f*cked up $hit

over at feministing, samhita posted an entry regarding the women's lacrosse team decision to wear wrist-bands with the word "innocent" on them, in a show of solidarity for the male lacrosse team.

first off, i agree with samhita, that the fact that these women are showing their "solidarity" only aids in their own oppression to the white male patriarchy. i am not saying that because a woman was allegedly attacked, they must stand in support with her simply because she is female. if that were the case, then the innocent arm-bands wouldn't have even been introduced. however, it is telling of the state of white america in general, where these women could support their men, who have proven to cause harm, physically and verbally, towards the non-white, non-heterosexual "other." (i am specifically speaking of the racial slurs and the gay bashing by the "innocent" male players)

second, it's interesting to note that some people continue to say the alleged rapists are innocent until proven guilty in a court of law--that's the beauty of our (in)justice system. and yes, i do agree with that, even though i still believe that something disastrous did happen at the party--however, it is those same people who ignore the tired diatribe of "innocent until proven guilty" and claim that the accuser is guilty of lying--where is the justice in that? where is her right to remain innocent of lying?

it seems from this case, that it is obvious that white men are innocent until the justice system, controlled by other white men, exonerates them of such charges. black women, on the other hand, are automatically deemed guilty when we defy this system. we are guilty when we challenge the white privilege of innocence. we are guilty simply because one of us has the courage to say that something DID happen.

to the (white, i assume) folks who continue to advocate the "innocent until proven guilty" speech, the main point is that you guys are hurt, aren't you? it hurts to know that these young boys face the possibility of prison, registering as sex offenders and shaming their rich, white supporters. it hurts white supremacy in general, to face the accussations of a black, poor, stripper who may or may not be lying, but the fact that she accused WHITE MEN maks you guys feel the deepest pain inside of your souls, huh?

trust me, us brown people know that pain. we live that pain. we eat that pain. we breathe that pain. how does it feel?

Technorati Tags: duke+rape, feminism, duke, black+women, patriarchy, white+supremacy

When JB posted this on her blog, I was horrified. How bad has it gotten that 1st and 2nd graders could do something like this? What can we do to keep this from happening again? May I also suggest think about how to talk about this and an action that we can do this is one incident that's indicative of many others.

Sony Pictures describes "Silent Hill" as an Action/Adventure, Suspense/Horror and Adaptation film. The movie is based off of the video game under the same title. Based off of the popular video game(s) and comic book(s), Sony decided to create a movie. A brief synopsis is as follows:
After the continuous sleep walking episodes of Sharon, the young daughter of Rose Da Silva, the decision is made to take Sharon to the place only mentioned in her restless dreams- Silent Hill. However, the road to Silent Hill is anything but easy to access, and Rose creates a high speed chase between herself and a police officer only to end in a crash for them both. When she wakes up, Sharon has disappeared and Rose is at the entrance to the deserted, dream-like town of Silent Hill. A woman named Rose, desperate to find her child Sharon, finds herself trapped in an alternate dimension as she searches for her daughter in a world of decay inhabited by strange beings. Over the protests of her husband, she flees with her child, heading for an abandoned town to which the child seems drawn. Sharon disappears in the town, and Rose follows what she thinks is her daughter's silhouette into what seems like an alternate reality. It's soon clear this place is not like anywhere she's ever been. It's smothered by fog, inhabited by a variety of strange beings and periodically overcome by a living Darkness that literally transforms everything it touches. Joined by Cybil, a local police officer, Rose searches for her little girl while learning the history of the strange town and realizing .
- Taken from http://movies.yahoo.com/movie/1808718754/details
and http://imdb.com/title/tt0384537/plotsummary

Within this movie, most of the main characters are women. The following is a list of photo's and names of characters in the movie.









-Rose Da Silva









- Sharon/Alessa











- Cybil Bennett











- Dahlia Gillespie











- Christopher Da Silva

The movie is made of many scenes containing Cybil and Rose on a quest to find Sharon. The first time the audience sees Cybil is at a gas station. She pulls up to the station on a motorcycle in a tight leather outfit. Thoughout the movie we see Cybil in a tight police uniform with, unusual pair of high-shine, glossy leather pants and an extra tight shirt.







Set out to be seen as a lesbian, Cybil stood out as a woman who is as strong as a man. She protected Rose till her the very end of her life. Accused of being a witch by Silent Hill citizens, Cybil was burend on a ladder.

Other then the dynamics held between Rose and Cybil, there were many scenes where women's breast were out of this world. Rose, Cybil, Dahlia, the bed side nurse, and the group of nurses all had shoots where their breast were front and center. It just didn't make any sense what so ever.

This movie upset me for a few reasons:
1. It wasn't well written. A lot of key elements were left out while adapting this once comic book and video game to the big screen.
2. Too many breast shoots. To be a horror movie I saw so many push-bras being used in costume I thought I was seeing porn or the Nelly "Tip Drill" video, it was crazy.
3. I paid to see it and I want my money back.

So I'm watching the food network and Roker on the Road is on. He's going around New England finding good sea food. He's in New York City and says he's headed to grand central station's world famous oyster bar so he can "learn to shuck and jive like the best of them!"

He says this with a straight face and he's smiling!!

Have you heard of this minutemen craziness? One would think that within the very history of minutemen (manifest destiny, unwanted folks in the Western part of what is now the United States), the creators would see the bullshit ass irony and pull the plug, but when nationalism gets to be what it is today one is willing to walk into fire without feeling the heat. The immigration issue is frought with so many contradictions on all sides. While attending the rallies here in DC (which has a largely Salvadorian population) immigration continued to "look" Mexican. What does this say about immigration policy? Historically immigration reform has always been targeted at specific groups. The late 19th and early 20th century saw reform directed towards Asians for example. But this legislation trancends the U.S./Mexico border.

Finally to agree with Moya and to take it to another level, (and in the spirit of a oft. repeated refrain by Dr. M Bahati Kuumba) the U.S. is an illegal occupation state. Created only by the assumption of white supremacy. At the root of this immigration issue, and within the very popular discourse surrounding it is white supremacy plain as day.

more on the issue here: http://www.diamondbackonline.com/vnews/display.v/ART/2006/05/03/44588c4f871d1

Did everyone in the U.S. forget how this country was founded? there should be no such thing as an illegal immigrant in this country unless we are talking about the white people who stole this land in the first place. The border war just seems so ridiculous in light of the fact that the border was formed in an unjust war. I wonder what indigenous folks have to say on the issue . . .