Read This Week

This is my 46th Read This Week feature! If you’re new to Gradient Lair, each week (though I’ve missed a few) I post essays, articles, journal articles and/or papers of interest to me that I think will be of interest to you, based on your interest in my blog. Below are good reads:

Violence Against (Trans)Women Today by CeCe McDonald herself is an important read. She has faced a gross and disgusting injustice, where once again, self-defense was not applicable to a Black trans woman. This essay is an important read.

Sister Assata -  This Is What American History Looks Like by Alice Walker is an important read! She has met and spoken with Assata Shakur on more than one occasion. She speaks to the psychological warfare, capitalism, imperialism, racism and misogynoir involved in Shakur being labeled as a terrorist in this country, someone she is NOT. Best believe that this labeling and two increases in the bounty in the last decade is psychological warfare against Black women in this country.

Framing The Panther: Assata Shakur and Black Female Agency [PDF] by Joy James is a fascinating read. She examines the similarities between Harriet Tubman and Assata Shakur in terms of rejection of the State and also examines how not being anchored by or known in relation to a heterosexual male partner that was also “icon,” impacts perception of her.

We Cannot Have It All Because We No Longer Have Dreams by Flavia Dzodan on Tiger Beatdown is an exquisite essay. She went IN! She writes: “I do have to bring up my disillusion with most of mainstream feminism. I do have to denounce this hegemonic feminist discourse that promotes success without questioning the very context in which said success is supposed to take place. I do have to protest the increasing promotion of corporate participation as a measure of “feminist achievement” and women’s prosperity. Because for as long as we do not question at whose expense we are succeeding, we are going to continue creating a deeper gap between those women who are allowed to succeed and those who never stood a chance to begin with.” READ THIS.

I’ve mentioned this before, but it needs to be mentioned again, hence the suggested read below. We must STOP placing Black women in patriarchal binaries, and then calling such placement “feminist” if we worship the “positive” side of the binary. Respectability politics plus benevolent sexism are NOT feminism. In fact, they can quickly become misogynoir.

Queens of Consciousness & Sex-Radicalism in Hip-Hop:On Erykah Badu & The Notorious K.I.M. [PDF] by Greg Thomas is a good read. He explores the “consciousness without sexuality” versus the “sexuality without consciousness” binary (or in other words “queen” versus “females/bitch” binary), revealing that listeners and fans NOT the artists themselves type them as one or the other. Erykah’s music reveals a connection to the erotic just as Lil’ Kim’s music reveals thought and exploration on a variety of topics. A must-read before EVER comparing two Black women in music ever again.

Stay tuned for next week’s suggestions! And, to keep up with the books that I am reading, check my Pinterest board for 2013 or for past reads, view the 2012 one.

Read This Week

This is my 45th Read This Week feature! If you’re new to Gradient Lair, each week I post essays, articles, journal articles and/or papers of interest to me that I think will be of interest to you, based on your interest in my blog. Below are good reads:

So Gwyneth Paltrow is the “Worlds Most Beautiful Woman?” Yeah Fucking Right on The Negress is a good read. She isn’t calling Paltrow “ugly” and she does mention Beyoncé’s past selection, with important context. Very important, regarding how narrow memes of Eurocentric beauty is forced on and decided for women.

Baby Hair: For Gabby, Blue Ivy & Me on Crunk Feminist Collective is a great read that I and just about every Black woman I know can relate to.  “I wonder what would happen if we praised black girls for their beauty instead of looking at them through a lens of criticism.”

An Open Letter To Folks of Color on Black Girl Dangerous is a great read. It’s difficult and sweet. It alludes to the resilience and resistance, the creativity and the character of people of colour despite oppression. It doesn’t deify or dehumanize though because there IS pain and we DO feel it, but it’s like a “you’re amazing despite this” kind of letter.

Black/Non-Black Divide and The Anti-Blackness of Non-Black Minorities by Robert Reese of Still Furious and Still Brave is a great read. As the former letter I mentioned discusses the connection between people of colour, this one discusses something that is often silenced—the anti-Blackness that many non-Black people of colour have, and how White supremacy and the ever shifting boundaries of race play a role.

Why Jason Collins’ Faith is Ignored… And Tebow’s Isn’t by @graceishuman is a good read. There’s a homophobic meme going around among Conservatives about how Collins is a hero despite being gay and Tebow isn’t for being Christian. Um…Collins is Christian too. Thus, she explores how White supremacy shapes even who is considered a “real” Christian. (As an agnostic atheist, it made me think of something Black feminist, atheist and radical humanist Sikivu Hutchinson said.)

Stay tuned for next week’s suggestions!

Read This Week

This is my 44th Read This Week feature. Each week I recommend essays, articles and/or papers/journals that I’ve recently read. Below are some great reads:

Radio Silence by Chelo Keys is a painful read but a very important one. She’s very honest about the manifestations of colourism (a product of White supremacy) in her life as an Afro-Latina and how knowing it is wrong and problematic didn’t immediately stop her from breathing a sigh of relief when her son was born not as dark as his father. It’s a painful reality that many Black women face and she was honest enough to share the experience.

How the 3/5ths Live by Stacia L. Brown is an exquisite essay. Just…read it. The way she uses language gives me goosebumps of pleasure, even as she wrote about something complicated and painful for me to read; the racist dehumanization of Black bodies and lives. The whole thing is excellent but that intro paragraph is EVERYTHING, especially regarding Whites who are certain that it is only “arbitrarily” their “hard work” that guarantees their current wealth.

Hey, White Liberals: A Word On The Boston Bombings, The Suffering Of White Children, And The Erosion of Empathy on Black Girl Dangerous is a good read. She mentions how the continued devaluation of Black life, especially of children, via media and society at large while the out pour of care exists for loss of lives of White people is problematic. (There’s actual evidence to support the inability of Whites to empathize with Black people; this is hot hard to fathom when a society is shaped by White supremacy.) Very important read.

Merging Masculinities: Gay (Black) Men in Pro Sports by Robert Reese of Still Furious and Still Brave is a good read. It wasn’t about Jason Collins specifically, but aptly applies. He challenges the notion of heterosexuality and masculinity being paired without room for nuanced perceptions of masculinity, especially in the world of professional athletics. He also speaks to how race is an incredibly salient factor in regards to rigid notions of masculinity.

Private Joy by Son of Baldwin is a great read. He examines the notion of sexuality BEYOND sexual intercourse. Yep…there’s more to it than that. He also examines the idea that certain expressions of sexuality are supposed to be “hidden.” As he always does, there’s great examination intersectionally here. Race, gender, sexual orientation and more. Fascinating essay that I truly loved reading.

Stay tuned for next week’s suggestions!

Read This Week

This is my 43rd Read This Week feature. Each week I recommend essays, articles and/or papers/journals that I’ve recently read. Below are some great reads:

How To Research & Info On Post-Slavery Oppression of Black Women is a Storify of tweets and text by me. I usually don’t include my own writing in a Read This Week, but this involves others as well. Basically a Black man suggested that Black women have not/do not experience oppression since slavery. His source? An Oxford dictionary definition of oppression. Our sources? Actual history, research, facts, and lived experience.

Rage Against The Patriarchy, Dr. Nikita Levy, and The Devaluation of Black Women by @blkgirlwithapen is an important read, though quite painful, naturally. Levy was (now deceased by suicide) a physician who exploited Black women’s safety and security by video recording gynecological exams at John Hopkins for decades. She questions this dehumanization amidst the history of sexual dehumanization of Black women’s bodies, in the healthcare system.

Baiting Black Men: Exotic Friends and Ethnic Social Circles by @AsiaBrown on For Harriet is VERY interesting and something I’ve never thought very deeply about because my friends have always been Black girls when young, Black women as adults. She mentions how some Black women befriend non-Black women and those women are articulated as “bait” for Black men (she names Black female rap stars who’ve mentioned this) and can possibly reveal self-hatred and hatred towards other Black women, by Black women. 

How To Be A Fan Of Problematic Things on Social Justice League is a really good read. Sometimes it is difficult to accept criticism of the media that we consume. Media is problematic because humans are. Media has “isms” because humans proliferate them. This post explains how to proceed with being a critical thinker and someone who consumes media.

And finally, I like this questioned answered where brashblacknonbeliever on Tumblr explains the difference between the derailment tactic of “we are not all like that” by Whites, versus Black and other people of colour REJECTING the White supremacist notion that people of colour are all the same. This distinguishing is critical.

Stay tuned for next week’s suggestions!

Read This Week

This is my 42nd Read This Week feature. Each week I recommend essays, articles and/or papers/journals that I’ve recently read. Below are some great reads:

Blanket “Don’t Go To Graduate School!” Advice Ignores Race and Reality? by @tressiemcphd is such an important read. She challenges the anti-grad school spiel that comes from White middle-class writers and educators who completely ignore the role of race and class in labor. What might be a useless credential or a not good enough job to them could be a markedly large step forward for a Black person coming from poverty. Education advice need not be “blanket” advice. GREAT read.

On Being Called Out My Name on Crunk Feminist Collective is a great read. While it is easy to tell someone to get over themselves if they want to be addressed as Dr. (in this case, a professor) the underlying sexist, racist, and classist issues as to why people find great difficulty doing this for a Black female professor versus a White male professor, for example, are telling. Great read; the comments also include some interesting perspectives and debate. I promise, the comments aren’t YouTube-like; they’re safe to read.

Street Harassment, Masculinity, and Impressing Other Dudes guest posted by Michael Denzel Smith on Feministing provides another perspective regarding street harassment; men engaging in it to perform patriarchal masculinity for other men, lest their sexuality be questioned. This reveals another link between misogyny and homophobia; as I’ve always said, they’re two sides of the same coin.

Stay tuned for next week’s suggestions!

Read This Week

This is my 41st Read This Week feature. Each week I recommend essays, articles and/or papers/journals that I’ve recently read. Below are some great reads:

He Slipped Me a Mickey: Examining Black Feminist Responses to Rape Culture by Jazmine Walker of Still Furious and Still Brave is really important. She examines class privilege and self-blame in regards to responses to Rick Ross’ lyrics and others that proliferate rape culture. She writes: “Many feminists sitting in seemingly safe spaces—middle class homes, coffee shops, classrooms—who think they don’t have the deal with the likes of Rick Ross or other threatening men, concluded that it would be best that women dismiss Rick Ross as disgusting, don’t consume his music, and maybe if we create enough cognitive dissonance between us and him, Ross and his patriarchal cronies will finally acknowledge that we are people with the right to consent.” Important read.

Navigating Masculinity as a Black Transman: “I will never straighten out my wrist” by Kai M. Green is an amazingly beautiful and complicated and at times painful read. Very important. Talk about intersectionality. Wow. I learned a lot from this powerful essay. The rigidity of gender as visual presentation and performance can be a prison. I am glad that Kai is NOT here for it!

King Cotton’s Long Shadow by Walter Johnson (a professor at Harvard) at The New York Times is an important read. He carefully explains how slavery is in fact responsible for the capitalist system we have today. This part of the history is rarely examined. He writes: “It is not simply that the labor of enslaved people underwrote 19th-century capitalism. Enslaved people were the capital: four million people worth at least $3 billion in 1860, which was more than all the capital invested in railroads and factories in the United States combined. Seen in this light, the conventional distinction between slavery and capitalism fades into meaninglessness.”

Girls, Women, and Sexual Legislation: The Trifecta by @FeministGriote is an important read, examining the importance of emergency contraception, and how contraception itself is mitigated by the State for women, yet not for men. Critical read.

Beating your Daughter will NOT Keep Her Off the Pole on Charity Is…The Catalyst is a great read. It’s in regards to a Black father who beat his daughters for twerking, (something I adamantly oppose, as I’ve written about why Black girls and women should be able to do this dance without facing a plethora of types of abuse and bigotry). This essay discusses the importance of healthy Black father/daughter relationships and the misogynoir and sexuality policing (re: pole) that Black women face. “So…while people are praising the man for physically abusing his daughters, claiming that he was doing it ‘because he cares’ and ‘wants the best for them’ we forget that the girls may associate a man’s affection with physical abuse. Instead of saying that Black women have ‘daddy issues,’ it would be more accurate to say that Black fathers have daughter issues.”

Stay tuned for next week’s suggestions!

Read This Week

This is my 40th Read This Week feature. Only twelve more before Gradient Lair hits its first birthday! Each week I recommend essays, articles and/or papers/journals that I’ve recently read. Below are some great reads:

A History of Black Feminism In The United States is a paper on MIT’s site Thistle, which was a progressive alternative news site, now defunct. The paper is very interesting, very good. While Black feminist theory’s appearance in politics (i.e. Sojourner Truth) and literature (i.e. Zora Neal Hurston) predates the Black Liberation and Women’s movements, this paper speaks to how a “formal” presence of Black feminism emerged where Black Liberation and Women’s movements did not serve Black women’s needs.

The Top Five Ways That White Feminists Continue To Discredit Women of Color by guest writer Aaminah Hernández on Problem Chylde is a great read. All five points are critical. Whether dismissing our personal narratives, hoisting “expertise” over our heads or behaving as if women of colour are only “allies” to feminism, not deeply involved in feminist theory and praxis are discussed here. GOOD READ.

Your Children Will See Color and There’s Nothing You Can Do About It by Kimberly Foster of For Harriet is an important read regarding how White privilege and myths of “colourblindness” impacts how White parents of biracial/multiracial children view the world and attempt to parent. She writes “Far too often non-black women with a Black significant other proudly claim ‘they don’t see race’ or ‘race doesn’t matter.’ Worse yet they’ll claim expertise on the Black experience because they birthed a child of color.”

On The Myth of Suffering = Black Realness by @cnrush is a great read. Far too often are Black people expected to portray endless suffering to “prove” their Blackness instead of recognizing the cultural tapestry, the layers, the variety of experiences that makes up Blackness. (I alluded to the same thing in regards to music once—how people often demand Beyoncé portray more “suffering” to be “authentically” Black.) Great essay by her.

Interview: Dr. Sikivu Hutchinson Explores Atheism and Religion in the Black Community is a GREAT READ. EXCELLENT. It is an interview on For Harriet with an outspoken Black female atheist and radical humanist Sikivu Hutchinson. Brilliance. She provides the critical perspective that I think is important when examining both theist and atheist perspectives where White supremacist capitalist patriarchy is concerned, because in the latter, atheist spaces, the notion of intersectional feminism and radical humanism are not always there. Critical read.

Stay tuned for next week’s suggestions!

Read This Week

This is my 39th Read This Week feature. Each week I recommend essays, articles and/or papers/journals that I’ve recently read; I recommend them based on your interest in the subjects on my blog Gradient Lair. Below are some great reads:

My Thoughts On Jada and Her Colorblind Society by @FeministGriote is a great read. She commented on Jada’s recent question about why White women aren’t on Black women’s magazines…because this question in its nature is ahistorical. She also makes a great point when she writes: “To answer Jada’s question it’s unrealistic to ask WOC especially Black women to give up their spots on Black magazine covers and give it to a white women. Please keep in mind these white women aren’t asking for it, don’t need it, and probably wouldn’t understand nor appreciate the cultural significance of such an honor.” BOOM! I wondered if an intersectional feminist who is White would write about NOT NEEDING to be on Black magazines, and one did, which I quoted earlier this week.

The Trouble With Justin Timberlake’s Appropriation of Black Music by Jamilah King on Colorlines is a GREAT read. Unlike her, I am not really a fan of Timberlake. He has a few songs that I like, but I find his personality, off-screen and on-screen, to be exasperatingly phony and deceptive. She writes: “And that’s what becomes tricky with Justin, that his whiteness acts as both an entryway into a popular culture and a buffer against its criticisms.” FACT. READ THIS. Fan or not. Worth the read if you critically think about media and race.

Frederick Douglass, A Modern Day Republican? Think Again. by Blair L.M. Kelley on The Grio is a GREAT READ. The latest stunt that involves Republicans using Black political figures as a silencing tactic against other Blacks is invoking Douglass’ name. This professor reveals why this is ahistorical and inaccurate.

Male Privilege and Power Equal Rape on Womanist Musings is an important read that addresses changing rape culture itself. [Head a TRIGGER WARNING HERE.] She writes: “What scares me about these incidents of rape, is not only that they occurred at all, but the degree of communal support these young men are receiving. It has not occurred to their communities to address the degree of violence or the cause behind it, but there has been plenty of questioning of the level of the victims responsibility in their own assault, as though any woman through her actions can protect against rape.”

Stay tuned for next week’s suggestions!

Read This Week

This is my 38th Read This Week feature. Each week I recommend essays, articles and/or papers/journals that I’ve recently read; I recommend them based on your interest in the subjects on my blog Gradient Lair. Below are some great reads:

Understanding Patriarchy [PDF] by bell hooks is a concise and informative paper that explains patriarchy, beyond the rigid dictionary definition that people opposed to anti-oppression work use (and coincidentally wouldn’t adhere to for other disciplines or subjects) in order to silence people on the topic. She explains why and how it destroys both men and women, and how it can be upheld by both men and women, though men may reap more “benefits” due to male privilege and sexism against women. IMPORTANT read.

5 MOST Mundane Ways Disavowing Masculinity Changed My Life by Robert Reese of Still Furious and Still Brave is a great read. It’s troubling how deeply patriarchy and patriarchal masculinity is embedded into the smallest actions and behaviors of men. This essay reveals how rejecting what seems small is a BIG step in unlearning patriarchy.

Not Having A Black Pope Is Not A Bad Thing on Womanist Musings is a good read. I too saw some Black people tweet their desperation for a Black pope. I…did not want to see that. This essay perfectly matches my sentiments. She writes: “Just because the face in power looks like yours, does not mean that they are on your side.” Good read.

How “Admissions” Works Differently At For-Profit Colleges: Sorting and Signaling by @tressiemcphd is a GREAT read. She’s doing dissertation research on the for-profit sector of colleges and this essay reveals some interesting things. She writes: “When I teach my undergraduates at my elite, private school they all recognize the for-profit college ads I play to introduce the idea of higher education stratification. I ask them why they did not apply to Everest or Strayer when they were applying to college. They tell me that it’s not a school for people like them. That means they see the same commercials the rest of us see, the ones for-profit students see. But the marketing doesn’t motivate them. The sorting of ‘real’ college and for-profit college, then, has already happened by this point, somehow.” Very important read here, especially where perspectives regarding class are concerned.

Stay tuned for next week’s suggestions!

Read This Week

This is my 37th Read This Week feature! Each week I recommend essays, articles and/or papers/journals that I’ve recently read; I recommend them based on your interest in the subjects on my blog Gradient Lair. Below are some great reads:

Allow Me To Reintroduce Myself; My Name Is FEMINISM by @FeministGriote is an amazingly powerful and important read. Why? Because someone who knows nothing about feminism other than lies perpetrated by the media in this patriarchal society OR someone who is deeply involved in the theory or praxis of womanism/feminism can read this and equally be moved. It is truly important and a MUST READ.

Interrogating The Protofeminism Espoused By Queer Men of Color by immediatecause on Tumblr is a great read. It speaks about the appropriation of work of women of colour by queer men of colour and about how their critiques of sexism needs to include introspective critiques. Queer men CAN be patriarchal, sexist and misogynist even as they fight racism and homophobia, so checking for this is important.

A Short Course In Indigenous Feminism by Enaemaehkiw Túpac Keshena is a great read and a collection of resources for studying feminism beyond Western shaping. The author writes: “The growth of indigenous feminism is, for me, a huge interest, both personal and academic, not just because of the obvious importance struggling against both white supremacist (neo)colonial capitalism and hetero-patriarchy if we want to achieve meaningful freedom, justice and equality, but also because for a long time the status quo within our movement was that you could not be both a feminist and a native warrior.”

“Google and Libraries” Are Not Enough for Poor People by Robert Reese of Still Furious and Still Brave is a great read. People with class and/or educational privilege MUST check their privilege. He points out how access to libraries, the materials at the library and knowing HOW to search/review information are issues/skills that are not going to automatically surface solely because someone has Internet access or a public library nearby. Very nuanced piece and an important read.

And finally…this FIRE right here…

A conversation between James Baldwin and Audre Lorde in 1984 on race, gender and sexuality. Whew! Just…read this. READ.

Stay tuned for next week’s suggestions!

Read This Week

This is my 36th Read This Week feature, where I recommend articles, essays and/or papers that I’ve read, to my readers, based on their interest in my blog, Gradient Lair. Below are some good reads:

Working Women Blues by Carolyn Edgar is BRILLIANT. She writes: “I’m really annoyed that Slaughter, Sandberg and Meyer are the faces of women’s workplace issues. They represent a very narrow, elite segment of women in the workplace. Yes, there are still barriers to women making it to the top of organizations in both the public and private sector, and those issues are worth discussing. But it seems the issues of elite women workers are the only women’s workplace issues we ever get to discuss.” READ THIS.

What’s In a Name? Kind of a Lot by @BrokeyMcPoverty of PostBourgie is exquisite. She gets to the heart of the matter regarding the White refusal to pronounce Quvenzhané’s name. She writes: “The insistence on not using Quvenzhané’s name is an extension of that ‘why aren’t you white?’ backlash.” I am beyond disgusted with the bigotry and willful ignorance that some Whites are engaged in by refusing to acknowledge this child by her name. This article explains why they’re doing it and why it’s wrong.

Where Were White Feminists Speaking Out For Quvenzhané Wallis?
by Kirsten West Savali on Clutch is a good read. Once again, many White feminists confuse White supremacy for feminism and claim that being called a “cunt” is satire. NO IT IS NOT. (And…apparently, Black people are much better at actual satire than Whites, in this case, because look at the trending topic #WhiteHistoryClasses, for example. THAT was satire.) This article explains the problem with White feminist stances, yet again, defending attacks on Black women.

Retreat From The Citadel: Confessions of An Ex-Comic Book Reader by @SonofBaldwin is a good read. It exposes the painful truth about the racism, sexism, misogyny and homophobia in comic books and the audience’s response to it. He writes: “It’s pointless to have these debates in this ‘post-racial’ age where you’re only a racist if you use the n-word, you’re only a misogynist if you beat up women, and you’re not a homophobe, you’re just beholden to religious principles. Bigots—even passive, rational ones—are incredibly similar in their reaction to criticism: ‘My feelings are more important than your struggles.’” Though it is specifically on comics, it really isn’t. It points to a bigger issue of the consistent defense of bigotry in the media. He makes some excellent points.

Stay tuned for next week’s suggestions!

Read This Week

This is my 35th Read This Week feature. Below are some interesting articles, papers and/or essays that I’ve read in the past week. (For new subscribers to Gradient Lair, I’ve shared a post like this weekly since the blog’s start, including some writing that I think may be of interest to you, based on your interest in my blog.)

My Feminism Will Be Intersectional Or It Will Be Bullshit by Flavia Dzodan is the ORIGINAL essay where this phrase came from. I know that many people have stated that this is their quote, but, well…we know how the Internet is. Anyway, it’s from 2011 and confronts the lack of intersectional analysis amidst the White feminist approach to the past SlutWalk, and feminism itself…something that I write about OFTEN. It was good to finally take the time to read this long, but well worth the time essay.

Why Appropriation Never Looks/Sounds The Same Or Even Good by cnrush on Tumblr is an interesting quick read that addresses how blatant copying of the mechanics of a facet of the cultures of people of colour can fall flat because of the lack of emotion and historical connection to that very facet. It’s not solely mechanics that makes something artistic great. (Ahem…the White “Harlem Shake”…)

Why My Rapist’s Race Is Relevant by musingsofanawkwardblackgirl on Tumblr is worth the read, BUT head the necessary TRIGGER WARNING for rape, as you may not want to read this. Here’s something CRITICALLY important that is mentioned in the essay: “96% of rape victims state that their rapist was a White male, yet about 80% of rape prisoners are Black men. 54% Of rapes go unreported, and 97% of rapist will NEVER see a day in jail. Which means not only is rape a crime that seems to be White male dominate, but oddly enough white males are rarely convicted of rape. I honestly wonder why that is…” She mentions that the man who raped her is White; she is Black. This type of case, other than White men raping Native American/American Indian women are the LEAST prosecuted of all.

Why Rape Jokes Are Uniquely Bad by afternoonsnoozebutton on Tumblr is an important read, and head the necessary TRIGGER WARNING for rape, as you may not want to read this. This essay is important and delineates the differences between jokes about this crime and others. I am NOT HERE for ANY rape jokes, whether about any women, Black women specifically, gay men, or incarcerated men, which seem to be the predominant categories for these jokes. THEY ARE ALWAYS UNACCEPTABLE TO ME. ALWAYS.

Higher Education Ideology Wars: Who Is The “Slave”? by @tressiemcphd is EXQUISITE. While she admonishes Emory’s president for using the Three-Fifths Compromise as his metaphor for compromise on debate in the academe, she explores this very same metaphor and reveals why it doesn’t work, despite it being tasteless in the first place. She writes “The regional elites of the North and South merely quibbled about their share of the hegemonic pie, not that the pie was rotten with strange fruit.  That is not a debate. It is competition.” And also: “In his artless slavery metaphor Wagner inadvertently revealed the ludicrousness of elites battling for who will be more elite when the entire structure of opportunity is changing around us to produce so few real contenders for social mobility as to make the proposition of choosing among them downright foolish. The credential is only as good as the belief in the promise of the mobility it affords. Right now, both are in jeopardy.” MUST READ. VERY IMPORTANT.

Stay tuned for next week’s suggestions!

Read This Week

This is my 34th Read This Week feature! Below are some great essays/articles to consider:

What Romantic Comedies Teach Us Wrongly About Sex by Robert Reese and Jazmine Walker of Still Furious and Still Brave is a good read that critically examines the messages that these films convey; they’re hardly ever “just” laughs. The connection between media and culture isn’t parallel lines; it’s smudged. It actually presents a fascinating juxtaposition between pornography and romantic comedies, in a way that I suspect most readers wouldn’t have guessed prior to reading it.

Protecting white kids from history by @graceishuman is about the effort that one White mother is making to have Toni Morrison’s book Beloved banned from school. She claims it gave her son a nightmare. Imagine the nightmare felt by Margaret Garner, the woman that inspired Morrison’s book in the first place. Important read here; she elaborates on WHY a parent would do this and how this connects to a great problem of White-washing history and privileging White literature over other literature.

Who’s Afraid Of Post-Racist? by @tressiemcphd is an interesting read. She debates five points in another writer’s post  that claimed that society might not be post-race but it is post-racism. Yeah…someone believes this. Anyway, her essay is thoughtful, insightful and critical. I enjoyed reading it.

King Bey: Beyoncé’s History of Gender Non-Conformity by @anti_intellect is an interesting read. He examines the two leading perspectives regarding her calling herself a “king” (reaffirms patriarchy vs. reveals freedom), and explains how these perspectives merged, not opposing, reveals a more nuanced and accurate picture. Interesting read! (He’s the same person that posited an interesting perspective on Beyoncé and feminism, that I previously posted.)

Stay tuned for next week’s suggestions!

Read This Week

This is my 33rd Read This Week feature! Below are some great articles and essays that I’ve recently read. (For new subscribers to Gradient Lair, I’ve shared a post like this weekly since the blog’s start, including some writing that I think may be of interest to you, based on your interest in my blog.)

100 Books By Black Women Everyone Must Read on For Harriet is a nice list! Of course it is not a “conclusive” list; it’s an amazing collection and a great starting place. I’ve read many of the books on this list and even more that didn’t make the list. However, don’t say Black women never gave you nothin’. This list is so rich. Amazing.

10 Things You Didn’t Know About Rosa Parks by aninvisibleman on Tumblr is good. Rosa Parks, like Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. and many other Black political icons seem to have their complicated histories and lives White-washed and reduced to tropes and slogans. But, even Black people are complicit in this because many feel that if anything deemed a “flaw” surfaces about them, their legacies become “tarnished” and their work means less. I disagree. It means they are human beings. Fear of the White gaze from Blacks and racism and tokenism from Whites is why their true histories aren’t examined often.

What Is Life In Black (USA) by racismschool on Tumblr is an important read. It answers the ludicrous assumption that life is “easy” for Black people in America, and mentions the race-specific problems that we encounter from birth through death. It’s a painful but important read.

Trayvon Martin Could Have Been 18 If Not For Racism by cnrush on Tumblr is an important read. Trayvon Martin’s 18th birthday was this week on February 5th. In this essay, she explains the cycle in which Black victims, their families, our communities find ourselves in, in regards to how these crimes are prosecuted, or not.

So You Want To Be A Straight Ally by 9001twistedstrings on Tumblr is a great read. The author explains how NOT to be an ally and then explains how to be a good one. This is an important read for cisgender heterosexual people. Further, the author elaborates on the point of intersectionality, as it pertains to the LGBTQ community. Remember, all people of this community are not thin, attractive, cisgender, middle-class, White gay men. Important read!

Stay tuned for next week’s suggestions!

Read This Week

This is my 32nd Read This Week feature. For those new to Gradient Lair, once a week from the blog’s start, I’ve shared articles and essays that I’ve recently read and think you may be interested in, based on your interest in my blog.

Sometimes I really try hard to show that Fat Black women are sexual beings by fatbrownowl on Tumblr is a great read. Just last week someone checked my thin privilege and asked why I don’t share more photographs of fat Black women and I apologized; I will do better and search for more to blog/reblog. This article is great because she challenges the stereotypes of “mammy” and “comic relief” and more. Worth the read!

Why Isn’t There A White Entertainment Television by racismschool on Tumblr is a great read because it clearly illustrates how most media, and not “most” as in 51%, but closer to the 80%-90% and above range, is dedicated to White people, period. This is not a theory, it is a fact. (I recently wrote about the presumption of Whiteness as “universal,” and how to remain that way, they don’t use the label “White.”) This post actually lists television channels and reveals how Whites have plenty of media choices; they simply don’t want Black people (primarily) or other people of colour to have any.  

Casual Things You Do That Trivialize Rape (So Please Stop Doing Them) by callingoutsexists on Tumblr is a great read. Why? Because sadly, women with internalized sexism engage in some of this behavior. It’s not solely men, though regardless of the gender/age of the victim, perpetrators are overwhelmingly male. There is no false equalization to be had here; primarily men rape, PERIOD. However, I’ve seen women with minds that remain colonized defend rape culture as well. Please do not do this. EVER.

On Being More Like Them by sonofbaldwin on Tumblr is really beautiful. Someone asked him about race, religion, and homophobia, and he took the time to explain this and added some additional reading at the end of the post. Black people know that we are portrayed as the most homophobic people Earth and he, as someone both in the Black and LGBTQ community, explained why this occurs. Definitely worth the read.

Being Held Accountable For Online Dirt, In Real Life by @fatfempinup is really good. It’s a series of tweets where she questions people being accountable for what they say online, offline, and makes sure to mention accountability isn’t the same thing as policing. She makes good points here. I don’t view the Internet as some weird space that is completely separate from offline life. There is overlap, especially for people who are in your life in both spaces. Behavior matters. 

Stay tuned for next week’s suggestions!

Also, I started up my 2013 reading board (for books, not articles) on Pinterest. I’ve had some good reads already. You can view my 2012 review on my reads or the 2012 reading board by clicking on the links.