Thoughts & Tea

Tumblr’s at it again, thanks to the new European Privacy Laws. There’s probably nobody who will read this, but it pissed me off so much that I decided to make a post about it. (Ignore the weird language mish-mash, depending on your country the language might differ.)

OK, so many of us get this screen when we try to access our dash:

Realise how the ‘OK’ button is a nice, attention-grabbing blue? If you’re like me, you’re not exactly into reading a 100 pages document and tend to just click it.

My tip? DONT. Instead click on ‘Manage Options’ right next to it:

Now you’ll see this page:

Still pretty harmless, right? That ‘Accept’ button is looking really attractive right now. Instead, click on Verwalten (Probably something like ‘Manage Options’ or something in english) and you’ll get to this page:

Now that’s not too bad, right? I just switched all the buttons to ‘off’, because I’m jealously guarding my personal information and don’t want Tumblr to go off and do who knows what with it. Looks like we’re done! But wait: There’s a SHOW option.

When we click on that one, what we will get is this:

A HUGE list with OVER 300 ENTRIES of companies that can use your data by default if you’d just clicked ‘OK’ on that very first page. Coincidence that this list is hidden that much? Me thinks not. They’re all switched on by default, but I am still a petty bitch that doesn’t want to give out her data, so I switched them all off. All 300+ of them. There is no option to switch them all off at once, and even if you disable all the options above, the companies are still switched on.

This is one of the best stories we read in a long time. An arborist AKA a tree caretaker and tree surgeon from Redondo Beach, California had to watch the death of one of his favorite trees, which was ordered by the mayor. Although he lost a great battle, he won the war. Find out how he avenged the death of his 30-year-old pepper tree named Clyde.

His story was recently shared online and has already been shared over 150k times. RIP Clyde.

@dr.wesbellamy (vice-mayor of Charlottesville): Today, while it appeared to be chaos throughout the city, for nearly four hours, I witnessed young brothers @dreamin.diamonds @jamar_2turntup @89tillva and a host of others give away nearly 100 book bags filled with supplies to kids and families in need, have games and music for the community, and provide a safe space for everyone to enjoy themselves. I am extremely proud of these young men and women, and their commitment to our community. Thanks for being a beacon of light today. Much love and respect. #NewCville #CvilleCares #UnitedWeStandDividedWeFall

Questions White People Want Black People to Ask Black People

Black Nerd Problems teamed up with Blavity to show how absurd Buzzfeed’s recent video “27 Questions Black People Have for Black People”, that provoked so much negativity, actually is. Buzzfeed still hasn’t commented on the outrage their video has sparked.

Full video

When Natives have been erased and objectified to the point that narratives to work in favor of the colonizer become “aesthetics”.  I received alot of backlash for a previous post I made about Pocahontas that was a screencap of a tweet about Pocahontas being raped and thinking of that everytime i see romanticized depictions or sexualized Pocahontas costumes.

Ultimately I never claim to be a historian or to take agency away from Matoaka by reducing her to a victim narrative. And despite claims there is some “political motive” I think its more harmful for Indigenous women not to call out hypersexualized depictions, or ignore that sexual violence took/takes place. (Especially given the high rates of violence Indigenous face) To ignore the dynamic of erasure taking place when we reduce Pocahontas to an “aesthetic/vibe” or Disney character and completely omit that history, contributes to the overall struggles that Native and Indigenous women face. To ignore that is also to downplay the history of genocide and violence that this country was founded upon, and just as statistics prove, history forgotten will continue, or repeat itself.

Regardless, I feel that Non Natives are reducing her by appropriating her identity and erasing the complexities of her life. By erasing her true life story that takes away any sense of resistance that she may have demonstrated, because people will never see her for who she was if they only want to see her as a Disney character. 

Notice how the one post also includes the word “savage” which has historically been a slur against Native peoples and specifically paired to justify sexual violence towards Indigenous women.  Not only does the use of this slur contribute to violence but it also speaks to the OP’s perception of Native people that they think this would be appropriate. Now when it comes to intent of these post I also keep seeing the frequent response that “its just Disney!” As if that exempts any dynamic of imperialism/colonialism. 

I have written about Disney in the past about their racist depictions of POC and Indigenous peoples. Knowing that, as well as the ways cartoons have historically been used for racism and war propaganda, the excuse that its a children’s movie does not exempt all criticisms.

If you want to learn how to honor Pocahontas read about the history from her own Tribe http://www.powhatan.org/pocc.html  and talk to them about accurately representing her. In the meantime do not reduce her to an aesthetic or character and silence Natives who tell you its wrong.  Do not weaponize a film that has been criticized as problematic and take away any potential it may have for those Natives who choose to reclaim it. (Thats for Native women to decide on how they feel, not for Non Natives to tone police and dictate) 

*For those that claim Native they will be accountable from Tribal communities if they are using their claim to justify hypersexualization or appropriation of culture through Pocahontas. So the excuse “but im part Native!” isnt a exemption pass either*