The Intellectual Shyt Starter

So, this bit of meta has been knocking around in my head for quite a while. 

I’ve been a huge fan of the zombie genre for a looong time.

Before I even jump into this, I think it’s important to note, that basically the beginning of the modern iteration of this genre Night of the Living Dead and subsequently Dawn of the Dead, used it to upend social taboos for black men and make very risky, and even to this day super-relevant on-the-nose statements about black men in America.

In 1968′s Night of the Living Dead:

a black man leads

punches a white man

slaps a white woman

is the last person standing

and eventually the movie ends in such a way that remains very much spot-on resonant, then and even now, regarding today’s Black Lives Matter movement  

***this movie is available to watch for free on youtube. anyone with any interest in social metaphors about black people on film needs to make it their mission to watch this movie at least once.***

I think that it’s important to note that the dawn of the modern zombie genre began with breaking HUGE racial taboos.

Now, with this background, I want to talk about one particularly interesting pattern to ponder regarding black women’s presence within the zombie genre.

I’ve noticed that within the zombie genre (and by extension survival/apocalyptic “last people” scenarios), black women go from being virtually invisible in a romantic sense in “normal narratives” to being the top pick as a partner in all respects in these scenarios.

The first example I can remember was in 1971′s The Omega Man, starring Charlton Heston and Rosalind Cash, an early adaptation of Richard Matheson’s I Am Legend, and potentially the instigator in the trend:

Both characters are the last humans alive, tough and able to defend themselves in this harsh world populated by a new other (humanoid vampire-like species which shuns light).  And eventually they become romantic partners.

This is noteworthy, as this movie predates the height of the blaxploitation era, coming right at the heels of the apex of the Civil Rights Movement.

like i remember seeing the way other white people talked about michonne online when she first came onto the show and even the way other white people in my school talked about her. and don't even get me started on the idiots that say richonne came out of nowhere even though there was SEASONS of build up and the fact the if it was a white women y'all wouldn't bat an eye, y'all just didn't want a dark skinned black women finding love.

cry with me....

And if you go, I want to go with you. And if you die, I want to die with you. Take your hand and walk away.

padmé; from padma, or lotus flower, another name/symbol of the hindu goddess lakshmi

pooja; (padmé's niece) means 'prayer' or 'an act of worship', usually associated with hinduism

ahsoka; most likely inspired by the indian emperor ashoka

aayla; a turkish muslim name which means 'a ring of light around the moon'

barriss; turkish in origin, means "peace"

smhi; most likely a form of the name lakshmi, a hindu goddess

shaak ti; from the name 'shakti', an Indian name which means "energy"

depa; obviously from the words 'deepa' which means "light/lamp"

yoda; possibly from the punjabi word 'yoddha', which means "warrior"

jamillia; from 'jamilla/jameela', a Muslim name which means "beautiful"

tatooine (planet); literally an actual city in tunisia

mustafar (planet); from the arabic word 'mustafa', meaning "chosen one". note the symbolism that darth vader made it his home

jedi; from the arabic 'al-jeddi', meaning "master of the mystic warrior way"

Chadwick Boseman: Mourning Black Royalty and Collective Black Grief

“I am crying as I write this. Not sobbing, but the slow, searing flow of tears that burn as they fall. I don’t have the strength to sob, and honestly, the burn is helping. It means that I can still feel something. This is not about me, though. This is about Chadwick Boseman. This is about the collective Black joy that he brought to us. This is about collective Black grief we all are experiencing right now.

Chadwick Boseman played James Brown, Thurgood Marshall, T’Challa (The Black Panther), and so many more. 

He brought us Black king, after Black king, after Black king. Chadwick Boseman was–no, is–a Black king now ascended to the ancestral plane. …”

Keep reading blerdgalaxy.org

To be young, gifted and black, Oh what a lovely precious dream

Nina Simone

“We all know what it’s like to be told that there is not a place for you to be featured. Yet you are young, gifted and Black. We know what it’s like to be told there’s not a screen for you to be featured on, a stage for you to be featured on. We know what it’s like to be the tail and not the head. We know what it’s like to be beneath and not above. That is what we went to work with every day. Because we knew … that we had something special that we wanted to give the world. That we could be full human beings in the roles that we were playing. That we could create a world that exemplified a world that we wanted to see.”