Writing Off the Edge: WEP April Challenge-Freedom Morning

Writing Off the Edge: WEP April Challenge-Freedom Morning: Hello everyone! It's time for WEP's April Challenge! This month's challenge draws inspiration from the wonderful work of art FRE...

I always shake my head when people say that issues such as racism and sexism no longer exist. They clearly do.

অভিক্ষেপ/ Projection: Woke #FreedomMorning @WEP

অভিক্ষেপ/ Projection: Woke #FreedomMorning @WEP: Commemorating lives and times of Elizabeth Keckley, Frederick Douglas, Horace King, John Sella Martin, Henry Garnet and comparing that with ...

Lizzie is very wise.

I never understand people who loot small businesses during riots. All they are doing is hurting people who are struggling like they are.

Violence is never the answer, but I can understand the anger behind it. The rap group Public Enemy refers to it as "the hate that hate bred."

An Analysis of Gone With the Wind

Hattie McDaniel

10 June 1893 - 26 October 1952

I suggest reading Carrie-Anne Brown's thoughtful analysis of Gone With the Wind. 

A wonderful analysis indeed. I thought that Gone With the Wind was very well-written, and I thought that the movie version was very well-made. That being said, I can see the horrific levels of racism and sexism in both. 

Too many people these days refuse to take an objective view of anything, and anyone who has the least little favorable thing to say about a work that has been deemed problematic is automatically a horrible monster who approves of terrible things. It is very difficult to have a thoughtful discussion anymore.

Sly's WTF Wednesday: Utah School Admins Allow Student to Wear Nazi Uniform for Halloween Parade

Things that make you go "hmm."

Did you ever notice that you rarely ever used to hear about moronic school admins allowing a student dressed in a Nazi uniform to take part in a Halloween parade but since Lord Dampnut took office, such fuckery is commonplace?

Just one of those little things that makes you go Hmmm...

~Sly Has Spoken~

Image copyright juliahenze @123rf.com

November PAD Chapbook Challenge 2019: Day 16: Break Free of Tyranny

Image by Annalise Batista from Pixabay

it seems to me

that for a nation of people

who love to talk about freedom

there were all too damn many of us

willing to trade our freedom

to be under the orange thumb

of a tangerine despot

now it's time

to put up or shut up

now it's time

to take our country back

now it's time

to realize that electing

a rude, loudmouthed reality tv star

with an ego the size of Jupiter

was a really stupid idea

and now it's time

to impeach the sonofabitch

who shouldn't have been in the White House

in the first damn place

now it's time

to fix our mistake

and really make America great

~Sly Has Spoken~

Image copyright juliahenze @123rf.com

Notes:

The November PAD Chapbook Challenge prompt for today was to write a "free" poem. So I decided to move over, Rover, and let Sly take over and write a free verse about breaking free from the tRump tyranny. No putting a fine point on this one. Impeach the illegitimate bastard. 

Yes, Pence is his own brand of awful. We'll deal with him next.

Even more worrisome to me than the fact that Lord Dampnut and the Gentleman Serial Killer ran for office is the fact that there were enough people willing to vote for them that they got elected. Anyone who thinks that we live in a country where racism, sexism, classism, and all the other shitty little isms are a thing of the past is, as Flavor Flav once said, blind from the facts.

Real Cie Reviews: From Liberty to Magnolia: In Search of the American Dream

Rating: 5 of 5 stars

The following is a duplicate of my Amazon review for this book:

Dr. Ellis does not hold back when telling the story of growing up in the racist South during the years leading to the Civil Rights movement. As a black woman, she faced double the prejudice and was warned not to aim too high. Through hard work, she was able to be successful in many areas, but it did not come without cost, and she often saw less qualified white male colleagues being promoted for positions that she was suited for.

The issues that Dr. Ellis faced are issues that society still struggles with today. 

The author's style is very detailed and academic, and, occasionally, the flow of the narrative slows because she becomes a bit too detailed about subjects which will not hold the interest of the general public. Specifically, the chapter where she describes meeting her journalistic hero, Walter Lippmann, is not likely to hold the interest of a person who is not themselves deeply engrossed in political journalism. 

Overall, Dr. Ellis' story is deeply compelling and will be especially inspiring to women and minorities who continue to face prejudice in the post-Civil Rights era.

You can also read my exclusive review for the Online Book Club here.
Read my Goodreads review here.

Shame on U.S.

The government loves to sweep the incarceration of people with Japanese ancestry under the rug. Hardly anyone knows about this shameful period in history. It’s being brought back into the light now because people who were in the Japanese internment camps are speaking up about what is being done to the Latino refugees.

What is being done to the Latino refugees now is a human rights abuse, and those responsible should stand trial.

~Sly Has Spoken~

Image copyright juliahenze @123rf.com

Sly's Independence Day 2019 Question: Who Are You Supporting?

Next time you decide to support people who spout epithets like "punch a TERF" and "die cis scum," please remember that the person who popularized the term "cis" is Char the Butcher, a white supremacist. 

Not wanting to be affiliated with racists promoting violence is not being "transphobic."

At least think about who you are supporting. 

You are not supporting trans people who are just wanting to live their lives in peace.

You are supporting violent individuals like Char the Butcher.

Please read http://terfisaslur.com

Read it from top to bottom.

This is not hyperbole. This is a call to violence.

So-called "TERFS" are women. Thus, this is a call for violence against women.

Is this really "woke?"

"But I don't hate trans people."

I don't either, and I supported the TRA agenda until I realized what it was really about. 

It isn't about defending trans people from hate.

It's about promoting the TRA agenda.

A lot of trans people don't approve of the TRA agenda either, but they have been bullied into silence.

The TRAs are trying to take over feminism, and liberal feminists are rolling over begging to play ball with them so they don't look like a bunch of fat, unattractive, hairy-legged meany-mean man-haters.

Like the late Andrea Dworkin, I'm a feminist, and not the fun, sexy kind.

"If my feminism isn't intersectional and supporting this, that, and the other thing, who is it for?"

Women.

Feminism is for women.

Feminism does not have to encompass every other group.

We can be supportive of other marginalized groups and not roll them into feminism.

Stop supporting those who are calling for the silencing of women's voices.

Don't parrot calls to violence in the name of being "woke."

Think about what you're saying before you say it.

Think about who is telling you to say it.

This Independence Day, I proclaim that feminism needs to be free from the hateful agenda of TRAs.

~Sly Has Spoken~

Image copyright juliahenze @123rf.com

If my feminism is not for women, who is it for?

Troiku Challenge 2019: Day 7: Unlocked Fence

Image Source

unlocked fence

walking towards the countryside

finally free

unlocked fence

will I find freedom outside

or more enslavement

walking towards the countryside

the world outside is alien

imprisoned so long

finally free

no more fences, no more guards

but such a high cost

~Chèvrefeuille & Cie~

Notes:

I could not help but think of the prison camps of World War II when I saw this image. We must never be allowed to sweep those horrors under the rug because they make us uncomfortable. 

I watched a program about the descendants of some of the leaders involved with the Holocaust. These are good people who want to prevent such a thing from ever happening again. They are not proud of being related to such terrible individuals as their ancestors. 

Rudolf Hess' grandson Rainer said, "if my grandfather were alive, I would kill him myself." 

Hermann Goring's grandniece Bettina and her brother both had themselves voluntarily sterilized.

Amon Goeth's daughter wasn't aware of her father's exact role in the Holocaust until she saw Schindler's List. The realization was so upsetting to her that it caused her to go into shock.

We must remember the Holocaust, and we must not allow other atrocities and mistreatments of our fellow humans to be swept under the rug.

Many people are not aware of the Armenian genocide.

The United States isn't too keen for people to remember that during World War II, people of Japanese ancestry, including those born in the United States, were locked in internment camps.

Think what is happening right now in the United States with migrant children being taken from their parents and locked in detention centers or placed with foster families, some of whom are abusive. Cheeto Hitler denies that any of the blame rests with him when it sits squarely on his lap. And no, I will not apologize for referring to him as Cheeto Hitler.