I think the really scary thing is that this incident is something that my parents would tell me about when I was younger. When my parents talked to me about racism, I was always told that things have improved, yes, but it’s still there. I would hear stories about segregated bathrooms and all of the injustices they grew up with. But they’d tell me that things have improved. There were marches and protests and great people who fought to get us where we are now. Racism is still there, yes, but things have improved.

The scary thing is that I’m repeating the same words they told me all those years ago. I’m 31 years old and the things I say are the things I grew up hearing. And while, back then, my parents could really say things had gotten better and mean it, because they were alive when black people had to move to the back of the bus, use a different water fountain, and going to school with white kids warranted national news coverage…

… can I really say things have improved in my generation?

I mean think about it. Really think about it. The only separation of bathrooms I have to deal with are male and female. I can sit wherever I want on the bus. I went to a predominantly white college. The changes my parents saw I am benefiting from, so when they said, “There’s still racism but things have improved,” they meant it. Which, to me, meant that we still had work to do, but we had accomplished something great. But what about my generation? What about the ones growing up and seeing the events of Ferguson? Can I really tell them, “Things have improved,” can I really say that? Black youth being killed is not a new thing. We still live in a time where not only can you be killed for the color of your skin, but chances are, your killer will walk free. Not only that, chances are, no matter how many times you explain why this is wrong, why you are sad, why you are fearful, you will be told you’re overreacting. And I think the really, really sad thing is that I’m seeing people younger than me not being surprised at all. Back then, when I was told that racism was very real, but there had been improvements, there was still a glimmer of hope in that sentence. There was hope because my parents knew that those improvements were true. They were there when history was made and things changed for the better. So I know they said that to me thinking that, yeah, we’ve made changes before, we can do it again.

But this cycle keeps happening. Again and again. And I’m looking at these posts and these people younger than me are so full of pain, and hurt, and cynicism about the world we live in. There’s no, “racism exists but there’s been improvements,” because honestly… have there been?

It might be hard to believe, but I think there have been. You know why? Because we are all aware of the problem. We are all tired of seeing this happen. We are tired of being told that we’re overreacting and instead of nodding in agreement, we speak louder. I think this generation is channeling the ones before us, the ones who marched, the ones who didn’t take things lying down. People don’t understand where we’re coming from? Then we’ll show them. We’ve benefited from our past brothers and sisters, mothers and fathers, and we know where we come from, we know their struggle, their history, and we are determined that this cycle doesn’t keep repeating.

And I think the really great thing is that it’s not just us saying it, it’s not just my black friends and family speaking these words. I go through posts and see these white faces getting tired of this shit, too. It’s not just us saying it, protesting it, marching about it. It’s not just us on T.V. pouring our hearts out. I go through Facebook and see my white friends talking about injustice, about white privilege, about things being unfair for me, about how it makes no sense that their black friend’s lives aren’t valued. I have a white partner who came in and hugged me over this verdict, because she knew how unfair it was. I see white newscasters calling bullshit on everything, I see popular white faces pointing out the problems and lamenting on how unfair it is that, because their friends or coworkers are black, then have more to worry about. I think that there have been improvements because, yes, there are some people who don’t get it, but the amount of people who do get it is overwhelming, and that gives me a glimmer of hope.

I have hope because I’m not the minority in thinking that this is unfair.

I have hope because I’m not the minority in thinking that there needs to be a change.

I have hope because when I see posts about it, there may be a handful of negatives, but the overwhelming positives make me think that maybe, just maybe, when I get to be my parent’s ages and say, “there have been improvements,” that I’ll mean it.

So I don’t think I’ve posted about this on my Tumblr yet, but a few weeks ago I was told that my cosplay presentation idea for the “Body Love Conference” made it through round one!  Round two was to make a video that pretty much goes into what your presentation is, why its important, and things like that.  If the video makes it through, then I get to go to the conference :)  

I decided that on top of telling, I would show why it would be important. So my partner and I made this shirt, which is just a handful of comments I’ve gotten this year alone about my cosplay.  This isn’t everything, because everything wouldn’t fit on the front of the shirt.  How sad is that? Cosplay is supposed to be fun, right?  We’re dressing up as fictional characters, who are these people who have time to say such harsh things to someone they don’t even know?  

But I’m not the only one this happens to.  I’m sure everyone has a story where someone said something out of line to them, whether they were cosplaying or not.  And, oddly enough, that creates an understanding, a bond, between us.  And through the negativity it shows why positivity is so important.  It shows why your happiness and your opinion of yourself is what matters.  You can’t go off of someone else’s blind judgment.  You can’t let these words keep you down, I say “keep” because, honestly, they will hurt and I will never deny that part, because it’s important to be honest with your feelings.  Being called these names does hurt and they will make you pause in your steps.  They made me pause, but they didn’t make me completely stop.  They never will.  Why should they?  

I know the truth about myself.  I’m a writer.  I’m a cosplayer.  I’m an artist. I have a loving partner, great friends and family.  Why is one “fat slob” comment going to stop me from living the life I want to live?  

It’s not, and it shouldn’t stop you, either.

<3 Brichibi Cosplays

theracismrepellent:

theracismrepellent:

So y’all called the latter women everything from a rachet welfare queen and a whore, but praise and celebrate this white women for doing the same…fucking…shit.

-trixstra

Like, what the fuck, anti-blackness.

~ Vadim

I remember the story with the black breast-feeding mom, too.  Wow. Just… wow.  

thistimearoundmn:

vivalalexii:

hitlerch4n:

ledi-babushka-soski:

weloveinterracial:

Black Teen With White Parents Mistaken For Burglar, Assaulted By Cops In His Own Home

‘Put your hands on the door, I was like, ‘For what? This is my house.’ Police pointed at photos of white people hanging on the wall and told him that he was lying.

A North Carolina teen was recently assaulted and pepper sprayed by police in his own home, after he was mistaken for a burglar.  18-year-old DeShawn Currie has been living with foster parents Ricky and Stacy Tyler in Wake County, North Carolina for about a year.

The Tylers love DeShawn as their own son and they have taken him into their home, in hopes to provide him the safe and loving environment that he needs to thrive in the most important years of his life.

Unfortunately, some of the Tyler’s neighbors were not familiar with the family dynamics of the home, and decided to call the police to report a burglary when they saw the young man entering his home after school one day.  DeShawn did not climb through a window or struggle to get inside, but simply walked through the unlocked door of the home.  The only thing that actually made his neighbors suspicious, was the color of his skin.

When police arrived on the scene they treated DeShawn like a criminal without asking any questions.

“They was like, ‘Put your hands on the door, I was like, ‘For what? This is my house.’ I was like, ‘Why are y’all in here?” DeShawn said in an interview.

When DeShawn asked the officers why they were in his home, they pointed at photos of white people hanging on the wall and told him that he was lying.

“I’m feeling comfortable, I had moved into my room, and I’m feeling like I’m loved. And then when they come in and they just profile me and say that I’m not who I am. And that I do not stay here because there was white kids on the wall, that really made me mad,” DeShawn later told reporters.

During the entire altercation, police were shouting profanity at the young man, and pointing multiple guns at his face.  When DeShawn stood firm and insisted that he was in fact in his own home, police attacked him with pepper spray.

When Stacy Tyler came home from work she saw her son DeShawn in the driveway being treated by paramedics for the injuries that police had inflicted.

“My 5-year-old last night, she looked at me and said, ‘Mama I don’t understand why they hated our brother, and they had to come in and hurt him,” Stay Tyler told reporters.

“Everything that we’ve worked so hard for in the past years was stripped away yesterday in just a matter of moments,” father Ricky Tyler added.

The police department has defended their actions, saying that that DeShawn did not obey the officer’s orders to the letter, despite the fact that they were intruders in his home and had no right to be there barking orders at him.

Now this is something to bring attention to.

Yes

im ashamed i live in this county

Burn it all down.

When people say they hate the police and don’t trust them and think they’re racist it’s not always because of a shooting (though that is part of it), incidents like this certainly add to it.  And before anyone is like “not all police officers are like that” while that may be true we need to also acknowledge that some police officers ARE like that and stop trying to excuse their actions with, “but they were just doing their jobs,” and, “you don’t know the whole story yet,” when stuff like this comes up.  

Also, stop with this whole “it’s not always about race” thing because clearly this was about race when neighbors decide to call the cops because a black kid walks into his home.  He was living with his white foster parents for almost a year you mean to tell me that in an entire year these neighbors didn’t know who he was?  Right.  But I’m sure someone will spin this in an, “Police work is hard and adrenaline gets going and they just react,” sort of way.  I hope this young man’s parents really go up to bat for him, maybe their voices will be heard since they’re white. Harsh?  Yeah. Truthful?  Double yeah.

thatjayjustice:

This is just the most recent of countless similar messages I have received because of my Wonder Woman costumes. I am so tired of white, white passing, and anti-Black people from any and all ethnic backgrounds and nationalities looking at me in my costume and telling me ‘You don’t deserve to wear that. Wonder Woman isn’t for Black people.’

It’s nothing to do with ‘accuracy’, it’s racism and I’m sick of it. In before ‘Oh but they just didn’t know about Nubia!!’ Please. You can try to use ignorance as an excuse but you have to ask yourself, even if these people don’t know there IS a Black Wonder Woman, what makes them feel like they have the right to tell Black people what they can and cannot do? What gives them this supposed authority over our imaginations and our desire to create? This mentality is the reason why so many potential cosplayers of color are afraid to even wear a costume.

I can and have sent these people panels, pages and issues of official DC comics full of images of Black Wonder Women (yes, there are more than one!) and it doesn’t matter to them. My skin is still too dark, my nose too broad, my hair too nappy, in their words, not mine. I have been told to my face that I disgrace the Wonder Woman costume with my Blackness. Many other people of color have gone through similar experiences. I know of only one way for us to combat this.

Create, design, display and wear whatever we damn well please. Let our differences enhance our art. Let every single privileged individual who thinks to question our rights to self expression choke on their words. Feel free to be yourself in whatever way you see fit. Do not let other people’s opinions of your race or ethnicity dictate your choices. Don’t let the way they see you have anything to do with who you are. 

Jay is amazing~

misterdelfuego:

thisiseverydayracism:

This.

Fuck…

queenfattyoftherollpalace:

If children of color have to be aware of the realities of racism, white children should too.

I’m tired of hearing that white children are too young to understand the consequence of their words or actions when for nonwhite kids they live with the impact of racism every day 

Man I ranted about this on my page the other day.  I was taught that black is beautiful, and that everyone is different and to respect them and their differences.  Then suddenly it’s like, “By the way, there’s this thing called racism.”  So it’s literally this disjointed moment of, “I’m beautiful, but other people may think that I’m not, and hate me, and harass me, but even so I should respect people even if they may not respect me.”  You have to be mature enough to love everyone while knowing that not everyone will love you.  

This is why I get so heated about this.  Like this is a message I was taught at a young age, why isn’t everyone being taught this?  

farfrompaid:

*Unarmed Black person gets killed by police*
“It’s not about race they had to have done something to deserve it.”

*Black person gets a job or goes to a college*
“This is obviously about race there is nothing they could have done to deserve it.”

Truth.

These quotes are all things that have been said to me in regards to my body and my race.  It’s not everything that’s ever been said to me, oh no, not even close, but they’ve been said as recently as last month.  

Don’t let the negatives take over, don’t let them weigh you down and dictate who you are.  Don’t let them cover up the things that make you, you.

<3 Brichibi Cosplays

theprophetchuck:

mvgl:

The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air 2x09 - “Cased Up” (November 11, 1991)

If anything this is more relevant now.

Look at the date.  

1991.

Let that sink in.

This is 13 years old and more relevant today than it was 13 years ago.