Latest Posts by diddrk - Page 3
The names of those killed by racism and police brutality are written along Chicago Avenue in Minneapolis, where #GeorgeFloyd was suffocated by police.
https://www.nationalgeographic.com/history/2020/06/to-enact-change-world-we-must-protest/#/why-protests-matter-2.jpg
In the wake of JK once more being a total jk, here’s a (non-exhaustive) thread of works by Black trans writers.
Don’t Call Us Dead - Danez Smith, poetry about Black masculinity, police brutality, gender and queerness. Probably the best book of poetry I’ve ever read. Smith has several collections available and you should read them all.
The Deep - Rivers Solomon, a speculative fiction novella about the descendants of murdered slave women. Themes of trauma and memory. Really beautiful writing. Their sci-fi novel An Unkindness of Ghosts is equally unmissable.
Redefining Realness - Janet Mock, the memoir of Mock’s childhood and adolescence as a trans woman before she transitioned. Mock’s second memoir, Surpassing Certainty, focuses on her life in her twenties.
Felix Ever After - Kacen Callender, a YA novel about a teenage trans boy (at the start of the book), Felix, as he further questions his identity, tries to find love, and works on his artistic future. Everything that makes YA novels great.
Reacquainted with Life - KOKUMO, a debut about Black trans womanhood and the power of her voice and body. This work is so hard to describe. Ferocious? Lively? Witty? Completely different to literally any poetry I’ve ever read? All of the above and more.
Mannish Tongues - jay dodd, a poetry collection about Black youth, queerness, religion, family, and gender. I hate how pretentious the word ‘visceral’ is, but it’s pretty accurate here. dodd’s collection The Black Condition ft. Narcissus is also phenomenal.
Pet - Akwaeke Emezi, a YA novel about a Black trans teenage girl and having to confront the existence of monsters. Emezi also has an acclaimed adult novel out, Freshwater, and I believe their new adult novel, The Death of Vivek Oji, is out in August 2020.
trigger - Venus Selenite, poetry about being Black, trans, queer, and unapologetic. This one is hard to get hold of, but worth it if you can. Selenite also co-edited and is featured in Nameless Woman, an anthology of writing by trans women of colour.
Surge - Jay Bernard, a poetry collection written in response to the 1981 fire at New Cross Road, as well as Grenfell Tower and the Windrush Scandal. Bernard is one of those poets who can use 10 words to say more than most of us can in 1,000.
Nameless Woman: An Anthology of Fiction by Trans Women of Color - ed. Venus Selenite, Ellyn Peña and Jamie Berrout, this one includes several stories by Black trans women and is, as a body of work, completely invaluable. The stories here range from semi-autobiographical and romance to sci-fi and speculative fiction.
Resilience - ed. Amy Heart, Larissa Glasser and Sugi Pyrrophyta, an anthology of writing by ©AMAB trans people. Again, this anthology is not specifically dedicated to Black trans people, but it includes work by KOKUMO and CHRYSALISAMIDST, amongst others. This book is super varied, with short stories, poetry and personal essays.
Consider ordering these, where possible, from independent Black owned bookstores.
You can also financially support Black trans people through donating to organisations such as this and these.
Important addendum: I tried incredibly hard to find published works by Black trans women, because trans women are the focus of JK Rowling’s tweets and indeed an overwhelming amount of violence and bigotry in general, but I’m sure it’s no surprise to anyone that Black trans women are enormously discriminated against by the publishing industry, and are routinely denied a platform for their work and their voices. Literally, when you Google ‘black trans woman author’, you just get Janet Mock’s author page. I think all of the books by Black trans women in the list above, with the exception of Janet Mock, are self/indie pub.
I have trawled through online indie and radical publishing magazines, message boards, and nearly 100 lists of ‘trans authors you must read now!’ and I would charitably say that about 1% of people featured in such lists are Black trans women. Obviously, Black trans women are writing, but the lack of available platform for their work is a huge barrier to their voices being heard. If anyone else has recommendations for work by Black trans women, whether it’s a physical book, an online chapbook, an Insta account of poetry, or anything else, please add it, because there must be so much more than I’ve managed to find.
As protests against injustice in legal system, discrimination, police brutality spread through the US, it is necessary to educate yourself about these issues.
Here are just a few book recommendations (there are so much more out there), include both non-fiction and fiction about racism and challenges that black people face throughout their lifetimes.
Thank you so much for more recs. Below are some more amazing book recommendations from the comments:
Dear Martin by Nic Stone
Anger is a Gift by Mark Oshiro
Citizen: An American Lyric by Claudia Rankine
Coming of Age in Mississippi by Anne Moody
Just Mercy: A Story of Justice and Redemption by Bryan Stevenson
Roll of Thunder, Hear My Cry by Mildred Taylor
I Know Why The Caged Bird Sings by Maya Angelou
White Fragility by Robin Diangelo
Stamped From the Beginning by Ibram X. Kendi
All American Boys by Jason Reynolds and Brendan Kiely
Small Great Things by Jodi Picoult
Noughts and Crosses series by Malorie Blackman
Invisible Man by Ralph Ellison
The New Jim Crow by Michelle Alexander
Between the World and Me by Ta-nehisi Coates
Warriors Don’t Cry by Melba Pattillo Beals
Thank You Marsha P. Johnson
happy pride month to all of you! Love fiercely, be proud, and remember the roots of pride! Recognize the privileges we have now, Recognize and talk about(!) the transphobia and racism and discrimination we still face in our LGBTQ+ community. Educate yourselves, involve yourselves.
We would not have pride without black people and trans people of colour. Black Lives Matter. stand in solidarity. Help where you can. Donate, Sign petitions, speak up!
! Feel free to add donation- petition- and resource links !
Sean Monterrosa was a 22 year old hispanic man. He was shot and killed yesterday by a police officer who fired through his squad car windshield 5 times, killing Sean while he was kneeling on the ground with his HANDS UP. The officer "mistook the hammer in his pocket for a gun" and decided to shoot him with no reasoning. His hands were up, he was complying.
things that made me stop wanting to die that require no effort whatsoever
change the color used to highlight text on your laptop
move the pictures on your wall
stack whatever clutter is in your room into piles even if you don’t have time to clean it all
slightly vary your commute, even just by one street
change where you sit and scroll aimlessly on your phone even if it’s only to the chair in your room instead of your bed
drink water or juice out of a wine glass in the morning because nothing is real
shower with the lights off, without music
buy $3 flowers at trader joe’s—they look bad next to the more expensive ones but they look so good in your room
start typing things you don’t post into your notes. your thoughts can be worth documenting even if you don’t deem them worth sharing
wake up super early just once. you don’t have to make it a habit it’s just extra satisfying to go to bed that night
listen to the entirety of your favorite album from 2015
HERE’S A PLAYLIST WITH ALL THE VIDEOS YOU CAN STREAM IF YOU’RE NOT ABLE TO DONATE OR UNABLE TO ATTEND A PROTEST AND WANT TO HELP!
REMEMBER TO NOT SKIP THE ADS AND TURN OFF ADBLOCK!
ps: keep checking this https://blacklivesmatters.carrd.co/ out because it keeps getting updated with new links and ways to help!
HOW TO DONATE TO BLM WHEN YOU HAVE NO MONEY
a black woman named zoe amira posted a video on youtube. this video is an hour long and filled with art and music from black creators. it has a ton of ads, and in result will rack up a ton of revenue. 100% of the ad revenue from the video will be dispersed between various blm organizations, including bail-out funds for protesters. it will be split between the following, dependent on necessity
brooklyn bail fund
minnesota freedom fund
atlanta action network
columbus freedom fund
louisville community bail fund
chicago bond
black visions collective
richmond community bail fund
the bail project inc
nw com bail fund
philadelphia bail fund
the korchhinski-parquet family gofundme
george floyd’s family gofundme
blacklivesmatter.com
reclaim the block
aclu
turn off your adblocker and put the video on repeat. do not skip ads. let it play on loop whether you’re listening or not. mute the tab if you need to focus elsewhere. but let. it. play.
youtube will donate to blm for you.
please, please reblog. for people who don’t have money to spare, this is incredibly important information to have.
kind of belated, but Happy Pride y’all :)
I want to make it clear: I am not a person of color, so please, if I am in anyway being insensitive or unhelpful in my support, please feel free to educate and correct me. and that’s all I’ll say on that, bc this is not abt me.
The World Stands in Solidarity
Italy
Germany
Australia
United Kingdom
Canada
Japan
New Zealand
Sweden
Netherlands
Denmark
Ireland
Syria
Brazil
Iran
Switzerland
Slovenia
Spain
France
Israel
this pride month, please please please do not let the black lives matter movement go ignored. the lgbtq movement owes so much to black members of our community. we are not free until all of us are.
what is happening now is change in action. if you care about activism, and you should, you know that blm deserves to be seen, their voices to be heard.
pride matters, and we should still celebrate, still fight, still demand our place in the world. but black and indigenous people need our support right now. cops are not our friends. oppression is never okay. privilege is never comfortable. if you are white or non-black, refuse to let support for blm die down.
this pride, let’s fight for each other. demand spaces for lgbtq people of colour. let their voices be heard. listen.
you can help.
On this blog we do not stan Ryan Guzman. I say it again, on this blog we DO NOT stan Ryan Guzman. Have a wonderful day
Dark times all around but there are still people out there who love you
Do not hurt yourself, do not hurt others, get help, talk to someone, anyone. Humanity has survived before and we can do it now if we all just support each other. My country and my people let me down and endangered my life but there’s nothing I or anyone else can do about that so let’s try to spread the love that is so clearly lacking.
Just bc most people in Canada are nice doesn’t mean people can ignore this
Cops murdered a black girl in Toronto this week too but Canadians are too up their own asses about how we’re “Not the racist ones! That’s only America! We’re the nice ones :)” to acknowledge it or do anything about it
To all my black followers and friends, stay safe.
Also, I would like to add that black lives have always mattered, will always matter.
It’s awful that we even have to say that because it should be a given. However, we need to say it loud and clear for the racists.
We cannot be silent.
Interrupting my unnecessary shit posting for something that is actually important
George Floyd, Rekia Boyd, Aiyana Stanley-Jones, Tamir Rice, Sandra Bland, Jordan Edwards.....These are just a few of the beautiful angels, whose lives were stolen from them and their families as a result of police brutality. It shatters my heart to know that there are so many other beautiful cherubs who have been killed, all of them innocent. When the people who were supposed to protect the innocent are killing them (especially CHILDREN), we know hatred and hostility is poisoning whatever humanity is left in this horrible, twisted society.
Do not look away. Do not close your eyes or stick your head in the sand. Remember them and tell their stories. NOT ALL LIVES MATTER UNTIL BLACK LIVES MATTER
Well if octavia in the water isnt a parallel to 1x01 I dont know what is
“And, of course, Buck loses it when he thinks Eddie might die, going so far as to say they need to try to dig him out with their bare hands. I think it’s just a testament to how close they’ve gotten and how much they really rely on each other. Buck has been through a lot of things with Christopher, aside from Eddie. So he’s really entangled with the family and with Eddie and Buck being so close, it’s almost natural… And we see that he really wasn’t thinking that through, ’cause clearly, you’re not gonna dig your way through just using your hands. But the level of emotion that he portrayed was like he had just lost him, he had just lost Eddie.”
Everyone’s like “those Germans have a word for everything” but English has a word for tricking someone into watching the music video for Rick Astley’s Never Gonna Give You Up.
here’s the link to donate to george floyd’s official memorial fund if you are able to contribute. if you can’t donate, please share. being black shouldn’t be a death sentence.
If it doesn’t make me cry, imma be real disappointed (not really tho)
FINALLY!!! WE’VE WON 🙌🏼
I mean I kind of have to reblog it
