fabiochiu/medium-articles huggingface dataset:
Have You Ever Been To The Dark Side Of The Sun?
By: Nia On Air
Tags: Short Poem, Thoughts, Poetry On Medium, Poetry, Black Women

Photo by zenad nabil on Unsplash

Have you ever been to the dark side of the moon?

I’ve screamed in the black hole of the sky.

Baring my pain to a galaxy of stars

Does pain cut this deep?

Can it be released?

Have you ever been to the dark side of the moon?

Photo by Logan Fisher on Unsplash

I saw family and friends.

Enemies and frienemies

I lost real ones

I ended up surrounded

by fake ones.

Sex was an outlet

Plants in the air

Numbing the pain

Healing

Spiraling

depression

insomnia

anxiety

Then I would do it all again.

Have you ever been to the dark side of the moon?

Photo by Guilherme Stecanella on Unsplash

Awakening.

The galaxy tends to light enough to get you to

Enlightenment?

You find yourself

Heal

The black hole deepened before I got to the sun.

Did I get to the sun?

Or was I in orbit?

I digress,

I healed through the pain.

The tears released on the dark side of the moon

The dark space

Turned to light

At least glims of it light the galaxy.

While finally reaching orbiting to the dark space.

The beams shine enough to the path of

Photo by Chris Benson on Unsplash

Meditation

Self-love

Confidence

Unlearning the pain

The trauma

Depression

Insomnia

Anxiety

Funny how you find commons in both paths?

The life

The dark

The light

Life is a bit unbalanced.

Or maybe…

Photo by Jason Blackeye on Unsplash

Have you ever been to the dark side of the moon?
For today’s writing prompt, write a scene documenting your character’s nightly routine. Do they do the same thing every night or does it differ? What’s their sleep schedule? What habits would they…
By: Nia Simone Mcleod
Tags: Fiction, Creativity, Prompt, Writing Prompts, Black Women

For today’s writing prompt, write a scene documenting your character’s nightly routine.

Photo by cottonbro from Pexels

Do they do the same thing every night or does it differ? What’s their sleep schedule? What habits would they share with others? What habits would they rather stay hidden?

___________________

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Nia Simone McLeod is a writer, content creator, and pop culture enthusiast from Richmond, Virginia. Follow her on Twitter, Tumblr, or Instagram for more awesome digital content.
Writing Prompt: ? — Travis Scott feat. You Your character has found their way onto the set of a Travis Scott music video. It could be this one. Or this one. But, let’s not kid ourselves, it’s…
By: Nia Simone Mcleod
Tags: Fiction, Culture, Music, Hip Hop, Black Women

Writing Prompt: ? — Travis Scott feat. You

Your character has found their way onto the set of a Travis Scott music video. It could be this one. Or this one. But, let’s not kid ourselves, it’s probably this one.

Photo by Kyle Loftus from Pexels

What connections did your character have to make to find themselves standing next to Mr. La Flame? What strange characters did they meet during the shoot?

Is your character fulfilling a favor to someone else? If they don’t want to be on set, where would they rather be?

_______________

Subscribe to my newsletter for a curated list of creative inspiration from people of color every week.

Nia Simone McLeod is a writer, content creator, and pop culture enthusiast from Richmond, Virginia.
Black Women Who Made History in 2020 — In Photos Kamala Harris Jo Martin Female 007 Lashana Lynch Madeline Swegle Cori Bush Mariya Russel Marsai Martin And guess who? It’s Rihanna!!! Who else do you…
By: Women Of Influence
Tags: Women, Black, History, Rihanna, Blackwomen

Black Women Who Made History in 2020 — In Photos

Kamala Harris

Jo Martin

Female 007 Lashana Lynch

Madeline Swegle

Cori Bush

Mariya Russel

Marsai Martin

And guess who?

It’s Rihanna!!!

Who else do you think should be on this list?
Why I Hate Being Called “Cute”
By: Nia Simone Mcleod
Tags: Women, Self, This Happened To Me, Self Improvement, Black Women

Kelly, Michelle, But Never Beyoncé

Growing up as a Black girl in the 2000s, my friends and I constantly pretended we were an R&B girl group. We were The Cheetah Girls. We were Cherish. But, most often, we were Destiny’s Child.

Whenever roles were given out, I was always given the role of Kelly or Michelle. Never Beyoncé.

In the game of Let’s Pretend That We’re Destiny’s Child, who you are chosen to say a lot about who you are. The Beyoncés are the stars. They stand in front of the Kellys and Michelle's soaking in all the attention and adoration of the pretend crowd. The Beyoncés have the spotlight.

I was disappointed that my own friend group didn’t think I had the chops to step into Beyoncé’s sparkly heels and sing lead on “Lose My Breath”.

As I danced and sung in the background, I felt a sense of acceptance. I was jealous of our Beyoncé, but I concluded that this was where I was destined to be.

Cute people are supposed to be side characters, background dancers, fun best friends, etc. Beautiful people are the main characters, love interests, lead singers, like Beyoncé.

I accepted the role of a side character and chose to be the best damn side character there ever was.

I was always there to provide sassy commentary whenever my friends needed advice on school, boys, or what side to part their hair. I didn’t concern myself with whether guys liked me or not.

Why would they like me? There are beautiful girls with long, straight hair and perfect smiles all over school waiting to be fawned over. I had bigger fish to fry — like commenting on my friends’ outfits whenever they came out of the dressing room at Wet Seal.

I played my role well until I went to college and turned 18. I figured adulthood would manifest the glo-up into the Land of the Beautiful People™ I had been searching for my entire life. I was wrong.
A Poem for Oluwatoyin Salau and Black Women Everywhere
By: Aja Monet
Tags: Culture, BlackLivesMatter, Poetry, Justice, Black Women

A Poem for Oluwatoyin Salau and Black Women Everywhere

In June, we lost 19-year-old activist and community organizer Oluwatoyin Salau. During her brief time with us, she delivered impassioned speeches while working to unite and mobilize the people of Florida against police brutality. Days after Salau was reported missing, she was found murdered in Tallahassee. Her death underscores why we must address gender violence within our community and protect Black girls and Black women as we fight for liberation.

As this year comes to a close, poet and organizer Aja Monet pays homage to Salau with a tender poem named after the translation of Salau’s first name. This piece also honors and holds space for Black women everywhere.

You can listen to Monet read the poem, with piano by Donald Johnson, here.
Allison,
By: Bassey Elimian
Tags: Relationships, Self, Self Love, Advice, Black Women

Allison,

Kelly reminds me of Prof. Gate — a former Harvard professor. Both are the same bird flocking together. Time will tell for Kelly.

He doesn’t want their money. Simple, please leave and find another restaurant.

Thanks for writing this profound story.

I appreciate you and your work
Well I will bring this to my local police department — I had no idea the noise outside my house…
By: Rachel Rogers
Tags: White Privilege, Racism

Well I will bring this to my local police department — I had no idea the noise outside my house, that keeps me up at night should only be happening in black neighborhoods, this is not one. They must end all road construction outside my house immediately, I am trying to sleep white. This is ridiculous nonsense. Stop trying to make people feel bad about something out of their control like their skin color. It does not define me or my life no matter how much you think it does. I am deeper than my skin. I grew up with plenty of white folks with hard to pronounce names. In fact my uncle Sammy — from Sudan — you should hear him pronounce Rachel — it is awful and he has known me over 30 years. Only black people can get away with saying such mean, insulting, generalizing things about another race, people that did nothing to them — there is your black privilege. And you have fans for this garbage. ugh medium is getting old.
This seems to be a central feature of Whiteness - it renders white people incapable of perceiving…
By: Phyllis Unterschuetz
Tags: Whiteness, White Privilege

This seems to be a central feature of Whiteness - it renders white people incapable of perceiving anything that exists outside the lens of its relationship to us. Moreover we don’t even realize that this blindness is a handicap. I appreciate the opportunity to hear your truth. Even though I imagine myself to be very race conscious, if I am not constantly vigilant, I fall back into that way of perceiving. As a white author writing about race, I see it as my sacred obligation to make this dynamic clear to my white readers.
Christmas 2020
By: J.A. Grisham
Tags: White Privilege

Dear Amazon,

On this wet, rain-soaked Christmas morning in the middle of a plague, I went to Prime Video in search of a happy Christmas movie. Imagine my profound disappointment when scrolling through the prime holiday collection I see rows and rows of movies with White people.

The first page has different offers from classic films to Hallmark movies. Eight rows of videos, forty videos with only 2 movies with people of color — The Snow Day, based on a picture book by Ezra Jack Keats, and a Hallmark movie, A Majestic Christmas, that you can only watch if you sign up for a one-month free trial.

So, I scroll through the first 50 videos in each category looking for films with people of color, based on the picture for each video. Though I was looking for videos with any people of color, including people who might or might not be White, all I found were Black people — no obvious Latinos or Asians, or Middle Eastern people or stories.

Then I got the idea to count videos with animals as the main character.

This is what I found.

Only 20 out of 247 videos featured People of Color. Animals had 34 movies. My cat has a better chance of seeing animals like him in a video than my children have of seeing kids like them.

It’s a Wonderful Lifetime was the only category that had more people of color than animals. It also had the most people of color with 5 out of 31 videos. It also had the most videos with people of color interspersed in the first half of their list where they’re more likely to be seen. But you have to pay for them.

This is systemic racism.

White people don’t have to pay to see themselves in videos but, People of Color do.

White people don’t have to scroll through 50+ videos to see themselves, but People of Color do.

White children don’t see more animals than they see children like themselves, but Children of Color do.

This is systemic racism.

Merry Christmas. I’m going to Netflix to watch Jingle Jangle.
A Racist Prick
By: Michael Burg
Tags: White Privilege, Life, Racism, This Happened To Me, BlackLivesMatter

A racist prick is what he was. Misogynistic too.

Women were all “girls” to him. Mexicans were lazy. Blacks were lazy and stupid. Who knows what he thought of my group.

We were professional colleagues. Often when it was just us in an office together he would vent his hatred, his racist views, his misogyny, his horribly wrong ideas about others we worked with or cared for.

We were both doctors. Medical scientists. Expected to behave ethically, to know right from wrong, to treat everyone the same, render care to everyone equally regardless of ability to pay, race, religion, gender, sexual orientation.

Did I ever see him do differently? No, but then again I wasn’t really watching. Doctors, even most colleagues, work independently, in parallel mostly, leading a team of others rather than collaborating simultaneously in the care of a single patient.

But, as mentioned, Dave* would spew his hatred when we were alone. I also never heard him vent his views to a group. Too many witnesses I suppose. Dave was not stupid, nor was he lacking in accomplishments.

One-on-one though Dave felt free to rage. I’m certain he shared his views broadly, but always one-on-one.
Agreed but with the caveat that they need to (A) proactively recruit BIPOC who are qualified (not…
By: April M. Hamm, She They
Tags: White Privilege, Life, Bamboozled, White Supremacy, BlackLivesMatter

Agreed but with the caveat that they need to (A) proactively recruit BIPOC who are qualified (not just anyone who happens to check the Black box) and (B) actually intend to hire the best person for the job even if they happen to be Black or otherwise not a “culture fit" (because no qualified person wants to dance like a monkey for the sole purpose of the White Man’s entertainment).

Applying and nterviewing for no reason always makes me feel like a minstrel character in Bamboozeld, a Spike Lee joint (2000). Like you, Rebecca, I’m over it. I’d rather spend my time working on my memoirs. While I might be more likely to win the lottery than a getting any job I’m trained and qualified to do, I think the odds of a bestselling book are at least as good as (or greater than) equitably compensated employment in the next 3-5 years (or ever in my lifetime).

At this point, I’d rather be poor and true to myself than rich and costumed for the colonizers’ pleasure.
life of a white guy- Part One
By: Kevin Tenkku
Tags: Culture, White Privilege, Oncologist, Life Lessons

Yes, I am a white male…

I am a lucky person on this planet. A white male human, up until this point. Its not like I will be another color and I am not motivated to be another gender. No one molested me, my parents had my back. Nothing to complain about. Born in a white town in the Midwest. Truth was what I knew, but it isn't really the real truth. I say up until this point I am lucky being a white guy in American because things can change and that's ok.

I am not the majority by any means, but I was the chosen gender and ethnicity in this country. Nothing to apologize for, but it is something acknowledge. I am Irish and very Finnish. Very white. My Irish side was part of early American history, and we helped settle New York. I live in New York after living in Ohio for sometime.

For many decades I was in Ohio, feeling a little like a fish out of water. I am a midwestern and at the same time I am not. I don't really care about Ohio State Football, but like the Cleveland Browns. I couldn’t get into the oversell of the area. Its a bit of a void of cultural awareness. I do not mean to be a rotter, but it is what it is. The Midwest can be a valley of cultural unawareness. Thinking they are more important than they are, it isn't reality .

My parents were and are tough. WWII folks, with an understanding what tough times are. My Dad has a quiet toughness and my mother is gridiron tough. I used to think it was horrible, but as I have gone through life I think it is the greatest things a parent can pass on to an child. A toughness that says, f$ck it. I was with my Dad twenty years ago, when he was told by his oncologist that he had a 15% chance to live. We were leaving and I was giving him a motivation speech, he turned to me and said, “ I don't believe in those bullshit statistics”. He is 94 today, and living independent with my mother, the love of his life. He won.

So, when I say I am a lucky person, I really am. My parents did not cuddle me, but they gave me something to live by. Live by your beliefs, not some bulls$t stats. A person can hardly ask for more.
This is me at work.
Tags: Umair Haque, Marleyk, White Privilege

This is me at work. I’m watched — without my knowledge or permission. My emails are shared and/or forwarded — without my knowledge or permission. I’m discussed and then given the written document. I’m accused of being rude/impatient/condescending/rigid/not fitting with “our” culture — all without any concrete examples, as of yet. I don’t know what I said to whom to warrant this labelling. I’m hounded, supervised and will have to submit to 3 meetings per week with Administration. I’m afraid to breathe. I’m afraid to offend and I don’t know who I offend, when or how. I live in constant low-grade anxiety at work.Good and kind liberals, all of them. With the one person-of-color (for lack of a better term) to interface with me.

Due to random white rage/sensitivity, I. Can’t. Breathe at work.
Point well-taken.
Tags: Travelingwhileblack, Umair Haque, International, White Privilege

Point well-taken. I, too, have lived and worked internationally and it is only in the U.S. where I feel the most insecure. I’m currently experiencing (again) random, unpredictable, unforeseeable white rage at my current employment. And this white rage will affect my career, my ability to pay rent, and my wellness — everything you have mentioned in your article. I am often asked why I live overseas away from my family and everything I know….I can’t tolerate the control that white American rage has on my career and sense of selfhood. “Liberals” at that.
You’re spot on…
By: Duncan Poundcake
Tags: White Privilege, Imperialism, Slavery, Racism, White Supremacy

You’re spot on…

I’m a White Northern European. We have spent most of our collective history invading, raping resources and fucking up everyone else’s countries, yet get all indignant when we’re called out on it.

In the UK we had a national hissy fit because a slave trading Christian bastard had his statue thrown in the river.

What a joke…
Semantics
By: Lane Taylor
Tags: White Privilege, Mexico, Culture, Latin America, Racism

Why does everything have to be so fucking complicated anymore. I'm getting a headache. You are a human being, obviously quite intelligent, beautiful and articulate. Should that not be enough ? Maybe we should all go back to riding horses. That way people would have to something nurturing, and clean up some shit before, they got on the goddamned internet. Looking to split hairs, whine and bitch about anything ‘triggering’. Why do think ‘Roy Rogers’ named his horse Trigger?
The Other Side of Karen
By: Alice Garbarini Hurley
Tags: White Privilege, Black And White, Neighborhoods, Racism, BlackLivesMatter

I‘ve known Susan, the White woman at the heart of a Montclair racial controversy that went viral, for 21 years — and I have some good things to say about her.

Montclair — home of White privilege or ordinary neighbor bristling? Photo from HERE.

Saturday, July 18, was hot and sticky. Kate, who was hosting our book club, stirred up icy gin and tonics. She had just perfected the recipe on a trip to Cape Cod. We were on the patio in her sweet Montclair backyard, over by Mount Hebron Road. We settled into lawn chairs surrounded by pretty hydrangeas.

Our longstanding group had met monthly on Zoom since the pandemic took hold in March, but we missed being in person, and thought we could swing it if we stayed masked when not eating or drinking, sat at a distance and didn’t dig into a shared platter.

Counting our hostess, six of our seven members were there. After we ate the bagged lunches we brought, Kate plated still warm, melty brownie squares that were gluten-free, to accommodate member Anne.

The book we had read: White Fragility, by Robin DiAngelo. (Adding this note December 31, eight days after publishing this Medium story. I should clarify that my book group read the book, but I only skimmed its premise. I do that a lot, as we have started to meet more often — monthly —and I cannot maintain the pace. I get distracted and scattered with other reading, work, remote school and complicated family issues. Simply put, I can’t keep up with the reading, whether fiction or nonfiction. But my fellow book group members do — and the discussion was heated that day. I had a lot to say, even without reading the book.)
It’s Hard To Trust Gay White Men
By: James Woods
Tags: White Privilege, LGBTQ, Race, Race Relations, Dating

Being a poor college student who was lucky to have $20 in their bank account at a given moment, my dates were usually very low-key and simple. By the time I turned 21, happy hours became my best friend because it allowed for us to have 2 hours to drink and eat cheaply and quickly figure out if this was going to go anywhere or not. My fascination with white men meant that all of my dates were with them.

Around 22 is when I had a blossoming of sorts and began to get lots of interest from people on dating apps. It wasn’t uncommon to go on and see 10+ messages. A common pattern began to emerge as I saw that I almost always only found interest in the white matches. The more dates that I went on with white men the more a pattern began to emerge.

I was fascinated and in love with white men, seeing a future with one, but I didn’t get the same sense of feelings back. I would be hanging out watching a movie with them and an innocent conversation of celebrity crushes would come up and it was almost always the case that they would name a white male celebrity. I would pretend to agree with them, but a part of me started to question if I was what they wanted in a partner. Was I going to fulfill all their wants and needs if they couldn’t even name a black celebrity they had a crush on?
Never Experienced These Things? That’s White Privilege
By: Shawn Laib
Tags: White Privilege, Race, Politics, Racism, Society

You come to school for the first day of the new year. You’re entering into the third grade, excited to spend time with your old friends and make some new ones, too. The teacher seems nice and welcoming enough, and he or she starts calling out the attendance of the class.

When they get to your name, there are a couple of very wrong pronunciations, followed by an apology, and then the teacher asking you how to say your name properly. Once you do, they still can’t get it right and say that they will learn it as the year goes on.

Embarrassed and disappointed, you have just come to accept that your name, the name given to you by your parents with meaning and love is just never going to be given its due in a classroom. You will always be the kid with the “weird” name. The name that is not “Steve” or “Jessica”. This should make you feel unique, but in America, it makes you feel like an outcast.

Having your name pronounced with ease and respect is white privilege.
I gladly put away the Proud Rebel symbols of my Southern heritage because it's not hard to…
Tags: White Privilege, Culture, America, Equality, BlackLivesMatter

I gladly put away the Proud Rebel symbols of my Southern heritage because it's not hard to understand the discomfort they might cause to those who really don't understand them and, on occasion, feel the need to beat up on the South some more (the Civil War actually ended 150 years ago... please get over it sometime soon!).

My Black brothers and sisters have suffered enough and I don't need to add to that. But I still continue to gently remind the confused and angry about what they really mean to the vast majority of those who are qualified to know what they really mean. We remain as proudly ungovernable, defiant, self-reliant, outlaw, and too cool to rule as ever! Don't need a flag to remind you of that. If any of you know a Southerner... you already very well know what I mean.

That the uninformed have so readily surrendered all things Southern to the Dylan Roof's and other racist ilk of the world is as painful as if you had also surrendered the Stars and Stripes to the Republican Party. But your confusion is understandable and it's a small sacrifice to make for my fellow, long suffering, if slightly confused, citizens. Just because some demagogue wraps himself up in a popular symbol doesn't mean he owns it or defines it. Nor does it mean that kicking the South some more in any way addresses racism. But it's still not hard to understand where you're coming from... even if you remain so deeply confused and largely ineffective at addressing the real problem.

But when confronted with the kind of ignorant, intolerant, racist, myopic, diatribe that Ms. Ansar is slinging here... I feel compelled that in order to continue standing up to racism and ignorance I now need to go find a Rebel Flag to fly. I don't appreciate being put in this situation!

For that matter, I don't appreciate the glee with which so many have brought back the "N" word. The Rev. King is rolling in his grave! Not only has it been brought back, but it's been brought back, by those who should know better, to be used in a continued, if slightly altered... but not much, racist manner. There was a time when merely saying "no" to the "N" word could put one in harm's way and now it's been brought back to continue its racist utility. Imagine that!!! You're putting me in the position that in order to continue standing up to racism that I have to also start using that word again. I don't appreciate that either!!!

Here's a radical notion. How about, now that the doors of "entitlement" and "privilege" are swinging ever more widely,... we try something a little new and different? How about instead of this kind of: "Oh joy!! Now it's our turn to be racist back!!!" we try instead to put our minds together to conceive and articulate a new way of being besides this same old, tired feces? How about we conceive a new way of being beyond racism????

Try imagine that.
“In the end, we will remember not the words of our enemies, but the silence of our friends” -mlk jr.
Tags: White Privilege, Acab, Blm, Racism, BlackLivesMatter

“In the end, we will remember not the words of our enemies, but the silence of our friends” -mlk jr. So how is it when someone says ACAB, you say not all cops are bad? It sounds to be that the system hasn’t changed a single bit in so many years, because you still completely ignore the fact of cops working in a system where nothing is changing. Nothing has changed because when your walking down the street you don’t recognize your white privilege. Nothing has changed because when a person of color says something offends them, you call it racist. Yet as more and more unarmed people of color get murdered, unlawfully, by police officers, less and less people speak on the issue. I will stand by ACAB until the day the system changes because, cops. are. the. definition. of. bastards. You and your white group of friends that proudly say the n words are also bastards. You’re feelings get hurt when someone calls you a cracker, and that isn’t even a slur, then use a word with thousands of years of history, like it’s nothing. Do better. Be better. Black. Lives. Matter.
Rachel Hollis is the Ayn Rand of white feminism
By: Holly Harper
Tags: Feminism, White Privilege, Self Help, White Supremacy, Ayn Rand

That’s the hard part for us mortals who aren’t running around critiquing the shitty philosophy of the coaching, influencer, self-help industrial complex: it’s really fucking hard to figure out the flaw in the argument when it’s a flaw of omission.

“You are responsible for your own happiness. Work hard. The early bird gets the worm.”

These seem like solid things we should be teaching our kids. But they only work in a Rand-Hollis-designed vacuum of a universe a la The Truman Show.

These predominately white, middle-class, college-educated philosophers, teachers, and coaches don’t even have to list anything in the fine print, “My philosophy works best when you’re white, physically able, heterosexual, healthy, and educated. Some exceptions apply. See disclaimers, American history, and sweepstakes rules for more information.”

They don’t have to even mention privilege. No one is holding them accountable to doing so. So, it becomes a sin of omission.

It then becomes the responsibility of the reader, the buyer, and the consumer to pick up that something is just missing, but you can’t quite put your finger on it.

So you hunt it down like a rabid dog (like I did, you’re welcome), or like most busy, middle-aged, working mamas looking for someone who “gets it,” you just chalk it up to “nobody’s perfect, and the basic core of Hollis’s message seems good.”

No, her philosophy is completely unproven bullshit.

She can’t defend it, so she chooses — yes, she chooses — to OMIT, IGNORE, AND DISMISS the flaws in it and stay inside the media bubble of her own making where no one is demanding any intellectual rigor.

What’s missing is the second half of “You are responsible for your own happiness,” which is “Caveat: most of the time. Sometimes the world we live in is going to fuck with you so hard, and it won’t be your fault. And for some groups and individuals in our society, getting fucked over happens way more than for others. It’s just so much harder for different people, depending on where they land in our rigged system. We always need to be mindful of that. Especially when things are hard for us so we don’t lose empathy for others in our own darkest hours.”

But that caveat doesn’t sell a lot of books, and might actually result in a shift in our cultural values, which would disrupt current power and privilege structures. And we can’t have that, can we?
Hello, I’m White Privilege
By: Sylvia Emokpae
Tags: Pro Race, White Privilege, Diversity, Energy, Racism

I love to write about pro-race. I write with passion and hope, cringeworthy love, and I fire thought-provoking lines that probably get dismissed for wannabe poetry. I romanticise the idea of unity for all humanity. I paint a picture of rainbows and butterflies preaching for everyone to just be kind. Not too much to ask, right?

Frankly, I live in a bubble of optimism because I have to, to self-preserve. Or you could call it naivete, you choose.

Either way, I feel better about the future when I focus on the potential progress that we can make as time goes by, with a little hard work on our end now.

I also have a multi-racial son whom I would rather he grew up to never have to think about his skin colour any more than the colour of his eyes than be subject to any kind of hostility, of any level. I’m a mother first, so I’m doing the work I know how to to change my bit of the world.

I think my previous articles about pro-race are not popular for a number of reasons. I write for dramatic effect to attempt to wake people up, as well as out of sheer frustration, but people who tend to click on my articles already agree with me and don’t need a lesson. Equally, people whose minds are made up just won’t listen even if they did read. They have a counterargument for everything and won’t consider mine.

Maybe I just need to focus on the continuance of my writing.

Maybe I need to change my tone if I want to reach anyone outside of my comfort audience.

So that’s why the title for this article is what it is.
….Well, you know, unless you’ve been a victim of them or they stood around screaming “rape", turned…
Tags: White Privilege

….Well, you know, unless you’ve been a victim of them or they stood around screaming “rape", turned a blind eye, or benefitted from your oppression.

Do you know how many of those Karen videos on YouTube feature white woman declaring (bragging, mocking) that they are white and will now be calling the manager (aka the cops; in the past it was the Klu Klux Klan)?

The meme didn’t come out of whole cloth, hon.

Now that you know, see what you can do to effect change.

We’d all be grateful.
No, white men made it sexist, not black people.
Tags: White Privilege, Karen

No, white men made it sexist, not black people.

We created the meme of the Karen for exactly the reason some have already explained here.

Don’t try to tell us or whitesplain to us what a Karen is.

We created it.

White men co-opted it.

We’re not going to keep explaining it until you’re satisfied with the definition.
That’s quite the screed just to tell me that you don’t like it when a Latino challenges the…
By: Arturo Dominguez
Tags: White Privilege, Racism, Tone Policing

That’s quite the screed just to tell me that you don’t like it when a Latino challenges the construct of Whiteness. It’s clear to me you are just as aware as anyone else that White privilege, colorism, and racism are real but the concept of race is not. And yet, here you are defending it. Your position is very telling, honestly. It reveals your beliefs while validating my point.

Also, using the plight of Cubans (I’m Cuban) or Venezuelans — to act like you know anything about them — as a guise for caring about them to justify your xenophobic beliefs gives you away and speaks volumes. It’s a tired position that’s been around since the Dixiecrats and Latinos have heard it over and over.

FYI: The U.S. is the reason Cuba and Venezuela struggle. You think because a couple of wannabe White Latinos agree with you (if you’re lucky) that you’re right? The reality is, Latinos know why things are the way they are. It’s called White supremacy and the U.S. is its biggest backer in Latin America.

Do try to keep up.

And thanks for reading.
it's so silly on many levels...
Tags: White Privilege, Racism, Logic

Photo by Joshua Forbes on Unsplash

it's so silly on many levels...

First, racism is the belief that humans may be divided into separate and exclusive biological entities called “races”. If You believe that, You are racist. It has nothing to do with power or prejudices because this kind of believe is just untrue. There are no “races”, every one of us is a mix of “white”, “black”, “yellow”, “orange” with different percentages. So statements like you cannot be racist against white people are obviously false — racism is what You believe about humanity as a whole and not particularly about “whites”, “blacks” or anybody else.

Second, statements like “white men are not oppressed” are obviously untrue. Many white men are oppressed — even in US. Its again similarly dangerous believe that we can put all people in bags by some tertiary characteristic and apply guilt and punishment. No, this is foundation for worst of evil (historically at least communism and nazism to name a few).

Third, this is all naively americentristic. World has so many different cultures, so many different societies that saying something about “whites” in general cannot be true even if races would exist (but obviously — they don’t).
A Brief Word About Eleanor Roosevelt and The Pitfalls of White Feminism
By: Esme Sloane
Tags: Feminism, White Privilege, Intersectionality, White Supremacy, White Feminism

Image of protestors in the street by Raquel García (source: Unsplash)

Eleanor Roosevelt is known perhaps as the most iconic feminist figure in Americana. Her defined look and status in society cemented her solidly into the hearts and minds of the major feminist arcana. At least, the white arcana. When it came to her husband’s treatment of Americans of Japanese descent, Roosevelt couldn’t bring herself to publicly condemn the act, but rather lament the conditions within it. The National Parks Service in an article on their site claim “She described the inmates as living in conditions that were not indecent, but “certainly not luxurious,”” This blatant ignorance of equality while toting the flag of gender egalitarianism isn’t just common among white feminists, it’s rampant.

I know this from my own personal experience, as a white woman identifying as a feminist. It isn’t just a case of remembering the intersectionality of the cause. It’s about remembering that feminism is inherently the cause of all women, not just those propped by a white media perpetuating the acceptable white voices. White feminism negates the mistreatment of women of color by white policemen and women (“For over twenty years now, the data (when you can find data specifically about non-White women) consistently shows that the communities of non-White women do experience violence, both at the hands of the state,” The Violent State: Black Women’s Invisible Struggle Against the Police) . It negates the lack of adequate medical care women of color receive because of racist (more than sexist) attitudes ingrained in the medical profession (“African-Americans with severe depression are more likely to be misdiagnosed as having schizophrenia” Rutgers study). White feminism doesn’t care to address the mounting suicide rates of young men of every color, pretending the misandry that is perpetuated by their limited views doesn’t come as a consequence.

Taking this into consideration, it’s starting to become apparent that in order to progress any further in the gender equality movement, we need to start abandoning the white woman’s microphone and let someone else take up the oxygen in the room for a while.
To Kill a Mockingbird is trending on Twitter and that’s problematic.
By: Mary Devries
Tags: White Privilege, Culture, Twitter, Racism, Books

To Kill a Mockingbird is trending on Twitter and that’s problematic. When I noticed it tending I thought, dang it there goes the afternoon. I’m going to have to write about this. There a reason this book is greatly beloved but there is also a reason its day has passed. Thankfully I decided to do a quick search before writing my tirade and found Will Menarndt had already done it way better than I could. I think we should be able to acknowledge that a work of art moved us deeply but is also deeply problematic.
Very astute perspective. I’ve made notes. Thanks
By: Chira Lois
Tags: Feminism, White Privilege, Election 2020, Racism, White Supremacy

We Shouldn’t Be Surprised by White Women’s Complicity

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Preserving Whiteness Is Killing America
By: James Woods
Tags: White Privilege, Race, America, Race Relations, BlackLivesMatter

The thing about this movement though is that it’s not just associated with white people. It is supported by anyone who believes in maintaining a system that actively works to keep white people in a position of power. For example, I have seen examples of People of Color (PoC) on Twitter and TikTok choose to support this movement. Often describing themselves as Radicalist, they make provocative claims that keep Whiteness intact.

By adding PoC to their ranks, whiteness is given a more legitimate platform with which to exert its force. How can a movement that has PoC as supporters really be about just maintaining whiteness? Although the claim is ludicrous and outlandish, whiteness serves to only ensure it is able to maintain control regardless of who it harms. The need to preserve whiteness is like a self-destructive behavior. It may feel good in the moment to uphold the system but each day that you support it and make baseless claims to advance its causes, the more harm you do to yourself and those around you.
The Emotional Work of a Triple Pandemic
By: Leslie Poynor
Tags: White Privilege, Racism, Covid 19, Healthcare, Climate Change

Dear Friends and Family,

In my last letter to you on September 29, I said:

First, I’m going to rest. And then, I’m going to get back up and get back in the fight-not just for me and mine, but for all of us. More on that later.

I did not expect later to be two months later.

But that’s how it is with a triple pandemic of COVID, climate disasters, and white supremacy-everything takes more time, more effort, and more emotional work.

So, what have I been doing over the last two months? Vacillating between rage at the injustice of these pandemics and gratitude for the unexpected blessings.

First the rage:

I am not grateful for this pandemic. I am not grateful for closed schools, lost jobs, empty bellies, and cold homes. I am not grateful for loved ones dying alone away from their families. I am not grateful for the fires, the smoke, or the drought. I am not grateful for Amazon or Apple or Google or FaceBook. I am not grateful for our current president or senate majority. I am not grateful for the murders of unarmed Black men.

And now the gratitude:

I am grateful for the people, churches, and organization who stepped up to feed the hungry, welcome the stranger, clothe the naked, care for the sick, and visit the imprisoned.

I am grateful for the white people in our neighborhood who come to our house every Thursday night to name our internalized racism and practice fighting against white supremacy in our own lives.

I am grateful for the people on Rampart Street and in the Rampart Resistance political group who show up for events like Michaela’s 21st birthday and the celebration of Joe and Kamala’s election.

I am grateful for the people in two different communities who opened their arms and welcomed us in: Ananda Martial Arts and Homies Empowerment Freedom Store.

I am grateful for my daily writers’ group.

I am grateful for this unexpected time with our adult daughter.

I am grateful for our jobs, warm home, and good food.

I am grateful we are healthy, safe, and loved, and I hope you are, too.

Until next time (which will be much sooner)…

Love, Leslie
White Privilege is Not a Black Person’s Problem to Fix
By: Becca Grant
Tags: White Privilege, Racism, BlackLivesMatter, Anti Racism

In June 2020, Black Lives Matter protests started globally, protesting systemic racism and racial injustice. Back then, I was semi-aware of some of the privilege that I live in, but I wasn’t doing anything about it.

I thought I couldn’t.

I’m not a politician who can affect policy change or a large business owner who can affect how and who they employ or what they sell. I am a twenty-something woman, living in a small town in the UK. I’m not an activist or a great public speaker. Surely it is those people who will make the changes that are desperately needed?

I then got into a debate with a friend. This person, whose heart was in the right place, said that all lives matter, and that she has never benefitted from white privilege. I asked her what she thought white privilege was. She responded that it was going to a fancy school, most likely private, attending a university like Oxford and Cambridge, and then getting a high paying job.

I said, yes that is white privilege, but only a part of it. It’s knowing that before you step into a bookshop or library, you are guaranteed to find an author like you and characters like you, no matter the genre. It’s walking into any shop that sells makeup, and knowing that you will be able to buy a shade of foundation or concealer that matches your skin tone without asking at the counter. It’s buying plasters and tights that are the same colour as your skin

White privilege is knowing that you can call the police and you know that they will come and help you, no matter what.
I Saw “The Chamber” on Netflix
By: Jee Young Park
Tags: White Privilege, John Grisham, White Supremacy, Anti Black Racism, Netflix

I Saw “The Chamber” on Netflix

Photo by Sora Shimazaki from Pexels

I recently watched “The Chamber” on Netflix. “The Chamber” is a 1996 film based on the John Grisham novel (1994) of the same title. It follows a young attorney, Adam, practicing at a Chicago law firm, Kravitz & Bane as he takes over a pro-bono case of a Ku Klux Klansman and convicted killer, Sam Cayhall, who is on death row. Sam Cayhall turns out to be Adam’s grandfather, disowned by the family for the same crime that earned him a death sentence: the bombing and killing of a civil rights lawyer and his two children.

I liked the movie because it’s an honest retelling of White history in the United States. Everything from Adam’s sorry attempts at saving his grandfather’s life and the excuses he employs, “The very things that make him so monstrous are the very reasons that mitigate against this state murdering him. He was raised by his family and by this state to become the man that he became. By the time he was old enough to choose, he didn’t have a choice. This is the tragedy for Sam Cayhall.” to the alcoholism that his aunt, Sam’s daughter, develops in order to cope with White guilt are as disappointing as they are authentic to what you can expect in 2020.

After being inundated with superhero movies, where White characters interact with aliens so as to side step having to deal with racism in the United States (also convenient is to create all Black or all Asian casts), this was a refreshing story, one that delved into the intergenerational trauma White people inflict on themselves and on others for the glory of White supremacy. In short, while this movie was clearly racist AF, I think White people should make more movies like this one rather than dressing up in capes or as a mall cop.
An ever evolving culture dictionary.
By: Olugbenga Ojuroye
Tags: White Privilege, BlackLivesMatter, Politics

…ey warp the original meaning of words to serve whatever purpose needs to be and to cause confusion. The social justice dictionary takes over the language and normal people have no clue what new words mean and get called a racist or bigot for something that was fine to say yesterday. You can’t have a stable society without a shared meaning of language.
Suspect.. “Are You Prepared To Have A Black Son?
By: Patricia Starek
Tags: White Privilege, Love, Equality, Racial Justice, Racism

We were young and in love and sat under a magnificent Caribbean sky

It was starting to get real

Infatuation had firmly moved into the long view

He had just met my mom

Slept under the same roof for the first time

She a preeminent Wasp. Well-intentioned, progressive, but a wasp. Me, her daughter

“Are you prepared to have a black son? Do you know what that means?”

I did not. I was clueless.

We moved into together in 1999 and this accelerated my understanding. Living up close and personal with Derik, a black man from South Carolina, my then boyfriend and now husband of 15 years gave me a view into his daily, exhausting, relentless reality of which I only ever knew about hypothetically. I had been raised in a semi-integrated church, went to integrated schools but largely operated in a white world of friends and activities.

Cut to now, I think a lot about our current state of hate and misunderstanding and think so much stems from our segregated neighborhoods, schools and communities. This segregation a direct result of systematic rules, regulations and practices. My husband now have two black sons. We intentionally live in a multi-racial community but am cognizant that neighborhoods to our north, south, east and west are deeply segregated. My 14-year-old, particularly, is awakening to how he is perceived and profiled in the world. He keeps his hands visible while in stores, not in his pockets. His innocence no longer free. His movement in the world: monitored. After George Floyd’s death, we had the most breathtaking, heartbreaking versions of “the talk” …. not the first, but an iteration upon.

I felt compelled to do more than comfort him in the moment. Try to assure him he’d be safe when I could not guarantee this fact. I found myself thinking about a poem, Suspect, I had written and recorded for my husband almost 20 years ago, chronicling his relentless confrontations with the police and lifting up my love for him as well as my own reality as a white woman. I knew I needed to dust it off. I turned a creative colleague and friend and asked if she could animate it, bring life to it, to reach a larger audience.

Here it is. May it incite conversation, healing and change.
Every time I think I found the most racist Medium user another one comes along that breaks all…
By: David Sf
Tags: White Privilege, Woke, Supremacy, Racism, White Supremacy

Every time I think I found the most racist Medium user another one comes along that breaks all records. I hope you don’t truly believe the ideas of which you are trying to convince others.

Godspeed you sad, sad human being
People That Look Like Me
By: Lailani Gibson
Tags: White Privilege, Love, Racism, BlackLivesMatter, Justice

Where are the people that look like me

A melting pot of bullshit

Where are the people that look like me

The ones who braid the

In between the lines

Lies of equity

Basking in the American Dream

Sitting at the top

Thee white elite

To be so grateful

Born into a tone

Of Supremacy and Superiority

Some in money, some in privilege.

Where are the people that look like me?
Lailani Gibson
By: Lailani Gibson
Tags: Love, White Privilege, Racism, BlackLivesMatter

The Man

Striking aces for white faces

All around, I begin to see

Faces that don’t look like me

They promote diversity, yet I face

the adversity of staring at faces that don’t look like me

Wallowing in the shadows of my skin

I burry inside a fire that begins to rise at each lie

This is America the land of the free

But who will speak up for me

Gasping a last bit of air for

The man has shot me down

Who will speak for me

Living in Amerikkka