We're all we need.

Changing the narrative so we don't have to change ourselves.

Don't become a conduit of pain and suffering of your people for individual success.

Your immigration narrative is bad and you should feel bad.

Say no to ableist immigration narratives.

The ableist immigration narrative we shout from the mountain tops here is disgusting. The incredibly obtuse speeches of the pursuit of an American Dream and how our parents worked so hard (that ableism again rearing its ugly head) to impress white nationalists so we can be in this country is a huge red flag many of these seemingly intelligent folks are ignorant of. Son o se hacen. Pick one. Why are we here? Who are and what are we fleeing? What does the US foreign policy have anything to do with that? How are we being used as model minorities against those who have been here? How can we fight for the lives of poor immigrants without falling into the traps of anti-blackness, ableism, and ungratefulness towards the very Black and Indigenous people who have lost their lives here so we can now take up precious spaces they fought so hard for? Those are the questions we should be asking ourselves instead of just giving shallow speeches about our radical hope for the applause. You really, truly want to unite with Black Americans and the marginalized? Go beyond mainstream discourse. It ain't pretty. It takes a lot of introspection and realizations of deeply painful incrimination. But you'll dismiss this as ramblings of a street corner preacher because I'm not representing some org or company that has been given the white stamp of approval. Your appeal to authority is transparent. So if you want to have any sort of engagement with me at all, please bring your brain but hang your feelings by the door until we're done.

Thank God for Chicanos.

That's all I have to say about that.

Hey.

Squint.

Throughout the years, I've attempted to watch TV here and there. I left the medium around 1999. I mostly spent my time online, reading. Doing research. But now I can't watch TV without being either mildly annoyed to downright enraged by the constant stupidity, sexism, anti-Blackness, and just all around brain dumbing stuff. I mean, I'm sure you lose more brain cells watching TV than drinking. No wonder I can't hold a conversation with you guys. All you watch is crap. From the news to specials, from shows to films. It's all garbage. I'm going to give you a couple of examples. Some you know: the constant images from the news of Blacks and Latinos (usually the youth) committing crimes but hardly any of what the courts, Wall St, and the like commit. Spanish-speaking news is worse. Even stuff from Black and Brown content creators are problematic. Take L.A. Burning, for instance. The way they portray the Black folks helping out that white boy who was beat up and everyone else as some sort of beast is just disappointing. Because God forbid Black people do exactly what white people have been doing to them for centuries. Now I'm not advocating for violence, but it's the hypervisibility of Black and Brown violence in the media that's wrong. Hearing the clip of that newscaster say that that white man getting beaten up was attempted murder, already influencing whatever outcome, is another instance of white supremacy, white power. Another show: 90 Day Fiancé. When they have the entire cast doing some dumb couch therapy confessional stuff, the racism, sexism, xenophobia, and islamophobia is beyond palpable. They looked down on the Dominican dude's mother because she cooked chicken feet for the African American in-laws. They kept saying she was doing some voodoo--acting like Black Caribbean folks weren't slaves, too, and had to eat the "scraps" to the point of them becoming delicacies. And just portraying voodoo as this evil thing in 2017 is so fucking ignorant. Like voodoo has helped rape and pillage hundreds of millions of people like Christianity has. Then they had the white Colombian Becky opine on that. Whatever, man. Everything is terrible. You all suck.

#Black

Put an antiseptic ointment on that.

#HardPassOnYourLife

Some dudes in the 'hood dress up and prowl to make eye contact with just about anyone so we can see that they're looking fresh and clean. They're one gesture away from doing this.

#BeBetter