We’ve rounded up our 10 most popular posts of 2015! Read them again and then scroll down to the bottom of this page to vote for your favorite by December 23rd! The lucky (and talented) QTPoC author of the post with the most votes will receive a $150 prize!
10. “7 Ways to Turn Your Anger Over Sandra Bland Into Action In Support of Incarcerated (and Formerly Incarcerated) Black Women” by Desiree Stevens
9. “How to Tell the Difference Between Real Solidarity and ‘Ally Theater’” by Mia McKenzie
From white fragility to cis fuckery, from “I’m on your side, so you should be nicer ” to “educate me!”, “allyship” has become more pointless performance than anything actually useful to marginalized people. That’s why I’ve long since stopped using the word at all, except in snarky quotation marks. READ IT.
8. “5 Ways to Support Trans People Who Don’t ‘Pass’ for Cis” by Princess Harmony Rodriguez
People will either try to compliment me by complimenting my “passability” or they insult me by suggesting a surgery that – apparently – they think I’ve never heard of. Because there are times where I don’t “pass”, I learned to recognize passing as a privilege that – consistent or not – shields us from most of the violence that trans women are known to receive. Trans people, particularly trans women of color, who don’t “pass” for cis deserve protection and support. READ IT.
7. “Here’s Why We Need To Stop Calling Pumpkin Spice A ‘White People Thing’” by Sasanka Jinadasa
But here’s the history: when the Spanish and French colonizers could not figure out how to pollinate the vanilla plant after taking it from Mexico, an enslaved black youth (only twelve years old) named Edmond Albius figured out how to pollinate it by hand. It’s still how vanilla is pollinated today. This is a crucial facet of how white supremacy operates: by taking color and making it look white. READ IT.
6. “White Fragility, Silence, and Supremacy: Why All White Hands Are Bloody” by Malik Nashad Sharpe
Most importantly, stop ignoring our history as if it’s literally dated, past-tense, far removed from our more civilized modern society, as if we haven’t been obviously trapped by the deeply cultivated White supremacy entangled with the very founding of the United States: a deeply violent nation built on the active genocide of native Americans and enslavement of black people. Murders in houses of worship are not uncommon in our history. READ IT.
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5. “4 Things We Should All Teach Kids About Racism Right Now” by Mia McKenzie
As someone who is working on baby-making with my partner, and is already auntie to the cutest nephew ever, I’ve tried to imagine what, exactly, I’ll tell my kids about racism, and especially anti-black racism, that will make them less likely to internalize it when they encounter it, which, as black children, they absolutely will. READ IT.
4. “Why I’m Not Ready To Rule Out Suicide In the Case of Sandra Bland” by ray(nise) cange
Not only do I believe that the impacts of violence against Black bodies could push someone to mentally breaking, I also refuse to say Sandra Bland didn’t commit suicide because she is “not that type of person”. It is dangerous to push that narrative because it implies that there is a type, and does not leave room for nuanced discussions of mental health in the face of violence. READ IT.
3. “This Is Why Everyone Cheering Gay Marriage Should Stand With the White House ‘Heckler’ Now” by Bea Esperanza Fonseca
Real courage is being the lone voice in a room full of fake allies and still speaking up. Real courage is putting your immigration status and life on the line to fight for your immigrant trans sisters. Real courage is crashing a party at the White House to demand liberation for your people. READ IT.
2. “Open Letter To Aziz Ansari and Other Anti-Black People of Color” by Jahlani Smothers-Pugh
Do better, Aziz. Instead of contributing to anti-Blackness, you could be doing something to change it. Especially with the visible platform that you have. Aziz, you have an opportunity to make a large-scale impact in the way PoC treat each other. Continuing to be anti-Black will just boost white supremacy as it continues to oppress you and your community. READ IT.
1. “This Is What Rihanna’s BBHMM Video Says About Black Women, White Women and Feminism” by Mia McKenzie
Black women are always expected to put our needs last on our list of priorities. Behind everybody else’s. A black woman saying “my well-being (which is what money is—the ability to pay rent, feed ourselves, stay alive, etc.) is more important to me than the well-being of this random white woman” is what white feminists are really losing their shit over. READ IT.
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