“The Third World was not a place. It was a project. During the seemingly interminable battles against colonialism, the peoples of Africa, Asia, and Latin America dreamed of a new world. They longed for dignity above all else, but also the basic necessities of life (land, peace, and freedom). They assembled their grievances and aspirations into various kinds of organizations, where their leadership then formulated a plat form of demands. These leaders, whether India’s Jawaharlal Nehru, Egypt’s Gamal Abdel Nasser, Ghana’s Kwame Nkrumah, or Cuba’ s Fidel Castro, met at a series of gatherings during the middle decades of the twentieth century. In Bandung (1955), Havana ( 1966), and else where, these leaders crafted an ideology and a set of institutions to bear the hopes of their populations. The ” Third World” comprised these hopes and the institutions produced to carry them forward .”
— Vijay Prashad, The Darker Nations: A People’s History of the Third World (via arielnietzsche)
I realized that I had been lying to both myself and God. I was never a “poor” college student. I was never a “poor” non-profit worker. I was never a “poor” young professional in D.C.
When I was in school, with very little expendable income, I still received a quality education, had consistent access to food, my housing was stable, and I had health insurance. My starting salary after college put me above the national poverty threshold (about $24,000 a year… for a family of four).
”
— reading all the annoying crowing from conservatives about the “liberals don’t give money to the poor data”, I remembered this article and why I liked it. I think it’s some pretty awesome real talk for ~my people~, by which I mean young, single, underpaid non-profit workers from nice middle class families who are kind of full of shit about how poor and underpaid we actually are in the grand scheme of things. (via enumerate)
“According to the 2000 Census, there are 19,213 Asian American same-sex households. More and more LGBTQ AAPIs are coming out, yet they still face invisibility, isolation, and stereotyping within AAPI and LGBTQ communities.
The lives of LGBTQ AAPIs involve the complexity of being sexual, racial/ethnic, linguistic, gender, immigrant, and economic minorities. Two-thirds of all Asian Americans are foreign-born and 80% speak a language other than English in their homes. A third (34%) are not citizens. Approximately one million Asian Americans are undocumented. After 9/11, immigrants, particularly South Asian immigrants, have been targets of racial profiling, detentions, and deportations.
As a result, many LGBTQ AAPI organizations across the nation have formed largely to create safe spaces. They have done exceptional grassroots work in changing hearts and minds when it comes to racism and homophobia. Yet, at the same time, many groups have limited capacity. Until recently, none had full-time staff, and leaders served in volunteer capacities. Some have hired part-time consultants. Yet they all face internal organizational challenges and external frustrations about general invisibility, racism and anti-immigrant bias in the gay community and homophobia in the Asian community. Many feel that they are not connected and that they are constantly re-inventing the wheel. Basic administration and sometimes organizational survival are immediate concerns for many of them.
In 2005, leaders of LGBTQ AAPI organizations from throughout the country came together in Oakland, CA to identify ways to improve coordination and share resources among various groups to collectively build capacity. One of the ideas discussed was a Descriptive Directory of Queer Asian Pacific American Organizations. Other currently existing directories only state the organizations’ names and contact information. They provide useful information, but are limited in scope. We hope this profile book provides a much more robust analysis about each of the nation’s established LGBTQ AAPI organizations.”
“The only fucking liberation that a hijabi needs is the freedom of knowing she won’t be bludgeoned to death or her place of worship during the Holy Month won’t be charred and terrorized by hate groups. Believe me, between a piece of cloth on my head and having to fear for my life for simply existing the way my faith requests of me, the latter is a much harsher reality. It is my choice to wear a hijab and I have valid reasons for doing so. I’m not a docile, infantilized creature who can’t decide what’s best for me. The hijab gives me a sense of security. It’s the same concept when women wear glasses to avoid eye contact or headphones when they don’t want to be talked to, but since its connected to a religion overrun by brown people, of course it has stigma attached to it. What is it about these westerners, particularly the feminists, who are supposed to be working for the freedom and bodily autonomy of all women, not just the ones that look, live and believe what they do, that they can’t seem to grapple with these facts? As much as we scream and cry and try to rationalize with them, they refuse to hear us and I genuinely don’t understand why. How is coercing a woman out of her hijab any less oppressive than coercing her into one?”
“Trans people are told by the law, state agencies, private discriminators, and our families that we are impossible people who cannot exist, cannot be seen, cannot be classified, and cannot fit anywhere. We are told by the better-funded lesbian and gay rights groups, as they…
Hey, everyone: I’m Calliope, a rising senior-gal in a Connecticut high school who is (just now!) discovering Tumblr for the first time. And I have a rather serious personal problem to share with you all that does not involve GIFs, cats, or BBC shows. My…
“The thing about cultural appropriation is that the appropriator does not have to face the same consequences that we do for practicing our culture or faith. For them, it is an accessory that can be taken on or off at will, while for us, it is a way of life. …in a society where immigrants and communities of color are marginalized at every level, we can’t pretend that power relations do not exist when we have this conversation about appropriation. Sharing and exchanging cultural and spiritual practices is great, but it gets more complicated when we’re not all on equal footing. It gets more complicated when meaningful things are taken, commodified, and exploited for a profit, with little respect shown to the community they were taken from.”
Interested inalternatives to the Prison Industrial Complex? Check out what what this Chicago-based youth project is doing to promote alternatives to calling the police. Great stuff.
