Redraw!!

Protesting works: don’t let it die

Reminder to not give up, you are bringing about change.

List of positives to come out of the recent protests as of June 4:

- George Floyd’s murderer charged with murder and manslaughter, then had charges increased, then the officers that watched it happen were charged with aiding and abetting

- Louisville police (Breonna Taylor’s murderers) department will now be under review from an outside agency, which will include review on training, bias-free policing and accountability. (Unfortunately her killers have still not faced charges yet as far as I could find.)

- Charges are to be dropped for Kenneth Walker

- Atlanta has announced plans to create a task force + public database to track police brutality in metro Atlanta area

- Minneapolis city council members are considering disbanding police force in favor of a “community-oriented, nonviolent public safety and outreach capacity”

- Colorado lawmakers have introduced an incredible police reform bill that includes body cam laws, repealing the “fleeing felon” statute, banning chokeholds, and more

Feel free to add more if you know of more!

Claymore wielders of Mondstadt! One layer each.

[from the patreon]

some notes on anti-asian racism

look. other people have commented on this before, but it seems like it needs to be said again because some of y’all aren’t getting the message. 

asian people are a marginalized minority. what about this do people not understand. asian people are marginalized because we live in a system of white supremacy and in this system, asian people will never be white and will never have the power of white people. just because a lot of asians are relatively well off financially does not mean we are not marginalized; there are other ways to be excluded and treated as unequal besides in terms of money, and this completely ignores the millions of asian people who are poor and working class, including the women who were killed in atlanta. asian people are not basically white- we look different, so we are treated different, just like any minority. it’s that simple. if asian people were not marginalized, why else would hate crimes against asian people rise dramatically in 2020. why else would we be attacked in the streets. why else would people tell us to go back to where we came from. why else would the chinese exclusion act be passed, japanese american citizens be shipped to the midwest during world war 2, vietnamese people massacred by american soldiers in the 70s. asian people are being killed now. if we are not marginalized, why are there targets on our backs for existing. 

black lives matter and stop asian hate are movements for social justice that have the same root cause: destroying white supremacy. black and asian communities have often been pitted against each other by white institutions seeking to take advantage of sowing discord between minority groups, but there is a rich history of black-asian solidarity during the fight for civil rights in the late 20th century. yes, anti-blackness is a real issue in asian communities, especially among older asians. and yes, asians also experience racism from black individuals- see these examples of cardi b using an anti-asian slur, this incident that happened yesterday of a black man pouring unknown liquid on an asian woman. neither is acceptable. supporting one movement does not negate your support for the other. you can do both, in fact, you should do both. realize that we all have a common enemy here, and it’s the system of white supremacy that has oppressed us. we are not free from white supremacy until it is all entirely eradicated, for everyone. 

just because i speak in the collective sense about asian people does not mean that all asian people are the same. even though some of us may look similar, with black hair and “small” eyes, that is only a representative image of some east/southeast asian people. asia is vast and incredibly diverse, and each nation has its own culture, language, and traditions. in addition, the asian diaspora is huge. asian people live all over the world, in varying economic, social, and political situations. different asian people in different areas have very different problems, even within the same country. an asian in a small town in nebraska will have a very different experience than an asian in paris. a korean person will have a different experience in a given place from an indian person. i don’t know how many times in my life i’ve been asked, “are you chinese?” the answer is no, i’m not, and a lot of asians aren’t chinese. tied into this is the mistaken belief of some nonasians in the western world that all asians are still allegiant to the country of their heritage and speak the language of that country, which manifests in comments like “oh your english is so good!” or “are you, like, communist?” first off, it ignores the very real possibility that an asian person could be born outside asian countries, and second, being from a certain country by no means determines whether you’re loyal to it and agree with its policies. i just saw this with an anon claiming all chinese people support the government’s reeducation camps for uyghur muslims. this is absolutely preposterous. 

finally, a word on allyship. i have zero faith in nonasian people- and by that i mean white people- to continue talking about this and spreading awareness about anti-asian racism. part of it is this model minority myth, that asians are basically as well off as white people, at least financially and academically, so they can figure things out by themselves. no. absolutely not. we cannot get out of the hole white supremacy has put us into without white people making a genuine, legitimate effort to confront their own biases. your white tears, your prayers and thoughts, they mean nothing when the blood of our families and friends runs in the streets. they mean nothing if you haven’t bothered to learn a single thing about your own prejudices. i hope to god that i am wrong about this. i hope for my family, my friends, and myself that y’all will continue to be loud about this, because we are tired of screaming for help in a crowd where we are invisible and no one cares. but i’m a skeptic for a reason, and it took a massacre for people to notice what was happening. i don’t know if i’ll ever be proven wrong. 

here are some links and posts below where you can learn about this issue and donate: 

anti-asian violence resources

61 places to donate to help asian americans

donation links 

microaggressions against asian people

twitter thread of resources

asian therapists in the us and canada

asian hate coping resources (in several different languages)

Video Transcription from user @/lelegenevieve on TikTok: “If you’ve been supporting the Black Lives Matter movement or are looking for ways to support, please stop scrolling and signal boost this video. I’ve been coding—pretty tirelessly—everyday for my website pb-resources.com. It’s an education tool and resource I’ve been using to compile information to fight police brutality and white supremacy. There are calls to action, educational tools, and different places to donate. Today I added this section that allows you to input your information and send automated emails; and everything is filled out for you. It was also really important that for me to adds way to support the Black trans community. And in a few days, the website will be generating ad revenue and 100% of the proceeds will be donated; so all you have to do is visit the site to support BLM. Lastly, I’ve been asking you guys to follow me on Instagram (@/alexisdenisew) so I can hit 10k and get the swipe up update and I’m almost there. So if you haven’t already, go follow.”

If anyone with experience with audio transcription formatting would like to repost this with a better transcript, please do, my experience is limited.

As of today, June 16th, 2020, Alexis is at 11K followers on Instagram and has the swipe up feature, but please continue to share this website!

so direct action is not an option available to you. what can you do right now instead?

Be mindful of the content you’re putting on your social media accounts. Stop retweeting/reposting violent images and videos of black people dying. Know that content like this, even with trigger warnings included, can be very emotionally disturbing/distressing and yes, even traumatic, for black people navigating the internet right now.

Report any images and videos you see where protestors’ faces are visible/unblurred, particularly in content surrounding the lootings. Don’t retweet or repost these images and videos. This can be a death sentence. 

DONATE, PARTICULARLY TO MINNESOTA-BASED BLACK YOUTH MOVEMENTS / MUTUAL AID FUNDS WHO ARE DOING WORK ON THE GROUND. FOLLOW/BOOST IF YOU CAN’T.

• The Minnesota Freedom Fund, a mutual aid group fighting back against the unjust MN bail system, is taking donations. (Twitter)

• The Black Visions Collective, a Minnesota-based freedom fighter organization creating campaigns for justice, is taking donations. (Twitter)

• Reclaim the Block, a coalition to demand that Minneapolis divest from policing, is taking donations. (Twitter)

• Crowdfunding for black trans people in need thread. 

• Comprehensive Minnesota bail fund/support document for May and June.

Something catch your eye?

A practice doodle with a purple-based palette!

He's a fun dude to draw.

Original sketch & Alternate:

We are all part of the change ✊🏿✊🏾✊🏽✊🏼✊🏻