People vs. Animals

The president hasn’t demonstrated any desire in wanting to unite the country recently or any modicum of diplomacy, so when he shut down the government for over a month in response to not getting funding for his stupid wall, I must say, I wasn’t surprised. Was anyone?!

What I was surprised about was how little I knew about the effects of a government shutdown and the number of people it impacted. I was surprised by how many people were employed by the US GOV’T living paycheck to paycheck - I’ve certainly been there - and I was surprised by the unapologetic callousness of the Right. I know the latter shouldn’t have come as a surprise considering their profound disregard for humanity, but seeing how politicians really didn’t do anything to stop the shutdown, how disinterested they were in coming to an agreement, how persistently stubborn they were at the expense of people’s lives- it was alarming to witness. I just don’t understand how anyone can continue to support the Republican party as it is now. It’s representing less and less of the American people and they don’t seem to give one f-ck that their base is dwindling. Ah, their base is a whole other ball game. The people who blindly concede to leadership that has no plans to include solutions to their actual problems with any sort of viable policy. Instead, they use fear and white supremacy disguised as patriotism to brainwash people into believing the “preservation of whiteness” is going to solve all of their problems. News flash: IT’S NOT.

The sentiment that these rich, greedy politicians are going to somehow “save us” from economic plight is getting so old, and so exhausting to debunk. Minds that far gone can’t be changed. I still day dream of sending all of the bigots to an island where there’s nothing “foreign,” so there’s just dirt and grass, maybe some trees, and absolutely no amenities that people of color have had a hand in, so they can really “stay true” to their ways and live lives devoid of happiness , wonder, and spices.

Speaking of crazy ideas, I did want to touch on another sentiment I’ve seen being circulated around the internet and that’s- get this- the comparison of human life to animals.

Let me start this off by saying I love animals, though, I’m not a vegan, and I wholeheartedly believe in human rights and animal rights respectively. HOWEVER the strange, and honestly, downright maddening outrage for people who abuse animals versus the justification given to police who kill unarmed people has become beyond bothersome.

I will never forget that moment a few years ago when Cecil the lion was shot and Jimmy Kimmel cried on air. I think this is when I started thinking about the way WP react to animal cruelty vs. human cruelty. The amount of outrage I saw about the lion being shot wasn’t remotely comparable to the emotions from the white community to any of the police brutality at the time. I know there were white people who were and always have been outraged by police shootings but this isn’t about them. This is about a wave of people coming to the defense of this beautiful animal, with genuine sadness. An amazing consensus indeed. We were all stunned and disgusted by these imbeciles. But some of these same people virtually ignored this homicidal epidemic.

My question is, where was that unifying disgust and outrage when it came to police brutality? Instead what I see is the harsh judgment of lives and situations, not a universal upset about the disproportionate number of unarmed people of color being assaulted and killed. People feel it necessary to scrutinize the lives of innocent individuals dying at the hands of police instead of joining the outcry to surface these obviously racist confrontations. It’s not just police brutality that’s subjected to these comparisons, but the treatment of inmates as well. People who are taken into the system somehow lose their humanity in the minds of these disturbing people who are so self-righteous, they believe the life of someone who stole a box of cheerios and winds up in sing sing is no longer worth protecting. No, it was the victim of brutality or prisoner’s fault for “not adhering to simple laws” so they deserve death/mistreatment - I have literally seen someone comment this in response to the prisoners who were protesting not being given appropriate heat. The same commenter later said, animals were innocent so deserve to be treated better than “those criminals.”

And let me also clarify that it is mostly black lives that are under attack in these detrimental, misguided arguments. The fact that animals are brought up at all is a fundamental issue with this country and the thought process about police brutality/the prison system. Animals have rights, yes, and they should, but these rights should not be involved in conversations about the mistreatment of HUMANS. I will never stop saying how slavery’s effects persist today and they are alive and rampant in the prison/judicial system. No. In the fabric of our society, ever so carefully and completely woven in.

I do want to point out the Tiffany Haddish video about her wearing fur until police brutality stops to raise awareness and further show how f-cked up American society is, proving her point through the insane comments to the video. In this respect, it was necessary to raise awareness, and I personally though it was a powerful declaration. It certainly pissed a lot of people off, and I totally understand why, but I hope those people also reexamine their anger and empathize with what she’s ultimately saying. Seriously, go read these comments. So insane.

All in all, animals absolutely deserve to be protected, but SO DO HUMANS- especially unarmed, innocent ones and it’s not helpful or productive to continue bringing up animal rights when it comes to fucking humanity.

Fight me.

WHAT IS GOING ON IN YOUR BRAIN?!

The ignorance, the selfishness, the plain inability to be empathetic and understanding. If you don’t understand the movement, the sentiment, behind Black Lives Matter you are not fit to involve yourself in any conversations about it. Your opinion isn’t helping. You’re not convincing anyone with your inept arguments. The only thing you are doing is expressing your intense disapproval of equality and progress. When you say, “All Lives Matter,” you’re neglecting a history of blatant violence, current systemic racism, and ignoring a plea to society for the equal treatment of black lives. I’m not sure how may times we have to say, Black Lives Matter does NOT mean, nobody else’s lives matter. What it means is there has been an unbalanced injustice in the black community, and this statement is calling attention to it. It doesn’t literally mean ONLY BLACK LIVES MATTER. YOU ARE ADDING IN WORDS. What I want to understand is why you can’t admit that you’re refusal to understand the movement is an implicit indication of racism or racist tendencies? Think about it. What other reason is keeping you from even reading about the plight of black people in America. What other reason is preventing you from sympathizing with the countless families who have lost wives, husbands, brothers, sisters, cousins, aunts, uncles, GRANDPARENTS, friends. What other possible reason can there be except you don’t think their black lives are more important than “police procedure,” which let’s get this straight, is obviously, perpetually being broken, shattered, tossed aside. 

That’s what it sounds like when you tell black people that the reason the police are shooting us is because we’re doing something “wrong,” we’re “not complying with the police,” or my favorite, “look like criminals.” If you don’t want to accept the fact you’re inherently racist, at least accept the fact that your prejudice is so astounding, that in all of your efforts you prove that you don’t believe “All Lives Matter” because you have zero compassion for those black people who lost theirs. I don’t understand why you get upset when people call you racist, yet you continue to exhibit racist behavior? It’s like you’re someone who’s afraid of heights, but won’t admit it and instead tell people, I just don’t want to be too far from the ground. JUST ADMIT IT. 

The thing is, you won’t, because you have no desire to change. You think everyone is out to get you and take away your rights, when in reality, we’re all just fighting to have the same rights. You won’t admit your fault because the term PC is bewilderingly offensive to you and the thought of being mindful of others’ feelings and concerns personally peeves to you. Instead of looking to figure out the stem of this discontent, you would rather relish in the rhetoric of a narcissistic megalomaniac who is hellbent on entrenching within this country homophobic, racist, and xenophobic polices that you wholeheartedly support. What made you so hateful and so angry that the thought of helping your fellow man or witnessing a weary outcry of a beleaguered community enrages you to the point where you leave comments like this on Ben & Jerry’s Facebook page:

Tom Bearman Lent  - Sade black lives matter does revolve around white people. Because within the context of BLM black lives only matter when a black person is killed by a white person. BLM doesn’t care about black on black,black on Hispanic or any other combination. You guys protest the vaugest of shut and use it as an excuse to attack white people.

Maximillian Shen As an Asian American, I see BLM being very similar to a domestic terrorist organization (disrupting others’ lives, threatening to kill non-blacks, etc.) Guess I will avoid Ben & Jerry’s for a while.

Jonathan Barclay I agree there is a problem. But when BLM openly advocates the murder of police officers then your movement lost all credibility. Like the KKK they are a terrorist organization. And your support of them causes me to now refuse to buy my favorite ice cream. I support accountability. FOR EVERYONE!

Jon Michael Necaise I will not be buying your products again since you support a extremely racist terror group who calls for the death of all white people and police. Fuck you Ben & Jerry’s

I’M SO TIRED.

*This post is not just for non-POC, but for anyone who feels the BLM movement is offensive.

Sometimes I can’t even...

It’s 2015 and women are still fighting for autonomy over their own bodies…. Black men and women are still being brutally killed by the very people who are supposed to protect and serve. It’s seriously unbelievable. Oh, and Donald Trump is actually a viable presidential candidate. WHERE AM I?! WHAT’S HAPPENING? EVERYTHING IS CRAZY.

Keep Fighting Ferguson

I don’t need to read the endless reports on what happened to young Michael Brown who is referred to as a man in all of these articles, but was really just a kid. He was just starting out his life, full of hope and possibilities when he was slain by a police officer for no reason. NO REASON. The deplorable actions of the police department to somehow muddy his name by releasing images of him wearing baggy clothes or posing a certain way is absolutely unconscionable. Police brutality is not new. It’s been happening for decades, sprinkled in local news like a flash in the pan, covered so thoughtlessly the nation was able to stay blissfully ignorant of the atrocities committed by the very people who are suppose to protect for so many years, but the blissful ignorance has ended and now it’s time to face reality.

I’m going to be really honest here and say I have never felt particularly safe around law enforcement. Ever since I was a kid, I’ve always felt this odd, almost combative, ego that emanates off of a lot of people in uniform as they strut around with firearms on their hips and prejudice in their minds.

Over one steamy summer in Miami, when I was in high school, one of my friends threw a party for their birthday and invited a whole bunch of us over to hang out and eat cake. The neighborhood we were hanging out in was predominantly white and upper-middle class. The building had some pretentious-sounding name and we had to check-in with the door man before going up to the “party floor.” While we were hanging out, a few of our friends-who were kids of color-decided to walk to Walgreens for snacks or whatnot and told us they’d be back soon. Walgreens was only a few blocks away and the rest of us nonchalantly waved them goodbye. After forty minutes of not hearing from either of them, we were wondered what happened. Then my friend who’s birthday it was got a phone call. As she listened to the voice on the other end, her face fell and she became nervous and distraught. “What happened,” someone asked gently. “(So and so) are downstairs with the cops.” All of us looked at each other with pure bewilderment. The kids in questions were the most docile humans. They were the sweetest and funniest people I knew and it was mind-boggling to hear they were involved in anything that would require the attention of police. Well, obviously, they weren’t. On their way back from Walgreens they were accosted by the police for no reason other than being minorities in that mostly white neighborhood. We all went downstairs to find them handcuffed and silent with the crushing combination of hopelessness and fear in their eyes. 

The police puffed out their chests once we were all downstairs, us staring in confusion at what was transpiring. Why were there so many cops? What did they think was going on? Why were they asking them the stupidest questions?
“What were you doing walking around here so late?” One haughty cop asked.
They looked at each other, handcuffs tight around their innocent, young wrists, and one friend answered simply, “We just went to get some soda from Walgreens and were walking back to our friend’s house.” At this point, my friend who’s apartment parking lot was now a circus for uniformed clowns, was crying and pleading with the police to let our friends go because they didn’t do anything wrong (they really didn’t) and kept repeating that it was her birthday in hopes one of these lumps had a heart (and a conscience) to realize what a pitiful situation this was and completely uncalled for. Finally, after what seemed like an hour (it was probably more like 20 minutes) they let them go with a “warning” and we all left, heads down with the pressure of having witnessed the too-real events that made us feel the heavy weight of race inequality in America.

That wasn’t even that bad of an interaction. It pales in comparison to the senseless violence that has been plaguing the black community for as long as we’ve been in this country. Yet, even that mild brush with the popo is significant because it’s something that happens everyday. It’s significant because black men are subject to Stop & Frisk everyday. Because black men are not seen as people, but this scary fantasy created by a period in society that America refuses to acknowledge, which is pretty much directly responsible for the accepted violence and violation that has been going on for years. I’m like a broken record folks, yep, slavery. No. We are not fully passed it as a nation and it has spurred all of my personal favorite racially-charged events in history, such as the always wonderful entertainment called Black Face that openly mocked black people and let’s not forget those always fun Jim Crow Laws that basically gave white people the right to treat blacks like non-citizens. “Separate but equal?!” Who the hell thought that was okay?! Oh yeah, white people in power. These are things in history that are STILL HAPPENING TODAY. Remember those idiot kids in whateverville who wore black face for a photo? Segregation? Must I give ANYONE an example of that?! Ok, fine GENTRIFICATION.

When people say, “Chris, get over it.” I say, “Screw you.”

I won’t “get over it” until this country is safe for everyone. I won’t “get over it” until I can imagine a young black man walking carefree down the street in a hoodie listening to hip hop music with his pants hanging as low as he wants without fear of being shot or feared. I won’t “get over it” until there is actual justice when black men are gunned down or tortured because some white person feels threatened. Yes, that was a reference to Emmett Till who was FOURTEEN YEARS OLD when he was brutally murdered by some hokey townsfolk who, like someone else in the recent past, thought they would take the law into their own hands and administer a punishment that wasn’t only beyond inhumane, but truly, purely evil. I won’t “get over it” until there is a stop to systemic racism, to institutional racism, to plain hate that is accepted and coddled to a point where either most of the country is oblivious to it or they’re in denial. 

Ferguson is the eye-opener this country needed. It is an amazing culmination, years in the making, of outrage, weariness, persistence, and solidarity. What happened in Ferguson, what happened in Sanford, what happened in Los Angeles, what happened in Beavercreek,  what happened right here in NYC, what’s been happening all over this country is unfathomable and unacceptable. I know there has been some discussion about how people don’t want these protests to be called riots, but peaceful gatherings, and I think that’s wonderful.  Though, I can honestly understand how years of frustration with the way this country has been treating us can be a catalyst to unleash some passionate feelings that have been percolating beneath the surface. It’s not so much rioting as letting out a long, angry sigh. I hope everyone protesting in Ferguson and anyone who is standing up for humanity is staying safe out there. Be vigilant, be safe, and be smart.

We shall overcome.

Tell Someone You Care About Them

It’s really beautiful so many people are sharing their stories of battling depression. We so easily forget humanity is fragile and sometimes our minds can be deadly if we get too lost in them.

I think it’s awful that it takes the death of a celebrity to discuss these poignant topics that revolve around mental health and subsequently drug abuse/addiction.

This country is notorious for ignoring the painful reality that most of society is depressed and a lot of people, though surrounded by others, feel utterly lonely and disconnected. We live in a society that celebrates monetary success and scrutinizes mental illness with judgment and disgust.

That’s why it is so imperative that we look out for each other amidst this culture that encourages selfishness and carelessness. We need to be more mindful of each other and other’s feelings. Depression is debilitating, so letting someone know you care about them is imperative. You never know who around you is suffering from whatever may be going on in their lives.

Take the time out to tell someone you care about them today. Hell, do it everyday.