Honey Badger Revolution

Tag: Charleston

  • What Happened in Charleston, SC is an Abomination. Here’s Something You Can Do.

    What Happened in Charleston, SC is an Abomination. Here’s Something You Can Do.

    By now, you’ve probably heard about the massacre that happened at Emmanuel AME Church in Charleston, SC., along with the history behind it’s an abomination that’s 400+ years in the making and is not even the first time in recent memory.

    So, if you’re a decent human being, you are horrified and are wondering what you can do, besides pray.

    If you’re like most of us decent human beings, sticking it to The Man in person via things like protests comes with serious hurdles like jobs without a lot of vacation time, and children who need to be raised.

    Enter Armchair Activism.

    Armchair activism

    We make it as easy as possible for you to be outraged from your computer. Below are links for petitions you can sign, as well as Twitter handles and Facebook pages that you can use to vent your ire.

    Well?  What are you waiting for?  Get to protesting the establishment, already.

    Donation:

    You should most definitely make a donation to Emmanuel AME.  They are grieving as a church, yes, but they must work with 9 families to coordinate things like funerals and memorial funds. Get your card out, click here,  and spot them $10.

    Petitions:

    Right now, the internet is awash with petitions to remove the Confederate Flag from flying in any location in South Carolina (as well as other locations in the South) starting immediately and staying down until about 10 days after Jesus recaptures His people. You know the confederate flag- that symbol of an attempted systemic annihilation of a people that’s just a symbol so don’t get mad because, heritage? The flag South Carolina  DIDN’T take down or even put at half-mast in the wake of the murders? While there is reason to believe that it will probably stay up, petitions let the folks in charge know that the rest of the country is onto their fuckery, and are tired of it.

    Here are two of the most popular ones (read: reputable sources).

    Facebook and Twitter:

    Why stop with online petitions when you can vent your ire for all the internet to see? Here is Governor Nikki Haley’s contact information, Twitter handles- with an ‘s’, ’cause Ms. Sassy has two–  and Facebook page. Listen. Anyone who thinks this makes it okay to keep on endorsing a symbol of hate and oppression deserves your ire.

    You should probably also protest to members of the state legislature, especially the ones who voted against hate crimes statutes, or justifiers, like our “friend” Lindsey Graham (who also has two Twitter handles. Is this a Southern thing?) or our “no way in hell am I calling him friend even in quotes” DoucheCanoe of the Week, Charles Cotton, who thought this made sense. We should probably explain common sense put his dumb ass on blast, too.

    This section will be updated with more handles and pages as we get them.

    Be engaged:

    Here is an article on other things that you can do (it also includes information about donating to the victim’s fund).

    Finally, if you really want to make a change, you’re going to have to grab your ovaries, get some courage, and start standing up to the racist crap around you.  Stop discussions in its tracks, and work to educated those around you on why that kind of rhetoric is not harmless.  Hold people accountable. If they are tone deaf, keep talking. Work to change the narrative that they hear.

    Racism and hate crimes will only diminish if we work together to ensure that everyone know this is not acceptable.

     

  • No Being Black/Black Beings Allowed

    No Being Black/Black Beings Allowed

     

    The shooting in Charleston, SC at the Historic Emanuel AME Church has sent the nation reeling.  There are folks who are shocked at this, calling it incomprehensible.  The truth is, it is very understandable. It’s a result of centuries of hate. It is not new. It is not “confusing.”  The possibility of violence in my community is my everyday reality, and the truth is, I’m tired.

    I’m tired. Given the significance of a mass murder happening in a Black church in the South, I want more specific, targeted rhetoric, not just the standard “we are praying” and “we are horrified.” Of course you’re praying. You damn well should be horrified. But can you, our “leaders” be specific about the racial significance/implication of this?

    I’m tired. I’ve already seen comments that are decrying calling it a hate crime, thus reminding me that there are people in this country who still think that Black and Brown people aren’t targets.

    Let’s just get this out of the way. This is a hate crime. There is no discussion, there is no question. To doubt that this is a hate crime means that you did not pay attention in history class.

    He made a choice. He chose to enter into a historic African-American church.

    He made a choice. He chose to sit there, in that historic African American church and “pray.”

    He made a choice. He chose to take out his gun and murder. Black people. In a Black Church.

    He made a choice.

    There are places of business in the area.
    If it was just about shooting people, why not go there?

    He made a choice.

    He chose racism, hate and murder. It is a hate crime.

    I’m tired. I’m tired of the Twitter alerts with the hashtags. Because every time I get one, I know that means another Black or Brown person has been brutalized or is dead.

    I’m TIRED. Being Black in America is exhausting.  And I feel cheated. Because, dammit, DAMMIT, DIDN’T WE ALREADY MARCH FOR BETTER THAN THIS?  Didn’t we already march, and fight, and protest, and get attacked by dogs and hung from trees for our liberty? Why the fuck are we still here as a country? I never got my 40 acres and my mule, and apparently, I never got the right to exist in my own country without fear.

    Where can I be Black? Not at the pool. Not in the street. Not in my car. Not in my own house. Not at church. CHURCH. Didn’t we already go through this? Didn’t 4 little girls already die so NO ONE ELSE WOULD HAVE TO?

    And now I’m crying at my desk, trying to disguise it as a cough, because God forbid I show emotion.

    I’m just so fucking tired. My brother is a pastor, and if I lost him to some shit like this, I think I’d burn a city down.

    So when is this my country ‘tis of thee? Where is my liberty?

    This country was built from the bones of people who look like me, and irrigated with the blood of people who look like me, and I’m tired of hearing racism is over because we have a Black man in the White House. I’m tired of hearing “forget about slavery.” I’m tired of shit like this happening over and over with there being collective outrage for 5 minutes and then we move on to something else without ever actually fixing anything.

    I’m tired of having the reality of my existence invalidated.

    And I know, I know that other ethnic groups have been persecuted in this country, and helped build this country, and were demonized in this country. But people of Italian descent and Irish descent went from being “othered” to being “mainstreamed,” and haven’t been victims of this kind of thing in a good 2 or 3 generations. Asians went through a horrible time in this country, and we don’t talk about it, which is wrong, but the majority collective has gotten over their “otherness” giving them a status on par with their own. And I’m just fucking tired. When does it get to be our turn to be free in this free society?

    As long as you hold on to the Confederate flag as a sign of heritage, it will never be my turn.

    As long as you alter your reporting when the victim is Black and the perpetrator is White, it will never be my turn.

    As long as you tell racist jokes without it being a “big deal” it will never be my turn.

    As long as you continue to whitewash history and act like these things didn’t happen, while pretending that anything that did happen has no bearing on today, it will never be my turn.

    Deal with your wrongs, America. Deal with your biases. Deal with your hate. Recognize and deal with all of it, so that I can actually be free.

    God bless the victims of Charleston and their families. And may we never, ever have to go through this again.

    Emanuel_African_Methodist_Episcopal_(AME)_Church
    “Emanuel African Methodist Episcopal (AME) Church” by Cal Sr from Newport, NC, US – Emanuel African Methodist Episcopal (AME) Church. Licensed under CC BY 2.0 via Wikimedia Commons.