[purplebuddhaproject]

[uncautiouslyoptimistic]

Things Racism Has Ruined for Me: Thug Kitchen

I like Thug Kitchen. I follow them on Tumblr, I think they have some fantastic recipes. I was stoked to find out that there is a cookbook in the works and saved the amazon link so I could order it. The cookbook trailer is hilarious.

But as I watched the trailer, something stood out to me - it featured exclusively white people. This struck me as strange since I assumed that there was a black man behind Thug Kitchen* and why would a black person create a trailer completely devoid of any people of colour? Hmmm.

I took to Google to find out who was actually behind Thug Kitchen only to find out that they were anonymous - eye brows firmly raised at this point. Until today, when it was confirmed that Thug Kitchen is run by two young white Californians. 

This made me incredibly uncomfortable in a way that I did not expect. White people creating a blog/cookbook called Thug Kitchen  is very problematic. As my partner put it

"They getting bank by using a stereotypical trope about black men"

Search Google images for the term "thug". What you will find is an overwhelming number of photos of black men with tattoos, wearing bandanas and otherwise looking "thuggish" as the definition stereotypically goes. The term thug is so synonymous with black men that Google has a separate category for "white" under thugs - a tag which, by the way, still shows pictures of black men. 

So what? You ask. Thug is just a word. Sure, a word that is consistently used to justify the murder and incarceration of black men (see: Michael Brown, Trayvon Martin, et al.)

I'm so deeply bothered by the fact that the people behind Thug Kitchen are white because they are taking a term that is used to dehumanize black men and profiting off of it. There are countless food blogs run by middle class white vegetarians/vegans, so how do the folks behind Thug Kitchen set themselves apart? By making use of a stereotype that is literally costing people their lives. 

Chances are, the people behind Thug Kitchen are well-intentioned and didn't mean to make light of a harmful stereotype. Important life lesson for anyone reading: intent does not equal impact. That is the privilege of whiteness. They don't need to think about those at whose expense their success comes. They can be "thugs" without fear of anyone actually confusing them for thugs. They can profit off of the thug stereotype and never do anything to dismantle it because it doesn't affect them. 

In discussing this with my partner he questioned how he would feel if Thug Kitchen was run by black folks. To which I responded:

I think if they were black, which is what I imagined, it would feel like turning the stereotype on it's head. Like, you have this image of black men as thugs, but guess what? We can cook. Healthy, vegetarian meals at that. We care about taking care of our bodies and we are writing a cookbook for people who think that healthy eating is inaccessible to them because of the way it's usually presented.

And that's why this is so unsettling to me. It's the difference between reclaiming a word and using it to breakdown stereotypes vs. appropriating something you think is funny with no regard for the greater context AND profiting off of it. 

* A Google search for "Black vegetarian bloggers" brings up Thug Kitchen in the first page of results, so I'm not the only one who made this assumption.

[qnp]

[uncautiouslyoptimistic]

Being positive all the time is exhausting. Today, I give my self permission not to be positive; to ignore Deepak, Oprah and everyone else who tells me positive thinking will get me what I want and where I want to be; to be disappointed; to feel lost; to wallow in self pity; and to drown my feelings in wine and cupcakes.

[uncautiouslyoptimistic]

Call for Entries: CatchAFyah Caribbean Feminist Network Logo Competition

What we want a logo! We want a logo that captures and reflects the spirit and philosophy of the CatchAFyah Caribbean Feminist Network. Why we want it? We want to further develop our identity as a Carib...

CatchAFyah Caribbean Feminist Network is a collective of young, passionate Caribbean activists and organisations. We advocate for social, political and economic justice and empowerment, particularly gender justice, gender equity and gender equality.  People who identify as feminists, gender-justice activists, lgbtq activists, women, transwomen, transmen, people with disabilities, members of the lgbtq community and people based in the Caribbean region are especially encouraged to enter our design competition. The winner will receive $500.

Click the link above for more information and please share widely!

[uncautiouslyoptimistic]

To all the 'reverse-racism' conspiracy theorists: Please stop wasting my time

A friend posted this article on Facebook about why appropriating Native culture for Halloween is wrong. The thread was hijacked by a white man going on and on about not understanding and that while racism is terrible, there are two sides to everything (ie. reverse racism is just as bad). My friend and I linked to informative articles attempting to help him better grasp the topic. He dismissed them all and claimed the article I linked to was hate speech. I wanted to punch him. Instead I wrote this response:

Adrian, it's not hate. It's a sarcastic take on what it would take for people of colour to be racist. Most of the steps outlined in the article (with the exception of the broken espresso machines) are things that white people have and continue to do to people of colour. You say that you genuinely want to learn, but a) you don't bother to try and educate yourself and b) when resources are offered to you, you immediately dismiss them. There were 6 minutes between my posting that article and you posting your follow up comment. So let me ask you, how much time did you take to reflect on each of the examples given? To think about what that would feel like? To think of examples where white people have carried out those forms of oppression against people of colour? How you have benefitted from these systems? Did you think about why the author of the piece might be angry? And why she is justified in being so? If you insist on people of colour taking the time to educate you, you can't also insist that we do so in a way that protects your feelings when racism doesn't protect ours. That is your privilege. You can read about racism and dismiss it as hate speech then carry on with your life. Danielle and I don't have that privilege because people who look like us are confronted with real racism - not hurt feelings, but actual systems that make our lives more difficult than yours in tangible ways - every day. You may not think that you are racist, but let me tell you that your actions here assert that you are absolutely participating in maintaining the system. * By asking that we take our time to educate you and then dismissing us when we give you what you've asked* By immediately getting defensive - which is a form of silencing the legitimate concerns of people of colour. * By refusing to do the uncomfortable work of looking at how you benefit from and uphold racismAnd this is why Danielle said that she is done with the conversation. It is exhausting to engage with people who don't really want to have a dialogue. What you want is for us to say things to you that make you feel better. Well, here's a tip, if you're trying to learn about racism and you, as a while male don't feel uncomfortable, you're not doing it right. When I'm engaging with people about class, gender identity, or any of the other forms of privilege that I am on the "winning" side of, I feel uncomfortable. I have to constantly check myself and be critical of my participation in systems that uphold other people's oppression. If combatting oppression felt good for the oppressors, oppression would have been done away with a long time ago. So the next time you claim to want to learn or take up other people's time to engage in dialogue about ugly or difficult topics, ask yourself some of the tough questions I mentioned above first. Otherwise it's a waste of all of our time.

[uncautiouslyoptimistic]

Brand Malala: Western Exploitation of a Pakistani school girl (via mehreenkasana)

Something about all of the attention on Malala has been making me feel uncomfortable, but I couldn't quite put my finger on it. She really has become a celebrity and a brand. It bothers me because she's a token, invited by the UN and praised by the NGO world who don't mention the other girls who were injured or talk about the any of the other grassroots activists across the globe with the quickness and passion that they jumped onto the Malala trend.

Malala is like Rosa Parks in that, they are both upheld as symbols of defiance against injustice, even though they were not the only ones in their communities to do so. They are positioned as the exception which to me has racist undertones. By making them stand out as exceptions, the message is that women of colour on the whole don't engage in such acts of bravery, we aren't out there challenging systems of oppression every day, we aren't all so well spoken, etc. But for these few exceptional women, the rest of us need the well intentioned international community (read: rich white folk) to help us, to empower us to take up battle for us. 

Except that we don't. We just need them to stop impeding us.

[mama-panther-deactivated2013102]

The commodification of the young Pakistani student Malala appears to have started at the time her father volunteered his daughter to the BBC to document life at school under the Taliban (this was before she was shot on a bus). She is seen on film at a younger age going to school and participating in lessons with her peers. With regard to the question of another agenda, artist Jonathan Rao who painted the portrait of Malala that hangs in the National Gallery admits to his concerns in the Independent newspaper and states: “I guess I was worried that she was probably a pawn in a bigger game and was being unduly influenced by the people around her.” Those people include Edelman, the global PR firm that manages Malala alongside its work for clients that include Microsoft and Starbucks. Jamie Lundie, an impeccably connected senior executive for the firm and former speechwriter for Paddy Ashdown when he was the Lib Dem leader, leads a team of five who work with Malala on a pro bono basis. Safety is pushed aside for “brand Malala”. There is Malala the book, Malala the film, Malala the award nominee, Malala the portrait, with the schoolgirl being skilfully marketed by Edelman, the world’s biggest PR company. Wavering a fee will no doubt be compensated by the value of the publicity she will bring to the company. I wonder, how many people can name the other girls injured when Malala was shot? What quality of care and support did they receive? Are they represented by PR companies?

Brand Malala: Western Exploitation of a Pakistani school girl (via mehreenkasana)

[followingherfootsteps-blog]

although we may leave home, get rid of our accents, and change our names and diets, the aroma of certain foods will trigger warm memories and fill us with a longing and taste to return home

Ntozake Shange, “If I Can Cook, You Know God Can”  (via followingherfootsteps)

[uncautiouslyoptimistic]

By Abbey Crain and Matt Ford | CW Staff   “Are we really not going to talk about the black girl?” The question – asked by Alpha Gamma Delta

This is definitely going to be made into a movie. And the stars of the movie will be the sorority sisters who fought so hard to break down racist barriers and get this black girl admitted. I'm genuinely glad that the members of the sorority spoke out, named names and launched a protest on campus, but something about the article makes me uneasy. Maybe it's the way they refer to "the black girl" over and over again like she's some prize dog they're fighting over because of her high GPA and upper class well-connected family.

I can't help but wonder if their decision to speak out is influenced by the possibility of becoming the first sorority at the school to admit a black pledge - or any person of colour for that matter - and the praise that would come along with it. 

Just as constantly seeing ourselves depicted negatively in the media can impact black people's self worth; I imagine that seeing people who look like you positioned as the saviour of coloured peoples over and over again would impact white people's propensity to act in situations like this. Just my hypothesis, someone should actually research this.

[uncautiouslyoptimistic]

The other day I woke up in a funk and left the house in a mood. I got to the bus stop and a young woman also waiting for the bus approached me to compliment my hair and scarf. We spent the bus ride discussing black hair care and Etsy. Interacting with her immediately lifted my mood. We exchanged email addresses and this is an excerpt from the email she sent me:

I thoroughly enjoy letting a beautiful woman know when she has captured my attention, and captivated me with her beauty. In the society that we live in today, as black women, we are constantly degraded, devalued, and left to feel less than what we are as Nubian Queens.  

From what I can see, you clearly are beautiful inside and out. Thanks for gracing me with your beauty!

Women are constantly characterized as being catty and competitive - especially black women. But my experiences have almost always affirmed the opposite. I occasionally tell other women when I admire something about their style, I'm going to make it a point to do it more often. 

[cmilette]

[uncautiouslyoptimistic]

Truth.

[uncautiouslyoptimistic]

The Struggle

This feminist, activist, organizing thing is hard. It's especially hard when I find myself in spaces that are supposed to be about advancing the rights of women and girls, but they are uncritical, unpolitical and decidedly unfeminist.

I am a Caribbean woman with the privilege that comes from having spent most of my life living in North America, and the baggage of being an immigrant woman of colour trying to navigate spaces that are subtly hostile to us, when not being overtly so. 

I am part of a collective of women working to raise awareness about issues impacting women and girls around the world and to empower them. As the organization has grown, opportunities for funding and to take part in global forums about women's rights have materialized. I see my colleagues become feverishly excited at the opportunity to take part in these high level discussions but I can't help but feel like we are taking up space. This group of white middle class do gooders and me. Taking up space that should be occupied by the women we claim to be giving voice to.

The amount of funding that we have been able to gain access to in such a short time makes me uncomfortable. It makes me uncomfortable because this funding would never be made available to the grassroots women's groups doing the real work of challenging the societal structures that uphold women's oppression. 

I am uncomfortable that we fit so neatly into the existing framework of people and organizations taking about and admonishing injustice without actually doing anything to shift the balance of power.

I am uncomfortable that I, as part of the smaller decision-making team, have been left out of decision-making and further left in the dark about happenings within the organization. 

My colleagues don't see these things and I struggle with how much responsibility I hold for making them aware. For checking them on their privilege and speaking out about my feelings. My thought is that it would be exhausting. I should not have to do the emotional and intellectual work of checking myself while also doing it for you (and thereby reinforcing your privilege).

When I joined this collective, I was the only woman of colour. My joining was deliberate. It was me saying that you cannot claim to advocate for all women if you are representative of only one type of woman, so I am going to take up space and I am going to make sure that the stories I want to share have a place here. But this journey has shown me that this collective is not my community. My community is radical, inclusive and feminist. 

So yes, this feminist, activist, organizing thing is hard; but I am grateful to the people who help shape the radical, inclusive, feminist communities that I find home in.