“Knowing that they were losing “valuable product” due to their slaves’ propensity to swim, slave owners began taking drastic steps to protect their property. One of these steps was to instill a fear of the water by dunking disobedient slaves in water until they nearly drowned and by creating fear through stories of creatures living in the water. Thus it didn’t take long to excise or destroy the West African swimming tradition from African- American culture. The Jim Crow laws that were enacted after The Civil War prohibited blacks from the popular seaside resorts in places like Atlantic City, N.J. and Revere Beach, Mass. And by the 20th Century, as the swimming pool began to gain in popularity in the United States, the color line prohibited blacks from enjoying this pleasant recreational skill.
In addition, self-segregation also played a role in limiting those of African ancestry from getting in the water. I remember my Aunt saying to stay away from the pool because, “black folk don’t swim.””
Next time you hear someone ask questions like, “Why don’t black people swim?” Or “Why are so many black people afraid of dogs?” And, “Why are there do so many black people live in poverty?”…..let ‘em know that those aren’t coincidences. These things didn’t just happen naturally, all on their own. There’s a reason for it, and you don’t have to be an historian to know they’re all interconnected through slavery, endemic racism and persistently racist cultural norms.
never try to consider yourself one of “the good” privileged people because tbh that just is cutting you off from continually learning and continually deconstructing your privilege and learned bullshit. every time i’ve thought “ok i’m one of the good guys now” i’ve learned more fucked shit i’m doing and deconstructed more bullshit and if you continually cling to “BUT I’M NOT RACIST/SEXIST/TRANSPHOBIC/ETC” you’re refusing to face the possibility that you could still be doing really bad shit and that means you’re part of the problem. being aware of privilege doesn’t mean you’re absolved of it.
As pleasing as it is to see Richard Spencer get hit in the face over and over and over on my dash tonight, he actually suffered a far more humiliating and important defeat earlier this week.
Remember how he called for an armed march against the tiny Jewish community in his hometown of Whitefish, Montana for last Monday? Yeah. About that:
The rabbi’s voice began to break. For several seconds, the park was silent, save for the sound of Roston sniffling. “You let us know that we are not alone,” she finally said. “You let us know that our community, that our amazing magnificent town of Whitefish, is not only protected by great, divinely formed mountains of earth — this town is protected by a wall of humanity that refuses to be quiet or sit still in the face of bigotry, racism, sexism, homophobia or anti-Semitism.”
TL;DR – the entire town rallied around their neighbors. They got unequivocal, strong, bipartisan support from state officials. Reinforcements arrived from around the country. And the nazis fucking bailed. They never even showed up.
That article needs editing, but it’s worth a scan for the lessons in it. The one I’m holding onto is that we can never give these clowns power they don’t actually have, especially the nameless online assbags. We can’t cede an inch. If we care about each other, and just show up, they will lose every. fucking. time.
I am a gamer. I followed the call of Cthulhu and ran in the shadows with hackers and shamans. I traversed the ancient lands of Greyhawk, Faerun, and Eberron with companions new and old. I swung from an airship and buckled swash over London for the Kerberos Club. I threw dice and flipped cards and ground men into dust playing table-top wargames.
I don’t do that anymore.
Since July of 2015 fans of the game Malifaux have been attempting to overwhelm me with death and rape threats for no other reason than I am a woman who has opinions on the game. Wyrd Miniatures is silent on this matter and hangs up whenever anyone attempts to discuss the harassment. Given that a large number of threats identify the senders by name as Wyrd staff members, I do not find this surprising.
Birdie and I are SO lucky to have our local game shop, which is owned and run by guys who actively promote a safe, inclusive atmosphere for women, minorities, and trans and queer people. (the store is Critical Hit Games in St. Petersburg, FL btw and if you live in the area I highly recommend them.) I have literally been asked my pronouns without any prompting, because they noticed that my gender presentation and name weren’t the general combination you expect and they wanted to make sure I felt welcome and comfortable.
Like, seriously, it’s so nice to walk in there. It’s majority white and majority male, most days, but not by the huge margin you’d expect – our usual D&D table is 3-4 girls, 3 guys, and me (nonbinary), one of our favorite DMs is a woman in her 60s, and one of my favorite guys to play with sometimes brings his 11yo daughter, and she’s a complete sweetheart. I’ve never felt unsafe or unwanted, and I know that if one of the guys did harass me, the employees would not be okay with that and would do something about it.
But the important thing to know is that we lucked out. One of my friends I met at CHG is trans, and he checked out one of the other nearby stores before he came to us. It was 100% straight white male, and my friend passes thanks to transitioning in his teens, and he said that he was DISGUSTED by the shit that these guys were talking about and doing in their games.
We are lucky. Most non-white non-male gamers are not.
The police officers seemed more concerned with calling Rep. John Walker a “race baiter” for doing something completely legal than they were in upholding the law. But the kicker is that Rep. Walker had already been arrested for the same thing years ago, which is why he fought for the law (and won) in the first place.
COPS STAY ACTINNN LIKE YOU DONT HAVE THE RIGHT TO RECORD
This is the most ridiculous thing I have ever read. They literally arrested the person who passed the fucking law to make the action that they arrested him for legal. I mean it doesn’t get any more ridiculous than that.
Writer Tim Wise hit the nail on the head. White people claiming to be victims in Michael’s or Starbucks are only revealing how privileged they are. (x)
Steel Phoenix Studios 