You see something absurd. You hear something absurd. You read something absurd = Yeah,TNTG. Posts tagged racism.
ya’ll out here acting like racism/sexism/transphobia/queerphobia/etc. is just an inconvenience for us rather than violence against our bodies
“ For a black cosplayer (not to be racist) she did an amazing job!” the original Tumblr post read. It was later was edited to include “I love her skin tone” after all hell broke loose.
Personally, I’ve always been stuck on those first few words: “for a black cosplayer.” As if the bar was set lower for us, as if we weren’t expected to perform on the same level as white cosplayers.
I lost track of how many times the post was liked, reblogged, linked to other websites — even now, nearly three years after the picture was taken, complete strangers will come up and reference it to me at cons, and it’s even come up in job interviews. My Venus became the unintentional face of the cosplay race debate online, an unwitting example of “Black cosplayers doing it right,” as if 9 times out of 10, black cosplayers were doing it wrong by default.
What kills me is that in person, nobody has the balls to say a word about whether or not they think darker-skinned people should cosplay lighter skinned characters — but online is a completely different animal. Online, I was “Nigger Venus,” and “Sailor Venus Williams” because I am black.
My nose was too wide, lips were too big, I had a “face like a gorilla” and wasn’t suited for such a cute character, because I am black. My wig was too blonde, my wig wasn’t blonde enough, or, my wig was ghetto because I was making it ghetto, by being black and having it on my head.
And furthermore, if I was going to insist on “ruining characters,” I could have at least picked one with black hair so it looked more “natural.” I should have worn blue contacts — but if I had, it would have looked ghetto. Because I am black.
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Chaka Cumberbatch, “I’m A Black Cosplayer, And Some People Hate It,” Clutch Magazine 2/4/13 (via racialicious)
Black cosplayers simply can’t win. Ever. We’re inherently wrong unless we stay in our lane (the tiny handful of Black characters we’re allowed), and even then we still get shit. Even when we go as green and purple characters people hate on us. Anti-Blackness is real and deep out here.
(via commanderbishoujo)
“…The Memphis City Council on Tuesday voted 9-0, with three abstentions, to approve changing the names of three of its parks to rid them of their Confederate ties. One of the names also memorialized a leader who had ties to the KKK. Stripping the park of its name has angered the white power organization, which plans to hold a massive rally in the park.
Forrest Park, which was named after Confederate cavalry leader and slave trader Nathan Bedford Forrest, will be renamed “Health Sciences Park”. But Forrest was more than just a Confederate leader: he became the KKK’s first “Grand Wizard” after the Civil War, which is the title given to the Klan’s state leader. The only position more prominent is “Imperial Wizard” – the national leader. Forrest’s body is buried in the park that was named after him, but the council has assigned the park with a new, temporary name until it comes up with a permanent one.
…The changes have angered the KKK, which plans to protest the renaming. Klansman “KKK Exalted Cyclops”, who also goes by Edward, told WMC-TV that the KKK will hold the largest rally that Memphis has ever seen.
“It’s not going to be 20 or 30, it’s going to be thousands of Klansmen from the whole United States coming to Memphis, Tennessee,” he said.”
Marc Lamont Hill on sagging of pants, black criminaliziation, and the politics of respectability.
mm. my husband. dropping wisdom on you bitches left.and.right.
I don’t understand how white people can say racism no longer exists but then try to convince me reverse racism does
The last paragraph is everything
February 1st marks the beginning of Black History Month. In honor, I wrote this: How to Deal With That Person Who Thinks Black History Month Shouldn’t Exist
Parks and Recreations’ Aziz Ansari shuts down a microaggression on the Golden Globes’ red carpet.
(H/t yayponies)
