Assata Shakur (via ethiopienne)
great quote.
(via deafmuslimpunx)
Our government considers this woman a terrorist.
(via knowledgeequalsblackpower)
(Source: twitter.com)
(Source: hellanne)
“I designed the show to create that strong reaction. I designed Buffy to be an icon, to be an emotional experience, to be loved in a way that other shows can’t be loved. Because it’s about adolescence, which is the most important thing people go through in their development, becoming an adult. And it mythologizes it in such a way, such a romantic way-it basically says, ‘Everybody who made it through adolescence is a hero.”
- Joss Whedon.
But the point, the point, is that whenever I hear someone talking about how it’s wrong to have sex and sexiness in YA novels, what I actually hear is this:
I’m terrified that the first fictional sex a teenage girl encounters might leave her feeling good about herself. I’m terrified that fictional sex might actually make teenage girls think sex can be fun and good, that reading about girls who say no and boys who listen when they say it might give them the confidence to say no, too – or worse still, to realise that boys who don’t listen to ‘no’ aren’t worth it. I’m terrified that YA novels might teach teenage girls the distinction between assault and consensual sex, and give them the courage to speak out about the former while actively seeking the latter. I’m terrified that teenage girls might think seriously about the circumstances under which they might say yes to sex; that they might think about contraception before they need it, and touch themselves in bed at night while fantasising about generous, interesting, beautiful lovers who treat them with consideration and respect. I’m terrified of a generation of teenage girls who aren’t shy or squeamish about asking for cunnilingus when they want it, or about loving more than one person at once, and who don’t feel shame about their arousal. I’m terrified that teenage girls might take control of their sexuality and, in so doing, take that control of them and their bodies away from me.
I wanted silence. My daydreams were full of places I longed to be, shelters and solitudes. I wanted a room apart from others, a hidden cabin to rest in. I wanted to be in a redwood forest with trees so tall the owls called out in the daytime. I daydreamed of living in a vapor cave a few hours away from here. Underground, warm, and moist, I thought it would be the perfect world for staying out of cold winter, for escaping the noise of living.
(Source: awritersruminations)
The Distribution of Grants and Scholarships by Race
i am so sick of white people coming to me talking about “affirmative action” and how there aren’t any scholarships for white kids. let me get my fucking violin out
(via esaedders)
These statistics speak of “merit-based scholarships”, as in: based on how said scholar performs. Is it not possible that maybe, just maybe, white students in general tend to get better grades? Or would the be a “racist” assumption to make?
(via mrjerome)
even if this assumption was true (which is based in racist attitudes of Black achievement and also ignore the entire white supremacist basis of the styles of learnings and its institutions in the U.S.) there are still completely institutional reasons for why this would be true. children of color face unequal opportunity to quality education from k through 12 regularly. they face poverty, community violence, food shortages and hunger all at higher rates than white children. they receive less government funds in the form of head start for children with special needs or who live with disabilities and are of color. children of color are consistently taught by people who don’t identify with them or affirm their identity. we are forced to go with learning styles that do not fit our intuitive true ways of thinking. and then we deal with this like the school to prison pipeline, abuse from racist teachers, proof that AP and honor students of color don’t get the recognition they deserve or boosted into better classes as frequently as whites, bullying that happens more frequently to poor, queer and/or trans* students of color. and thennnnn… the fact that school districts are arranged by property taxes and white wealth is now 22 times greather than Black wealth and that homeownership would clearly be less in those communities without access to wealth. and that homeownership is part of what it takes to get better grades because steadier environment, less moving and more likely access to community resources one might not be able to afford. there are a lot of reasons why white students would achieve in school at higher levels than students of color. but those reasons rarely have anything to do with white people as a race and rather the white supremacist society we live in that gives them an advantage in everything and then claims them superior to everyone. these children of color who are failing and dropping out or going to jail right from school aren’t doing so because they are Black or Latin@ and it runs in their blood and as a race we are pathalogically criminal and less than whites (this is the assumption for why whites are better at everything). they are doing so because this society is stacked completely against them from day one and surviving sometimes doesn’t even include getting a high school diploma never mind having the grades to get merit based scholarships to institutions that still benefit whites more because they get paid more than all people of color for the same degrees anyways.
(via strugglingtobeheard)
Barbara Ehrenreich, Nickel and Dimed (via itsnevertoolatte)
Yes, this. You are constantly weighing everything. I will give up food today to have bus fare tomorrow. I won’t buy a secondhand coat because utilities are due. I can’t call in sick no matter how bad it gets because if I lose my job I have nothing. It goes on and on. It is relentless.
(via inautumn-inkashmir)
And even when you do your best to control the shit you can, outside forces are always ready to sink your ship.
(via so-treu)
Teju Cole (via semperes)
it also tends to erase the daily lives and struggles of marginalized groups who are living in the “first world”. western countries are not perfect, and everyone here does not live fancy and luxurious lifestyles. many people living in these countries live what might be considered “third world” lifestyles although they would almost never be called that because of this weird first world-third world dichotomy.
(via feministorwomanist)
(Source: thewhiskeypropagandist)
(Source: thechocolatebrigade)
