Every time something tragic happens, the masses take to social media. The tweeters tweet, the bloggers blog, the tumblrs do…whatever it is that they do. The online world as we know it changes their profile photos to pictures of a victim, a cause, and a consensual feeling that we – society’s underdog – have to fight and make a change…until the next tragedy pops up and takes us away from the immediacy and hurt of our current tragedy. There’s a common complaint that Black folks – especially of the twitter generation – don’t do enough moving to inspire an actual change.

Generation X defines people who were born after Baby Boomers, from the mid-1960s to approximately 1980. After Gen-X came Generation Y, the generation that most people now say encompasses people at a cut-off age of 33 and ending, so far, at 13. However, there seems to be a blurred shift in social standards within Gen-Y; in fact, I would venture to say that there is a generational subset (the one that people are referring to with their complaints of “this generation”) that I often think of as Generationi or Generation-Why? I am of the opinion that early Gen-Y, (1980-1989) seem to be more a bridge between Gen-X and Gen-Why. They are tech-savvy, but the post-Gen-Xers had a difficult time gaining their own definition. These people encompass both the MTV generation and the internet generation. However, they are also the first social media activists. And Gen-Why seems to be a generation of people, especially Black Gen-Why, that we’ve all given up on.

I tend to withdraw from social networking and observe people’s behavior, like the eternal sociologist that I am. However, I am also on the ground daily, fighting many fights that will hopefully, one day, benefit the people. I’ve found it interesting that every time anything happens, twitter gets it first. Any time a celebrity has a child, or a major court case happens online, people check twitter before checking the news. I, myself, am guilty of it. We are now socialized to interpret information differently because of social media.

The benefit of the information age is that, with how quickly technology evolves, we are able to distribute information much more quickly than ever. This can be both beneficial and completely terrifying. In fact, the young subset of Generation-Y is certainly much more of a shock culture than any of the previous generations, in part because of how quickly we can spread information and our potential reach. How many people do you know who do not have Facebook? Or a smart phone? The younger generation is being taught to have the most fans and to get the most shocking, next hot “thing” out before anyone else. They’re brought up to believe that this is acceptable, even in subtleties. Just the other day, I was on twitter and I saw a person who’s twitter handle was something to the effect of Emmett Trill. (I only assumed that the kid belongs to this age bracket, but I was so disgusted that I just had to turn my cell phone off for a little while. It saddened me.)

There is a breakdown in how older people understand people belonging to this age group, and that’s where the communication proves faulty. My aunt is a notorious example of this. She thinks that she is the entertainment news – she sends mass text messages to the entire family about celebrity news. One day, she sent a mass text about a car accident that my cousin had been in (during which, he totaled his vehicle) and no one knew about it. I think that there is a general level of misunderstanding of the evolving mores and folkways that social media has placed upon us; we have to accept that our communication styles are changing and we have to desire to understand each other. Why are we so hard on these kids for wanting to make a difference in the ways that they think will work?

The older generations, even older Gen-Y folks, have given up on the younger generation; they define their online activism as naivete and assume to know what they feel to be enough to make a change. To use a word that I don’t often use, this is unfair to the younger adults who aspire to make a change; I am of the opinion that they aren’t given enough credit for the intelligence that they do have. Of course they don’t feel like taking a photo with a hoodie and skittles will change whether or not George Zimmerman is found guilty for murdering Trayvon Martin. I think that there is movement being disregarded by people who don’t see the point in the symbolism of changing their profile photos or engaging in online discourse. How much of a difference in curing breast cancer is wearing pink ribbons? Is changing your photo for HRC making a difference in gay and lesbian rights? Obviously, the solution to the problem is not in online advocacy, but that method of advocacy is a form of solidarity; it is intended to send a message of unity. (Conversely, I do understand that awareness groups wear ribbons in an effort to raise money and that is a very real difference. A start is a start.)

In addition to the changing of profile pics, etc., being forms of solidarity, I think that it is very important to note that they are very legitimate forms of non-violent protests. The way that we are communicating is evolving, and we are all evolving with it. However, our understanding of one another – especially in our expectations of communication – have not evolved and that is where Gen-Why gets hit hard. Back in the day (and sometimes today, too), one of our main methods of making an impression on society was picketing and allowing the opposition to be assaultive toward us as we turned the other cheek. There was even a clear division within our communities because, as this was mostly Martin Luther King Jr’s method of encouraging us to overcome injustice, a major section of the Black community was not for being assaulted and not defending ourselves. Non-violent protesting then was even seen to be outrageous; I believe that as the kids of today try to set their paths and figure out how to reach the masses, they are doing what they can with what they have. Let them protest, and let them know their non-violent protests are not in vain. After all, online activism and silent protests are responsible for holding corporations responsible for the people that they support. These methods of advocacy, while from behind their computers and smart phones, are responsible for Paula Deen being held accountable for her racism and for the Occupy Movement that is still active, even if you don’t see them online.

The media that we ingest has evolved and so have the values of the younger Generation-Y, for better or for worse. I am very much of the opinion that they are not being examined under the proper lens. They are difficult to figure out but I think that it is important for anyone not of that generation to remember that they are also figuring themselves out. They may even be afraid to engage in the forms of advocacy that we, the older generations, deem to be valuable because a lot of people feel as though they have no knowledge or experience. It is our responsibility to work with them.

So when Troy Davis is executed, our legislation is passed stripping our civil rights, and most recently, Trayvon Martin is killed (and his killer acquitted), Generation-Y (and “Why”) take to social media — which in and of itself does not resolve any of these major systemic problems. why does Generation-Y get so much flack for blacking out their profile picture or sending out texts or tweets? Let’s encourage them to get in the streets (as they have and are) as well as encourage their evolving methods of activism.

The best question, in my opinion, is how to we bridge the communication gap within our communities to resolve the problems that we are faced with?

(And stop comparing Trayvon Martin to everything else. We do not live in a culture that is everything or nothing. I believe that they are trying. Shaming them for not trying hard enough won’t get them to try more.)

The post If You Didn’t Believe Social Media and Online Activism… appeared first on Madness & Reality.

So, yeah. Lil Wayne is featured on the remix of Future’s song “Karate Chop” — which appears to be about selling cocaine, riding in fancy cars, and generally blowing money — and yet again, he’s offended the masses. As an artist, I often wonder if certain things are untouchable; as an activist (and supposed decent human being), I know that many people abide by our social mores and the cultural understanding that we have of the difference between ‘right’ and ‘wrong’ and behavior that is simply in poor taste.

And along comes Lil Wayne. Not-in-his-defense, I have found that our objections of the really awful things that he says aren’t particularly for all the right reasons. For example, the latest hubbub is over based on Tunechi saying:

Beat that p*ssy up, like Emmett Till

As with anything, we should look at the lyric in it’s full context. So, Weezy’s full verse, if it provides any source of context for you, says:

Pop a lot of pain pills
Bout to put rims on my skateboard wheels
Beat that pussy up like Emmett Till
Yeah….
Two cell phones ringin’ at the same time
That’s your ho, callin’ from two different phones
Tell that bitch “leave me the fuck alone!”
See, you fuck her wrong, and I fuck her long
I got a love-hate relationship with Molly
I’d rather pop an ollie, and my d*ck is a trolly
Boy, I’ll bury you like Halle
And these hoes say I’m blind,
Cause I don’t see nothin’ wrong with a little bump and grind
Man I just received a package
Them other niggas taxin’
And my pockets so fat, I’m startin’ to feel contractions
And my cousin went to jail for them chickens
And he already home and that nigga must be snitchin’
Cut him off like karate!

Okay, so the context actually isn’t all that important or helpful. We can all pretty much agree that it will always be poor taste to make light of Emmett Till’s bludgeoning and murder. If no one knew, it will always be too soon for Emmett Till jokes, metaphors, and snappy lyrics. Naturally, the internet grew upset and up and coming rap star, Future, defended Lil Wayne saying that the line had “great intentions” and added “life [on] to the song”.
Naturally, much of the internet is disgusted. Even the Till family has reacted. A surviving cousin of Emmett Till had this to say in a telephone interview to reporters from the Associated Press,

“He was brutally beaten and tortured, and he was shot, wrapped in barbed wire and tossed in the Tallahatchie River. The images that we’re fortunate to have (of his open casket) that ‘Jet’ published, they demonstrate the ugliness of racism. So to compare a woman’s anatomy — the gateway of life — to the ugly face of death, it just destroyed me. And then I had to call the elders in my family and explain to them before they heard it from some another source.”

Lil’ Wayne & Daughter

This is important; and Lil Wayne has a long history of saying things that are outlandish for the sake of it. (In fact, I recently heard a song where he said the line “shoot you in the head/like Abraham Lincoln”.) However, how come every time Mr. Carter says outrageous things, no one focuses on what’s below the surface? Can we consider the sexualized violence within his words?

I agree that it’s vulgar and disgusting. Lil Wayne said that he wants to “beat the p*ssy up like Emmett Till” — so that it is dead and unrecognizable? I’m not interested in defining what sex should look like between consenting adults; however, I’ve found that in music we have found it acceptable to use language where sexual violence is normalized behavior. Lil Wayne is not the only artist who has explicit lyrics that specifically, and on more than one instance, compare acts of physical force or assault with sex. He did just happen to be the one that happened to use the most repulsive analogy he could think of. He’s become one of those characters that say so many inappropriate things, including illustrating his hatred of dark brown girls versus light brown ones, that people only get up in arms when he gets terribly out of control.

Some facets of hip-hop have an illustrated misogyny and perceived hatred of women, and I think that we have to address this on a cultural level — since most selling hip-hop artists are Black men. While it is difficult, since the executives and sellers of the art are not, it is something to be conscious of; I understand what packaging and selling a product is about. I also understand what is being said and experienced in the streets. I’m not saying that rap music causes violence like I would never say that video games cause the same. Yet, just two weeks ago, I was driving and heard a song that seemed hot…until I realized that it was describing date rape (even at the end, a woman said “don’t be putting pills in my drink”).

Lil Wayne will retire soon and start a skateboarding career or..something like that, but there will still be these horrible ideas that we’ve grown to accept as just rap music. When is enough enough for the artist?

The post Why Lil Wayne’s Emmett Till Lyric was Also a Women’s Issue appeared first on Madness & Reality.

I likened this video to the video of the Cleveland bus driver, which coined many memes including “you going ta jail now!” The video was a shot heard round the world, and the internet enjoyed the video and subsequent memes and videos very much from what I observed. The tasing video and the Cleveland bus driver video were similar in that all parties were Black. The perceived aggressors were Black women, and the perceived victims were Black men in their professional capacity who were defending themselves against violence or at a minimum the threat of violence.

I do have personal opinions of what could have and should have been done in both situations, especially in terms of both the bus driver’s and the security guard’s professional capacities. I also have opinions on who is the aggressor and what should happen when a person feels they are being assaulted. This post is not intended to defend either woman’s behavior, nor to call into question what initiated the assault or the end result.

The burning question in my mind is: what is up with the internet’s fetishization of assaults of Black women?

If you did not know anything about the circumstances or behaviors of the woman who was tased, other than she was tased by an armed guard in front of her children, would the natural response be “what did she do to deserve it?” or “that sounds funny!” What if you heard she was upset about something and verbally assaulting the guard?

And the same question of the lady on the bus on Cleveland; if the only information you had of the situation is that a woman is upset and arguing with a bus driver, and is then physically assaulted, is the response amusement and blame? (In fact, the bus driver made a comment like: ‘you wanna be a man, I’m gonna treat you like a man.’) What about once you are informed that both women are Black women?

Every opinion I’ve witnessed about both assault had few differences.

The similarities included judgments of the women in the videos, characterizations of Black women, statements about poverty (ie, the “hood” and/or “ghetto”), and justification for assaulting Black women. Certainly, in many cases, the first lead a direct path to the last. In fact, in all of this, the people in the videos that aren’t the Black women are painted as victors and heroes for their assault, combative nature, or arguable self-defense.

I got physically angry when the initial commentary I heard on the tasing story included comments about “big butt mannequins,” and hood stores, and the show host said that the ghetto broad deserved every bit of what she got. The Cleveland video was even worse; the teenage girl (who was being unruly and also being publicly embarrassed) was uppercut during the altercation and the public rallied behind the bus driver, petitioning that he not lose his job over the incident.

There are more videos both before and after these, including a locker room fight between two Black teenage girls that was posted shortly after the tasing video. There are memes. There are remix videos. There are dummy twitter accounts in the name of fun. All of these things perpetually devalue the violence perpetuated on the Black women/girls, whether in self-defense or not, and justifies that the violence is rational because they are either poor/ghetto/disrespectful/mouthy/whatever and it should also be recorded and sent directly the World Star immediately.

I don’t know how many hits World Star Hip Hop gets daily, but if I had to guess, I’d probably say far too many. Now, they aren’t the focus of this post by any means, but they are the first place many of these videos appear because they have deemed themselves the “CNN of the ghetto”. You heard me. I avoid World Star just like I avoid Media Take Out and Bossip. In addition to actually exhibiting hip hop and urban entertainment gossip, the site heavily exploits videos of real-life people and situations and capitalizes on the many images of real-life violence depicted.

In a brilliant post on The Guardian just after the Cleveland bus driver incident, entitled ‘World Star Hip-hop: making a bankable brand out of brutality’, Jason Farago writes:

It’s not the beatdowns themselves that make World Star so disturbing; it’s how they get there. We are all videographers now, and bystanders now do the work of media outlets, and for free. There was no thought on that Cleveland bus of stopping the altercation; people were too busy filming! (Indeed, it turns out there were multiple cameraphone-wielding passengers on the bus that day; after the first video went viral, a different angle was uploaded to another site – and then swiftly stolen by World Star.)

Not long ago, the knock against modern urban life was that it isolated people, and that in the face of violence we turned away. How things have changed: today we don’t only pay attention to violence, but we offer it up, gratis, to anyone who wants to make a buck off of it.

He also makes note of videos of fights in general, and not just assaults involving women, that go up on World Star’s website. While there is a mockery made of violence in poor, urban communities, I think that there is a different dynamic added when women are involved. Just like Maury is (still, sigh) heavily watched as a way to slut-shame poor and/or Black women, and ‘bitches be like…’ memes hit the internet daily, women of color are poked fun at daily on the internet. Violence against women of color isn’t the new black, but public acceptance of it is — especially if the woman is, well…ghetto.

I don’t know that it should be stated since it is not the main focal point of this post, but I’ll state for the record (and to avoid backlash) that I think that both the woman in the tasing video and the young lady in the Cleveland video exhibited grossly inappropriate behavior. However, the internet equates colored folks to trash based on the behaviors of the people in these videos, and finds gratification in “ghetto” Black women. Yet and still, I do think that there are other remedies that the other parties in both videos could have taken to diffuse the circumstances as exhibited in the videos. Still, I wonder what the reaction from the internet would be if the women in the videos weren’t poor colored girls? Why are we so amused by these videos?

The post For Colored Girls On World Star When Being Assaulted Isn’t Enuf appeared first on Madness & Reality.

I don’t watch much tv, and when I do I watch even less Lifetime; yet, on Sunday, the stars aligned and while watching Lifetime, I saw a commercial for a movie that will air on 2/2 called “Betty and Coretta”, starring Angela Bassett and Mary J. Blidge.

Interesting to me is that Angela Bassett is not playing Sister Betty, even after having played her in two previous films. Mary J. Blidge will be playing the role of Dr. Betty Shabazz and Angela, Coretta Scott King. Malik Yoba is playing the role of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr, and a Canadian actor called Lindsay Owen Pierre is starring as Malcolm X. I simply cannot wait for it to air — and this is not very typical of Lifetime. What do you think they’ll do with it?

The post Black (Sister) History Month: Lifetime’s “Betty and Coretta” appeared first on Madness & Reality.

“If it’s a legitimate rape, the female body has ways to try to shut that whole thing down.”

Video:

Foremost, I think that most of the faithful readers of this blog (and the people who may be new and jumping on) know better than to even use the phrase “legitimate rape”. For those of you who don’t, though, I’ll address this very briefly: this phrase is bad. Got it? Unfortunately, there are people who believe that women’s bodies just magically sprout microscopic sperm-fighting Xena Warrior Princesses as a last-minute saving grace when they are raped. I regret to inform you all that, while I am no doctor (and neither is Mr. Akin), this is incorrect. In fact, I would like to invite Mr. Akin to do research on the Black women who were raped during slavery (often by white slave owners) to “breed” more slaves.

However, the weight of those words go far beyond the correlation between rape and pregnancies.

The idea of “legitimizing” rape is something that every single victim of rape and sexual assault face throughout the aftermath of the event; whether or not the rape/sexual assault is reported to law enforcement, family, friends, or kept within, women who are raped/sexually assaulted often face issues with having to make the case for whether or not the rape is legitimate. The phrase is troubling, and it makes it incredibly clear that the people who use it do not know what victims of sexual assault and rape experience. Moreover, the governments already set standards which decide (for them) whether or not certain rapes are valid, which further traumatized victims of rape and devalues women’s bodies and worth. If you don’t believe this, I would encourage you to read your state government’s statute on rape/sexual assault (because they are not often considered the same thing) and then contact your local DA’s office and rape crisis center to see what the prosecution rate is for rapes locally. I’d be willing to guess that it may be 10% or less.

This often surprises people but some prosecutors, while under an obligation to see justice served, only take cases which they have a chance at winning. So, when Mr. Akin, in his apology and clarification, says he meant to say “forcible rapes” and that rape is a “violent” act, there are a number of rape victims whose rights, needs, and situations are being completely overlooked. There are victims, Mr. Akin, who would not classify their rape/sexual assault as “violent” because they did not sustain bruises or injuries, or because they did not scream but survived through it. There are victims, Mr. Akin, who would not classify their rapes as “forcible” because they may be married to their rapist, and though they’ve said no, they have been told on different fronts that they’ve had no right. Mr. Akin, you have no right to define the experiences of women who have been victimized by rape/sexual assault.

Additionally, I have some problems with the foundation of the conversation in general. Why do we perpetually have to bring up rape in order to discussion abortion and choice? It gets tiring to hear “what if so-and-so was raped and needs an abortion” every time we have a conversation with political hopefuls on the issues. I’d like to see a day where we can say “what if so-and-so has made a decision to have an abortion and her reasons are none of your business.” I have a dream.

We also shouldn’t have to bring up, by extension, “what if your sister/daughter/mother/cousin” was raped when discussing issues of rape. I understand why people attempt to make rape (of women) an issue that hits close to home that will, hopefully, open the eyes of some cranky Right-Wing Scrooge, but I’ll tell you why this entire argument is so silly to me: because everyone knows a woman. Whether or not they are family, every person on the planet knows a woman. The hypothetical situations should not matter because if it was Shaneeka-down-the-street-who-you-used-to-go-to-school-with, her body is her body, she does not deserve to be violated or disrespected, and if she is — you should be repulsed. Period.

I really appreciated President Obama’s response to Rep. Akin’s comments. I think they were right on, and I completely agree (because he kinda said everything I just said.)

Video:

Yes, I have a dream where the (mostly male) politicos discussion what happens to women’s bodies will also discuss the budget cuts rape crisis centers and domestic violence agencies face. I have a dream that Planned Parenthood will receive funding so that women who don’t have access to affordable healthcare can receive the assistance provided by them. Oh, readers, I have a dream.

It gets exasperating to hear language as expressed above, and then hear the denial of a war on women. The entire government can miss me with that.

The post The War on Women Redux: The National Rape Conversation appeared first on Madness & Reality.

In the early 1990’s we knew that black women were more likely to develop many health problems, and to die of them, than white women. We also knew that most of the previous studies of women’s health had included only small numbers of black women or none at all. We felt that improving the health of black women required more knowledge of the causes of these health problems and also more knowledge about how women stayed healthy. More knowledge meant more research. We decided that we would do our best to take the lead in carrying out that research.

Recently, Boston University’s Black Women’s Health Study has compiled research correlating obesity in Black women with childhood physical and sexual abuse. Yes, you read that right.

According to the above linked article, researchers used participants from the ongoing health studies dating back to 1985 and over 33,000 women responded. 58% of the respondents reported at least one incident of abuse in childhood and adolescence and 11% reported severe abuse.

While the report has yet to be published on BU’s BWHS website, the article on the research to me seems to be nothing more than shoddy generalizations. It would seem that the research may be pushing something more along the lines of:
physical/sexual abuse –> mental illness –> obesity

A major problem is that this has nothing to do with Black folks in particular. In fact, we know that race and ethnicity are trigger words in bad research in order to push certain agendas. Additionally, I’ve spent the better part of my career, working with victims and survivors of intimate partner and sexual violence.

The correlation seems to go as follows: the Black community is more likely to experience obesity as defined by Americanized (oft read: white) standards. This is a result of a number of things that we know and have identified: 1) access to real food – the ‘good’ grocery stores are on the ‘other’ side of town; 2) socioeconomic status – the good-for-you food is more expensive than junk-food, 3) education about food and nutrition, 3) traditional styles of cooking and eating behaviors, and a number of other reasons. We know that the world has been discussing Black women’s bodies for years.

We also know that Black women are sexually assaulted/abused at rates higher than in other communities. Studies indicate 60% of Black women are sexually assaulted before 18. Also, apparently, colored folks use corporal punishment in way higher percentages than non-colored folks; all though, I will say, most research on the matter pisses me off because it’s propaganda used to force Black folks away from spanking. (Yes, I know that spanking is not the same as “physical abuse” and no, I am not a proponent of spanking.)

Voila! Science.

Er..bunk science. In addition to this being simple, poor, over-generalized science, it’s just offensive and misleading. Further, taking into consideration the idea the most survivors of sexual abuse in the general population never speak out, and that often in the monolith known as the Black community there is the attitude that we’re all family and should protect each other and not speak out about such things…

Is there an accurate way to capture such a correlation, especially in comparison to survivors of other ethnicities?

I think it’s another “let’s focus on Black women’s bodies!” article. I’m gonna go on a limb and call bullshit on this one. Don’t believe the hype. However, if you want to view an interesting documentary on food and the issues surrounding obesity, you should check out HBO’s The Weight of the Nation for the free.

Interesting that this hit the headlines at a similar time as NPR’s tumblr linked a very overly general article in Clutch Mag on why some Black folks ignore negative research on spanking; again, not a fan of spanking but also not a fan of faulty correlations like: spanking –> mental illness in the Black community. The author, Kirsten West Savali, cites nationally recognized sources like the National Institutes of Health, but also sources that say violence is a function of poverty. Wild. No shade though.

The post Face-palm of the Week: Boston University Study Says Black Women are Fat Because of Child Abuse appeared first on Madness & Reality.

One of the women in the group smashed a glass in CeCe’s face, cutting and injuring her. As a matter of fact, the glass sliced all the way through her cheek, lacerating a salivary gland. A fight ensued. One of the attackers, a 47-year-old male, died. CeCe was arrested and charged, and self-defense was not considered. By some counts, CeCe was denied proper medical care and was kept in solitary confinement for a month. The woman who initiated the incident and smashed the glass in CeCe’s face was charged nearly a year later; as far as I am aware there is no acknowledgment of a hate crime, despite the guy who was killed having a prior criminal history and swastika tattoo on his chest.

Also, the woman was charged after CeCe pled guilty to manslaughter.

CeCe was sentenced on June 4, 2012 to 41 months in prison. Whether or not she was given due process and justice, she is to spend 3 years and five months in prison. Some of you may be thinking, ‘she plead guilty, now she has to face the consequences.’ What might be the problem with this line of thinking?

CeCe McDonald is a male-to-female transgender woman, and while she identifies as a woman, she will be housed in a facility with male inmates.

The obvious issue popping into the minds of most people invested in CeCe’s case and hopeful for her wellbeing is the issue of physical and sexual violence by the other inmates in the facility. It is a concern an has been reported to the Transgender Law Center from previous inmates that this is a very real fear and concern for both male-to-female transgender inmates and also female-to-male transgender inmates. Rape and sexual violence in prisons are heavy concerns, especially for trans* inmates. There may be coerced sex by another inmate or inmates, or also prison staff. Coercion is rape. There may be gang rapes and violence. And there another main form of sexual violation on trans* inmates according to reports to TLC is unnecessary strip searches and forced nudity:

a frequent substitute for, or precursor to, sexual violence or coercion is the use of strip searches or forced nudity by deputies, guards, officers, or medical personnel. Because of the severe reduction in privacy that occurs in jails and prisons, transgender people have very little control over who sees their bodies. Bodies that often times do not conform to the identity they know to be true or at least society’s expectations about that identity. Therefore, strip searches and public nudity can be especially humiliating to transgender prisoners.

Transgender men in particular report being subjected to unnecessary strip searches. Two men who have been held in San Francisco County jail have told me about frequent strip searches conducted by deputies and medical personnel for no reason other than to seemingly satisfy curiosity. These searches were not related to visits or interactions in which these guys could have been passed contraband. Instead, they seemed to come randomly from many quarters and occasionally involve two or more people doing the search.

Back in Sacramento County Jail, one of the two women described above and two of her fellow transgender prisoners related stories of being forced to walk topless through a gauntlet of male cells in order to get new clothes each week. Along the way, the women were subjected to taunts and catcalls. The very act of walking the line made them objects of both harassment and ridicule.

There are also a whole host of other concerns that include:

– Lack of competent medical care

– Access to programs, jobs, and recreational activities

– Ability to dress properly

– Respecting one’s gender identity and referring to them by the proper name and/or pronoun

– Segregation from the rest of the prison population. This is a huge deal because it has already happened in CeCe’s case. She was kept in solitary confinement for nearly a month by most accounts. Prison staff may determine to place trans* inmates in confinement as a way to, possibly, keep them safe or keep the incidences from occurring. This makes less likely and nearly impossible for the inmate to receive jobs or proper treatment programs.

Also, according to TLC:

The stated purpose of administrative segregation is that people being confined within it are a proven danger to themselves, staff, or other inmates. By using this classification for transgender prisoners, the message is being sent that a person’s gender identity itself is threatening to the institution and that person must be locked away in a prison within the prison.

The Transgender, Gender Variant and Intersex (TGI) Justice Project has a prison survival guide for trans* and intersex inmates. According to the survival guide, written by transgender women, “prison politics outweigh prison policy.” Sadly, this comes after the explanation that if you are any race other than Black and housed with the general population, you will be removed or leave the yard because the gang violence geared toward you, as the transgender inmate, will be so harsh.

And sadly, I don’t think that this post adequately describes the horror that trans* inmates have faced, nor the injustice that CeCe and others are facing and will continue to face. According to an article that includes a survey of trans* people of color by Advocate.com:

38% of African-American respondents experienced police harassment, 15% reported being physically assaulted by the police, and 7% reported being sexually assaulted by the police; 38% of African American MTF (male-to-female) respondents reported being sexually assaulted by either another inmate or a staff member in jail/prison; 41% of African-American respondents reported being imprisoned because of their race and gender identity alone; a whopping 47% reported having been in jail or prison for any reason.

According to this article, transgender people are 10-15 times more likely to be incarcerated at some point in their life, and have to face the horrifying circumstances outlined above. Additionally, prior to their incarceration, they often feel unable to rely on the police for protection because the police are often perpetrators of crimes against them. Over 50% of trans* people, notwithstanding incarceration, have been victim to some sort of violence; self-report surveys vary but a significant number of these attacks are sexual violence. 43% of trans* rape victims (both FTM and MTF) who participated in self-report surveys believed their perpetrators homophobia to be the motivation for the assault while 35% suggested transphobia to be the motivation.

[imagebrowser id=3]I applaud President Obama for concluding recently that PREA will apply to all Federal confinement facilities. President Obama has included language that acknowledges the concerns that I have for CeCe and all LGBTQQI people that may be incarcerated at some point. I do have wonders for the general public though; and the main one would be exactly how effective the Prison Rape Elimination Act would be henceforth. A few of the guidelines that detention centers must follow in order to be in compliance with the new guidelines under PREA is that they must:

• Staff should be trained on effective and professional communication with our communities.

• Housing assignments should take into consideration individual vulnerabilities but do not, in most circumstances, place [LGTBQQI] in inferior wings or pods.

• An analysis is required of whether an abuser was motivated by bias against [LGBTQQI], if abuse does occur.

• Transgender detainees cannot be searched solely to determine their genitalia, and determinations must be made on a case-by-case basis about whether [LGBTQQI] should be held in a men’s or women’s facility and cannot be based solely on genital status.

President Obama and company have included many great provisions for trans* inmates, including that they must be given the opportunity to shower separately from other inmates. And while one would hope that these provisions would provide some safety for transgender men and women prisoners, I wonder how effectively it is enforced and how much protection they are really being provided. CeCe will still be housed in a prison of men.

Also, if prison staff are part of the problem, how effective will PREA be? And if trans* people are afraid (with very good reason) to come forward and make staff aware of their rights and request their protections, what can be done? And if, by the counts of transwomen who wrote a prison survival guide for transwomen, prison politics outweigh prison policies, what good is PREA exactly?

What will happen to the CeCes of our community?

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I thought back to this incredible hullabaloo, as I often do, when I spend time with some of my white comrades. While I tend to think of myself as a “one (wo)man wolf pack“, I often find myself spending time as a growing-older twenty-something with young, white professionals that I may have worked with at a certain point. I’ve oft found that since I have experience in such progressive fields, my white friends and I have much in common. For that reason, it baffles me when I hear them say things about people of color that makes me aware of their lack of ownership of their privilege. Of course, this is often the cause for the divide in feminism between white women and women of color.

I think that a rift began in mine and my good friend’s relationship when I was expressing my previous partner’s Haitian-Namibian lineage and she chuckled and mentioned the words ‘voodoo’ and ‘Africans’ in the same sentence, as if she were completely unaware of my brown skin. And there were similar comments, not on the same level or time, but here and there: “I can totally say this next comment, because my relative is (insert ethnicity here)” and “ZOMG I let my boyfriend listen to this song ‘The Motto’ by Drake and showed him a hip-hop dance, but he told me that I wasn’t ghetto enough” and “I listen to hip-hop all the time; everyone tells me I’m Black on the inside.” It exhausts me, and even more exhausting is that I’ve become less of the privilege-and-racism-attacking-machine hotshot that I once was. I used to be quite adept at breaking down these thought patterns, whatever the cost, and I’ve become challenged at it — especially when the subject delivering these microaggressions are current colleagues.

I compare the microaggressions based on social and cultural misguidance and, well..privilege, to objectification in that, while the person delivering the underhanded remarks may not find them to be so, these comments are often an attempt to singularly define an individual or group by some attribute, negative or otherwise. I was once told by a very brilliant friend of mine that he believes objectification to be an irritation; however, while objectification (and these microaggressions that are comprised mainly of words that may not be injurious) is small in comparison to the many other battles we are faced with in our separate and intersecting marginalized communities, we have to find a balance in battling privilege, objectification, and the like because they are detrimental to identity and progress. I’m tired of white girls telling me they’re going to tanning beds because they’re ‘trynabe’ like me. Cut that shit out.

I’m tired of white people throwing ethnic-themed parties with 40s, fried chicken and watermelon. I’m tired of children having to go to school to homework with racially inappropriate questions. And white parents who allow their kid to dress in blackface when he’s in character as Dr. Martin Luther (the) King, Jr.

The post Why My White Friends Don’t Live in Post-Racial America: Addressing Privilege and Microaggressions appeared first on Madness & Reality.

The language on the ballot that NC citizens voted either ‘FOR’ or ‘AGAINST’ on May 8th, or earlier, stated:

Constitutional amendment to provide that marriage between one man and one woman is the only domestic legal union that shall be valid or recognized in this State.

It is important to note that prior to May 8, 2012, thirty states have included “same-sex marriage” bans in their constitutions. Legal scholars note that there are three types of language that these marriage bans maintain, and the rarest (and most broad) are language types such that Ohio used. North Carolina has now adopted such similar language, even though the consequences were proven in Ohio and the people of Ohio worked hard (and are still working) toward better legislation.

I am of the opinion that the amendment was framed this way before and during the vote in order to appeal to the emotions of the religious voters of the South. In fact, the people who thought it was about marriage and gays came out and expressed how much bigotry and privilege they maintained, quietly or not. However, the idea of marriage is less the focus in the language of the newly passed amendment, and the phrase the only domestic legal union is. Why? Because the courts have to interpret exactly what that means. Additionally, the newly passed “marriage amendment” is nearly identical to a tragedy that passed in Ohio, that opened the floodgates to consequences for more than just persons of the same sex/gender seeking marriage. In fact, in both Ohio and North Carolina, same sex marriage is already outlawed without the amendments.

Beyond further marginalizing the LGBTQ community, the marriage amendment has the potential to affect domestic violence victims. In Ohio, defense attorneys argued that unwed heterosexual couples did not meet the criteria for a “union”, however the court may decide to define it, and as such does not qualify for certain charges. Defense attorneys were also successful in overturning domestic violence convictions on this basis, and the courts were unclear on whether or not certain protections could be afforded to victims in the form of restraining orders. Also, the courts ruled inconsistently on these matters across the state, and so victims in different regions were not afforded the same protections. Eventually, the Ohio Supreme Court ruled that the constitutional ban did not affect domestic violence laws; however, it took three years for the circumstances to reach the court and for a decision to be made. During those three years, damage was done.

Even more unfortunate is the language in North Carolina’s newly passed amendment is more vague, and potentially more dangerous, than that belonging to Ohio. While there are some extremely progressive parts of North Carolina, there are also very small, rural communities that may have different understandings of the phrase “legal domestic union” and, much like Ohio, provide unequal protection of the law. This matters. THIS MATTERS. This matters because people in rural communities may not have access to many of the resources in the larger cities, and it Amendment One is an issue of classism in addition to anti-gay, religious bigotry.

Along those same lines, Amendment One has a great potential affect legislation where children of unwed parents are concerned. Custody and visitation laws may be affected with parties who have never had a “legal domestic union” as the courts see fit to interpret. Additionally, insurance benefits provided by either parent therein have the potential to be affected. This is incredibly important because, as of 2010, 72% of Black mothers were unwed. Does this mean that in every instance, the father is absent? Absolutely not. In one way or another, either through the courts or voluntarily, I would suggest that it has been my experience that many fathers are around in some form. I do not have a statistic and I will not speculate on a statistic; I am saying this to say that the passing of this amendment and a courts subsequent decision could limit this involvement, ergo harming children and Black families. Amendment One is harmful because, in addition to the anti-gay, religious bigotry and classism, it has the potential to be racially discriminatory and harmful. It harms single-parent families which, by extension, harms the Black community greatly.

Also, it should be noted that in few counties in North Carolina, unwed heterosexual couples are allowed domestic civil unions; this provides that partners can be on one another’s insurance benefits in addition to other benefits. These include assisting with medical decisions, adoptions, will and trusts, and other financial decisions. However, since marriage between one man and one woman is now the only domestic legal union, many people will be at a disadvantage.

We do not know what will happen. I think that is important to say; however, we do know the things that have the potential to happen. Also, the fact that marriage between one man and one woman is the only form of marriage acceptable in the state of North Carolina (and the other states who have amendments) is illustrative of the fact that the governments are using emotional push-buttons in order to further underlying agendas. Moreover, Constitutional Amendments aren’t like trying on new shoes and deciding that we do not like the fit. It takes time, energy, and resources to ‘undo’ this; there is no easy fix. Once this gets out of hand and negatively affects the citizens of North Carolina, the legislature cannot simply pass a statute to remedy it; a new amendment has to be passed and this will be extremely difficult.

Again, as someone from North Carolina who has been on the ground working for just about a year against the passing of this very scary amendment, I’m torn between sadness, disgust, and rage. While not entirely surprised that the amendment passed, I did think that it would be closer; only seven of North Carolina’s 100 counties voted successfully against it. A few weeks before the election, I got a 21-year-old brother registered to vote because he specifically wanted to vote against the amendment. The day of actual vote, I got into many arguments with many religious Black people who felt as though voting for Amendment One was a testament to their religious convictions. Though I attempted to explain, I was devastated at how unchanged their minds were; and they were mostly in their twenties!

I challenged all of my Facebook friends to give me a reason to vote FOR Amendment One that had nothing to do with religion and I got no responses. However, I went to high school with a guy who is apparently becoming a minister, and very much disagreed with my stance on the amendment. He, as a minister, has a child out of wedlock and maybe might just be a Black Republican (I’m not quite sure of the latter). And so, to appeal to his religious nature, I introduced him to Loving v. Virginia, where a married Black woman and white man were sentenced to a year in prison (suspended for 25 years of probation) for their interracial marriage in 1959 because the court found that:

Almighty God created the races white, black, yellow, malay and red, and he placed them on separate continents. And but for the interference with his arrangement there would be no cause for such marriages. The fact that he separated the races shows that he did not intend for the races to mix.

Our government and constitutions should not be used as a sword, and it should not be used to prevent people from equal protection, rights, or benefits under the law. Our constitution is meant to give freedoms and not take them away. While in a way they’ve already begun, they are definitely coming for women and people of color next. Keep your religious opinions away from my constitution.

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In all my efforts to ignore the Steve Harvey and Michael Baisden nonsense, I was recently directed to the recent advice of a (yes, male) Pastor Jomo K. Johnson’s upcoming book “Call Tyrone: Why Black Women Should Remain Single Or…”:

On its face, “Call Tyrone” is a call for women to embrace being single since, according to Johnson, the Bible condones being single. Even according to the website, the book seeks to offer an alternative to women unable to find a suitable mate of the same race within the church — which is problematic in my mind because of queer erasure and the unspoken cultural mandate that Black women should only date within the community. Pastor Johnson says in an interview, “I know that African-American women make up such a large number of the African-American church, and they’re not finding how to hold relationships, how to hold husbands.”

Admittedly, I’ve not read the book (and will likely not read it); however, quotes like that make the Pastors purported advice and support seem as though he is urging Black women to remain single because we are the problem. Even as confusing is the idea that the Bible speaks fondly of being single; but in another quote, Pastor Johnson says that Jesus, too, was single and was able to embrace such a life in order to serve others. And while the book’s conclusion is supposed to serve as some sort of “wake-up call” to Black (Christian, heterosexual) men in America who are not handling their business, it is heavily marketed toward the single Black (heterosexual and assumed desperate) woman in the church.

Another thing I found interesting in my research of the book are the titles of the chapters, which are posted proudly on the book’s promo website. They are:

Introduction – Poem of Apology
1. Dear Mama

2. Potent Impotence: The Castration of the Black Man

3. The Traditional Broken Home

4. Designing Women: The Rise of the Professional Independent Sister

5. Exodus Into Egypt: Probation, Parole, or Prison

6. Self Lynching: What Commercial Rap is Doing to Our Children

7. Mandingo – The Appeal of the Successful Black Man to White Women

8. A Woman’s Worth – Understanding Self Value

9. A Call To Singleness

10. Asalam Alaykum? Marrying A Muslim Man

11. Guess Who’s Coming to Dinner: Interracial Relationships in the 21st Century

12. A New Frontier: Missionary Relationships

13. A Change Gonna Come: A Revival of the Black Man

I’m not really sure about you all, but I can almost predict the content of each chapter in this book. They are things that have been spoken in the Black Christian community for ages, and it is no surprise to me that the old school (wrong) teachings of our foremorthers and forefathers would be used as positive advice. More problems with this obviously fall in my understanding of the Bible as a former member of the religious group. While Jesus may have been single (or maybe not, in the name of Mary Magdalene), the book seems to be clear about the place of a woman: her worth may be determined in bearing children, and her direction comes from a man as head of the household. Even more than that, because I know that many people will say that the book is written in parables and far too complex for my wee unbelieving mind, the attitudes of (some, not all) church-goers develop a certain attitude about women, especially older and unwed ones, at a certain point. And so, Black women stay losing.

Additionally, what is with all the outside “experts” rushing in to push all of these stomach turning, problematic remedies on Black women for..whatever they find to be our problem? Does Pastor Jomo seem to be doing something innovative, or playing the same old song in a different key? I’m not any more interested in a male-preacher’s advice to call Tyrone and stay single than I am thinking like a man and acting as Steve Harvey defines a woman. (Note: I hear that this entails instituting a 90-day-rule for sex. Puh.)

The post Pastor Jomo K. Johnson’s “Call Tyrone”: Not-so Helpful Dating Advice From the Black Pulpit? appeared first on Madness & Reality.