who is a black woman? who is a woman of color?

i have to admit that i feel a bit off with this analysis about anti-blackness online, perpetuated by non-black poc.  not because in and of itself, i think that these black women’s analysis is inaccurate, frankly i think its spot on.  

its just that ive been in egypt for nearly four years, before and during the revolution, and i have watched time and time again, as i have been attacked online over the years for asserting that my experience as a black woman living in north africa is not a crystal stair.   the us-centrism of these online conversations about blackness just bother me.  that basically my experience is not relevant because of other people’s assumptions about my class, my education status, my work status, etc etc.   to the extent that my identity as a mother got erased to create this fucked up dichotomy of abstract internationalism vs concrete and practical pro-mamis…

and frankly, it has been frustrating.  just imagine what it would have been like if there had been a coordinated media response among woc in online media toward jan 25 and the 18 day ouster of mubarak and the past two years.  imagine the kind of support that we could have given each other during the arab spring (which is really an african spring, but okay there…).  imagine…imagine having a coherent response to occupy (which jumped on the bandwagon of the african spring without any of the teeth -except for oakland-) from the perspective of north african revolutions. 

i know, i know, water under the bridge.  but i cant help but wonder if we have learned anything from this.  if we are willing to be less us-centric, to imagine that what is happening over here really does matter, not just abstractly, but concretely what is happening over there and vice versa.  

i guess im a bit irritated at reading these calls to solidarity for black women, when it was black women who decided that i my life wasnt relevant to theirs since i didnt live in the states.  

i mean folks are talking about how this isnt just faceless folks online, but this harrassment really affects their lives, well, you know what really affects my life?  waking up one morning in the midst of a revolution (surprise!) and knowing that when i asked - a year and a half before - to work on creating media support since i was living in a violent anti black racist police state, and being told that if i wanted to do that, i should just do it on my own.  and when i pointed out the impossibility of that task, i was told that i was being ‘demanding’ and ‘angry’ and undermining women of color’s media work.  and watching black women co-sign that shit. 

"

lucky me,
i get to fall
to sleep
beside
the sun. there she is,
sleeping darkly
like the cat
on the chair,
commanding
unconsciousness
like she commands
attention
in the light.

this girl
is a meal
am i making
that clear
a crescendo
of sleep
keeping me awake
and biting.

"

from “Biter” by Michelle Tea.  (via oscillatequrrrly)

(Source: bestiesnotestes, via thisinsatiableshadow)

"To burn with desire and keep quiet about it is the greatest punishment we can bring on ourselves."

Federico García Lorca, Blood Wedding and Yerma (via the-unfeminine-female)

(via champagnecandy)

"who would believe them winged
who would believe they could be

beautiful        who would believe
they could fall so in love with mortals

that they would attach themselves
as scars attach and ride the skin"

Lucille Clifton, from “Sorrows” (via proustitute)

"I listened. It was like the wind in the trees of a little wood. No hate … no love. No love. There was a crash as of a falling temple."

Joseph Conrad, The Inheritors (via proustitute)

"If love if then if now if the flowers of if the conditional

if of arrows the condition of if

if to say light to inhabit light if to speak if to live, so

if to say it is you if love is if your form is if your waist that pictures the fluted stem if lavender

if in this field"

Peter Gizzi, from “Chateau If” (via proustitute)

"In a moment we’ll pass across the world’s threshold
into a region—name it as you please:
wilderness, death, disavowal of language,
or maybe simpler: the silence of love…"

Vladimir Nabokov, from “The Poets” (via proustitute)

"I lie here thinking of you:—

the stain of love
is upon the world!"

William Carlos Williams, from “Love Song” (via proustitute)

My Blu Tinted Glasses: bad-dominicana: theglamourpusstaff: crunkfeministcollective: You... →

bad-dominicana:

theglamourpusstaff:

crunkfeministcollective:

You Should Date Someone Who Cares About You

You should be with someone who values your time and calls when they say they are going to, who shows up on time to a date or texts you if they are going to be late….

(Source: thatneedstogo, via super1eklectic)

deafmuslimpunx:

Urdustan is now out, available for $9.00 in PRINT only. It is a collection of short stories about South Asians—punks, vampires, deafies, etc. There are seven stories in total. Please visit Urdustan for a summary and a short review by Jean-Marc, a musician based in Brussels, Belgium (the world’s very FIRST review of Urdustan).

Seven stories, four nations, one people.

Whether it’s a slaughterhouse in the East End of London or a run-down hotel in the holy city of Al-Madinah, a tiny township in Northern Michigan or a fishing village on the Bay of Bengal in India, people yearn for the same thing in common–life–to experience life and to feel alive.

Urdustan tells the stories of North Indians and Pakistanis; Muslims and Hindus; Desi Americans and British Asians. All come from the same land yet each leads a different life and tells a different story; each shares the desire to experience love and friendship, the insatiable urge to connect to others on a human level.

Urdustan reveals multiple personalities of the South Asian diaspora that are often ignored. The stories are richly interwoven with different characters from many walks of life–Hasidic Jews, African Americans, punks, deaf teens, gay males, and even supernatural creatures such as vampires and angels. Romance, horror, racism, homophobia, audism, love, death, spirituality, fantasy, friendship all play important factors in the storytelling of Urdustan. Each story is a small reflection of the greatly diverse world we live in and call our home.

BUY BOOK HERE

# REPPIN D.I.Y SELF-PUBLISHED DESI / DEAF / MUSLIM / PUNK AUTHORS