Um, Vamp Diaries? Why are the Native Americans invisible?

Dwight, baby...this is for you.

Someone explain to me how we've gotten through almost three seasons and about 1,000 years of Mystic Falls history...without seeing a single Native American?  How did THAT happen?

There were episodes which flashed back to 1000 years ago, where we actually saw the Viking families going about their daily business in their little village, which was located supposedly next door to the Native American werewolf tribe.  Yet not once in any of these episodes do we see any Native Americans - not once.

Mind you, we see white werewolves.  In fact, we see plenty of white werewolves, starting with the Lockwood family, stretching all the way back to their slave-owning ancestors.  We see other werewolves later on, but we don't see a single Native American werewolf.

Um, Spartacus...that was a catastrophic fail

Really?  Really, dude?

When Katrina Law's character Mira died at the beginning of the Season 2 finale...I knew something was horribly wrong with this ep.

And then...they killed off Peter Mensah, y'all.  For real...RIP Oenomaus.

Yes, yes...I know the real Oenomaus died early on the fight against Rome, but the real Oenomaus was also a white dude from Gaul.  If you could rewrite him as an African, you're telling me you couldn't rewrite his death?  Seriously?  I mean, two of my main reasons for watching the show are now dead!  WTF?!??

Meanwhile, boring, overrated-ass Gannicus is still alive.

But then again, so's the new smokin' hot gay couple, so that's a plus.  And a first, since the writers of Spartacus have had a habit of invoking the Bury Your Gays trope with a vengeance.

RIP Mira

RIP Oenamaus

"A Mother's Fear," a Guest Post

Elayna & son

Some of you may remember Elayna Raphael; she went off on a white Sister 2 Sister reader who wanted to know why Black men didn't want Black women.

Elayna now returns to the bar.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Trayvon Martin, Trayvon Martin, this name now bounces around my head day after day, week after week as more and more tidbits of information are trickled down to the public. Trayvon Martin and Sanford, FL, over and over again I hear it echo in my brain. For me this has become a personal painful reminder of my encounters with the city of Sanford back in 1994. It is a reminder that though I am a white woman my son is indeed Trayvon Martin and though he did not die, Sanford certainly did all that it could in an attempt to kill him.

I am the Caucasian mother of an African American man, who, like so many in this country, fell to the system of “justice” designed to remove him from society as he entered into manhood and disenfranchise him from the freedom this country is supposed to represent. Many look at me and say, “but, he’s also white”….really? Not in this society. In this society, my son is Trayvon Martin.

$10,000, Victim-Blaming, and the Negroes George Knows

Real talk:

"It's just starting to sink in" to Zimmerman how big the controversy over the shooting has become, Oliver said. "Up until this point, because he was there and he knows what happened ... he has been very confident -- naively -- that this would all blow over."

...The lawyer, Craig Sonner, has said that Zimmerman had a history of mentoring young blacks, had friends of all races and shows no indication of being a racist. Sonner also said Zimmerman had no choice but to go into hiding during increasingly angry demands that he be arrested.

The latest demand came from the New Black Panther Party, which on Saturday offered a $10,000 reward for Zimmerman's capture. "An eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth," New Black Panther leader Mikhail Muhammad said when asked whether the offer could incite violence, the Orlando Sentinel reported.

..."Is George a racist? The answer is no, absolutely not," Sonner told the Associated Press. He said Zimmerman's friends "only have good things to say about him" but that many were afraid to come forward because they feared being targeted for supporting Zimmerman.

That did not deter Oliver, who said he understood why Zimmerman was fearful. "Wouldn't you be?" he said. "There's someone ... who put a $10,000 bounty on his head."

- LA Times, "Trayvon Martin case: Shooter may have expected it to 'blow over'"

Lawd. *rubs temples*

For Those Who Want My Thoughts on Sinead.....

Renee over at Womanist Musings already gave the perfect response:

The murder of Trayvon Martin has many White allies speaking out. This is an easy cause for them to get behind, while the everyday racist acts that lead to his death go ignored. To make sure there is never ever another Trayvon Martin, we need to dismantle White supremacy, not just call out the blatant acts of violent racism when they occur.

Sinead O'Conner, whom I absolutely adore, wrote a piece on her blog about the murder of Trayvon. When she spoke about the insidiousness of racism and the fact that we are all descended from one African mother, I found myself nodding, but like most White allies, she quickly derailed from support to paternalistic lecturing.

Here's the deal: Black on Black crime is most certainly a problem in our communities, but you don't get to change the conversation from talking about the death of Trayvon, to lecturing us about our behaviour. The issue at stake here are the crimes committed against us and whether Sinead realizes it or not, the crime that is running rampant in our communities is not about gansta rap; it's about White supremacy and capitalism. We don't need a paternalistic White earth mother deciding that she can lecture us on how to make changes. Why is it so damn hard for White people to follow instead of lead?

Vamp Diaries: The fail you see coming from miles away

If you haven't seen this week's ep of TVD, here's the perfect recap.

Let me get the fails out of the way:

1) Fans were right to be upset about the burgeoning Jamie/Bonnie romance.  Jamie (portrayed by Robert Ri'Chard) is delectably handsome as ever, but since he and Bonnie consider the same woman as "mom", putting them together is weird and creepy and wrong in so many other ways.

2) Unable to control her new vampire instincts, Abby attacks Jamie.  Racked with guilt, she decides to abandon both kids this time, and gives Caroline the unhappy burden of announcing it.  So it looks like Persia White is leaving the show which, let's be honest, doesn't come as a surprise.  Can't have more than two living Negroes at a time on the show, and once it appeared that Jamie was going to appear in more eps, someone had to go.

3) Let's recap.  Bonnie lost her grandmother and mother because of Elena and the two vampire brothers obsessing over her.  In the ep before last, Bonnie made it clear she didn't want to see or speak to Elena.  Yet Elena brazenly calls her up and asks to do a magical favor to fix yet another white character's mess.  The ep ends with Bonnie forgiving Elena with a smile - are you shittin' me?!??

Um, Nikita? That was a major fail

For those of us who've been itching to see Maggie Q's Nikita paired with someone else - be it Owen, Ryan, a woman, anyone - this week's episode was a serious fail.

I was under the crazy impression that good parents put their kids first.  Once the kids are born and have developed the appropriate attachment, they come first.  So why did we have to see Michael choose his hellishly unpredictable life with Nikita over moving away with his little son Max?  I mean, Max doesn't know Michael's his father, but obviously he's attached, and Michael clearly wants to be with his kid so...WTF???

Are the writers this desperate to keep these two together?

Really Quickly: Count the Fail

Don't worry. I'll wait.

Greek gods are cooler than any other religion's gods. I wish THEY were real, instead of this invisible loving god crap. BRING ON ZEUS!

~ YouTube commenter

Ladies' Open Discussion

Previously

Um...No, We Can't Be Friends
Yes...Yes They Do
The Sugar Cycle
Open Discussion

Let's talk gender for a minute.

Being a woman in America - regardless of your skintone - is tough.  If you're of the school of thought that sexism in America is dead, kill that fantasy now.  The recent war against women's health is more than ample evidence of that.

Now, white women, this next portion is directed at you.

Ever get the Twitch?  Don't act like you don't know what I mean when I say "the Twitch."  Every woman, whether she's gay, straight, bi, or trans has at some point experienced the Twitch.  The Twitch occurs whenever a man starts talking about anything concerning women, and obviously hasn't the slightest clue what he's talking about.

Infuriating, isn't it?  The Republicans recently gathered a panel of religious men who didn't have the first clue about female anatomy in attempt to influence actual law pertaining to women.  We're talking pastors, rabbis, Catholic priests all congregating to impede and influence statutes pertaining to our bodies.

Open Discussion

I stumbled upon this while keeping tabs on the Trayvon Martin case.  It's written by Kathleen "Texas Sparkle" McKinley, who currently blogs on the Houston Chronicle.

I want as many POC to share their thoughts on this before I say anything.  The portions in bold are my own emphasis.

Here goes:

The Tragedy of Trayvon Martin

The basic facts are this. Trayvon Martin, a black high-school junior, was walking home after visiting a store on Feb. 26 in Sanford Florida, when George Zimmerman, a white 28 year old (More on that “white” part later). Zimmerman, who was the Neighborhood Watch captain, saw Martin, thought he looked suspicious and called a non-emergency dispatch number to report that Martin looked intoxicated, followed him, and then minutes later after a scuffle, shot him.

Zimmerman’s father says that George is Hispanic and grew up in a multiracial family. It needs to be said only because it shows how different this story would have gone if it had been reported that way in the first place. But the media narrative was set, and that’s that.

Contemplating "Bayard Rustin"

H/T to Transgriot

“Our job is not to get those people who dislike us to love us. Nor was our aim in the civil rights movement to get prejudiced white people to love us. Our aim was to try to create the kind of America, legislatively, morally, and psychologically, such that even though some whites continued to hate us, they could not openly manifest that hate.”

~ Bayard Rustin (1912-1987)

Recommended

Contemplating "Black Jealousy"

Chief Lee, it's called "credibility." You lack it.

May the gods bless and cradle Trayvon Martin. He deserves sooooooooooo much better than this.

Secondly, thanks to everyone who's helped me keep tabs on this.  Your links have been very helpful.

1 - When Bill Lee Jr. took over as police chief in Sanford, Fla., last May, he promised to polish the force’s image and clean up an agency that had lost the confidence of many residents, particularly in the black community. (source)

2 - Robert Zimmerman's letter challenged critics who have said his son was the aggressor that night:

"At no time did George follow or confront Mr. Martin. When the true details of the event became public, and I hope that will be soon," the letter said, "everyone should be outraged by the treatment of George Zimmerman in the media."

...Zimmerman's letter claims Zimmerman is Hispanic and grew up in a multi-racial home: "He would be the last to discriminate for any reason whatsoever ...," the letter says. "The media portrayal of George as a racist could not be further from the truth." (source)

So I'm rewatching Nikita, right.....

And there's a kind of fail going on on this show which makes me wonder whether or not I should root for its very possible cancellation.

First of all, there's Nikita.  And no, you're not hallucinating.

The leading woman on this CW show really is a woman of color, chosen because of her ability to fight and do her own stunts.  I'm actually quite the Maggie Q fan, so I was glad to see her land such a role.

At the beginning of the series, Nikita is a one-woman army.  A rogue assassin, she's targeting a corrupt covert American institution which fakes the executions and suicides of criminals so as to create "deniable assets."  These assets are then trained to be killers.  If they refuse, they're "canceled", which is the show's polite way of saying they're immediately killed.

This is Not a Drill: Lakota Indians Cancel Treaties with the U.S. Government

(Thanks, MM!)

From the Final Call:

In a bold and unprecedented move, representatives of the Lakota Freedom Delegation recently declared the Lakota Nation is formally and unilaterally withdrawing from all agreements and treaties with the government of the United States.

“We are no longer citizens of the United States,” said longtime indigenous rights activist Russell Means at a press conference at Plymouth Congregational Church in Washington, D.C. on Dec. 19. “We offer citizenship to anyone provided they renounce their U.S. citizenship,” said Mr. Means.

The Lakota delegation delivered signed documents to the U.S. State Department informing officials of the decision to formally declare sovereignty from the United States as a result of its genocidal assault on the political, cultural and economic freedom of the Lakota Nation. The geographic area making up what will be called the Republic of Lakota covers portions of northern Nebraska, half of South Dakota, one-quarter of North Dakota, 20 percent of Montana and 20 percent of Wyoming. Mr. Means used the term “apartheid” to describe the dire conditions facing the Lakota Nation.

The life expectancy of Lakota men is less than 44 years; 97 percent of the Lakota people live below the poverty line. The Lakota infant mortality rate is 300 percent higher than the national average. The tuberculosis rate on Lakota reservations is 800 percent higher than the national average; cervical cancer is 500 percent higher than the national average; the rate of diabetes is 800 percent higher than the national average.

Update on Benjamin Gerard Hawkins

Previously

And Down Goes Massa...I Mean, Massie

All this bullshit surrounding George Zimmerman's glaring lack of an arrest reminds me that we need to pause to remember slightly happier times.

Remember Benjamin Hawkins? He's the guy who took out John Massie with just one punch last summer in Las Vegas. I told you I'd be keeping tabs on him.  It's been a while since some real news popped up, which I'm more than happy to share.

Initially he was charged with murder, but that has been reduced.  From the Standard Examiner:

LAS VEGAS — A former Florida high school football coach will stand trial in Nevada on an involuntary manslaughter charge in the one-punch death of a man after racial insults in a Las Vegas Strip casino restroom, a judge decided Tuesday.

Las Vegas Justice of the Peace William Jansen said it was up to a jury to determine if Benjamin Gerard Hawkins was defending himself when he struck John Massie, of Roy, early July 6 at O’Shea’s Las Vegas Casino. He could face probation or up to four years in prison if convicted.

Police said witnesses heard Massie say he noticed “a black man in a yellow shirt” while both men were in the casino’s restroom. Hawkins, 38, was the only black man in the restroom. Massie, 46, was white.

Casino security guard Oscar Velasquez testified Tuesday that Hawkins told him that Massie used a black racial epithet and continued to deride him as the two men exited the restroom separately.

RIP Trayvon Martin

From the Huffington Post:

Trayvon Martin, an unarmed African-American teenager, was shot and killed in a gated community in Florida late last month by a white neighborhood watch captain, according to police. But the watch captain, George Zimmerman — a 26-year-old college student who has admitted to police that he shot the young man — still walks free. And Martin's family is pleading for answers and demanding justice.

At this point there are more questions than answers in the young man's death, but this much is known: Martin was packing little more than a bag of candy and a canned iced tea on the night he was killed.

"He had a gun, and Trayvon had Skittles," Benjamin Crump, a family attorney, told The Huffington Post this afternoon.

Kittens, Ugly Ricky, and Suicide for the Cause

Clearly we need to talk about this.  I noticed that on the last thread, it was on a lot of people's minds.

For starters, the Bar commends Sandra Fluke.  All she wanted to do was point out something that's been obvious to women for forever: the biggest problem with birth control pills is that they're called "birth control" pills, when not every woman takes them for that (a fact which I've noticed Republikkkans are ignoring like it hasn't been stated a thousand times).  Now, I'm not going to go so far as to call Fluke a hero; she's protected by white privilege and class privilege, and anyone with two brain cells so we all knew any backlash against her would be punishable.

So, Yeah...Obama's Going to be President Again

The Republicans have all but handed him the presidency.  I don't even know why we're bothering with an election at this point.

First there's the matter of the competition, or rather, the lack thereof.

POC of the Vampire Diaries: Lucy Bennett

Previously

The Vampire Diaries

Sheila Bennett

Emily Bennett

Bree

Jonas and Luka Martin

Anna and Pearl

Bonnie Bennett

Greta Martin

Abby Bennett

Aimee Bradley

Carter and Nurse Haynes
Gloria

Aside for the fact that Lucy Bennett is 1) a cousin to Bonnie Bennett, 2) a witch, and 3) briefly indebted to the vampire Katherine, we know nothing about this woman.

POC of the Vampire Diaries: Gloria

Charmin Lee

Previously

The Vampire Diaries

Sheila Bennett

Emily Bennett

Bree

Jonas and Luka Martin

Anna and Pearl

Bonnie Bennett

Greta Martin

Abby Bennett

Aimee Bradley

Carter and Nurse Haynes

Gloria is a witch (I know, big shocker, right?) from season 3 of TVD.  She runs a club where she's been performing at least since the 1920s.  She found a way to slow the aging process, but she's not immortal.  Because of the age difference, Gloria's portrayed by two different actresses: Enisha Brewster in the flashback to the 1920s, and Charmin Lee as present-day Gloria.

POC of the Vampire Diaries: Carter & Nurse Haynes

~ Special Edition ~

BJ Britt as "Carter"

Previously

The Vampire Diaries

Sheila Bennett

Emily Bennett

Bree

Jonas and Luka Martin

Anna and Pearl

Bonnie Bennett

Greta Martin

Abby Bennett

Aimee Bradley

This post has been a loooooooooong time coming.  Carter and Nurse Haynes are from the beginning of season 2.  If we thought Sheila Bennett was a hint at the POC body count to come, these two confirmed that suspicion with a vengeance.

POC of the Vampire Diaries: Aimee Bradley

Previously

The Vampire Diaries
Sheila Bennett
Emily Bennett
Bree
Jonas and Luka Martin
Anna and Pearl
Bonnie Bennett
Greta Martin
Abby Bennett

I was actually going to do a couple of other characters before this one, but because of my current "defend Asian America" kick, the character of Aimee Bradley got bumped to the front of the line.  I was mistaken to say Anna and Pearl were the only Asian characters on the show, but that's because I mistook the gorgeously luminous actress Tiya Sircar for African American.  She actually looks like a lot of African Americans, and East Africans too, but she's of East Indian descent.  A native Texan, she speaks multiple languages, including Bengali and Spanish. I'm guessing she's often mistaken for Latina as well.

Asian America...Seriously...the Bar Has Your Back

Yes, this post has to do with Jeremy Lin.  To many Asian Americans, Jeremy Lin is like Barack Obama; he showed us it could be done, it should be done, and that it shouldn't taken this long to be done.

Linsanity and Obamamania go hand in hand, in that while uniting, inspiring, and igniting some people over here, they unleash a bunch of racist haters over there.  Jeremy Lin, gods bless him, has gotten more people calling out racism against Asian Americans, and has gotten folks talking about it - overall - more than ever.

Lin has really uncorked whatever racism towards Asians in general is usually bottled up, and considering how openly racist Americans are towards Asians anyway, that's saying something.  I'm remind now about an article about The Help (2011) in which the writer makes a reference to 21st Century white people.  Problem is, Jeremy Lin and the Obamas have shown us that there's no such animal.

"Why You?", a poem

Oh, so you're gonna be one of those.
You know...those?
A my-oh-my one of those;
an I-don't-know-why,
got me winding through the gray cubes
one of those, looking for a stapler
we all know doesn't exist.

Pencil me in
for paper clips, a legal pad, and those footrest things
for short people,
so the ergonomic department
will find the new girl in compliance.
Adjust my chair while you're at it, would you?
And tell me how these screens work again...?

I'm not looking up your email address, I swear;
I already know your full name
and how many languages you speak.
I know you don't wear a wedding band,
your favorite color's navy blue (I think),
and you hate your cell phone carrier.

Irrational crushes
 - that's what I don't know.
Last-minute coffee,
freebie calendars,
blue ink pens,
 - focus, damn it, focus!
I swear I didn't have a dream about you last night
'cause I'm not thinking about sex with you.
I'm just not thinking about sex with you.
I'm just not thinking about sex with you....