Something Else

solarsaturation:

ronpaulproblems:

“Old Economy Steve”

mad as hell

(Source: vodkapower)

dirtyprettything:

christ-fuck:l-acus:

jessica stam in “left in darkness” by willy vanderperre for another magazine, fall 2012.

cybergata:

Ginger Sun 

Edward Hopper, People in the Sun, 1960

From Great Artists’ Mews

holdthisphoto:

Elsa Schiaparelli, 1938

by Man Ray

thebluthcompany:

juilan:

 May 26th

YES.

(Source: iwontallowit)

npr:

life:

Teen mom, 1971 edition.

Photos from a 1971 LIFE magazine story on teen pregnancy, “Help for High School Mothers,” chronicling the lives of teen moms and moms-to-be.

(Ralph Crane—Time & Life Pictures/Getty Images)

Excellent photo essay on teen moms from 1971. Life revives these amid news that teen pregnancies are on the decline.  — heidi

nsfwhumor:

[@mattmelvin]

benedictbooty:

avalonroselin:

abunchofassholes:

thisiswhiteculture:

sheishurr:

welp

and if any of you white people respond with “wait but I didn’t do that. that was in the past”

i need you to check your privilege

and then drink bleach if you think your hands aren’t dirty

They’re not.

Guilt doesn’t transfer from generation to generation. I am not magically accountable for something my great-great-great-great-great-great-great-great-great-great-great-great grandfather MIGHT have done. Also;

>social justice blogger
>telling people to kill themselves

I love that there’s a blog called “this is white culture” that is solely devoted to bad things white people did, not their cultures at all.  So I guess I can make a blog called “this is black culture” and post gang and crime records and that’s 100% okay.  Or “this is Muslim culture” and make it all about terrorism.

But wait, you cry.  Not all black people are criminals and not all Muslims are terrorists.  That’s unfair!  And racist!

WELL GOLLY GEE DO YOU THINK SO?  Because saying that all white people are responsible for the Atlantic slave trade sounds pretty racist to me, given that, you know, that was between the African slaveholders and the British and Americans and had absolutely nothing whatsoever to do with my ancestors, who were incredibly poor farmers and serfs from Ireland and Lithuania who had to flee to America at around the turn of the century (by which time slavery had already been abolished in the US) because they were being treated like slaves.  Even if they had been living in America at the time when slavery was legal they wouldn’t have been able to afford a slave; in fact they probably would have been working with them in the fields and treated about the same, since the first slaves in America were actually white serfs.  But please, tell me more about how dirty my hands are because of circumstances surrounding my birth that I could not control and continue to treat me differently based on the color of my skin without actually knowing anything about my heritage, I’m sure that isn’t racist at all!

^somebody needs to give you a medal

I get what you feel.  My ancestors were unjustly kicked out of Scotland for supporting the Jacobite rebellion, which was in response to the brutal subjugation of Scotland by England.  Thing is, I live in America in the 21st century, and 18th century Scottish politics haven’t had the same long-lasting effects that slavery and racism against People of Color have.  While many of America’s first European settlers came in the form of indentured servants, thing is, they were freed, and given the opportunity to purchase land and have their children live free.  African slaves stayed slaves, and their children were enslaved.  This pattern of it-gets-better-for-white-folks-while-black-folks-stay-the-same repeated all the way down through history, and it still is felt today.

The thing is, no matter how much your dirt poor long suffering noble Irish ancestors suffered, the long-term affects of that suffering have been negated in ways that the Atlantic slave trade, slavery, segregation, and systematic racism have not.  European-Americans, no matter how nasty the xenophobia they faces when crossing the Atlantic (and it was pretty nasty), still have enormous privilege in ways people of color do not, and, yes, it all goes back to that initial dehumanization of Africans and Natives via the creation of slaves.  And yes, while slaves were primarily caught and traded by the ruling African kingdoms of the day, lets face it, Africa wouldn’t be selling if Europe wasn’t buying.  in bulk.  and sending to another continent to build an entire economic system so dependent on slavery that when it was challenged the White plantation owners of the American South decided they’d rather form their own country just so they could have slaves.

One thing that so often comes up, especially for White Americans with northern ancestry, is “well MY ancestors never benefitted from slavery!”  Yes, they did.  Stop arguing, they did.  American agriculture was built on slave’s backs.  The north was able to industrialize because the south provided all of its food and much of its raw material.  America as a country is wealthy because of the economic foundation laid by slavery.  And then there how America got all that land to farm by forcefully taking it from Native Americans and killing them if they got in the way.  

Just because your ancestors lacked privilege doesn’t mean you don’t have it today.  Being racist isn’t just not actively hating Black people.  Not being racist is an ongoing process of being aware of your privilege and how you have come to benefit from the subjugation of others, even if it’s not immediately apparent how.