The outrage from white people about Colin Kaepernick kneeling vs. the lack of outrage from white people about another innocent black man being killed by police, justifies the nature of Kapernick’s protest.

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Honoring the right to self preservation

Let's talk about honoring someone else's right to self preservation, or subtitle: why I won't be watching Nicole Arbour's "Dear Fat People" video.

A few years ago, I learned a really important lesson from Trudy of Gradient Lair: It's not cool to send someone, "have you seen ____?" messages. I think when I first heard her talking about it, it was in a series of tweets I can't locate at the moment, but the heart of her ideas about this can be found at her piece entitled, "11 Things People Need to Stop Emailing Me." She wrote: 

99% of the time I heard about the same shit you heard about. Thus, I don’t need my Tumblr Inbox filled with a bunch of links to stories that I usually read 72 hours - 1 week before you sent them. Even if I did hear about something, I am NOT required to comment on it if I do not want to. I am not a 24 hour on-demand opinion generation machine. Conversely, sometimes I purposely skip stories because they are stressful, triggering or simply not of interest to me. And for Whites especially, stop emailing me every first grade level article or term you see on race. You’re in race kindergarten.  I am Methuselah. So stop...

At the time, I was like, "Good point," filed this away in my brain, and moved on with my day...but as my own Tumblr picked up in popularity, I started to much better understand the importance of what she was saying. Of course, my white privilege has shielded me from anything near the harassment that Trudy faces on social media. But when Nicole Arbour's now infamous "Dear Fat People" video blew up, I got a taste of how much people need to remember to honor someone else's right to self preservation. And how annoying/disturbing a bulk of "have you seen ____" messages can be.

As Trudy points out, sending something like this to someone can be potentially stressful or triggering. In the case of Arbour's video, I am a fat lady who blogs frequently about fatphobia and being a fat lady and all that entails. So I popped to mind for a few people when someone with a large platform was spewing off vile fatphobic bullshit. I get that. But it seems very different to wait and see if I'm going to talk about it than to start demanding I do. Suddenly my blogging email address and my Tumblr inbox at FacebookSexism had a few dozen mentions of the video. Some were just submissions of screenshots from people talking about it on Facebook. No problem. But some were "Did you see this?" and "What do you think about Nicole Arbour's video?"

I haven't been moderating as much at FBS as I used to for a variety of reasons and the Arbour thing hit right when I was in the middle of one such NOT moderating time frame. But because my inbox had a steady trickle of content related to it, I went ahead and shared these comments, tacking onto another plus size woman's thoughts, who fielded a similar "what do you think?" question:

I have no need to watch it. I’ve heard it all my whole life which is why it’s so fucking absurd anyway (poising it as “finally someone said it” Ha!) PLUS I deserve some level of self preservation so I gotta avoid this one. 

I'm just trying to wrap my mind around the mentality which leads a thin person to send a fat person a gushingly fatphobic video. Or a white person to send flagrantly white supremacist content to a black person...do y'all not see who messed up that is?

I get that these inquiries can be made in good faith...coming from an "I admire you and I want to know what your thoughts are on this" place. But because these questions are typically made to people with a very large and visible social media presence, you can just assume that they've already seen them and they don't need to be prodded to write about it. I mean, if I had it in me to watch Arbour spout off the same BS society had told me every day so I could put my reactions to it out there, I would.

I was so fed up from the whole thing that I deleted 5-6 submissions for FBS about Arbour that would have been otherwise fine content to feature there, shaming people who defended her in comment threads, etc. But I was so over it that they hit the trash bin right along side the "What do you think?"s.

Pause before you send a message like this to someone. Chances are your inquiry of this nature is unnecessary and a quick Google search would reveal 1) similar things the person you are approaching has already written or 2) other sources talking about the subject matter already that you can go read; people who are in the headspace/have the interest/time/whatever to tackle the topic. Shit, even go write about it yourself if you want. Just give someone a break before you try to introduce something into their lives which could not only unduly demand their time and attention, but also hurt them.

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Just lean away, forever, please

You know what's really messed up?

Using White Feminism (TM) to bully other women.

I know this happens literally all the time every day in big and small ways, but I'll cut right to the chase on this one. I'm talking about the reaction to Jessica Williams saying she ins't ready to take on the job of hosting the Daily Show after Jon Stewart's departure.

If you're engaged in social justice on Tumblr (and other places, but that's my frame of reference), you were well aware of the many calls for Williams to take this soon-to-be-open gig. I was one of them! I agreed! Williams is awesome and hilarious and her filling that seat would be incredible.

BUT

The definition of exclusion

Earlier this month I attended an event as part of a series here in Austin under the title "The Growing Divide." This one discussed the city's housing crisis. Three panelists examined the fact that affordable housing is becoming more and more scarce, people are increasingly being pushed out into the suburbs in order to be able to afford the kind of lifestyle they want (which contributes to our out of control traffic issues) and that there's a ton of gentrification going on.

In case you aren't aware of the troubles Austin is facing in this realm, might I suggest a Google search, because it's kinda scary. But I'm not actually here to talk about this topic broadly. I wanna talk about this panel specifically.

First the nicey nices: it was fairly informative. For example, I appreciated that the speakers focused in on a few very practical solutions, like extending zoning for back houses (so called "granny flats") which is an easy fix to encourage density without requiring extensive infrastructure changes. I also appreciated that they kept things really non partisan and it felt productive.

Except for one glaring issue: all three panelists were white and wealthy. 

It was such a ridiculous oversight that it truly distracted from my experience. I mean, how in the world can we really talk about affordable housing and not include low income voices? How can we really talk about gentrification and not include people of color?

One of the panelists was one of Austin's newly elected 10-1 city representatives...from the wealthiest district. Place a call to one of the working class POC recently elected, it's not that hard! This is just like basic 101 level stuff here. In fact, the point where I bristled to the discussion the most was when this same panelist made a comment along these lines to try to make us all care more: "We have to remember when we're talking about 'affordable housing' we're not just talking about things like poverty and crime, we're also talking about people like those in my district, which is one of the wealthiest, who can't afford to live in the neighborhood they were raised in........."

[Image text: "Really?" face]

Oh brother.

So yeah, like I said, the discussion was fairly informative but it was perpetuating the systems that be...it was, in its own way, contributing to "The Growing Divide" and blatant exclusion. Think about how much richer, realistic, and important this could have been if marginalized voices were centered.

Jesus, just be better, people.


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White Privilege Example #3,499,231

I haven't written anything about Ferguson because I think this is definitely a time for me to shut up and listen/learn. I've been reading a ton and keeping up (mostly through lots of awesome commentary from Black people on Tumblr and Twitter.)

But I was sent an ask recently from another white person who was lamenting having to discuss/debate the whole situation with their white parents (who were probably saying all the racist shit you see floating around right now like, "What would MLK say about that rioting!!1!")

My initial response to reading the ask was YUP, I feel that. I'm so sick of getting into these counterproductive discussions with racist family and acquaintances. But then, as I said in my response, I thought about it some more...and white privilege is definitely worrying about trying to educate your folks about these issues and not worrying that one of them (or you) will end up the next one dead.

So while I might not write much about that topic here, and it's not really my place to take up space in the online discussion this time, I am working to try to educate other white people in my life about this issue. It's (literally) the very least I could do.

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How NOT to be a white ally (and how to be one too.)

[Content note: police brutality, racism.]

Last Thursday, I attended the Austin gathering for NMOS14. Overall, it was an extremely powerful event. After the national moment of silence, the names of local victims of police brutality were listed. Family members, like those of Larry Jackson, spoke about their experiences. Local organizers called us to action and shared what we can do. Black people of all ages shared their experiences living in a world where they could be shot by supposed authorities simply for existing.

One woman, A'Driane Nieves, shared about a piece she wrote over a year go called, "America's Not Here For Us" and the experience of raising black and brown children. She commented how the American systems see these children as expendable.

From the crowd, an angry white guy yelled, "We're all expendable to them!"

What I'm Reading: A Sad Edition

[Content note: violence, racism, suicide, ableism]

Things in the news right now are not great. (Of course, they never are...) but it feels all the more sadder to learn that another unarmed young black man, this time Michael Brown, has been murdered by police. The subsequent situation in the city where it happened (Ferguson, MO) is also indicative of extreme racism. I am just trying to read and learn as much as I can about it. I have really appreciated the numerous informative pieces and updates that Colorlines is posting:

• Understanding What's Happening in Ferguson
• Ferguson Police Won’t Release Name of Officer that Killed Michael Brown
• Witness to Michael Brown’s Killing Explains What He Saw
• 10 Social Media Shares About the Horrors in Ferguson 

Kirsten West Savali also wrote a powerful piece about her reaction to this story:  My Sweet Young Sons: Cops Are Neither Here to Protect Nor Serve You. Go read it...and if you haven't already, go read all you can about this situation. Especially my fellow white people...we can't ignore this or turn our backs on these folks.

And if you can, participate in the National Moment of Silence tomorrow night.

In other sad news, everyone is all abuzz about Robin Williams' death, by suicide. I've been surprised that a majority of the reactions I've seen on social media have been dealing with the topic with an uncharacteristic level of compassion. Discussions, for the most part, have centered on raising awareness about depression, the stigma of mental illness, and getting help if you need it.

...and then someone shared this HORRIFIC piece by Matt Walsh, who, to this point, I thought was just a character actor, but I've now learned is an incredible douche. (Don't worry, I used "donotlink" here, so you can click through guilt free.) His basic premise is that Robin Williams made this "choice," this isn't something awful that just happened to him. Walsh writes,

It’s a tragic choice, truly, but it is a choice, and we have to remember that. Your suicide doesn’t happen to you; it doesn’t attack you like cancer or descend upon you like a tornado. It is a decision made by an individual. A bad decision. Always a bad decision. 

To reduce a mental illness like this down to a "bad decision" makes my skin crawl. And here we also have the othering of mental illnesses--they're not like cancer; they don't "just happen to you." I realize that Walsh is talking specifically about the suicide when he is saying this and not the depression, but can you really parse them apart like that?

It's very close to the harmful and ableist narrative that "suicide is selfish." To this, might I recommend a piece by Katie Hurley, where she debunks this perspective and provides some good tips and resources.

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Olivia Pope's Abusive Dad

[Content note: verbal/emotional abuse and control, sex shaming, body shaming, mild spoilers for the current season of Scandal]

As I've written before, I'm a fan of Scandal, and as I've said, I really like the main character, Olivia Pope, played by Kerry Washington. Olivia is not a perfect character, and that is part of what makes her all the more interesting. In the incredibly complex, back stabbing, ruthless, and yet perfectly polished political world that Olivia operates in and runs, it can be hard to keep track of or even decide who we should be rooting for, but ultimately I care about Olivia, time after time.

What I'm Reading

Just a quick tour through a few of my recent reads...

I know by now we are all probably extremely tired of the whole Miley Cyrus/twerking/VMAs/Robin Thicke nonsense, but I happened to catch a particularly good piece so I figured I'd share. I'm temporarily breaking my No Jez rule because I stumbled across this by a number of other sources sharing it and it's technically from their community section (Group Think). User Ninjacate explains how the mainstream reaction to Cyrus' performance (and on Jezebel specifically) lacks the proper examination of the race elements and all ties back to #solidarityisforwhitewomen. She said:

The problem is that they (Jez) completely sidestepped the other glaring teddy bear in the room, and that is the commodification of black female sexuality in Miley's performance. But it's not a thing that white women deal with, so it didn't warrant inclusion or discussion by the white-led mainstream feminist media. 

Go read the whole thing. Seriously. Now.

I guess this next part technically falls under "what I'm listening to" but you can both listen to it or read it. As a part of their commemoration of the 50th anniversary of the march on Washington, Michele Martin at Tell Me More hosted a discussion of the current state and future of civil rights. One of the quotes shared by Rinku Sen of Colorlines struck me particularly:

I think a major problem that we have as Americans today is that people define racism in a very narrow way. They define it as always being individual and intentional and overt. And so if there isn't a noose hanging somewhere, then they can't recognize that there is actually racial discrimination present in that situation. But as a Taylor Branch, Dr. King's biographer, has said, Dr. King saw that race was a part of everything, but not all of anything. To me, that means that every issue that we are dealing with has a very serious racial component, and our challenge is to get Americans to deal with that racial dimension without dismissing race talk as, quote-unquote, race bating, simply because they can't identify the individual with the intention to commit an overt act of racial discrimination.

So we need to redefine racism as being systemic and often hidden and often unconscious. And recognize that people with very good intentions can still make individual and collective decisions that lead to terrible racist impact in jobs, in the criminal justice system, in schools, in housing, in every issue that affects our lives as Americans.

I see Sen's observation play out in many ways, namely in how my white cohorts have compartmentalized racism as those overt acts she mentions and fail to actually examine their own racist beliefs or the ways that they benefit from racist systems.

And in a last, heart warming piece, I really loved what Melissa McEwan at Shakesville had to say about her relationship with her rescue dog:

I spent long hours lying on the floor beside his crate, where he felt safe, synchronizing my breathing to his, quiet and still. Not looking at him, just being there, to reassure him I would never hurt him.

...The things my dog has taught me. He has taught me how to run at someone's side; he has taught me how to be there, still and patient, to make a safe space.

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Finishing Up the Summer Blockbuster Series

This post is the last in my summer blockbuster series. I tagged the whole thing as 2013 blockbusters.

Y'all. I see a lot of movies. A LOT of movies. Call it research for my film making husband or call it a natural love of the cinema. Both are true. But the fact remains that despite writing about tons of movies this summer, there were are even a few more that I skipped over (and several independent flicks that don't necessarily meet "blockbuster" criteria.) Here's a quick run through of the films that I didn't write about because there wasn't much for me to say.

No Jez Here...Still

[Content note: discussions of sexual assault, harassment, and he-who-shall-not-be-named...except I'm naming him, Hugo Schwyzer]

Well over a year ago, I officially gave up Jezebel. Recent controversies involving Hugo Schwyzer brought this discussion up in full force, so I figured I'd share what I wrote on Tumblr here, when I was asked why I'm anti-Jezebel.

It’s been a long string of events for me…I was actually SUPER involved there from 2009-2012, a big time commenter and regular participant. At first I started to be off put by a lot of general rudeness way back before they rolled out their new commenting system, but then that system compounded those problem and cut down on any last remainders of good discussion for me. I started to be attacked by random newcomers who would chew me out for saying things like reminders that not all women have vaginas. 

My official last straw was the incident where they published photos of a women who had been sexually assaulted. I could no longer endorse them. I stopped linking to any of their work at my main blog or visiting the site on principle.Then they continued to hire and publish known abuser, Hugo Schwyzer, only adding to my disdain for them. I could write a novel about Schwyzer but let me summarize it by saying that he once tried to kill his female partner, he regularly harassed, silenced, and abused Women of Color online (and tried to get them fired from their writing gigs), sexted and slept with his young female students, and as of last night before he deleted his Twitter—admitted in his public meltdown that he intentionally manipulated the feminist blogosphere into attempting to being THE one feminist guy so he could get a special place at the table to get a pass on writing things like why jizzing on women’s faces is just grrrrreat. Oh and there are other horrific things. 

Despite all this, big name white “feminism” (like Jezebel but also xoJane, Feministe, Feministing) have at best ignored and not spoken out against him, at worst hired, endorsed, and peddled him as a “redemption story” to their own profit and/or write really crappy non apologies for their outright involvement in his success and shirk their culpability. When feminists still follow Jezebel and give it attention, it just makes me sad because it only further illustrates how abused and marginalized women’s voices are not being heard and the power of their platform prevails. And let’s not forget, Jezebel actively scorns the feminist label—they have said numerous times that while some of their writers are feminist (I like Lindy West) they are NOT a feminist site. ——Discussion about alternative sites, here.

All of this was before the most recent Jezablunder in which the whole #solidarityisforwhitewomen trend was initially covered by Erin Gloria Ryan highlighting her favorite tweets from it, without actually mentioning the woman of color who started it, Mikki Kendall (@karnythia)...OR acknowledging Jezebel's role in why the trend even became a thing in the first place.

So yeah, my policy is NO JEZ and even when some their writers that I do like cover awesome topics, I don't link them and I try to do everything possible to limit the traffic I send their way. They are a monolith of the online world and I realize that my clicks are just a drop in their infinitely large bucket, but given their standards (or lack thereof) I cannot and will not contribute to their success.



UNREALTED: This marks my 500th blog post. YAY MILESTONE :)

[Image text: Gif of Lucille Bluth from Arrested Development acting all happy/giddy
(because Gene Parmesan just showed up at her door)]

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#SolidarityisForWhiteWomen

If you can, go check out the trending hashtag on Twitter, #SolidarityisForWhiteWomen right now. So many important things being shared and white feminism (myself included) needs to LISTEN UP.

This Tweet in particular reminded me of something I saw on Tumblr the other day:

[Tweet from Ayesha A. Siddiqi, "#SolidarityIsForWhiteWomen when mass school closings don't upset you as much as Beyonce calling it the Mrs. Carter Show."]

I saw this post questioning Nicki Minaj's feminist cred and I nearly screamed from how incredibly common it is for feminism to question and diminish black women celebrities, while blatantly racist white women are welcomed in the movement with open arms (I'm looking at you, Caitlin Moran and Lena Dunham.)

Solidarity is for white women, indeed. And it's not ok.



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A Few Thoughts and Links on Orange is the New Black

[Image text: the Orange is the New Black cast]

Ok, I'll be honest...my favorite new show of the year is by far Orange is the New Black and I feel remiss not mentioning that at all. Like so many other people this summer, I consumed the series in two days and was left wanting more. Here's something that nicely summarizes all my recent interactions with donors and board members at work:

[Image description comic of two people talking. Person 1 "How's your summer been?" Person 2 "Great! I've been traveling Europe all month and now I'm back to work. You?" Person 1 "Have..have you seen Orange is the New Black?"]

I haven't written about the show yet because while it deals with so many feminist relevant topics, I feel under qualified to speak about many of them at length (race, queerness, and the prison system, specifically). All I know is that I was so thoroughly pulled in by the show because of the ensemble--the sheer diversity of women (many you never see on TV,) the experiences displayed, and the relationships explored. And it's so damn delightfully woman-centric, created, written, and starring.

Honestly--I could take or leave Piper (the main character.)  I can see how she pushes the story line forward and serves as the character we're supposed to relate to (because she so unexpectedly found herself in prison and I guess we're all supposed to feel like that could be us...?) but it's much more the women around her who have pulled me in and kept me chain watching it all. It has that beautifully perfect mixture of comedy and drama that basically intoxicated me into a delightful trance.

Is it clear that I love it?

Overall, I know the show is not perfect. But it certainly is doing things that are rare and wonderful and at the very least starts some good, feminist discussions. So in that way, I heartily recommend it to anyone who wants an enjoyable and though provoking new series to dig into. I wanted to do some reading about what others are saying about the show and here are some pieces that I find interesting (although I don't co-sign everything written:)

Why ‘Orange Is the New Black’ Is So Addictive 

An In-Depth Look at How "Orange Is the New Black" Compares to Real Life

Prison Bitch is the New Black

New Netflix Show "Orange is the New Black" is a Complex Look at Sex, Gender, and Prison

“Orange Is The New Black”: Taking Privilege to Task

Q&A: Jenji Kohan on nudity, racism and homosexuality in Orange is the New Black



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No Justice. None.

It's been a rough past few days. Friday night, I watched the anti abortion omnibus bill pass the Texas State Senate. Saturday night we learned that George Zimmerman was acquitted of the murder of Trayvon Martin.

My heart is so heavy. Earlier today, I was listening to the rebroadcast of Friday's Tell Me More and their weekly barbershop segment. Everyone was making their predictions about the verdict. The consensus was that Zimmerman would at the very least be found guilty of manslaughter. Knowing how things actually went down, it was almost too painful to listen to.

From the very beginning, I have felt that George Zimmerman acted on racist impulse and that this whole thing is mired in racism. As I wrote in March of 2012, Zimmerman knew nothing about Trayvon Martin other than what he SAW in that moment. We know that Martin was unarmed and doing literally nothing wrong. We know that Zimmerman shot him point blank in the heart. But even if you can't see the racism in these facts, you should at least be able to see them in this verdict. We apparently value the life of a black teenage boy so lowly, that the man who admits he killed him... will do no time.

Even teens who text and drive and kill someone in a resulting car accident have done SOME time.

Some people have postulated, how would this have gone if Zimmerman was black and Martin was white? It's a valid question and I just don't think you can make the case that the results would be the same. In fact, what stands in greatest contrast to the Zimmerman trial outcome is the case of a black Florida woman, Marissa Alexander, who got 20 years for firing warning shots into the air at her abusive ex.

Read that again. Warning shots at her abusive ex...20 years. I want to puke when I think about it. How can we pretend that we have a "justice" system when this is what's happening?

A quote from bell hooks' "All About Love" has been floating around in the wake of this decision. It is an important quote in general, but especially poignant right now:

White supremacy has taught him that all people of color are threats irrespective of their behavior. Capitalism has taught him that, at all costs, his property can and must be protected. Patriarchy has taught him that his masculinity has to be proved by the willingness to conquer fear through aggression; that it would be unmanly to ask questions before taking action. Mass media then brings us the news of this in a newspeak manner that sounds almost jocular and celebratory, as though no tragedy has happened, as though the sacrifice of a young life was necessary to uphold property values and white patriarchal honor. Viewers are encouraged to feel sympathy for the white male home owner who made a mistake. The fact that this mistake led to the violent death of an innocent young man does not register; the narrative is worded in a manner that encourages viewers to identify with the one who made the mistake by doing what we are led to feel we might all do to “protect our property at all costs from any sense of perceived threat." This is what the worship of death looks like.

Trudy at Gradient Lair has an amazing piece up called "The Verdict Of 'Not Valuable' Was Delivered On Black Life. Again." I agree completely that this is what the verdict is saying. And it's what both this case and the anti abortion omnibus bill have in common. (Again, that bill will close the clinics in rural areas that serve almost exclusively women of color and present an undue burden to obtaining abortions for those people specifically. If/when it goes into effect, people WILL die from back alley procedures.)

Everywhere we turn, the measure of a life that matters is whiteness.

I have nothing else to say.


Related reading:
Alex Fraser's Facebook message for Zimmerman
Racialicious' compilation on the subject
Melissa McEwan on the verdict
The Public Shaming blog has a piece up showing the depths of our racist society (content note: racist slurs)
100 Black activists respond to Zimmerman's acquittal 




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The Purge...More like The Blergh

This post is a part of my summer blockbuster series. I'll be tagging the whole thing as 2013 blockbusters. 

So I saw The Pruge last Friday and I have avoided writing about it for this series mostly because I just don't feel like it. Not only was there really nothing of note to mention on the gender side, but it was also kind of a sucky film. But here goes...no promise that I won't write spoilers.

Intentions Are Irrelevant

I've had this post in my queue with just a title for over a week. I've been trying to formulate what I want to say, and I'm going to take a stab at it...but I'm not convinced it will come out right at all.

Oh well, here goes.

In the social justice/feminist world, when we are called out for a racist/sexist/heterosexist/abelist/cissexist or otherwise bigoted remark, the gut reaction we all have is to fall back on, "but that's not what I meant."

Gender, Race, and Star Trek

This is a guest post by Sarah, who blogs at Radical Madre. It was reposted with permission. I wanted to feature her thoughts as a compliment to my own recent post on the new Star Trek film. Welcome, Sarah! --A. Lynn

Recently I’ve started watching Star Trek the original series on Netflix. One of the first things I noticed when I was watching it was the fact that there is an impressing representation of men and women (i.e. at least 1 woman to every 3 or 4 men) with the women playing supporting roles on the show. The cast is also pretty racially diverse with characters like Uhura and Sulu playing a predominant role.

Selena Gomez's Come and Get It...FAIL

When I was in Indy this past weekend, I was without my precious satellite radio, and therefore had to listen to the local top 40 station. One of the tunes they kept playing over and over was Selena Gomez's latest, "Come and Get It."

It's one of those songs that serves to be like a virus in my brain and although there's nothing I "like" about it, I found myself absentmindedly humming the chorus today and I decided to check out what the actual lyrics are about...so here you have it:

The Bad Wrap Against White Feminists is Totally Deserved

Early last week, a shit storm was a' brewing on my Tumblr. Someone decided to troll a bunch of feminist blogs and asked,

Are you with those blogs that think it's okay to be racist to white people?...There are several blogs against white privilege and many people agree, but if I made a blog against Indian privilege I'd get massive amounts of hate. What do you think?

Is Nothing Off Limits?

[Content note: misogynistic slur]

When you're married to a filmmaker, the Oscars is a pretty big night in your home. We look forward to it for months and try to see all the best picture nominees by the big night. It's an all around fun time for us and certainly something I typically enjoy.

So you can probably guess I didn't expect that I would go to bed heartbroken. My heart broke for nine year old actress, Quvenzhané Wallis. I had tears in my eyes thinking about the words of this post.

You see, Wallis made history by being the young person ever nominated for an Oscar for her role in Beasts of the Southern Wild, quite an amazing accomplishment. But before she even made it in the door, she had to defend her right to be called by her own name.  And then, in front of millions of people and a room full of laughing, strange adults, she was made a sexual object by host and professional scumbag Seth MacFarlane. Then to top if all off, the Onion tweeted a "joke" calling her a cunt.

Before I go on, let me lay this out right now...I've heard the many defenses of these "jokes" so spare me. I get that they are supposed to be satirical and/or aimed at Clooney not Wallis, but can we just pause for a moment and remember that this is a CHILD? I mean, I wish that we could turn the whole culture of awards show humor around--it's sad how they are just aimed at mocking the stars present. But at least the other 99% of those stars are adults who went into it understanding what would happen. How are Wallis' parents going to explain to her what was said, and more importantly, why should they have to? And even if we buy the line that the jokes aren't about Wallis herself (not saying I do!) are we really going to be OK with a child serving as a punchline? Is nothing off limits?

Beyond the fact that this a NINE YEAR OLD CHILD, the racism and sexism run so deep here, it's astounding. And spare me the "but that's what's funny!" BS because it's amazing how Amy and Tina hosted the Golden Globes without making and comments nearly that disgusting and still had the audience rolling.

Unfortunately, this will not be the last time that a brown girl will do something really amazing but then have to deal with everyone shitting on that. It's something we see over and over and over.

I agree with with what FemmeFrustration wrote on Tumblr, "I hope Quvenzhané never finds out what evil people are throwing her way. I hope she goes to the parties tonight and gets a ton of compliments, and a ton of awesome free stuff. I hope she goes home with her family and spends the next few days celebrating." I also hope that when this type of shit happens, the outcry continues to grow louder and is heard. Because it might be a small victory, but at least the Onion took down that heinous tweet and made a decent apology. It's the very, very, very least they could do.

Further reading:
On Protecting (White) Children
A Love Letter to Quvenzhané Wallis