People of Color
- sahanjournal.com Embracing diversity and laughter: Twin Cities comedians of color
Five comedians of color—Gabby OK, Abenezer Merdassa, Aron Woldeslassie, Alicia Kismet Eler, and Comrade Tripp—talk about the Twin Cities comedy scene.
- m.youtube.com McMindfulness: When Capitalism Goes Buddhist
Buddhism is sometimes charged as the ideal religion for upholding unfair systems, encouraging practitioners to meditate ostensibly without acting on injustic...
This video is a look into how the Bhuddist conept of mindfulness was appropriated and commodified by capitalists to solve "mental health problems", only for it to seem more sinister than the name suggests. This Western "mindfulness lite" can actually do more damage by instilling certain attitudes into people, reaffirming biases, and making people docile and subservient.
Some more actionable notes from the video:
- [ ] McMindfulness -- the appropriation and watering down of Bhuddist Mindfulness
- [ ] Appropriated "mindfullness" used to neforce subservience and docility to capitalism -- mindfulness as a technique to get happy, obedient workers
- [ ] Religion and faith traditions can be powerful, but when tied closely to the state, religion can also be used to militarize
- [ ] Mindfulness is a more complex topic--not "shutting off your brain and not thinking", but rather thinking critically
- [ ] Engaged Bhuddism -- similar to liberation theology
- [ ] Learn about other radical theologies -- I know black radicalism pretty well, but need to learn about other peoples and cultures
- [ ] McMindfulness -- the appropriation and watering down of Bhuddist Mindfulness
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Black queer mastodon instance
blackqueer.life the people's eva (@[email protected])Hello Fediverse! I am coming before you all today to promote my new instance: blackqueer.life! You may have seen my post on my old account about it a few weeks back. I wanted to wait until I finished migrating my old account over here, got the instance up and running to where I wanted it, etc before...
- video.liberta.vip What to the Slave Is the 4th of July - Frederick Douglass read by James E. Jones
Born into slavery around 1818, Frederick Douglass became a key leader of the abolitionist movement. On July 5, 1852, in Rochester, New York, Douglass gave one of his most famous speeches, “What to the Slave Is the Fourth of July?” He was addressing the Rochester Ladies’ Anti-Slavery Society. James E...
- theintercept.com Dozens of Witnesses Say Rodney Reed Is Innocent. Texas Court Says They’re All Wrong.
The Court of Criminal Appeals has repeatedly ignored evidence of Reed’s innocence. Its latest ruling borders on the absurd.
- www.economist.com Prescription rules for obesity drugs may unfairly exclude non-whites
The relationship between body-mass index and weight-related ailments varies by race
> Potent new anti-obesity drugs can reduce body weight by 15-20%. However, regulation and costs limit who can take them. In America, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has approved just one of the new drugs, Wegovy, for weight loss—and only for patients with a body-mass index (BMI) above certain thresholds. The cut-off is 27 for people with weight-related illnesses, and 30 otherwise. For someone 1.7 metres (5’7”) tall, these correspond to 78kg (172lb) and 87kg. People with lower BMIs can try to get a prescription anyway. However, insurers rarely cover such “off-label” use of the $1,000-per-month drugs. > > BMIs vary between racial groups. According to the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey, run by the Centres for Disease Control and Prevention, Asian-Americans aged 18-75 have an average BMI of 25, compared with 29 for whites, 30 for Hispanics and 31 for black people. As a result, few Asians meet the FDA’s criteria.
- www.nbcnews.com Some Black Twitter users hope this app will be a safe space
Spill, which launched on Apple’s App Store in mid-June, is the latest platform some have said they are turning to following Elon Musk’s continued changes to Twitter.
> The social platform, created by ex-Twitter employees Alphonzo “Phonz” Terrell and DeVaris Brown, has garnered online buzz in the last week, with Black celebrities including musician Questlove and actor Keke Palmer counted among its recent members. By Monday, after Musk limited the number of tweets users can see, Spill began to climb the rankings of Apple’s App Store. > > The recent boost in popularity comes amid constant discourse among Black Twitter, an informal digital enclave noted for its meme culture and political activism. Many within the community have voiced concerns about inadequate moderation of hate speech on Twitter, arguing that the app has become an increasingly “toxic” space under Musk’s leadership.
- theconversation.com Asian folktales offer moral lessons that help reduce racial prejudice in children
Children’s books that feature Asian protagonists are rare. Two scholars decided to offer their own in their attempt to reduce racial prejudice.
- restofworld.org The race to put Indigenous land on the map
In Borneo, Indigenous communities are using mapping tech to claim their land rights and fight the expansion of oil palm plantations.
- theworld.org An engineer in Bolivia is reviving an ancestral, nutritious grain for the 21st century
An Indigenous woman in Bolivia has earned international recognition for her work in the production, transformation and commercialization of cañahua, a resilient crop and nutritious grain with the potential to reach international markets.
- www.iowapublicradio.org Indigenous farmers hope their knowledge of regenerative practices can influence others
Tribes in the Midwest and Great Plains are embracing and sharing traditional agricultural knowledge with both Native and nonnative farmers to improve the soil and water for everyone.
- popula.com I Didn’t Know You Were Indigenous
The question isn’t the problem. The problem is the question.
> The question isn’t the problem. The problem is the question.
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Majority of Americans believe racism adds barriers to people of color’s success
> * Nearly seven in ten (67%) say it is a serious problem that individuals treat Black, Latino, Asian, and Native Americans worse than white Americans. Two-fifths (39%) say it is a very serious problem. > * Three-fifths (63%) say racism makes it more difficult for people of color to succeed in America. > * Nearly half (49%) of Americans believe that racism is both a problem of how society works and how individuals treat each other. A quarter (26%) say it is mostly a problem of how individuals treat each other. These findings are similar to when asked in June 2020 (48% and 28%, respectively).
- www.mprnews.org How descendants of enslaved people in Minnesota, the Dakotas can apply to receive $50,000 grants
The nonprofit Nexus Community Partners plans to distribute $50,000 grants to at least 800 Black residents in Minnesota, North Dakota, or South Dakota through 2031.
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A Throughline podcast episode about affirmative action, curious about folks' thoughts
It's a bit of a long podcast, but it raised some very good points. As an Asian American who went to a elite school, I'm very much torn between the two camps myself. However, I'd be very curious to hear other folks thoughts on this matter, especially on the points raised in this podcast.
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"Black people are punished on Facebook"
www.usatoday.com /story/news/2019/04/24/facebook-while-black-zucked-users-say-they-get-blocked-racism-discussion/2859593002/As we build a new social network, it's important to reflect on the mistakes of those that came before.
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Non-white people are not "minorities"
This is admittedly A Take, but it's genuine and I hope it will be engaged as such.
I noticed the language here refers to "minorities" in regards to race often. I think that should stop. It isn't demographics that are responsible for racial oppression, it's power dynamics and ostensibly anti-racist language should reflect that.
Some might try to point out that in some areas, non-white communities are literally minorities. I only think this is true from the viewpoint of majority-white, European colonialist countries, and that isn't a viewpoint which should be assumed or taken for granted, given they are the oppressors in this situation. Globally, no single race constitutes a majority. Locally, "minorities" quickly become "majorities" if you draw boundaries appropriately—for example, a given group may be 20% of the population of a given city, but in certain neighborhoods of that city they are 60-90% of the residents.
I'm pointing this out because in general decolonization is neglected in "people of color" spaces so that racially oppressed people strive to become equal participants in a racially oppressive system rather than destroying that system altogether. It would be nice if that did not happen here.
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A short article on the functions of anti-Blackness and white supremacy in discussions about Africa.
cross-posted from: https://baraza.africa/post/299555
> Some excerpts I pulled are below. > > >with extremely few exceptions, especially outside of southern Africa, scholars of continental Africa do not engage the complex ways that race continues to be significant in this postcolonial moment. > > >The North–sub-Saharan Africa divide shapes continental and global politics (take, for example, the coverage of the “Arab Spring”). … in treating these two geographical areas as distinct—without the associated analysis of the basis of this distinction—we lose sight of the impact of global racial projects in maintaining such a separation > > >We need to take bold steps to dismantle the established theoretical, methodological, and epistemological structures that continue to impede race analysis on the African continent. >
- www.bbc.com The six best places to see Boston's African American culture and history
From Nubian Markets and Soleil to the National Center for Afro-American Artists, a local tour guide offers his picks for the best places to see Boston's Black culture.
- calgaryherald.com Crown withdraws hate-crime allegation against Calgary Black Lives Matter president
The Calgary Police Service said there was a "clerical error" in alleging Adora Nwofor was motivated by "hate based on race or ethnic origin"
Haggerty suggested the allegation his client was motivated by “hate based on race or ethnic origin” may have been filed in error, something later confirmed by the Calgary Police Service.
“It looks like there was a clerical error with the initial charge, with the incorrect (Criminal Code) subsection,” the service said.
Nwofor is president of Black Lives Matter YYC and has also been active in the community as a supporter of abortion rights.
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A non exhaustive list of studies showing racism continues to be an obstacle to success for black people in the USA.
www.racialdisadvantages.com HomeHere is a collection of academic resources outlining the ways that African Americans continue to face obstacles to success from racial discrimination in almost every category of society. This list represents a small portion of my free time. It merely scratches the surface of the available evidence.
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Asians in early America: Asian sailors came to the west coast of America in 1587. Within a century they were settled in colonies from Mexico to Peru
aeon.co Asians were visiting the west coast of America in 1587 | Aeon EssaysAsian sailors came to the west coast of America in 1587. Within a century they were settled in colonies from Mexico to Peru
- www.theguardian.com US supreme court upholds protections for Native American children
Children will continue to be protected under law preventing removal from their tribal communities for fostering or adoption
cross-posted from: https://beehaw.org/post/572828
> The US supreme court has ruled that Native American children can continue to be protected under federal law against being removed from their tribal communities for fostering or adoption, rejecting a petition from a white couple who argued that the provision was a form of racial discrimination.
- www.theverge.com The Cleaners is a riveting documentary about how social media might be ruining the world
A look at the content moderators that control what we see turns into a manifesto against the internet itself
> Ostensibly The Cleaners is about the outsourced workers that these companies use to determine whether photos and videos that have been shared online should be allowed to stay there. The film tracks a handful of people based in Manila that spend their days looking at terrorist videos, political propaganda, self-harm videos, and child pornography, breaking them into binary categories: “ignore,” where they let the post stand, and “delete,” where the imagery is removed for violating community standards.
This is an old article about an older documentary, but I thought it would be interesting to kick up a discussion about how people in Manila (and other places in the Global South) are often the ones left to deal with the worst impacts of social media - including on the moderation side of things.
- m.youtube.com Being a Black VTuber feels EMBARASSING
The cool thing about VTubers, or Virtual Youtubers, is the variety of background and presentations. Any person, no matter their ethnicity, skin color or pres...
I think this video is a pretty interesting look into highlighting larger issues of being a minority in an online space. Oftentimes, we never really get the opportunity to represent ourselves online, and this has a bunch of issues. I know, especially in interacting in online spaces where race is never explicitly brought up...
- www.nbcnews.com Is 'Latino' the most misunderstood term?
Héctor Tobar writes in “Our Migrant Souls” that the focus on Latinos in crisis or as undocumented immigrants misses their history and centrality to the American story.
> “We are not seen as people who are central to the American story. We are seen as the supporting cast, like this inconsequential supporting actor," Tobar said. He points out that it is Latino labor that keeps the country functioning and that is essential to industries such as construction and agriculture — and that it was largely Latino workers who built the infrastructure of the American southwest. > > As he strives to illuminate the Latino experience, he acknowledges that the construct of “Latino“ is artificial and complicated.
- afrolanews.org With a rich history, card games foster community and kinship in Black communities
Come for the fun, stay for the hearty doses of competition and trash talk.
- www.nbcnews.com Filipino cuisine gets a nod in one of the U.S.'s highest culinary honors
Three Filipino restaurants have been nominated for James Beard Awards, often referred to as the Oscars of the culinary world.
- www.nbcnews.com YouTube channel Wong Fu Productions reflects on 20 years of Asian American storytelling
“We were being unapologetically ourselves at such a crucial time,” founder Philip Wang said of the channel that served as a vehicle to actors like Simu Liu and Randall Park.
- www.nbcnews.com Everything you need to know about California’s reparations report
Two years after a statewide task force set out to determine how much Black Californians are owed for slavery, racism and discriminatory policies, its highly anticipated report will make waves.
> In 2021, then-Assemblywoman Shirley Weber, a Democrat, authored a bill to form a task force to examine and develop reparation proposals for the harms of slavery on Black people in California. It is the most ambitious effort in the country to address redress for the impact of slavery on Black people, with task force members saying they want to create a reparations blueprint for the country. > > The California Legislature will then have all the power. Lawmakers will review the recommendations and will have the authority to adopt, dismiss or adjust them . Whatever they decide must be approved by both houses before it would be presented to Gov. Gavin Newsom to sign into law.
- www.nbcnews.com Here are 10 words that will be featured in the African American English Dictionary
The public can also contribute to the collection, which scholar and project editor Henry Louis Gates Jr. said will be added to Oxford English Dictionary.
this is a neat project that was announced last year, and follows in the footsteps of quite a few historical efforts to compile words that are almost exclusively used by minorities (most prominently jive, way back when). Oxford English Dictionary is shooting for it to release in 2025 right now.
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Why do we fear sharing personal joy on social media?: Gender, race, and disability affect who gets to express joy—and who gets punished for sharing it
prismreports.org Why do we fear sharing personal joy on social media?Gender, race, and disability affect who gets to express joy—and who gets punished for sharing it