JE VOIS. J'AI. JE SAIS.

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Fri, 24 May 2013 19:14:57 -0700

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Fri, 24 May 2013 16:03:49 -0700

"I don’t expect gay people to prove to me, a straight person, that there’s actually homophobia. I..."

Thu, 23 May 2013 15:27:32 -0700

“I don’t expect gay people to prove to me, a straight person, that there’s actually homophobia. I don’t expect poor people to prove to me, a Harvard grad, that hunger and poverty are widespread problems. And if someone asked me, as an Asian person, to “prove” to them that racism exists, I would laugh all the way back to Chinatown. Marginalized groups are not responsible for explaining their marginalization to you. If you are actually concerned, you would take the initiative to do some research yourself instead of showing up at some oppressed group’s door step demanding a list of citations for things (racism, sexism, etc.) that are proven time and time again in the real world.”

- WORD (via notevenbovvered)

oh hell yeah.

(via randomberlinchick)

Amen!

(via soulquarius)

This. I owe no one an explanation of my oppression, nor do I have the responsibility to educate you. You feel me?

(via ladyatheist)

demarches: #omg do you ever think like #how Chekov and Sulu...

Wed, 22 May 2013 21:34:26 -0700

demarches:

#omg do you ever think like #how Chekov and Sulu probably have old terran music in the ship’s databanks #and whenever Spock delivers a particularly killer zinger on the bridge after an argument with Kirk #they just play that shit #[muffled bass thumping from speakers] #(thank fuck for better quality-speakers being one of Scotty’s more discreet ‘modifications’) #meanwhile Jim just sits on and looks betrayed #while Bones calls the bridge and yells at them to ‘TONE IT DOWN GOD DAMNIT JIM WHO TOLD YOU TO APPROVE THOSE MODIFICATIONS’

racialicious: Good morning, Racializens!

Tue, 21 May 2013 06:12:09 -0700

racialicious:

Good morning, Racializens!

raw-r-evolution: ikenbot: Star Trek: Into Whiteness If...

Tue, 21 May 2013 01:55:41 -0700

raw-r-evolution:

ikenbot:

Star Trek: Into Whiteness

If there’s one thing that most fans of Star Trek will agree on, it’s the fact that Gene Roddenberry’s vision for the show — and, more optimistically, for human society — was predicated on the idea that all life is valuable, and that the worth of a person should not be judged by their appearance. Much of this was done through the old sci-fi trope of using aliens to stand in for oppressed groups, but Star Trek didn’t rely on the metaphor; it had characters who were part of the ensemble, important and beloved members of the Enterprise crew, who were people of colour. It had background characters who were people of colour. And, here and there, it had anti-heroes and villains who were people of colour … one of whom, Khan Noonian Singh, became well-nigh iconic.

Image 1: “Who is your favorite villain?” ; Actor John Cho (Lt Sulu) answers.

Image 2: TOS Khan looking at a watercolor of himself. Yes, he’s wearing a dastar (Sikh turban)

Image 3: Cumberbatch and Montalbán (as Khan)

And who is now being played by white actor Benedict Cumberbatch in the new JJ Abrams reboot movie, Star Trek: Into Darkness.

We’re all cynical and jaded enough to know the standard dismissal when it comes to matters of media representation: Paramount Pictures and most film studios are not interested in diversity or visibility, they only care about the bottom dollar. Star Trek as a franchise is too much of a juggernaut to affect with boycotts. There are too many people who love it, who love those characters and that world, and will go to see the movie. And for some of these people, this devotion to the idea of a future where even South and East Asian men get to pilot a starship and love swashbuckling, where Black women make Lieutenant on the Enterprise and actually get the boy, will be trivialized and eroded and whitewashed when the most formidable and complex Star Trek baddie becomes a white man named Khan.

It wasn’t perfect in the 60s when Ricardo Montalbán was cast to play Khan (a character explicitly described in the episode script of Space Seed as being Sikh, from the Northern regions of India). But considering all of the barriers to representation that Roddenberry faced from the television networks, having a brown-skinned man play a brown character was a hard-won victory. It’s disappointing and demoralizing that with the commercial power of Star Trek in his hands, JJ Abrams chose not to honour the original spirit of the show, or the symbolic heft of the Khan character, but to wield the whitewash brush for … what? The hopes that casting Benedict Cumberbatch would draw in a few more box office returns? It’s doubly disappointing when you consider that Abrams was a creator of the television show Lost, which had so many well-rounded and beloved characters of colour in it.

Add to this the secrecy prior to release around Cumberbatch’s role in the film, and what seems like a casting move that would typically be defended by cries of “best actor for the job, not racism” becomes something more cunning, more malicious. Yes, the obfuscation creates intrigue around and interest in the role, but it also prevents advocacy groups like Racebending.com from building campaigns to protest the whitewashing. This happened with the character of the Mandarin in Iron Man 3, as well as ‘Miranda Tate’ in The Dark Knight Rises, who ended up being Talia al Ghul but played by French actress Marion Cotillard. This practice is well in effect in Hollywood; and after the negative press that was generated by angry anti-oppression activists and fans when Paramount had The Last Airbender in the works, studios are wising up. They don’t want their racist practices to be called out, pointed at, and exposed before their movies are released — Airbender proved that these protests create enough bad feeling to affect their bottom line.

So the studio has now found a way to keep it secret and underhanded. Racebending.com was there for most of the production of The Last Airbender, and were even able to correspond with Paramount Pictures about it. This time, for Star Trek: Into Darkness, their hiding and opaque practices has managed to silence media watchdogs until the movie’s premiere.

As I said, this racist whitewashing of the character of Khan won’t affect how much money this Trek movie makes. And I’m happy that the franchise is popular, still popular enough to warrant not only a big-budget reboot with fantastic actors but also a sequel with that cast. I’m happy that actors I enjoy like Zoë Saldaña and John Cho are playing characters who mean so much to me, and that they, in respect for the groundbreaking contributions by Nichelle Nichols and George Takei in these roles, have paid homage to that past.

But all of that will be marred by having my own skin edited out, rendered worthless and silent and invisible when a South Asian man is portrayed by Benedict Cumberbatch up on that screen. In the original Trek, Khan, with his brown skin, was an Übermensch, intellectually and physically perfect, possessed of such charisma and drive that despite his efforts to gain control of the Enterprise, Captain Kirk (and many of the other officers) felt admiration for him.

And that’s why the role has been taken away from actors of colour and given to a white man. Racebending.com has always pointed out that villains are generally played by people with darker skin, and that’s true … unless the villain is one with intelligence, depth, complexity. One who garners sympathy from the audience, or if not sympathy, then — as from Kirk — grudging admiration. What this new Trek movie tells us, what JJ Abrams is telling us, is that no brown-skinned man can accomplish all that. That only by having Khan played by a white actor can the audience engage with and feel for him, believe that he’s smart and capable and a match for our Enterprise crew.

What an enormous and horribly ironic step backwards. For Star Trek, for media representation, and for the vision of a future where we have transcended systemic, racist erasure.

(via RaceBending)

THIS IS PISSING ME OFF

atriptothemorg: failedblackwoman: IDK how casting Bagels Cucumbers as Khan isn’t disrespectful to...

Tue, 21 May 2013 01:31:00 -0700

atriptothemorg:

failedblackwoman:

IDK how casting Bagels Cucumbers as Khan isn’t disrespectful to Gene Roddenberry tbh.

That man fought networks tooth and nail to have people of different races on his show. He fought long and hard to have an interracial kiss on TV.

My grandmother does not like Sci-Fi, but you better believe her ass was watching Star Trek, you know why? Because it was one of the few places you could see a black woman on TV. And she had an important job! She was important! She wasn’t just in the background.

Shit, as fake and hokey as Chekov’s accent was, he made sure there was a russian on the show, why? BECAUSE HIS VERSION OF THE FUTURE WAS ONE OF DIVERSITY AND PEOPLE GETTING ALONG KINDA SORTA.

NOT LIKE THE OTHER TREKS TRIED TO PRESERVE THAT MESSAGE

OH

WAIT

THEY

DID

(No I don’t know about the dude doing the Blue Steel back there, I barely remember Enterprise it’s boring)

“It’s about the actors performance.”

MAAAN, fuck that noise.

No, it’s not, there are HUNDREDS OF THOUSANDS of actors out there of Indian descent. You’re telling me that Binglebangle Coochiebutt was better than all of them? Show me the tapes, I gotta see that. Show me them auditions that I’m pretty sure they didn’t even do because casting a white dude is easier than being not a bastard.

People of color already struggle when it comes to seeing ourselves in the media, and before you go “But he’s a baaaad guy.” No one is saying that PoC can’t be cast as bad guys. It’s that we’re cast as the same kind of bad guys each and every fucking time. Mindless, one note, stereotypical.

Khan was different, he was smart, he was strong, he was cunning, he was layered. He garnered the respect of his enemies he was that fucking great. AND HE WAS BROWN. AWESOME SAUCE YEEEEEAAAAAH.

But nope, let’s cast a white dude because who gives a shit about diversity. HAHAHAA WE HONOR U GENE RODDENBERRY BY WHITEWASHING.

P.S I’m just gonna link this cause shut up I do what i want.

http://www.cnn.com/2012/06/01/showbiz/tv/tv-kids-self-esteem

fucking preach

look. i was born and raised on star trek. my love runs deep.

this shit deeply upset me. all of the apologists who want to talk about benedict cumberbatch’s acting calibre can go quietly lock themselves in a public bathroom and think about their choices. benedict wasn’t gonna turn down the role, and the movie was still exhilarating…but you can and should be critical of even the things you love. to use your love as a way to neutralize that criticism is just racist. the end. goodbye. motherfucking foolishness.

vanished: Chema Madoz

Mon, 20 May 2013 21:17:15 -0700

vanished:

Chema Madoz

antisjschool: logicwizard: Oh No, A White Person Did a Thing: A Tale of Tumblr Social Justice Oh...

Mon, 20 May 2013 16:45:17 -0700

antisjschool:

logicwizard:

Oh No, A White Person Did a Thing: A Tale of Tumblr Social Justice

Oh No, I Have Every Privilege Afforded to Me but Still Play the Victim at Every Turn: A Tale of Tumblr Anti-Social Justice

the truest thing i have ever said about myself

Mon, 20 May 2013 14:46:00 -0700

the truest thing i have ever said about myself

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Mon, 20 May 2013 14:45:09 -0700

"Students of color are allowed to enter the classroom but never on an equal footing. When they walk..."

Mon, 20 May 2013 14:03:10 -0700

“Students of color are allowed to enter the classroom but never on an equal footing. When they walk in, they are subject to the same racial stereotypes and expectations that exist in the larger society. Students of color do not have the advantage of walking into a classroom as individuals; they walk in as black, brown, or red persons with all the connotations such racialization raises in the classroom. They do not walk into a classroom where the curriculum embraces their histories. They walk into a classroom where their histories and cultures are distorted, where they feel confused about their own identities, vulnerabilities, and oppressions. There is no level of liberal reforms that can alter these experiences for students of color without directly challenging the larger systems in society.”

- Critical Race Theory Matters: Education and Ideology | Margaret Zamudio, Caskey Russell, Francisco Rios & Jacquelyn Bridgeman (via sinidentidades)

decolonizeyourmind: i can’t wait

Mon, 20 May 2013 14:02:19 -0700

decolonizeyourmind:

i can’t wait

bmoburns: continueplease: nbcnews: Teen’s invention could...

Mon, 20 May 2013 14:00:05 -0700

bmoburns:

continueplease:

nbcnews:

Teen’s invention could charge your phone in 20 seconds

(Photo: Intel)

Waiting hours for a cellphone to charge may become a thing of the past, thanks to an 18-year-old high-school student’s invention. She won a $50,000 prize Friday at an international science fair for creating an energy storage device that can be fully juiced in 20 to 30 seconds.

Read the complete story.

Everybody, remember this face.
Remember this name.
If this becomes a commonly used & highly lauded discovery, at some point a White guy is going to take credit, even if he has to word it like “Improved upon a previous…”
No no no
Fuck that guy.
Remember this brown girl.
Remeeeemmmmmberrrrr

*plays fort minor*

FUCK YOUR RACISM: stinkytofumaiden: im gonna piss: fuckyeahcracker: Effects Of Thinking...

Sat, 18 May 2013 21:24:13 -0700

FUCK YOUR RACISM: stinkytofumaiden: im gonna piss: fuckyeahcracker: Effects Of Thinking...:

stinkytofumaiden:

im gonna piss: fuckyeahcracker: Effects Of Thinking White People Are “All Like…

cumaeansibyl:

madihatestumbler:

fuckyeahcracker:

Effects Of Thinking White People Are “All Like That”:

Literally nothing other than white people having their feelings…

"The thing about cultural appropriation is that the appropriator does not have to face the same..."

Sat, 18 May 2013 13:42:54 -0700

“The thing about cultural appropriation is that the appropriator does not have to face the same consequences that we do for practicing our culture or faith. For them, it is an accessory that can be taken on or off at will, while for us, it is a way of life. …in a society where immigrants and communities of color are marginalized at every level, we can’t pretend that power relations do not exist when we have this conversation about appropriation. Sharing and exchanging cultural and spiritual practices is great, but it gets more complicated when we’re not all on equal footing. It gets more complicated when meaningful things are taken, commodified, and exploited for a profit, with little respect shown to the community they were taken from.”

- - Turbans on the Runway: What does it mean for Sikhs? by Sonny Singh Brooklynwala (July 10th, 2012)

^^^this^^

(via thisisnotindia)

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Sat, 18 May 2013 12:48:52 -0700

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Sat, 18 May 2013 03:39:54 -0700

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Sat, 18 May 2013 03:36:15 -0700

rodneykong: it’s weird how americans dismiss racism against asians but at the same time have...

Sat, 18 May 2013 03:08:15 -0700

rodneykong:

it’s weird how americans dismiss racism against asians but at the same time have literally committed genocide in southeast asia multiple multiple times