Live 4 Love

"Against All Wars, Against All Governments, Against All Oppression"

"BAT / Babes Against Transphobia"

Everyone has bigotry to unlearn, and being marginalized does not make you immune to this. You can even be bigoted against the group you are a part of, because internalized bigotry is a thing. No one is immune to this.

And since people seemed really offended about this: no, this doesn't mean you are "forever unclean" or whatever hyperbolic thing you think it means. It just means we all grow up in societies that teach us shitty stuff, and it takes continuous effort to unlearn it. People aren't perfect, but that doesn't make you a bad person. It makes you human.

Yes, you will have to spend your whole life unlearning this shit, and you will have to spend your whole life learning new things about other identities, because surprise! Human society is not stagnant, and bigotry is complicated.

You cannot possibly know everything there is to know about an issue, not even for a marginalization you personally experience. I don't know everything there is to know about the trans experience, or misogyny, or being disabled. There will always be something new for me to learn.

To pretend you can learn about a certain issue once and you're now a perfect person for the rest of your life is ridiculous. If you think you shouldn't have to constantly learn new things to keep improving yourself as a person, you are lazy. Every person has a chance to do good in the world. If you squander your chances to make the world a better place, that's lazy. And by lazy, I mean you have the energy and the means to learn more, and you are choosing not to.

Hip-Hop is rooted in revolution. In defiance. These are the songs of an oppressed group of people, and decades upon decades people have hated it. Accused of being meaningless and invalid. Media outlets took steps to belittle hip-hop and make sure it isn't recognized as an art form and as a means to fight back.

2Pac spoke of wealth disparity and inequality. Tupac was literally a member of a communist organization when he was younger and never stopped speaking against capitalism.

Lauryn Hill spoke of the struggles a woman faces. Not just women, but black women. Salt-N-Peppa. Queen Latifah. MISSY FUCKING ELLIOT.

N.W.A made sure people knew about police brutality and violence against the Black community.

And now, in this day and age, we're also experiencing an explosion of Queer Hip-Hop. Lil Nas X is at the forefront of this. Lil Uzi Vert came out as non-binary and uses they/them pronouns, even when they knew that a lot of their fans would never use it or even respect them for it. Auntie Diaries, a song about a young man who grew up in a transphobic environment and bought into those beliefs, but could never fully do it because his Uncle loved him so much and taught him a lot of life lessons, and that wisdom translated to him accepting his cousin as a woman as well.

Drake is none of that.

used a picture, apparently taken inside of drake's house, showing various medications including ozempic (which drake has dissed other people for taking!) prescribed under drake's legal name, as cover art for a single

implied that members of drake's entourage are acting as his informants

claimed he would be a better role model to adonis, drake's son whose existence was publicized via a previous rap beef, than drake is

claimed that drake also has an eleven-year old daughter that he's been hiding, and likely other illegitimate children

claimed that drake and his entourage are part of a sex trafficking ring

said drake should die so women can be safe

called drake a colonizer who appropriates black american culture

It's September 23rd, International Sign Language Day. The United Nations instituted this event in 2018 to commemorate the World Federation of the Deaf (WFD)’s founding in 1951. The objective is to raise awareness of sign languages and deaf culture and to promote the acceptance of sign languages as deaf people’s basic human rights. The event has grown into a global movement to resolve the many issues deaf people face in their everyday lives and is celebrated through various activities by respective Deaf Communities worldwide.

These activities call for participation and involvement of various stakeholders including families, peers, governmental bodies, professional sign language interpreters, Disabled People’s Organizations (DPOs), and concerned people all over the globe. All of us are invited to unite in endorsement of the need to secure and promote the human rights of deaf people. Please affirm your support for full human rights for all deaf people by signing the WFD Charter on Sign Language Rights for All at https://wfdeaf.org/charter.

Sign languages are visual languages that transmit messages. The 72 million deaf people on our planet use over 300 distinct natural sign languages, although there is also an international sign language that deaf people use when mingling, traveling, and attending international meetings. The international sign language is considered to be a pidgin form because it isn't as complex as the natural sign languages and has a limited lexicon.