Racism - Blog Posts

Note To Society #23

If you claim racism, misogyny, misandrism, transphobia, and homophobia no longer exist, than you are part of the problem. These groups are still extremely oppressed and discriminated against, and if you attempt to brush aside their experiences by stating that this isn’t going on, than you are not helping at all. This sort of oppression exists nearly everywhere, and saying it doesn’t is just plain ignorant. Please respect people’s experiences, and educate yourself on what’s really happening in your world at the moment, because I guarantee, after reading a few news articles, you will find yourself with a lot more knowledge than you started out with.

I knew that the racism would start spewing when Allison started all of those horrible actions and it honestly made me feel uncomfortable because I knew it would happen. People love to cling onto the stereotype that Black people are aggressive, but I also feel that if Allison wasn't so aggressive then she would have been stereotyped as the "kind, motherly" type when that is a stereotype portrayed on Black women. I honestly don't know how she could have reacted that wouldn't have led to people putting a racist stereotype. I want to add that it shouldn't be onto Black people to make sure these stereotypes don't exist and that we should be able to see Black people be as complex as they are without stereotyping them with a specific kind of behavior.

I do believe though that some do have the right to be angry with her and her actions. If Luther had taken those same actions as Allison did against Victor I would be just as pissed.

Yes Victor lied, but can you compare lying when telling the truth could have put someone's life at stake as the same as killing someone that didn't change the way the end of the world happened or affected things? Victor's siblings have not had the best track record of listening to him (Season 1) and that was only a few weeks ago (with 2 months not having any memory of it) so it's not like your trust in them gets better ine one day. Yes Allison wanted him out of the vault and had pretty much warned him about Leonard, but those didn't help with the years of trauma he experienced as being excluded from the rest and Allison bring concerned for him happened YEARS after they parted, which again makes sense on why Victor wasn't so concerned with Allison's worries about Leonard. Would you listen to a family member you haven't spoken to in years tell you that you shouldn't trust someone you have a crush on?

Then we have Season 2 where the only interaction between Victor and Allison is when Allison's trying to save Victor and when they get to where Season 3 starts. So you get like maybe a week of interaction with a sibling you haven't spoken to in years and then months of no more interaction, would you trust someone wholeheartedly within such a short time frame?

Season 3 we get to see more interactions with them and Victor is even trying to sympathize with Allison losing loved ones AGAIN when he lost loved ones too (Sissy and Harlan). Yes he got to see Harlan again, but it wasn't because he chose it or did things his way so he could have Harlan, it just was. If Claire or Ray had been in S3 and found out somehow they're the cause of the death of their mothers, do you think Allison would gladly give away that information to her family or be fine if Victor killed them?

I understand that this was how Allison dealt with her trauma and grief over everything, and it's valid she felt the things she did and wanted to cause harm to herself and others, but we shouldn't praise her actions, just like we should 't praise Victor for destroying the world in S1 or Luther putting him in the vault. We can understand why they did the things they did without praising their behavior.

Seeing some of the most insane and fucking racist Allison takes???? If she was a white man going through a “villian era” y’all would be posting fan edits and talking about how attractive you find her, calling her your blorbo or some shit. Every character on that show has done insane fucked up shit and yet I only see horrible posts about Allison. Take some critical thinking skills and apply it to the show bc Jesus Christ y’all cannot be serious rn??

I’m gonna say this here because I refuse to fight with Rebeca in a comment section but here are my thoughts. I think ppl are forgetting the target audience for these Disney movies. Whether kids want to see someone who looks like them on screen or introducing different cultures and people who don’t look like you at an early age. I don’t think you guys understand how sad it is when the only Disney princess that looks like you, the whole movie is about the struggle of a black women, when all these other Disney princesses get whimsical and quirky storylines and personalities, black girls get a movie with a hard truth within society at such a young age. That’s literally all they’ve got. And you guys think it’s so cute and funny to make hypotheticals of taking the one thing they have away with your Ariana grande casting. I get making new Disney movies but do yall know the things yall said about wish when it first came out. Yall are starting to forget how embarrassing it is for a grown person as yourself is critiquing children disney movies and your only reasoning being “the songs are bad and she’s cringey”. I promise if we all let the little kids watch wish without saying a word they would love it. She is literally a perfect example of you can’t win. Like we are moving backwards if representation is upsetting people. This is going to turn into the brown v board if we don’t stop this like seriously (if you don’t know what the brown v board experiment is, it’s basically a test that was run in the 1940s where they would get black kids and put two identical dolls in front of them, one with a white skin ton and one darker, the kids would then choose which doll was the ‘prettier’ doll and 67% preferred the white doll over the 33% who chose the black doll) you guys don’t understand representation means absolutely everything to a child more than you think. Especially in a world where a woman with a slightly darker complexion was being called snow brown. Calling her aggressive and rude and I can’t let you guys forget about the Romeo and Juliet situation where you guys bullied this girl OUT OF HER JOB. When a black woman appears slightly more masculine or without as much soft features you guys will call her Tyrone, a stud, a man. But let a masculine white girl come up on your screen you guys are calling her fine and ‘I wish my bf looked like you’ like you guys disgust me so bad. None of you had plans to watch the play, watch Snow White, or Ariel. You guys just want to be racist, plain and simple. Grow up and stop watching children’s movies at your grown age if you can’t handle diversity you fucking embarrassment. It’s not the 1930s

Regarding the new episode of DW, I'd like some advice.

My friend's a POC, and she watches Doctor Who; she's a bit behind at the moment, so when I see her tomorrow it's unlikely that she'll have seen the new episode.

Should I give her a head's up that it's very confronting at the end in a comment on racism? I think I should, because I was very confronted by it and she has much more reason than me to be upset, and I don't want her to be caught off-guard.

Please let me know if you have any thoughts.

My very last comic for The Nib! End of an era! Transcription below the cut. instagram / patreon / portfolio / etsy / my book / redbubble

The first event I went to with GENDER QUEER was in NYC in 2019 at the Javits Center.

So many of the people who came to my signing were librarians, and so many of them said the same thing: "I know exactly who I want to give this to!" Maia: "Thank you for helping readers find my book!" While working on the book, I was genuinely unsure if anyone outside of my family and close friends would read it. But the early support of librarians and two American Library Association awards helped sell two print runs in first year.

Since then, GENDER QUEER been published in 8 languages, with more on the way: Spanish, Czech, Polish, French, Italian, Norwegian, Portugese and Dutch.

It has also been the most banned book in the United States for the past two years. The American Library Association has tracked an astronomical increase in book challenges over the past few years. Most of these challenges are to books with diverse characters and LGBTQ themes. These challenges are coming unevenly across the US, in a pattern that mirrors the legislative attacks on LGBTQ people. The Brooklyn Public Library offered free eCards to anyone in the US aged 13-21, in an effort to make banned books more available to young readers. A teacher in Norman, Oklahoma gave her students the QR code for the free eCard and lost her job. Summer Boismeir is now working for the Brooklyn Public Library. Hoopla and Libby/Overdrive, apps used to access digital library books, are now banned in Mississippi to anyone under 18. Some libraries won’t allow anyone under 18 to get any kind of library card without parental permission. When librarians in Jamestown, Michigan refused to remove GENDER QUEER and several other books, the citizens of the town voted down the library’s funding in the fall 2022 election. Without funding, the library is due to close in mid-2024. My first event since covid hit was the American Library Association conference in June 2022 in Washington, DC. Once again, the librarians in my signing line all had similar stories for me: “Your book was challenged in our district" "It was returned to the shelf!" "It was removed from the shelf..." "It was moved to the adult section."

Over and over I said: "Thank you. Thank you for working so hard to keep my book in your library. I’m sorry you had to defend it, but thank you for trying, even if it didn't work." We are at a crossroads of freedom of speech and censorship. The future of libraries, both publicly funded and in schools, are at stake. This is massively impacting the daily lives of librarians, teachers, students, booksellers, and authors around the country. In May 2023, I read an article from the Washington Post analyzing nearly 1000 of the book challenges from the 2021-2022 school year. I was literally on route to a festival to talk about book bans when I read a startling statistic. 60% of the 1000 book challenges were submitted by just 11 people. One man alone was responsible for 92 challenges. These 11 people seem to have made submitting copy-cat book challenges their full-time hobby and their opinions are having an outsized ripple effect across the nation. WE NEED TO MAKE THE VOICES SUPPORTING DIVERSE BOOKS AND OPPOSING BOOK BANS EVEN LOUDER. If you are able too, show up for your library and school board meetings when book challenges are debated. Send supportive comments and emails about the Pride book display and Drag Queen story hours. If you see a display you like– for Banned Book Week, AAPI Month, Black History Month, Disability Awareness Month, Jewish holidays, Trans Day of Remembrance– compliment a librarian! Make sure they feel the love stronger than the hate <3

Maia Kobabe, 2023

The Nib

“The most disrespected person in America is the Black Woman. The most unprotected person in America is the Black Woman. The most neglected person in America is the Black Woman.”

-Malcolm X (1962)

(Originally made on insta by @michaelabalogun)

[Multiple people have pointed out that the Sojourner Truth speech isn’t accurate. Interesting none of you bother recommending other resources to spread awareness of what it’s like to be a Black Woman while you are pulling attention away from the main point–Black Women need to be recognized. If you have such a problem with how accurate the speech is, just know I looked into it and apparently she approved the second version which also expresses how she’s feeling. Let’s move on or pm me and I can list some alternatives if it’s weighing on your mind.]

It's hard to study contemporary American cryptids, because they don't have unique names. Instead of fanciful names like "Jersey Devil" or "Sasquatch," most new cryptids don't have distinct names, people just use common words like "woman" or "criminal," even when they're referring to imaginary, non-human beings with supernatural powers.

How people are treating Hobie Brown, and British punks / people as a whole, reeks of classism, privilege and plain ignorance. It's so painfully obvious when somebody who has no clue about punk history, or even the basic idea of poverty in Britain, writes about or speaks about Hobie and his universe.

Let's also discuss the way people immediately assume Hobie is a thief who has no hygiene, and how that's a god damn issue. There is NO mention in the comics or movie of him not washing himself or being a kleptomaniac, not only that, but aren't wicks hard to maintain? It's obvious he doesn't use 3 in 1.

This assumption of Hobie is racism and that much is obvious, but is also rooted in classist beliefs and common stereotypes about punks used to demonise the movement. People also threw around this 'headcanon' in the first movie with Miles, it's a CLEAR pattern.

Don't even get me started on cishet people in this fandom and how heteronormative / homophobic people are in regards to Hobie. 'B-But Hobies universe is the 70's 🥺🥺 he'd hate gay and trans people...👉👈' Do your god damn research?? The punk and LGBTQ+ movements have always been closely intertwined. I have seen a comic panel where Hobie literally kisses Captain Anarchy, but even if that isn't real and was edited, he is still friends with Captain Anarchy, who's a confirmed gay man.

All in all, please, for the love of god, just treat Hobie Brown like you treat Peter Parker. Treat him like the well written character that he is. He's not some racist, classist stereotype you can push your bigoted beliefs onto.

Just wait until I get onto how misogynistic this fandom is toward Spiderbyte and Spidergwen, don't get me started because I will make another post.

“men’s bodies aren’t policed to the extent women’s bodies are” i hate to tell u this bestie but there are some men whose bodies are policed even more than some women’s. and i’m actually not just talking abt trans men, bc may i remind u that black men’s bodies are quite literally policed by actual police from an extremely young age, and too often that policing lands them in prison just for existing or just straight up kills them.

Big brain move

Research on transsexuals also shows how the elicitation of deference depends on the type of man one is perceived to be. Based on in-depth interviews with 29 transmen, Schilt (2006) found that whereas white transmen beginning to work as men were taken more seriously, had their requests readily met, and were evaluated as more competent than they were as women, young, small Black, Latino, and Asian transmen did not gain similar advantages. Similarly, in her interview study of 18 transmen, Dozier (2005) found that, as men, white transmen reported being given more respect and more conversational space and being included in men's banter. They also experienced less public harassment. Transmen of color, on the other hand, reported being more frequently treated as criminals, and short and effeminate transmen reported being publicly harassed as gay. Gaining the full privileges of manhood is thus shown to depend not merely on being recognized as male, but on the whole ensemble of signs that are conventionally taken as evidence of a masculine self.

— Men, Masculinity, and Manhood Acts by Douglas Schrock and Michael Schwalbe (2009)

First, there was Chambers in 2019. Mostly Native cast (remaining cast was still very diverse), told the story of a Navajo main character, axed by Netflix despite a large following and fanbase.

Then, Trickster in 2020/2021. Mostly Native cast once again (remaining cast was still very diverse), told the story of a Haisla main character, axed by CBC despite a large following and fanbase.* 

Then, The Wilds earlier this year. Two Indigenous main characters (Martha and Toni) (other cast was still very diverse), super important show to those in the Indigenous community (including myself), axed by Amazon Prime despite a large following and fanbase.

Now, Rutherford Falls. Mostly Native cast once again (remaining cast was still very diverse, including a non-binary Chinese-American character), told the story of a Native plus-sized woman main character (tribe is Minishonka, though that is a fictional tribe made up for the show), axed by Peacock despite a large following and fanbase.

TV, and especially streaming, execs really don’t give a fuck about Indigenous representation and Indigenous people at all.

(Safe to reblog, btw)

*I understand that Trickster is complicated by Michelle Latimer being involved in Trickster, but she could have been replaced, I watch SVU and they’ve had 6 different showrunners over the years. CBC just didn’t give a fuck to find someone else, instead they just canceled the show.

ppl pulling the 'just let people enjoy Wizard Game' are often met with 'JKR funds anti-trans groups!' and that's. entirely true. but doesn't actually go far enough.

like if you're on team Let People Enjoy Wizard Game hey. did you know. that in my city RIGHT NOW JKR is sole funder and key board member of an unregulated private agab-policed rape crisis shelter set up specifically to Own The Transes

and which now sits on several gendered violence prevention boards alongside representatives from the (publicly funded and accountable) existing Rape Crisis Centre, against the staff of which her friends and followers have been involved in a years-long harassment campaign purely and explicitly because they run trans-inclusive support services and bc their CEO is a trans woman of colour.

(my friend works there and the pure volume of transphobic harassment has caused several long standing members of staff to quit. which I'm really fucking angry about bc I would not be here today if the Edinburgh Rape Crisis Centre hadn't been there to help me)

and that on those boards they're known for supporting increased police harassment and approaches that disproportionately criminalise trans people, unhoused people and sex workers and provably don't positively impact the issue of gendered violence.

what I'm saying is that yes JKR funds anti-trans groups but she is also pretty directly involved in materials worsening conditions for vulnerable people at a local and personal level too!!!! she's running an unregulated crisis shelter out of spite and using that to legitimise her political lobbying!!!!!! fuck you!

The thing blue state leftists don’t seem to understand about red states is that telling minorities to “just leave” is really insidious. That is exactly what the republicans want. They want to make their state so miserable and dangerous and scary for everyone who isn’t a conservative cisgender heterosexual white Christian that those people leave. Leave behind their family, their homes, their friends, their jobs, their community, the places they’ve lived their entire life. With every person who leaves it is one less gay person teaching their children, one less person protesting outside the capitol, one less blue voter trying to stop the place they call home from sliding into fascism.

Many of us cannot afford to ‘just leave’ and many of us don’t want to because contrary to popular belief, North Carolina isn’t an irredeemable shithole with nothing to offer and no sense of community. People do leave red states for their safety but that does not fix the underlying problem, that doesn’t even make the problem better.

Italian, German, Swedish, Polish, Hungarian and English and I only really know my ancestry up to my great-grandparents 🤷 Sadly the only one I currently speak fluently is English, growing up “white” in the US… I heard somewhere that being considered white in the USA often means giving up aspects of one’s culture and heritage in order to fit in, and knowing that so much never got passed down in the generations between my great-grandparents and me makes me really feel like there’s some truth to that.

Reblog with what languages.

not to harp back to a few days ago but the whole "taking phone calls in public/loud music in public/playing music and videos outloud in public is rude etc. (the list could go on)" argument is not only absurd,

(not all public spaces are going to be silent its is unrealistic, outside cannot cater to every single person as everybody has different needs, but this is not me dismissing there are concerns for people who may have sensory 'issues' or may be bothered by loud sounds)

but has ties to racism and classism, especially considering that many nonblack and white people call the police about "noise complaints" on black and brown people and poor people because the music being played at a party is 'too loud' or music from a car is being played 'too loud', which leads to them getting arrested or killed.

It also has links to gentrification, it is known that people who do complain about a community being too loud are clearly not familiar with the cultures in that area and that loud noise being a nuisance is a clear sign you are coming into a culture that isn't yours

anyway i think some of you need to read the article linked because the influx of these types of arguments is concerning.

The Atlantic

Why Do Rich People Love Quiet?

The sound of gentrification is silence.