THE CULTURAL DEMOGRAPHICS OF THE NATION ARE CHANGING. Black President, Hispanic Supreme Court Justices, Black Attorney Generals, and lest we forget, Kumar in the White House. This is throwing some people off-stride and just a bit out of their minds.
ON MY WAY TO THE STORE TODAY, I tried to kill a small bird. Don’t hate! The GOP will set you straight. But let me start at the beginning because the end is tragic. O, If only I possessed the ability to base my feelings on an understanding of the world, instead of being a human zero-sum kneejerk reaction…like Jeff Sessions (R) of Alabama.
THEY BESEECH THE WISE LATINA TO SOOTHE THEIR TREMBLING AND WOUNDED EGOS. Like petulant babies they repeatedly, almost to the point of absurdity, demand she confess her irrational temperament. And throughout it all cannot see the irony.
WE TALK HERE OFTEN about the climate of hate against Latin@s fomented by a confluence of factors from the detention industry to right wing radio to pandering (or racist politicians) to the efforts of hate groups like VDARE and FAIR….
OKAY SO LET’S TALK about Sonia Sotomayor. Some want to hear about O’Reilly and piñatas and ropes and sick cartoons and racist Newt Rich-Gringo’s words and Rush “BloatColon” Limbaugh and I’m over here talking about love! AY!
THREE THINGS immediately shock the conscious soul upon learning about the murder of Luis Ramirez. The simple manner in which he died is the first of those. His death was a gruesome and violent one, and inarguably racially motivated. And yet, that is not the most horrific part of the killing.
THE MOMENT that the news of the “Swine Flu” hit the wires, it was easy to predict what the anti-immigrant faction would have to say about it. This particular cadre of caustic and crazed voices are so locked into their views that their contributions are unnecessary in a dialogue that preferences truth.
WE KNEW THAT THERE WOULD BE a faction of people so wed to their own racist thought patterns they would be incapable of dealing with the fact that a non-white person was president of the US. I guess I thought they’d be a bit more honest about it.
IN THIS DAY we can claim that electing a black man as POTUS means we are enlightened. At the same time, cartoonists and political commentators act as if their thinking process exists back in the 1950s or some place they can speak and write with impunity without considering racial context, oppression, or histories of violence. This inconsistency exists in the service of reinforcing and continuing racism.
THE XOLAGRAFIK THEATER is open and this week we take a look at the Conservative, pro-war, anti-protest, anti-abortion messaging in Battlestar Galactica, as well as how race plays into the portrayal of the Cylon characters. Film production is also discussed, in terms of cinematography choices.
HERE IS A TEXTUAL TREAT for those who love Sci-Fi, Mister Spock, Battlestar Galactica, film analysis using a socio-cultural/racial/feminist lens, or some combination of all of these. Oh, and pass the popcorn already. Bogart.
¡VIERNES! And we usher Friday in with a Psychedelic Palate Cleanser. No peyote needed! Continuing a recent tradition here at UMX, I offer you a double-feature YouTube in a mestizolicious manner of recognizing the duality that is (at least in my experience) at the core of human existence and perception.
IF WE WANT TO UNITE, it cannot be by overlooking differences that stab at people and stick in their throats and veins and bellies. This unity must come about by connecting ourselves through struggle; by working together to fight the iniquities that pit most of us against each other, and all so that one or two types of persons can ascend, unfettered, to the top of the heap.
ELLE, PHD: I expected to cry if Barack Obama won the election—everyone who knows me expected me to cry. I even had friends who called and said, “Are you crying yet?” Admittedly, I dashed away a few tears, but I didn’t really cry. The joy I felt was overshadowed by worry. And why am I letting it get to me?
MY HOPE IS THAT WE CARRY THIS FORWARD. This energy now rising. That we all carry on with this decision to work for a new day and a new way of seeing. A way out of the hate and the fear and the small-minded paradigms that keep us running in circles as we try to spiral up to the Top of the Shining Heap and step on other hands to get there. That we continue to open our minds and our hearts and become this change we want so much to believe in.
House of Nezua
the XOLAGRAFIK theater!
