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Ethnic Minorities and People of Color @hexbear.net
Pluto [he/him, he/him] @hexbear.net

EM_POC WEEKLY THREAD!!! 03/08/2024 – 03/10/2024

Last thread was here.

Again: no crackers allowed.

Here, you can:

vent

chat

gush

inquire

bring up

discuss

educate

etc.

about anything.

Bonus discussion question:

Are there any books about BIPOC and EM people that you're reading and, if so, what are they about?

My answer is simply "no" BUT I have a few books in my queue that I plan to read soon that will talk about certain individuals and communities of color.

Bonus reminder:

Read: Henry Winston's Strategy for a Black Agenda, even if you end up not liking the book.

It teaches you how to think about strategy and tactics, imho.

26 comments

  • I've been thinking a lot about Black fatherhood and what that means as a gay man raised in the US.

    I followed some helpful advice about ranting in my car, and now I feel like I'm understanding the way fatherhood was framed to me and my father as I was growing up.

    There were several instances where he was out of his depth and sometimes it felt like he was just trying to do things for the approval of the average white person. I get it to an extent, it's dangerous to move in the world if you lack the approval of the most powerful demographic in your area. But there was a lack of understanding my dad seemed to have where he didn't enforce those rules as a means of survival. It was more like he was trying to be liked. Like he wanted to blend in, and so there was no code-switching when we were alone.

    It was unexamined internalized racism and he pushed a lot of that onto me without fully understanding the racist structures in place. There was this lack of context as well.

    For example, he would insist I take an interest in golf because that would help me look professional when I work. My employers may like golf and having knowledge and interest would endear me to them. He like tried to force me into taking interests like that without fully understanding the history of the racist history of golf. He didn't frame it as, 'if you know about these stupid things, you can stay included in social circles that could give you access.'

    It was that I had to do these certain things to be valid and to fall short wasn't allowed.

    I bring this up because I felt this rift between me and my father where we didn't have that moment of connection about the reality of being Black in a society that punishes Blackness that doesn't conform.

    I've heard the talk about police, but I had to figure out a lot of stuff late because of stuff my father carried with him.

    I hate that the aesthetics of capitalism were prioritized over genuine connection and I am curious about the experiences of parents raising children of color.

    • One of the cruelest aspects of capitalism 100%. And exactly as you put it there's a dialectical aspect of it, it's not inherently good or bad, and I think processing the contradictions in order to pass on a formulation that is good is such unappreciated but critical work.

      Tbh this is the element of fanons work that I like the most, although the more talked about elements are also great.

    • This sounds terrifying, no offense...

      (What you're going through, I mean.)

      Also, I may be estranged from my own Mom at the rate I'm going; I'm already estranged from my abusive Dad...

      • It's scary yeah, but it's like I'm seeing what's going on instead of moving through it unconsciously. I think it's helping me get some perspective on trauma I've experienced and how it fits into the larger issues of society that caused and enabled it. It's weird though because it's a lot of new ground to cover that I wasn't even aware of.

  • I hate my boss and my workplace. I used to love it but it's become terrible. It's deteriorating more and more, now with unnecessary layoffs and a rise in mistreatment by management. I'm part of union leadership so this creates meta layers of stress for me, even though I'm lucky to keep my job.

    I'd generally like to leave but, without going into details, I have plans for my next stage in life that this place in particular can very much help me achieve in the next 1-2 years so I need to stay to try to make that work. And I know all workplaces and bosses pretty much suck, and while it's the best job I've had from the long list of shit jobs I've done and I get a lot of good perks at my job for now, I'm just sick of the bullshit and extra drama and stress on top of the work I'm expected to do. I just need to hang in there and not burn bridges out of frustration but, God damn it, I really fucking want to.

    There's also a Zionist and a fascist there and ugh. Die.

    • "There's also a Zionist and a fascist there and ugh. Die."

      Oh God, in the union, the job, or... yes?

      • Fascist is in management, but the Zionist is in the union.

        A member asked permission to send out a Palestinian solidarity, ceasefire event flyer through the union group email and, of course, they were granted that permission. Then I receive an email from this Zionist telling me that because they are Jewish, lived in Israel for some time themselves, their parents met in Israel, and they still have family in Israel, etc. that it made them "uncomfortable" to receive "insensitive" and "potentially traumatizing" emails like this at work through the union. I just never responded because we can't really afford in-fighting right now but—ugh—I really wanted to tell them I hope their settler family dies.

        Our actual local happens to be an actually pretty progressive union which has unrelated to this already very strongly insinuated to management that it would protect members who display support for progressive/Left causes at work but the local would not choose to protect members who promote reactionary, racist, etc. politics. Even one of the cool, pro-union managers has some Leftist propaganda poster in their office, which I've positively commented on to them before. So, I could very diplomatically tell the Zionist to fuck off and be fine, but it made more strategic sense not to respond and cause a conflict while also not telling the other pro-Palestinian member to stop. We were all immediately distracted by work issues after that anyway, but I made it duly noted to not hold solidarity with that Zionist.

  • Vent time.

    I made 10k last year (will make about that this year, they must be extrapolating off the holidays to put best interpretation of things) and I still got pulled off medical, I keep a small stockpile of HRT but I'm worried about my kidney medicine since insurance makes that a pita to stockpile. Then again looking at others it seems they've just been pulling people off, like an unemployed lady and her kids I spoke to. Its impossible to reach anyone and on reddit they're like 'lol speak to a rep' in this area they want multiple minorities like us to just die, plz. 300/month is way out of budget for a plan then medical costs on top, a job that earns over 18k in this area is basically millionaire money. They always send notifications of such things on a Friday afternoon like when they're closed. I'll see what I can do on the week, but i don't have a good feeling since they're pulling those with no income and vulnerable off so quickly.

26 comments