Susan X Jane

REI-thinking What Matters

In a bold business move, camping superstore REI has announced that it will not open on Black Friday. Wait, not open? That’s the mythical Dia de La Dough, when shoppers abandon their families still sleepy with turkey, and roam rabid through the malls. If the packs of shoppers are large, then all winter, the nests of the elite are feathered with fat stacks of cash. If the shoppers stay in their dens, then the winter is long and cold indeed.

So imagine the upset when a bunch of earthy crunchy types decide to close on this most important of seasonal hold-days. While the trend for some time was more and more stores opening earlier and earlier–some on Thanksgiving itself–it seems the season is changing. The most rabid of shoppers may want to get to the hunt, but for most of us, having a chance to cozy up in the den is worth any killer deal.

I can remember when things really did close over the holidays. Gone were all the distractions of daily living and the streets were hushed. Days seemed long and wild. With all of the usual hustle and bustle on hold, my Mom and Dad had the time to tell stories at the dinner table, to play with us kids, to snore like crazy in from of the football game, to create culinary delights that required more time than weekdays held.

The magic of the season wasn’t in jingling store bells, but in heat crated out of love alone that time at home allowed us to create.

Thanks, REI, for bucking the tired trend and giving each of us a chance for the greatest gift of all.

Your Awesome Blackface Costume: A Rating System

Its Halloween time, and nothing says Halloween like an Awesome costume. Lately the stupid PC police have been raining on everyone’s parade, talking about how your Halloween costume shouldn’t be disrespectful to women or latinos or blacks or whatever, but its just for fun so they need to stop being babies about respect .

Blackface is a classic. So what if blackface was the narrative that contributed to the oppression of blacks from slavery straight through Jim Crow, the makeup is cheap and your fun is worth perpetuating racism in the 21st century. Besides, no matter what kind of character you go as, if it includes blackface, your sure to get tons of attention. But how do you know which blackface costume is right for you? Picking the right one is a matter of taste–are you looking for something more subtle, maybe a socially acceptable black or are you a real risk taker? Here we’ll show you some of the boldest blackface costumes with our very own special level system from beginner to advanced.

Basic level

There are too many Awesome black people to not dress up as one. So what if you are a white person. Saying whatever you want is your first amendment right–no, as a matter of fact, it’s your privilege –so whats wrong with a little Halloween privilege? If people are staring at your Mr. T costume, its only because Mr. T is so culturally relevant, they wish they dressed as him too. Since you love Mr. T, you automatically are not racist. Pretty sure blackface is okay as long as you like the guy, right? So what if your friends tell you its not cool? What would they know about how cool shoe polishing your face for A-team greatness is?

Emmy Level

Dressing up as Crazy Eyes is totally okay because Orange is the New Black won an Emmy. The character is soooo cool, I mean sad too, and so she’s not a stereotype, right, a black woman in prison, so what’s the problem with that? Dressing as Crazy eyes wasn’t tone deaf–it’s tots relevant, just like my friend’s Michonne costume.

I mean, the Walking Dead won an Emmy and even though zombies are wicked gross, Michonne is a strong black woman and totally feminist so she can’t be off limits. These Michonne costumes are everywhere. They’re too popular to be racist. So what if your sorority may be featured in the local news, they just don’t know how cute your pixs looked on Instagram.

Intercontinental Level

Blackface isn’t really like blackface when you dress up as an African, because they’re, like, African. You know your history, and of course blackface was used to denigrate American blacks during the 19th and 20th century, but those were Americans, see? So dressing like an African, thats not racist because they’re Africans. So nothing wrong here, you world history buff. So what if your social media pictures spark international outrage, shaming your family on multiple continents. the outfit was too good to pass up.

Jeezy Level

Get creative with your reasoning: Only racist do racist things, so if you’re not racist, then racist acts become not racisct, get it? George Bush doesn’t care about black people, but you do, so you can’t be racist. Besides You’re so cool with black people, they might think it’s real! Don’t get mistaken for Kanye in this season’s hottest blackface costume. No one will mistake you for racist, just a clever consumer of all things TMZ, right? Besides, as an educator, you want to set a good example for the kids. If you’re going to do blackface, make sure you really commit to doing the hands too. Kanye’s awesome, and with your wife dressed as Kim K., your couple Kimye costume is worth ending up on the evening news. Its worth writing that apology letter. Its worth the employment consequences that come with Jeezus Level blackface.

White Hood Level

When offending people with blackface is just not enough, trade in the last of your human dignity for this halloween costume. Mocking the death of unarmed teens is sure to make you the talk of the town. So what if your costume is overtly racist, you have the right to act like a walking sack of shit by trading on death and injustice for a few seconds of negative attention. And if you lose you job and your friends because you just couldn’t resist, at least you know that white hate groups are still recruiting.

Remember, dressing up in blackface is always offensive, so definitely be prepared for all the comments you’ll get! Be sure to take plenty of pictures, and post them widely on social media–the internet loves to make blackface pictures go viral, ensuring your moment of racism lives forever. Level up by tagging your boss, your mother and favorite local community organization so they can tell you how proud they are of your ignorant racism, or cut you a final check before they ask you to leave. Whatever your blackface level, get your makeup on and get out there.

Hero With A Thousand Faces: Deal With It

Yesterday, in case you didn’t feel the ground shake, the full length trailer for the New Star Wars movie premiered during Monday Night football. First, enjoy…

Fans of Star Wars crashed servers watching the hell out of the trailer, but it didn’t take long for the interwebz to raise one of its uglier heads. A hashtag # BoycottStarWars appeared just hours after the trailer debuted, accusing the film of promoting White genocide. Why the freak out?

The main character, played by John Boyega is –wait for it–a black man. The idea that a black man is a lead, a hero and alive in outer space seems to be sending some people, well, into outer space. Now, of course, these boycotters should feel stupid; it’s 2015, Black people are not some situation that Jim Webb controls and so you are going to see–thank God–some diversity in film.

But when you’re done shaking your head at how cray-cray these boycotters are, consider this: they are right in pointing out the significance of casting Boyega in the lead. We know already that there is a real drought when it comes to lead actors of color playing the hero. Go ahead–quick–name 5 movies with hero of color….I’ll wait while you Google it……..

The UCLA diversity report released in 2015 looked at films 2011-2013 and found that whites are overrepresented and minorities are underrepresented.

When we look even more closely at the most iconic heroes conquering the silver screen, there are even fewer characters of color. When Idris Elba’s name came up as a possible casting choice for the new James Bond, strong backlash erupted, and not just from internet trolls. James Bond author Anthony Horowitz called Elba “too street” to play Bond. Hey, hey, he wasn’t being racist, just saying that Idris- friggin-Elba is “not suave” enough. What?!

But I digress…. Celluloid heroes have always been white, sometime even when they were not supposed to be. Remember that above all, studios are looking for products they can bank on.

Rest easy, Star Wars producers. Casting John Boyega as the lead is not only a good move to increase the now-dismal diversity in Hollywood films, it turns out its also good for business. The same UCLA deviltry report found that films that featured 40% characters of color did better at the box office. Turns out, trolls, that diversity pays.

Hollywood and the smaller tubes around are taking note of the importance of embracing diversity in order to reflect an increasingly diverse audience watching in the real world. I’m not saying Hollywood is getting it right, but they have at least identified it as an area in need of improvement. In an increasingly diverse country, It makes good business to get out ahead of an unstoppable trend.

Make no mistake; Star Wars is no ordinary film. It is modern myth. Based on the work Hero With a Thousand Faces by anthropologist Joseph Campbell, Star Wars is not just the story of a hero, it is the story of all heroes. It is the right thing to do to create myths that reflect our culture. We live in a world with heroes of every race, and film is long overdue to reflect this.

Boycott if you want trolls–that just leaves more seats for the true fans–those who know space has no limits.

#BlackLivesMatter: A Bibliography for the Revolution

Black Lives Matter Nashville

We, at Black Lives Matter Nashville, believe we are in the midst of a revolutionary movement for black lives. We believe we are at war with systems in this country and world that demean and undermine the humanity of black people–namely, white supremacy, patriarchy, transphobia, homophobia, capitalism, and imperialism. Thus, we believe in arming ourselves for the war. And we believe there’s no better way to arm ourselves than with books. We’ve compiled a rolling bibliography of books that have been helpful for us while we conceptualize and navigate this movement. It’s rolling because there’s always more to add. Please submit more books, documentaries, links, and resources that have shaped and impacted you to blacklivesmatternashville@gmail.com.

Mass Incarceration

The New Jim Crow: Mass Incarceration in the Age of Colorblindness by Michelle Alexander

Are Prisons Obsolete? by Angela Davis

Abolition Democracy: Beyond Empire, Prisons, and Torture by Angela Davis

Slavery By…

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Chicken Over Beef

The world is a very tense place: no peace in the Middle East, violence in the streets, violence on the campaign trail and just a whole lot of beef. If you’re like me, you’ve been feeling a bit overwhelmed lately. What can you do in the face of such sadness? You could look at this. GIF artist, you’re doing it right.

Yasssssss, dance chicken dance!!!!

Sexy…Cecil?

I’m pretty sure that when Cecil the Lion was murdered by illegal poachers headed by an American dentist, it wasn’t for his sex appeal. And yet with months to go before Halloween, the first Sexy Cecil the Lion costume is yours for a few bills….

….with a cut to go to animal conservation of course….

which makes it all okay. No, not really. Please, Halloween responsibly.

Here, Ladies, Don’t Spend It All on Shoes

I came across this super cute ad from Australia’s ANZ Bank where little girls detail a world that seems weighted on their failure. The depressing facts are spoken in sweetly by girls in some fantasy room, drenched with sunbeams and piled with books. To top it off, there’s one tough little grasshopper who wants youth know how strong these girls can be.

Nice, right? The ad is a part of a campaign by ANZ Bank to address the gender wage gap. In addition to the ad, their announced they will be adding and extra $500 to the annuity funds of each of their 12,700 Australian female employees. That’s 6.3 million dollars for the ladies: bonus!

Now I love free money as much as the next, and the bank is clearly articulating that they know the wage gap exists-soooo with you! As a woman that earns a wage, I’d rather be paid fairly–every year–than receive a lady-boys to make up for it. That seems like a booby prize to me. I wager I’m not the only woman who wants wage equity, not a handout.

The Lavender Aisle

This week mega-retailer Target announced that it will be doing away with gender signage in the children toy,entertainment, and home goods department. The move comes after parents complained about the pink aisle, a pink fluffy princess zone full of all things sugar and spice and everything nice. How do you grow up to love math, or science, or reading, or adventure if the only toys and goodies you see are focused on looking pretty and dressing up? You can’t.

I grew up with three brothers and I never wanted to be left behind because I was a girl. Seeing my older brothers as role models meant I saw worlds of possibility blocked from the view of the pink isle. Now all girls, with brothers or not will see a world of play more like the real world that they will grow into. Boys likewise will be freed from early training in hyper masculinity and have new opportunities for play and imagination–like this sweet easy bake oven.

Let’s hope target is just the first of many stores that open up the traditionally binding boundaries of gender in boys and girls play and products. Here’s to more lavender!

A Year Without Sleep

This week marks the one year anniversary of the death of Michael Brown. The recent graduate was walking down the street when he encountered former Ferguson police officer Darren Wilson. Three minutes later he was dead. Within hours of his death the first protests formed on the very street he was shot on. The protests have not stopped since.

Nor have the deaths of unarmed Black men and women at the hands of the state. The last year has seen the largest number of people killed by police, even as the nation has paid more attention to the issue, and the calls for action have been the loudest in decades. For anyone passing through America’s race problems unaware, this year provides an answer to a question that floated gently over America on the night of Obama’s first election–is racism over?–with an emphatic no.

From streets echoing with cries for justice to politricks and cable news echoing with old school racism, this past year has served to shake the sleepy giant of the American masses from their slumber and awaken it from its dream of racial harmony. Americans wake to find some of we the people are suffering the outrageous slings and arrows of white supremacy. They wake to see young leaders of the new civil rights movement taking up the arms of protest against a sea of troubles.

Even as republican presidential candidates bemoan the rise of political correctness, we sail past the tipping point, unlikely to make a full return to times when it is acceptable–and sometime good fun, wink, wink–to disparage blacks openly in the media. Significant because behind the battle over the words we use floats the scepter of power, hanging in the balance as the country moves towards a majority minority population. Make no mistake, this new world we find ourself in is not the promised land, but the wide murky territory between what we used to be and what we ought to be, a land full of deadly mines, traps and open warfare.

blacklivesmatter-455x301 — photo credit: Tim Pierce, https://www.flickr.com/photos/qwrrty/15353495103/

Being awake this year has been difficult at some times, soul-crushing others. Bearing witness and speaking truth and two heavy burdens born by the conscious. It does not alway feel good to be awake, but to close your eyes to the reality of the world you pass through isn’t really living. To ignore the oppression of the people of your own nation stands as treason to the dream of a people created equal. So stay up, and pay tribute to the life of Michael Brown with eyes that stay open.

For People of Color Witnessing Police Homicides When the Body Cameras are Not Enough

Ockham’s razor tells us that the simplest answer is the best answer. Just under a year ago, there was a massive push to get cameras on cops after the Mike Brown shooting. But this simple answer has not been enough. What cameras have given us, instead, is a front row seat to police violence. We can watch and judge for ourselves what is happening. We can point to the murderous truth of bad police shootings. Still it keeps happening.

The recently released footage of the stops of Sandra Bland and Sam Dubose are shocking only in the scope of tragedies contained in their footage. Those who already know Black lives matter are heartbroken again. What the police video assures us is that if we step out of line, some cops will not hesitate to hurt or kill us. That if you speak out, your rights will mean nothing. That if you hesitate, they will not. That if you run, you are as good as dead. No matter if you are a man, woman, young, old, wholly innocent or unadjudicated suspect.

We watched them kill Tamir Rice. We saw Sandra Bland’s bad stop before her death in police custody. Poised for reaction, Cincinati officals released the the footage of Sam Dubose murder along with a warrent for the killer cop. What these incidents tell us is that cameras are not enough. The video in none of these cases helped to preserve the lives of the victims of police violence. While two of these three cases will lead to charges against the officers involved, the introduction of video into policing has not stopped officers from taking the law into their own hands.

The fact that cameras alone have not stopped extrajudicial police killings means that there are deeper issues at play. So, what are the other blocks in this justice jenga?Implicit bias in individual and the system, and a public slow to condemn violence against blacks (even as they weep about Cecil the lion). Camera are giving us the data we need to acknowledge some of these deeper issues so the real work can begin.

Why would a cop murder someone knowing he is wearing a body cam? Perhaps he doesn’t care–he is a true “bad apple” lacking conscience or control. He’s a socipath. Maybe the murder of Sam Dubose was so out of control that he didn’t care what the tape caught. In this case, the body cam could prevent future crimes against citizens now that he is behind bars, but the broader fix is to address hiring and training of police to prevent disturbed individuals from holding rank.

Maybe a cop would act out on tape because he believes his partners and fellow cops will hold the thin blue line and cover for him or her. Crazy? Like a fox. We’ve seen countless cases this year when the official story was a cover job to keep a bad cop from facing deserved justice. In this case, we need an overhaul of our justice systems, a radical reimagining that creates checks and balances, systems that ensure that law enforcement is accountable and responsible to those whom they are hired to protect and serve.

Think about your job. How many of your customers could die at your hands before you would be fired and policies would be reviewed? I’m a teacher–the answer is 0. If a student dies in the care of a school, or a customer dies while eating at a restaurant, the public cries for justice and reform. If a citizen dies at the hands of the police, the public may ask what he or she did to deserve it. Racism has pervaded American culture since the introduction of enslaved Africans at Jamestown. The bias against people of color must first be acknowledged and then addressed before we can celebrate the achievement that is the America of the Declaration of Independence.

I remind you that the police have no legal justification for shooting unarmed citizens. but our discourse languishes in the relative culpability of the victims. For those of us who value black bodies, these videos traumatizes us. We are watching people die time and time again, people who look like us, like the people we love, people that are us. Just as a fabulous commercial with your favorite celeb is engineered to make you think that you too can be that, so too do dash cams remind us, like a burning cross, to stay in our place or be executed. I say to you don’t despair, don’t give up, don’t believe the hype. Black lives matter isn’t a slogan, it’s a simple truth and a siren song that has guided us from slavery and jim crow to civil rights and the white house. As protesters in Cinicinati chanting Kendrick Lamar’s words last night reminded us–we gonna be all right.