My favorite librarian keeps recommending these books she likes to me, but they all have the same YA tropes I’ve been reading for years. This means that I have explanations like “love triangle” and “chosen one doesn’t know they’re the chosen one” and “she’s not like other girls” for why I didn’t finish the books and you can feel the disappointment in the air every time she finds out I’m not as easily appeased as my 13yo self was.

stirringwind:

tbh I can’t help but feel a number of posts about Brexit are Americanising it and projecting US race politics there.

with regards to immigration, you guys need to be aware that this was considerably about EU migration. free movement of EU nationals to live and work in another EU state is one of the linchpins of EU membership you see. Migration from other EU states, not from outside the EU. the racial tensions are not exactly the same as in the US because the resentment towards EU migration has often been about Eastern Europeans not just a white/poc dichotomy and i could go on and on about how whiteness in Europe is constructed differently in Europe from the US. The UK has continued to have total control over migration from outside the EU all along.

now, i should be clear i’m not saying there is no colourist racism in the UK. of course there is, this is where the british empire was founded. i agree there’s an element of the more colourist variant bc of course we non-white ppl exist in Europe and some are also definitely amongst the EU migrants if they’re EU nationals. and that the nastier racists coming crawling out from under their rock likely also had a bone to pick with those of us from the Commonwealth (which is a nicer name for Used to Be a British Colony). there was backlash to Commonwealth migrants in the past. Or such as those false comments that Turkey was about to join the EU or such as when Nigel Farage used that big poster showing Syrian refugees.

but the UK as of now has taken very few Syrian refugees- it’s not the same situation as say Germany. I’m not sure that overall that was the bigger factor in peoples’ minds than the existing EU migrants who are the ones seen as competing for jobs and stretching the social services. which I think is to be blamed more on successive failures of UK govts to address econ equality but many who vote Leave believe it’s on the EU. imo the racial politics of the immigration issue is not as simple as the american white/poc dichotomy I see a lot of posts asserting it as. there is also further complexity in the results because Scotland & Northern Ireland both voted to Remain so clearly, there were considerably different perceptions of EU migration and the EU as a whole there.

so please bear that in mind. the UK is a western country, there are many things in common with the US, but don’t wholesale assume everything is the same. to get started, you can go to the BBC where they are providing extensive coverage about Brexit and why it happened.

Fun fact

wtfzurtopic:

beoriseyo:

fatbodypolitics:

giizhigaate:

the-yaadihla-girls:

istamaza:

thecuriousviolet:

Native Americans weren’t allowed US citizenship until 1924.

Let that sink in. We lived here first…for thousands of years. And less than a hundred years ago we were finally given citizenship.

We also fought in WWI despite not being US citizens.

In Arizona, natives weren’t granted the right to vote until 1948. Think how that type of neglect ties into resource colonization as infrastructure was developed within years prior. 

In addition: the indigenous peoples of Canada were not recognized as Human Beings until the year 1960.
Now let that shit sink in.

In the US it wasn’t until 1968 that the Indian Civil Rights Act was passed and allowed for the right to freedom of speech / assembly / press, a jury trial, the right to an attorney etc. It’s so fucking frustrating.

and it wasn’t until 1978 that we were legally allowed to practice our own religions. in a nation founded on religious freedoms, it was illegal to practice our own religions. in our own country. how fucked up is that?

Aaaand Native Americans weren’t entitled to their own languages (had no legal rights to teach them in their schools, use them in business) until the Native American Language Act of 1990.

doctaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa:

its 2043. youre sitting in your living room drinking tea in a large sofa. your daughter comes up to you, bright eyed and eager. she says, “mommy, im doing a project on the eu referendum. can you tell me what it was like back then?” you smile softly. fond memories replay in your mind and youre filled with nostalgia. “of course honey,” you say. “why dont i show you instead? i took a lot of pictures back then.” your daughter is grinning, she’s so excited. you reach under the sofa and pull out a large photo album. you point to the first page and say, “this one here is from right before the votes were counted… ” your daughter looks at the picture then starts tearing up. “mom” she says, choked up ”…….those aren’t pictures……..those are…..those are meme screenshots……” you smile and flip the page, “shhhh. look at this one, sweetheart. it’s mr. krabs. do you see how the picture is blurry? thats how cameron felt when the votes were counted. isnt it funny sweetheart? ” your daughter is sobbing, and you just flip the page.