whether I'm sufficiently Latin, or Middle East, or European, or white or POC really speaks to the amount of authority that PEOPLE IN GENERAL sincerely believe they have to categorise, discriminate, or include. They usually decide based on what makes them most comfortable. I guess that makes sense...

[redblankets]

Manchester Public Hearings of Immigration System on Trial coming up on 22/02/2014

[redblankets]

Yarl's Wood Immigation Removal Centre aka Detention Centre aka Detention Hell and their website is horrific: http://www.yarlswood.co.uk/ http://www.bedfordshire-news.co.uk/News/Former-Yarls-Wood-detainee-calls-for-an-end-to-detention-hell-20140216080039.htm Former Yarl's Wood Detainee Calls For An End To Detention Hell “WE did not know they were coming for us. Nobody ever knows they are coming.” Meltem Avcil’s voice wavers as she describes the moment when, in the early hours of August 27, 2007, she and her mother were ‘dragged’ from their Doncaster home and bundled into the back of a van by immigration officers. “They knocked hard on the door; a terrifying noise. Even now if I hear a loud bang I start shaking,” she says. Meltem (pictured) was just 13 years old when she was taken to Yarl’s Wood immigration removal centre on the outskirts of Clapham. Now she is 20, a mechanical engineeering student at Kingston University, and campaigning to end the detention of women seeking asylum in the UK - 
beginning with Yarl’s Wood. “Whatever they try to call it, any place where they search you at the gates, give you an ID card and lock metal gate after metal gate after you is a prison,” she says of the centre she lived in for 91 days. On Thursday, she brought her fight to the Government’s doorstep in a peaceful protest outside the Home Office in Marsham Street, London. She was joined by human rights campaigner Shami Chakrabarti and refugee charities including Women for Refugee Women. Back in 2010, Meltem’s story moved the coalition to act after they pledged not to detain the children of 
asylum seekers. Her ultimate goal is to put an end detention full stop. But first she is calling for women to be removed from Yarl’s Wood (‘step by step,’ she says). Since opening in 2000, the centre has been mired in controversy including the fire of 2001 and most recently the dismissal of two guards who sexually abused a female detainee. “Alot of people ask if I am sexist by only campaigning for women,” Meltem says, “but my reply is, of course not. What I know is, for a woman, being in detention is like being in hell”. A report released last month by Women for Refugee Women, spoke to 46 women who had been detained, the majority in Yarl’s Wood, and found 93 per cent of women felt depressed in detention; 61 per cent thought about killing themselves; and more than one in five had attempted suicide. More than 85 per cent of the women said they had been raped or tortured before arriving in the UK. Meltem’s Kurdish family was forced to flee their home in Turkey when she was just four years old. She travelled to Germany with her parents, where they were refused asylum; they then travelled to the UK, where her parents split up, and she remained with her mother. “After that we lived peacefully in Doncaster until the night they came for us,” she says. Her message is clear: allow asylum seekers to live in the community they seek sanctuary from while cases - which can take years to be decided - are resolved. Innocent until proven guilty. The Detained report also showed that just 36 per cent of women who sought asylum and placed in detention centres were then removed from the UK. The others were either granted leave to remain, or continued their cases while living in the community. Watching her mother endure the experience of detention was enough to convince Meltem that something had to change. “I had a choice to pretend everything was fine or do something about it. I chose to do something about it.” In an open letter to Theresa May, which accompanies her petition for change, Meltem makes her plea: ‘It’s possible to create an asylum process which treats women who have survived rape and torture with dignity and humanity’. Sign the petition at www.change.org/refugeewomen Read more: http://www.bedfordshire-news.co.uk/News/Former-Yarls-Wood-detainee-calls-for-an-end-to-detention-hell-20140216080039.htm#ixzz2tWBBojsg

[fuckyeahjapanandkorea]

[gradientlair]

The hashtag #WhiteFeministRants was started by @RaniaKhalek in response to The Nation piece on “toxic feminism”, a piece that purposely obscured structural power differences and racism within feminism as to why the responses (to various stunts by White feminists) from women of colour do not always have a “nice tone” and are thereby deemed “toxic.” I previously posted about that article and shared an important quote from another response piece to that article. The tweets I sent above were specific to Black women and experiences with mainstream feminism because that’s my experience as a Black woman, but of course Black women aren’t the only ones repeatedly marginalized in these daily hit pieces, within feminism and within society itself. But the role of anti-Blackness within such friction cannot be denied either. 

If we’re going to have an honest conversation about problems in feminism (which simply reflects White supremacist capitalist cisheteropatriarchy itself, “feminist” label or not) but cannot discuss why some womanists/Black feminists, women of colour who are feminists, trans women, sex workers, poor women, disabled women etc. respond to these hit pieces and structural exclusion and oppression because of White Feminism/mainstream feminism's proximity to the State and distance from the oppressed, then things like what I mentioned in the tweets above (which is not really hyperbole…at all) need to be included in claims of “toxicity.”

I do not randomly tweet White women. Other than a handful who are kind to me, I don’t talk to too many online about topics of any significance. I don’t have any White women friends offline because of the abuse I experienced at their hands in high school, college, grad school, a decade of corporate America and social groups/gatherings/in public. So I am not running around planning to be “toxic” to White women or White feminists specifically. I don’t troll them or anyone online. Sometimes I discuss their harmful work and I don’t always tweet them directly. I focus on my life and my work, but that work includes deconstructing racism and how this (among many other identity facets) differentiates how we experience gender. And racism amidst feminism does not get a pass nor am I doing so because I want some kinda “White approval” that they deny me. So this idea that I could ever talk about it “too much” or should ignore it and grin, smile and tap dance for White feminists is an idea that will not ever be valid to me.

Oh and by the way, when they’re saying things like what I mentioned in my tweets above—reinforcing White supremacist narratives and norms about Black women as feminists, mothers, writers etc.—that stuff hurts. I understand that Whites think that Black people—especially Black women—do not experience pain in the way Whites do or at all (as actual research has confirmed their thoughts), that is actually a White supremacist lie with centuries of history used to justify the dehumanization of Black people. These things hurt. And while their “feelings” get “hurt” by critiques that I make of their racist, White supremacist, anti-intersectional, purposely obscuring structural power type of pieces, planning and action, their lies about who I am as a Black woman threatens my life. There is no “both sides” that “goes both ways” when one “side” has White supremacy—which they do not use their feminism to deconstruct—supporting them. 

Related Essay List: 2013: A Year Of White Supremacy and Racism In Mainstream Feminism

[redblankets]

Dear XX Group I am not interested in your non-intersectional feminism or general understanding of how race, class and gender play out as systems of oppression.

[unapologetically-human]

Not all toxic people are cruel and uncaring. Some of them love us dearly. Many of them have good intentions. Most are toxic to our being simply because their needs and way of existing in the world force us to compromise ourselves and our happiness. They aren’t inherently bad people, but they aren’t the right people for us. And as hard as it is, we have to let them go. Life is hard enough without being around people who bring you down, and as much as you care, you can’t destroy yourself for the sake of someone else. You have to make your wellbeing a priority. Whether that means breaking up with someone you care about, loving a family member from a distance, letting go of a friend, or removing yourself from a situation that feels painful — you have every right to leave and create a safer space for yourself.

Daniell Koepke (via internal-acceptance-movement) so relevant…. (via blackfoxx)

“Most are toxic to our being simply because their needs and way of existing in the world force us to compromise ourselves and our happiness.”

wow. that right there.

(via so-treu)

[redblankets]

Caseworker Emmanuel Lartey has the power to make a decision on Aderonke’s asylum application. 

Will you call Emmanuel now and ask him to approve the application immediately?

If you are in the UK:

·         Call: 020 8760 8700

If you are NOT in the UK:

·         Send Emmanuel an email here: [email protected]

Here’s what you can say for either message:

“Dear Mr. Lartey, I urge you to approve Aderonke Apata’s application for asylum into the UK, regardless of the Home Office's controversial belief that she need to prove her sexuality. If Aderonke is sent back to Nigeria she will be imprisoned - if not sentenced to a horrible death. Her life is in your hands. Grant Aderonke asylum now. 

Sincerely, 

Your Name”

https://www.causes.com/posts/898240-this-one-thing-could-save-her-life?utm_campaign=post_mailer%2Fcampaign_update.cb_24917&utm_medium=email&utm_source=causes&ctag=682d142234a1a19db89d4a0cf5049a0065&ctoken=lCVtA_ZiHaotoyidvF5gXJJ1yYkb17oBscuMs7fMIA1AalFyHDSL-CPpndohSc_XHTqTBNSUW-WM7gC4IZ8_ZsF4oZHhv4u5&uid=187907795

"I fled for my life" - This is Aderonke's story

"Growing up in Nigeria, I was unable to disclose my sexuality, yet unable to hide it.

The culture in Nigeria makes it clear that being gay or transgender is a sin, a sentiment that is fueled by homophobic messages from faith communities, political leaders, families, and schools.

I took these messages in, identified with them, and carried the shame of being a lesbian woman in Nigeria.

After graduating from University, I was arrested, tortured and extorted by the Nigerian Police. I was forced to endure the murder of three members of my family, who were killed because of my sexuality.

After a false allegation of adultery, I was sentenced to death by stoning by the "Sharia" Court.

It was then that I fled for my life.

Now, I am under threat of deportation in the UK, at risk of being sent back to a country that just passed an anti-gay law that would send me to prison for 14 years. I feel I will receive that sentence only if I am able to keep my life."

- Aderonke

Please share this story with others, and ask them to join us in protecting one of Nigeria's bravest activists and voices for equality.

[sigridurtulinius-blog]

“Fragments of War” is a film about the aftermath of the 2008 financial crisis in Iceland and it’s materialisation in the built environment. The film is shot on three different geographical locations that all play a important role in both Iceland’s financial success and its collapse. The first location is the former United States Naval Air Station. During World War II and later in the Cold War, Iceland became a significant and strategic location for Naval Air Station. The station and Iceland’s collaboration with the army contributed to the country’s growing economy and emergence from poverty. The US Naval Army abandoned the base in 2006, resulting in mass-unemployment in the area. The second part of the film is located in half-built suburbs surrounding Reykjavik. During the years before the crisis, there was a housing bubble which resulted in an excessive supply of housing. These neighbourhoods still remain half-built. The third and final location is in the centre of Reykjavik. The building shown in the film was a former public library but later bought by a high roller in the Icelandic buisness world. The house has fallen into state of decay and neglect due to the loss in the owner’s wealth.

[redblankets]

Leaked document reveals lurid questions asked by Home Office officials in contravention of guidelines

http://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2014/feb/08/gay-asylum-seekers-humiliation-home-office

Home Office officials are under fire for using "shockingly degrading" lines of questioning when interviewing gay and lesbian asylum seekers, despite clear guidance that such an approach is unacceptable.

A confidential Home Office document leaked to the Observer reveals how one bisexual asylum seeker was asked a series of lurid questions by a Home Office official, including: "Did you put your penis into x's backside?" and "When x was penetrating you, did you have an erection? Did x ejaculate inside you. Why did you use a condom?"

The document reveals that during five hours of questioning in a UK detention centre, the male asylum seeker was also asked: "What is it about men's backsides that attracts you?" and "What is it about the way men walk that turns you on?"

The questions, typed up by a Home Office employee, and dated last October, have been branded an "interrogation".

The Home Office on Saturday admitted that staff were "not permitted to ask inappropriate or intrusive questions", but added that attempts to determine an individual's sexual orientation were conducted "as sensitively as possible".

S Chelvan, a barrister and expert in asylum claims based on sexuality, said the interview, which was conducted with no lawyer present, was "shockingly degrading".

He added: "I'm horrified by the nature of the questions that have been highlighted. It's more like an interrogation than an interview. It is exceptionally troubling that there were questions like whether an individual ejaculated or whether they used a condom. This is an unacceptable investigation of a gay asylum claim. Clearly, something is going terribly wrong here."

Immigration barrister Colin Yeo also voiced concern: "This is the worst I have seen, but these sorts of intrusive, abusive questions are features of Home Office interview practice, particularly in cases involving sexuality. The underlying problem is that officials believe everyone is a liar. It leads to a fundamental lack of respect for the people they are dealing with."

Keith Vaz, chair of the home affairs select committee, said he was "shocked" that Home Office officials were still questioning asylum seekers in such a manner, and called for the practice to be stopped.

Campaigners said it exposed the culture of disbelief of vulnerable asylum seekers. In 2010, a whistle-blower who had worked at a centre for processing asylum seekers' claims revealed how colleagues expressed vehemently anti-immigration views and took pride in refusing applications.

Gay rights group Stonewall, whose studies found almost "systemic homophobia" in the UK's asylum system, said the approach could be "deeply distressing" to asylum seekers.

Richard Lane, spokesman for Stonewall, said: "Valuable time and resources is spent attempting to 'prove' a claimant is gay rather than establishing whether they have a legitimate fear of persecution."

A Home Office spokesperson said: "The UK has a proud history of granting asylum to those who need it and we do not deport anyone at risk of persecution because of their sexuality.

"All applicants are required to establish they face persecution, inhumane or degrading treatment in their home country to qualify for our protection."