10 formas de revisar tus privilegios en relación con trabajadores de la comida rápida y otros servicios December 15, 2019 by Shannon Weber and Emanuel Urrea Leave a Comment Mi hermano es trabajador de la industria de servicios. Trabaja en un restaurante de comida rápida y hace todo tipo de tareas, desde recibir pedidos de clientes testarudos que piden cosas que no están en el menú hasta limpiar los enchastres que la gente deja en sus mesas al retirarse, limpiar baños y sacar la basura con un enjambre de moscas zumbándole en la cara. Todo por diez … [Read more...]
6 Questions To Ask Your Partner When You Have More Privilege Than Them October 5, 2019 by Anis Gisele, Guest Writer Leave a Comment This piece was originally published by EverydayFeminism.com under the title "6 Questions to Ask If You Have More Privilege Than Your Partner" and is republished with permission. Content note: This article briefly alludes to suicidal ideation and eating disorders. I learned to be a girlfriend through ’90s American rom-coms. 90% of the time, I learned, I had to be … [Read more...]
10 Ways To Check Your Privilege With Fast Food and Other Service Workers September 2, 2019 by Shannon Weber Leave a Comment My brother is a service industry worker. He works at a hamburger restaurant doing all sorts of tasks, from taking orders from testy customers who want to order items that don’t exist on the menu, to cleaning up the messes people leave behind on their tables, to cleaning bathrooms and taking out garbage as swarms of flies buzz around his face. All for ten dollars an hour. Many … [Read more...]
Why Policing Disabled Folks’ Self-Diagnosis Is Classist August 17, 2019 by Gabe Moses Leave a Comment I get into arguments with people on the Internet a lot these days. It’s kind of one of the only ways to be a disability activist when there are a lot of days where you can’t leave your bed. The most recent argument I had was with a particular kind of ableist disabled person, which, oxymoronic as it sounds, is a thing that actually exists. In fact, I’ve encountered way too … [Read more...]
To Understand Puerto Rico’s Troubles, We Must Understand Colonialism August 9, 2019 by Awilda González Leave a Comment With all that has been impacting Puerto Rico in recent years, from defaulting on debt payments to Hurricane Maria to the mass protests against our now-former governor, it makes me wonder why more people aren't talking about the state of the Island. Many simply do not know, for instance, that Puerto Rico is on the brink of bankruptcy much like Detroit, Michigan was in 2014. I … [Read more...]
Fellow White Women: We Learned To Be Complicit With Oppression — Now We Must Become Brave July 29, 2019 by Louisa Leontiades 2 Comments This article was originally published on louisaleontiades.com as "The Cowardice of White Women: Learning to Resist" and is republished with permission. Some questions you don’t expect to have to ask in your lifetime, let alone answer. But with the rise of Trumpian fascism, a question has consistently rattled around my white woman’s brain: At what point would I put my own life … [Read more...]
5 Ways Outdoor Recreation Is Inaccessible to Marginalized Folks July 22, 2019 by Emily Zak Leave a Comment This article first appeared on Everyday Feminism under the title "Outdoor Reaction Isn't Free -- Why We Need to Stop Pretending It Is" and is reprinted by permission. When I spent a summer as a river guide, I met three people who’d abandoned their homes to live on the Rio Grande. One lived out of a bus, another in a tent, and the last in his station wagon. They spent their … [Read more...]
4 Ways Mainstream Animal Rights Movements Are Oppressive June 27, 2019 by Mahealani Joy Leave a Comment This article originally appeared in EverydayFeminism.com and is reprinted by permission. Growing up Kanaka Maoli (Native Hawaiian), there was always a part of me that understood that my relatives did not just include people. The honu (green sea turtle), mano (shark), and pu’eo (owl) were my relatives too, and they were deserving of respect and care just like their human … [Read more...]
How Gentrification Shrank My Self-Confidence May 29, 2019 by Taylor Steele Leave a Comment Gentrification happened to me in steps. At first I was confused. Were the non-POC in this predominantly Black/Brown neighborhood lost? Did they miss their stop on this Queens-bound train? Are they simply taking a tour of the best Caribbean spots in Brooklyn? When I let it sink in that they were here to stay, noticeable transplants to a previously self-contained community, I … [Read more...]
6 Signs Your Call-Out Is About Ego and Not Accountability May 22, 2019 by Maisha Z. Johnson 3 Comments No matter how long you’ve been politically conscious, you’ve probably figured out by now that activists are by no means perfect. Even while we’re trying to end oppression, we can sometimes make some harmful mistakes ourselves. So how do you address oppressive mistakes in your community? Say you’re at a social justice event that’s promising in some ways, but problematic in … [Read more...]
The Myth of the Super Black Woman September 27, 2018 by Gillian Giles Leave a Comment I like to write, because I can state my opinion without using my voice. It's got a slight tremble at times, my voice; slurred, a certain softness due to illness that gives me away. In my mind it has and will always indicate imperfection, vulnerability. A strangeness that has always meant I immediately and inevitably fall below a threshold of normalcy, fall below gendered … [Read more...]
How Do We Make Online Feminism Less US-Centric? July 18, 2018 by Louisa Leontiades Leave a Comment "I learned a lesson at Sunday school," said my domestic partner-in-crime. "It said that God prevented our rise to power by making us speak different languages so we couldn't understand each other. Different languages aren't a blessing; they're a fucking punishment." He'd just got off the phone with Vodafone internet support in Berlin, our home of mere weeks. They didn't speak … [Read more...]
10 Ways to Check Your Privilege Around Poor and Working-Class Friends June 8, 2018 by Shannon Weber Leave a Comment It’s important to come to terms with your class privilege and disrupt your assumptions about how your friends from poor and working-class backgrounds relate to money and wealth. As someone who grew up working-class, my idea of being wealthy was living in a two-story house. The types of extreme wealth I would encounter in adulthood just didn’t exist in the … [Read more...]
