This blog post is a troll on Njoki Chege

Betty Waitherero's Blog

I believe in freedom of speech. I believe in Press Freedom. What I don’t believe is that those freedoms are absolute. In 2015, a terrorist attack on the largely previously unknown French “Charlie Hebdo” publication left 14 people dead, after the paper published a cartoon mocking the Islamic Prophet Mohammed. There was no excuse, no justification for the taking of lives simply because they published what over 1.6 billion people, Muslims, would consider extremely offensive. However, the event brought about a debate on what freedoms we enjoy and how those freedoms can be enjoyed without giving credence to outright bigotry, racism and the degradation of others.

Since that time, Charlie Hebdo has published several other, openly racist, clearly bigoted cartoons, about migrants dying at sea and most offensive to date; a cartoon depicting a 2 year old refugee who died at sea, Aylan Kurdi, as a “future monkey rapist.”

Ideas…

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An Open Letter to Janelle Monae: TFA’s Cultural Appropriation

waltercrunkite

Dear Ms. Janelle Monae,

First and foremost thank you for bringing a black feminist perspective into music that moves my soul.  HellYouTalmBout continues to be a source of hope, righteous indignation, and monument to the lives of so many snuffed out, the song is at once too long and yet not nearly exhaustive.  Your work at Wonderland and artistic gifts are a source of pride and inspiration, which is why I was so shocked to learn you will be performing at the 25^th Anniversary of Teach For America.

Your Lyrics in Many Moons:

“We’re dancing free but we’re stuck here underground
And everybody trying to figure they way out
Hey Hey Hey, all we ever wanted to say
Was chased erased and then thrown away
And day to day we live in a daze”

Is a beautiful metaphor for the current (and temporary) trend toward privatization…

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Why Empaths Freeze Around Inauthentic People

Empaths Empowered

Ever spent time with someone who on the surface seem as nice as pie but when with them you feel awful and struggle to form a sentence? This is a caused by your Empathic antenna sensing that all is not what it seems. You are detecting that what this person is showing is a fake persona created to hide something from others.

When an Empath comes across fake people it is common for them to shut down as a form of protection.  This can be seen as stumbling over words or one’s memory and thought process being affected. Anyone who is not emanating truthful vibes will put an Empath on high alert.

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Transracial doesn’t mean what Rachel Dolezal thinks it means

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By Ellie Freeman

I am transracial. But I am nothing like Rachel Dolezal.

This week, Rachel Dolezal, the head of the Spokane, Washington chapter of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP), was revealed to be a white woman masquerading as a black woman. Just when you couldn’t imagine anything more contemptible than someone from a privileged racial background faking her way into a space for ethnic minorities, Dolezal claimed she was “transracial.”

According to Dolezal and some dark corners of the blogging platform Tumblr, “transracial” is the racial equivalent of “transgender” – meaning a person who believes they are a different race than what they biologically are.

Andy Marra, an LGBTIQ activist, is a trans woman and Korean adoptee. To Andy, who faced coming out to both her adoptive family as well Korean birth family, the state of being transracial is not comparable to being…

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Adopting The Right Name

Apparently being Kikuyu is equivalent to being white in America. I scoff at that, but I wait to see these benefits practised upon me.

Truth of the matter

Minnie Kasyoka

I have two names. That’s how it’s always been. Both names are mine, I took up no surname. My mum was unmarried for most of my formative years and since we no longer lived with my father, it made sense not to include his name on mine and my sister’s documents.

I have never felt unloved, unwanted or had the feeling of not belonging because I have no family name. Instead I have an overwhelming sense of independence from the unhealthy attachment to familial norms that conflict with my ideologies.

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What fresh hell is this? ‘The Princess of North Sudan; more scary tale than fairy tale’

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by Samira Sawlani

Bir tawil

Between Sudan and Egypt lies Bir Tawil an area which is simply desert, rocks and mountain under the scorching sun. Both states neither claim nor desire Bir Tawil, preferring to focus upon their dispute over the nearby territory of Hala’ib which is situated by the Red Sea. As with many regions which more than one state lay claim to, the interest in Hala’ib and disinterest in Bir Tawil are a result of two different treaties drawn up by the British while they were getting their kicks out of colonialism.

Without delving too much into history, in 1899 the Anglo-Egyptian Condominium established a joint British-Egyptian rule over Sudan (in reality the British were running the show). Under this treaty a straight border between Sudan and Egypt was drawn however in 1902 the boundaries were amended by the British. The 1899 split places Bir Tawil in Sudan…

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Tourism, White Privilege and Colonial Mentality in East Africa

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By Samira Sawlani

We walked into the police station in Uganda. My white British friend who wanted to file a complaint had asked me to accompany her. The three officers behind the desk stood up immediately, one giving her his chair, the other rushing to take notes and the third, with a great deal of concern on his face asked her what had happened.

Sat in the waiting area were a pregnant woman and an elderly gentleman, both were black Ugandans. The lady had been waiting over two hours for the police to attend to her while the gentleman had spoken to them regarding his issue and been told to wait. He’d been waiting for almost three hours. My friend on the other hand was dealt with immediately and within thirty minutes all procedures had been carried out and her complaint both logged and addressed.

Two years prior to this…

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Dieselpunk: Myth and Metaphor

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Editors note: Dieselpunk is shorthand to describe a fantasy society with an industrial level of development, informed by Cyberpunk sensibilities, The dieselpunk narrative is characterized by conflict vs the undefeatable (nature, society, cosmic), strong use of technology, and Grey and Gray Morality. The protagonists are often Heroic Neutral and have low social status.

Black Empire: George Schuyler, Black Radicalism and Dieselpunk

by Phenderson Djeli Clark

Sometime in the 1930s, a black journalist is kidnapped in Harlem by the charismatic Dr. Henry Belsidius, leader of the Black Internationale–a shadowy organization determined to build a Black Empire and overthrow the world of white racial hegemony with cunning and super science. Journalist George S. Schulyer’s fantastic tale was written in serials in the black Pittsburgh Courier between 1936 and 1938 under the pseudonym Samuel I. Brooks. It quickly found a loyal following among African-American readers, who saw in Dr…

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The ‘N’ word through the ages: The madness of HP Lovecraft

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By Phenderson Djeli Clark

When, long ago, the gods created Earth
In Jove’s fair image Man was shaped at birth.
The beasts for lesser parts were next designed;
Yet were they too remote from humankind.
To fill the gap, and join the rest to Man,
Tåh’Olympian host conceiv’d a clever plan.
A beast they wrought, in semi-human figure,
Filled it with vice, and called the thing a Nigger.

–H.P. Lovecraft, On the Creation of Niggers (1912)

H.P. Lovecraft

I had come to believe that by now the racism of H.P. Lovecraft, the celebrated author of horror and fantasy, was a settled matter–like declaring Wrath of Khan the best film in the Star Trek franchise. Arguing against such a thing should be absurd. I certainly thought so after the matter was thrust into the spotlight in December 2011, when author Nnedi Okorafor won the esteemedWorld Fantasy Award–whose statuette is…

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Fantasy’s Othering Fetish, Part 1

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By Phenderson Djeli Clark

This is Part 1 of a three-part series.

Over the years demands for more meaningful diversity in our fantasy realms have grown increasingly louder–a clarion call that echoes from the mundane world to haunt our usual lands of elves, dragons, orcs and whatnot. Back in 2010 when local New Zealanders were told they were “too dark to be a Hobbit” (no one’s ever too dark to be an Orc, it seems) in the new Peter Jackson films it caused a stir, highlighting the at times “unbearable whiteness” of the heroes of Tolkien’s masterpiece. Both Pixar’s Brave and Disney’s Frozen were criticized for their similar ode to all things vanilla, without even attempting a hint at color.

Diversity in fantasy has been thrust into the spotlight due to author George RR Martin’s popular A Song of Ice and Fire saga, which has been adapted as the…

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