oxfordcommas:

10 Things You Should Know About Slavery and Won’t Learn at ‘Django’

Consequently, here’s my top-10 list of things everyone should know about the economic roots of slavery.

1) Slavery laid the foundation for the modern international economic system.
The massive infrastructure required to move 8 to 10 million Africans halfway around the world built entire cities in England and France, such as Liverpool, Manchester and Bordeaux. It was key to London’s emergence as a global capital of commerce, and spurred New York’s rise as a center of finance. The industry to construct, fund, staff, and administer the thousands of ships which made close to 50,000 individual voyages was alone a herculean task. The international financial and distribution networks required to coordinate, maintain and profit from slavery set the framework for the modern global economy.

2) Africans’ economic skills were a leading reason for their enslavement.
Africans possessed unique expertise which Europeans required to make their colonial ventures successful. Africans knew how to grow and cultivate crops in tropical and semi-tropical climates. African rice growers, for instance, were captured in order to bring their agricultural knowledge to America’s sea islands and those of the Caribbean. Many West African civilizations possessed goldsmiths and expert metal workers on a grand scale. These slaves were snatched to work in Spanish and Portuguese gold and silver mines throughout Central and South America. Contrary to the myth of unskilled labor, large numbers of Africans were anything but.

3) African know-how transformed slave economies into some of the wealthiest on the planet.
The fruits of the slave trade funded the growth of global empires. The greatest source of wealth for imperial France was the “white gold” of sugar produced by Africans in Haiti. More riches flowed to Britain from the slave economy of Jamaica than all of the original American 13 colonies combined. Those resources underwrote the Industrial Revolution and vast improvements in Western Europe’s economic infrastructure.

4) Until it was destroyed by the Civil War, slavery made the American South the richest and most powerful region in America.
Slavery was a national enterprise, but the economic and political center of gravity during the U.S.’s first incarnation as a slave republic was the South. This was true even during the colonial era. Virginia was its richest colony and George Washington was one of its wealthiest people because of his slaves. The majority of the new country’s presidents and Supreme Court justices were Southerners.

However, the invention of the cotton gin took the South’s national economic dominance and transformed it into a global phenomenon. British demand for American cotton, as I have written before, made the southern stretch of the Mississippi River the Silicon Valley of its era. The single largest concentration of America’s millionaires was gathered in plantations along the Mississippi’s banks. The first and only president of the Confederacy—Jefferson Davis—was a Mississippi, millionaire slave holder.

5) Defense of slavery, more than taxes, was pivotal to America’s declaration of independence.
The South had long resisted Northern calls to leave the British Empire. That’s because the South sold most of its slave-produced products to Britain and relied on the British Navy to protect the slave trade. But a court case in England changed all of that. In 1775, a British court ruled that slaves could not be held in the United Kingdom against their will. Fearing that the ruling would apply to the American colonies, the Southern planters swung behind the Northern push for greater autonomy. In 1776, one year later, America left its former colonial master. The issue of slavery was so powerful that it changed the course of history.

6) The brutalization and psychological torture of slaves was designed to ensure that plantations stayed in the black financially.
Slave revolts and acts of sabotage were relatively common on Southern plantations. As economic enterprises, the disruption in production was bad for business. Over time a system of oppression emerged to keep things humming along. This centered on singling out slaves for public torture who had either participated in acts of defiance or who tended towards noncompliance. In fact, the most recalcitrant slaves were sent to institutions, such as the “Sugar House” in Charleston, S.C., where cruelty was used to elicit cooperation. Slavery’s most inhumane aspects were just another tool to guarantee the bottom line.

7) The economic success of former slaves during Reconstruction led to the rise of the Klu Klux Klan.
In less than 10 years after the end of slavery, blacks created thriving communities and had gained political power—including governorships and Senate seats—across the South. Former slaves, such Atlanta’s Alonzo Herndon, had even become millionaires in the post-war period. But the move towards black economic empowerment had upset the old economic order. Former planters organized themselves into White Citizens Councils and created an armed wing—the Klu Klux Klan—to undermine black economic institutions and to force blacks into sharecropping on unfair terms. Isabel Wilkerson’s Pulitzer Prize-winning book, “The Warmth of Other Suns”, details the targeting of black individuals, as well as entire black communities, for acts of terror whose purpose was to enforce economic apartheid.

8) The desire to maintain economic oppression is why the South was one of the most anti-tax regions of the nation.
Before the Civil War, the South routinely blocked national infrastructure protects. These plans, focused on Northern and Western states, would have moved non-slave goods to market quickly and cheaply. The South worried that such investments would increase the power of the free-labor economy and hurt their own, which was based on slavery. Moreover, the South was vehemently opposed to taxes even to improve the lives of non-slaveholding white citizens. The first public school in the North, Boston Latin, opened its doors in the mid-1600s. The first public school in the South opened 200 years later. Maintenance of slavery was the South’s top priority to the detriment of everything else.

9) Many firms on Wall Street made fortunes from funding the slave trade.
Investment in slavery was one of the most profitable economic activities throughout most of New York’s 350 year history. Much of the financing for the slave economy flowed through New York banks. Marquis names such as JP Morgan Chase and New York Life all profited greatly from slavery. Lehman Brothers, one of Wall Street’s largest firms until 2008, got its start in the slave economy of Alabama. Slavery was so important to the city that New York was one the most pro-slavery urban municipalities in the North.

10) The wealth gap between whites and blacks, the result of slavery, has yet to be closed.
The total value of slaves, or “property” as they were then known, could exceed $12 million in today’s dollars on the largest plantations. With land, machinery, crops and buildings added in, the wealth of southern agricultural enterprises was truly astronomical. Yet when slavery ended, the people that generated the wealth received nothing.

The country has struggled with the implications of this inequity ever since. With policy changes in Washington since 1865, sometimes this economic gulf has narrowed and sometimes it’s widened, but the economic difference has never been erased. Today, the wealth gap between whites and blacks is the largest recorded since records began to be kept three decades ago.

Definitely didn’t know a bunch of this.

missturdle:

immortal-sunlight-chaos-heart:

vorpalsnatcher:

In my perpetual and obsessive hunt for anyone who might somehow, somewhere, not be agreeing completely with everything that I have ever said, I’ve noted some skepticism vis-a-vis assmilation, its presence in the Harry Potter series, and its place in the majestic annals of my little brown childhood as a book about racism with eight fucking people of color present in all of its majestic 4195 pages.

So let me elaborate.

The themes of racism, assimilation, and cultural erasure in Harry Potter are a massive fucking problem, and unlike, say, more than eight PoC,^[1] they are present. They are constant. And they are obvious. In book one Hermione proudly states her muggle heritage as the very first thing about her, not even giving out her name before saying at an enorous speed , “Nobody in my family’s magic at all, it was ever such a surprise when I got my letter…” By book seven the name she gives out is somebody else’s. By book seven, and a long time before that, she doesn’t dare to be herself.

It’s very obvious to anyone who has ever glanced at the spine of one of these books that wizards do not like muggles. Even by the standards of the good and the kind, they are at best a subject of condescending fascination, and at worst a greedy^[2], gullible population of useless man-babies^[3].

Fig. 1: The Grizzly Man of magical assholes.

Even the word itself seems to have the ring of a racial epithet; it’s nearly always use in a derogatory manner, and “blood status” is dictated by being as genetically far from muggles as possible. Magical blood is desirable blood, and anyone without it is worthless no matter how they got that way.

Let’s talk about squibs. Another word one step away from a slur, squibs are just as unwelcome in the wizarding world as muggles are. Their opinions count for nothing, they are a subject of unthinkable shame^[4] and ridicule, and are politely encouraged to keep the fuck out of this whole magic thing altogether. While “mudbloods”^[5] fill the roll of the tragic mulatto, squibs are expected to assimilate twice as much, and not even with the world they were born into. You either fit into their world or you get the hell out of it.

J.K. Rowling is an intelligent woman. A generous woman. A woman wise to the cruelty and unfairness of the world around her. A woman for whom I have a single, simple question.

Are wizards supposed to be dicks?

It’s a given that muggles aren’t welcome in the wizarding world. Okay. Fine. Putting that obvious hurricane of bullshit, let’s talk about the innumberable mountains of condsecention, exclusion, and balls out, unabashed, right-up-in-your-muddy-little-faces “blood supremecy”^[6] decorating my entire goddamn childhood.

Fig. 2: This has nothing to do with white supremecy.

— Arthur’s Weasley’s fascination with muggles, as if they are something to be studied rather than humans to interact with on an equal social level and thus reducing them entirely to the differences between his culture and theirs^[7]. This mirrors with painful clarity attitudes of unthinkably stupid white people toward other cultures, their sad tendency to appropiate and wonder at the quaint/mysterious/socially uncceptable traditions of these cultures, and their ridiculous savior complexes^[8]

Fig. 3: A powerful argument on the subject of brown people not knowing what computers are.

— refusal, even by the weasleys^[9] to adopt, acknowlege, or learn from muggle technology including various medical proceedures like chemotherapy and bone marrow transplants^[10], electricity, guns^[11], computers, television, recording devices such as ipods or cds or casette tapes or 8 tracks or vynil records, airplanes^[12], any beverage besides alcohol, weaker alcohol, or fucking pumpkin juice^[13], forensic science, space shuttles, internal medicine, cars¹⁴, plastic, lined paper and fucking pencils.

— also why do they have quills is she saying that wizards invented pens?

Fig. 4: Sorcery

— why do they have toilets?

Fig. 5: Also sorcery

— if wizards did invent pens/toilets then a), why aren’t their toilets magic, b), they are shit at hiding pens and toilets from us, and c), they are also shit at making pens because we are clearly way the fuck ahead of the vis-a-vis pen-related technological advancements

— are there just no wizard artists because how the fuck does anyone draw without a pencil?

— their dickish refusal to share their hugely benificial technology with muggles, including the ablity to reattach amputated limbs and reverse paralysis, the ability to repair and even regrow broken bones, their ability heal gigantic life threatening lacerations that would kill a muggle in minutes, their ability to generate unlimited clean energy out of fuck nowhere, vechicles which run on fucking nothing and so would solve the oil crisis and the two fucking wars we’re in, mental magic which if used voluntarily likely be extremely useful as a psychiatric treatment

— combining the technological efforts of wizards and muggles would likely advance human society as a whole by literally hundreds of years.

— but wizards just won’t fucking do it

— the only reasoning ever given for any of this is “oh nooooo but muggles would be jeeeeealous”^[15] and “bluh bluh bluh muggle shit doesn’t work when things are ~magic~” which a) is obviously total bullshit because how the fuck do they work radios or cars or cash registers, it’s not like they could even have like an old timey cash register with no wiring or other electric aspects because they haven’t even figured out how a fucking type writer works, they don’t even have fucking /tellegrams/, b) why is there an entire department of the ministry devoted to the confiscation of misused “muggle artifacts”^[16] if none of them fucking work, c) once again if they don’t work then why is it illegal to have them. Even taking that to the most logical conclusion, that they don’t want muggles getting ahold of them, why it okay to have things like magic wizard feather pens, a mail service concisisting entirely of fucking owls (by which logic there are birds carrying all of the packages you ever send anywhere, and while something like a rememberall or a box of acidic slug pus might go unnoticed, people are probably going to wonder what’s up with the fucking broomsticks and christmas presents and anything bigger than a loaf of bread.

And further still down the breadcrumb path of douchery, we have out tragic mulattos themselves. I’m not sure excatly how anyone could possibly be unclear as to how this reflects racism and its effects on its victims; “mudbloods” (otherwise referred to as the scum atop the pure, unsoiled gene pond) are insulted, persecuted, and eventually rounded up and presumably disposed of. ^[17]

Fig. 6: This has nothing to do with the holocaust.

Oh sure, you can argure that it’s just because the people who do those things are dicks, except for the part where pretty much everyone does them. There are laws to fuck mudbloods over. There are words to fuck mudbloods over ^[18]. There are microaggressions and prejudices and the KKK and Wizard. Fucking. Hitler. The themes of tolerence come straight out of Joanne NMN Rowling’s beautiful British mouth, and yet she wasn’t tolerant enough to put more than eight minor character’s worth of brownness in four. Thousand. Pages.

I don’t believe that J.K. Rowling is a racist, but you tell me if that’s not. You tell me if that’s approriative as fuck. You tell me that’s not taking the past atrocities and a present system of opression so ingrained in the public mind that it’s practically invisible. You get up out of your swivel chair, look your keyboard in the eye and tell me that that is not a white woman looking down at a world of murder and persecution and violation and being wiped off the face of the fucking earth which she will never, ever experience or understand, and deciding it would be really great story if it were told by other people who will never experience or understand it. You stare right into your monitor and you tell yourself that tolerance can be taught without the presence of the people you’re supposed to be tolerating. You take a look at us and tell yourself that that’s okay.

Harry Potter taught me a lot of things, but what it didn’t teach me was to stop hating every drop of muddy blood in my body. What it taught me was to hate it more. What it taught me was that every step I took toward that sloppy, dirty half of myself was a step away from being accepted. From being worthwhile. From being loved.

Careful the things you say, Ms. Rowling. Children will listen.

——

Footnotes
——

1. Dean Thomas, Cho Chang, Kingsley Shacklebolt, Blaise Zabini, Lee Jordan, Angelina Johnson, and the Patil twins, all of whom play no significant part in the main plot and would make no significant difference if removed from it entirely.

2. SS, Amer. Ed., pg 65:

“‘But what does a Ministry of Magic do?’”
“‘Well, their main job is to keep it from Muggles that there’s still witches an’ wizards up an’ down the country.’”
“‘Why?’”
“‘Why? Blimey, Harry, everyone’d be wantin’ magic solutions to their problems. Nah, we’re best left alone.’”

Wizards want magic solutions = the natural order. Muggles want magic solutions = greedy little shits.

3. CoS, Amer. Ed, pg 40:

“Ron’s school spellbooks were stacked untidily in a corner, next to a pile of comics that all seemed to feature ‘The Adventures of Martin Miggs, the Mad Muggle’.”

4. SS, Amer. Ed., pg 99

“‘Are all your family wizards?’ asked Harry, who found Ron just as interesting as Ron found him.
‘Er — yes, I think so,’ said Ron. ‘I think Mom’s got a second-cousin who’s an accountant, but we never talk about him.’”

5. Another term which is wildly easy to connect to real world racism, as it not only flung at persons of undesireable genetic origins but contains an actual word denoting something brown, filthly, and valueless.

6. Come on that one’s not even an allegory.

7. See also: Every line that Arthur Weasley ever has.

8. See also: Everything that Harry Potter ever does.

9. Ootp, Amer. Ed., pg 507:

“‘Well…well, I don’t now whether you know what — what stitches are?’
‘It sounds as though you’ve been trying to sew your skin back together,” said Mrs. Weasley with a snort of mirthless laughter, ‘but even you, Arthur, wouldn’t be that stupid — ‘
‘I fancy a cup of tea too,’ said Harry, jumping to his feet.
Hermione, Ron, and Ginny almost sprinted to the door with him. As it swung closed behind them, they heard Mrs. Weasley shriek, ‘WHAT DO YOU MEAN THAT’S THE GENERAL IDEA?”

10. Unless wizards have a way to either not get or actually fucking CURE CANCER in which case holy fucking god they are unbelieveably shitty people and also as I’ve pointed implies that they view muggles in the same way muggles veiw animals, ie, basically no one anywhere is going to give a dog chemotherapy or a gerbil a heart transplant or administer AZT to a parakeet, and when there are treatments for anything from a gangrenous infection to encephilitus to a broken fucking bone people will like 80% of the time let the thing fucking die over paying for them
.
11. Which J.Kizzle R-Boss has canonically stated trump a wand 100% of the time and could therefore be used to shoot Voldemort in the fucking face and end every last turd of this shit twenty years ago.

12. No. Apparition does not count. It is NOT useful over long distances, hence portkeys and so on which also must be basically useless in comparison because even if you did have one of those freaky Mary Poppins bags Hermione has in DH (which with Hermione being Hermione is presumably a fairly tricky spell that most people would have a hard time pulling off) and didn’t have to somehow try to get all your luggage to portkey around with you, if this is how people get around and by what we have to go on in GoF does not appear to cost any money, why is it that the Weasleys can never ever afford to go on vacation except when they win 1000 galleons in PoA? Speaking from 22 years of experience in being pretty goddamn poor, the reason my family hasn’t taken a vacation since I was five and someone else paid for it is air fare. They really, really fuck you on air fare. And even with the need for accomidations for their ridiculous litter of offspring, at least two of said litter have being employed outside of the U.K. for the entirety of the series, with Percy being a relentless douche from book 3 onward, leaving between seven and six Weasleys rather than nine. So unless they burned that tent in GoF down afterward, I’m pretty sure they don’t get around by portkey.

13. Which I will never EVER believe would not taste like something you licked out of the bottom of a dumpster.

14. Which are CLEARLY more convenient than wizarding travel as the ministry itself breaks the laws restricting them from exploring the benifits of muggle technology when ever the fuck they feel like it.

15. Someone please make me a “wizard tears” gif.

16. Another ridiculously condescending term. WE’RE RIGHT THE FUCK HERE YOU TOOLS THOSE AREN’T ARTIFACTS THAT’S JUST OUR SHIT.

17. DH, Amer. Ed., pg. 1 -759.

18. It’s mudblood, by the way.

brilliant, post is brilliant.

idk if I missed it but Grindelwald was basically happening at the same time as Hitler soooo yikes. 

WIZARDS ARE ASSHOLES i have a lot of feelings about this. 

of-poseys:

This post was inspired by this.

I think it’s great to praise the show for what it attempts to do, but you also have to critique what it actually does. If Jeff Davis wants to create a world without racism, well, that’s nice for him. But it doesn’t matter if he doesn’t represent race in his show, which btw he doesn’t.

I know we all love to praise Jeff for pretty much breathing, and that’s fine, but you need to be able to criticize the things you love. The truth is, lycanthropy is more often used as a metaphor for disability as opposed to racism. And using it to demonstrate what it’s like to be ostracized does not work for race specifically. Race is different because it contains centuries of institutionalized enslavement and genocide (which lycanthropy alludes to, but it is far more predisposed to represent abelism or homophobia before racism). And also racism is dependent entirely on appearance — how other people perceive you to be. You can have white privilege and not necessarily be white, but if you look white people will extend white privilege to you.

That is irrelevant to lycanthropy because only the hunters know who is a werewolf and who isn’t. Therefore the kids of Beacon Hills, no matter what they may be on the night of the full moon, are by and large treated as normative members of society.

Also you have to consider what the person in the linked post discusses, which is the fact that werewolves are the perfect killing machines and do present a logical, dangerous threat. That is antithetical to racism, which targets a group of people based on completely unimportant (in terms of biological development) superficial differences in skin tone and bone structure and portrays them to be harmful, dangerous, or “less-evolved” as a justification for killing and enslaving them.

And in terms of broader representation on this show, Jeff Davis cannot say he is running a racially progressive show because he isn’t. Sorry not sorry. If you think Teen Wolf is a racially progressive show you are not paying attention and probably need to examine your own privilege.

You have a lead POC whose race is never mentioned and does not factor into who he is at all. This is different from the way the show deals with homophobia and sexism because at least homophobia and sexism are MENTIONED within the show’s universe (comments from Allison about not wanting to be a “pathetic girl”, Lydia’s insistence on not wanting to be turned into a psychotic insecure girl, the showdown between Scott and Finstock as he danced with Danny, etc.). Scott never encounters racism, no one ever mentions his race, he doesn’t mention his race, and his name is “white”. 

Also, we need to talk about Boyd, the vet, and the guidance councilor. Dr. Deaton is a wise man, and about as representative of race as Lucius Fox (basically, not at all). He has zero human complexity (and we ARE two seasons into this show). The guidance councilor’s storyline has barely begun.

But the biggest screw up Jeff Davis has made on the subject of race is with Boyd. My beautiful, precious, nonexistent Boyd. Boyd has no family, no story, no background, no home, and when he even makes his brief cameos in the show, he’s usually somebody’s backup or lackey. He has no human complexity, and his one moment of individuality comes when he says he wants to be like Scott. Which is then promptly ignored and never covered again. Erica gets a storyline. Isaac gets a storyline. Matt the photographer gets a storyline.

So where’s Boyd’s?

This is why Teen Wolf has, so far, pretty much failed completely in discussions of race and racism. I know I talk about this a lot, so for the people who follow me I’m sorry if this gets repetitive, but this is a discussion this fandom needs to have. Because we have a LOT of people here who commend the show for things it doesn’t do, and that can be harmful if it prevents a real discussion from taking place. So I’ll keep on posting about it until it catches on, because I think it’s important. If we can petition Jeff Davis for stuff like Sterek to happen (which is a discussion for another day because yikes), then we can definitely bring this to his attention. If he doesn’t realize what a problem this is, then he’ll never fix it. But if the fans can bring it to his attention, then I think he will. 

(Source: alphasbane)

skullfuck-you:

-Vinnie Paz, from Jedi Mind Tricks-

ninasafiri:

“This year a black person has died on average every 40 hours at the hands of a police officer or — though to a lesser extent — a security guard or vigilante. In 1892, when lynchings reached their peak in the United States, a black person was strung up on average every 54 hours.”

hamburgerjack:

highvoodoopussypope:

Reblogging this one more time to add:

• rThis number has changed. Now it’s a Black person every 36 hours.
• Think about it. You are killing more Black people now in “lawful” ways than you were when it was just outright racism.

But that’s always been the goal.

They can’t kill us all but they sure will try.

It’s genocide or enslavement.

But the question is, what will we do?

(Source: paxamericana)

❝I must confess that over the past few years I have been gravely disappointed with the white moderate. I have almost reached the regrettable conclusion that the Negro’s great stumbling block in his stride toward freedom is not the White Citizen’s Counciler or the Ku Klux Klanner, but the white moderate, who is more devoted to “order” than to justice; who prefers a negative peace which is the absence of tension to a positive peace which is the presence of justice; who constantly says: “I agree with you in the goal you seek, but I cannot agree with your methods of direct action”; who paternalistically believes he can set the timetable for another man’s freedom; who lives by a mythical concept of time and who constantly advises the Negro to wait for a “more convenient season.” Shallow understanding from people of good will is more frustrating than absolute misunderstanding from people of ill will. Lukewarm acceptance is much more bewildering than outright rejection.❞

Martin Luther King, Jr., Letter from a Birmingham City Jail, 1963 (via carton-rouge)

Boom. Indifferent, “colorblind,” privileged white liberals roasted.  (via voicesofearth)

the MLK white people never want to quote…

(via talldarkbishoujo)

oumkhartoum:

abunchoftwats:

stupidiamaxima:

oumkhartoum:

I love that the main character of Teen Wolf is a man of colour, specifically a Latin@ man but that isn’t enough when his ethnicity is white-washed on the show. Both the actor and character are Latin@ but anything in relation to his ethnicity is not mentioned and even specifically ignored. He was given the name Scott McCall to avoid any dialogue about his identity. The creator of the show prides himself in hiring a Latin@ actor and released a white-savior esque statement about it. I want to see Scott’s identity established on the show and I want him to stop being the mule that carries every single person’s problems. His wants and needs are never addressed. He is in an arguably abusive relationship with a girl whose family is trying to kill him. We don’t know a single thing about who he is and two seasons have already passed.

I was wondering about his ethnicity for the longest time (I would’ve thought italian tbh)

I am curious why you would say his relationship to Allison is abusive? And what you mean by he is caring every single person’s problems, to me it doesn’t seem like that at all except for the fact that he is the hero and saves the day, he isn’t exactly caring about anyone’s problems. To clarify I am honestly curious, because I have been completely oblivious to that interpretation, so please tell me? 

I think Ethnicities & sexual orientations in Teen Wolf are completely irrelevant, because they’re werewolves.

Also I’m quite concerned with you saying that Tyler Posey (origins: English, English/French) ‘s character, Scott McCall (origins: Scottish/Scottish) as a white-washed name .

His wants and needs are never addressed… are… … ok…. do you even watch the show ? I can’t say anything about the arguably abusive relationship with Allison though. The guy is thrown around like a ragdoll.

Tyler Posey is a man of colour who has identified publicly as such of his own choice. Therefore, unless stated otherwise his characters will always be Latin@. To assume he does not have an ethnicity or to believe it is unimportant is to assume everyone is white unless stated otherwise. That is racism. Hollywood is void of racial diversity and every assertion of people of colour existing in the media, as we do in real life is necessary. Tyler has also said his character is specifically Latin@ and the creator reaffirmed that by discussing his mother’s ethnicity on the show in a statement. Regardless of the show’s plotline, race and ethnicity will always be important. To claim they are irrelevant is to do your own white-washing of the characters, and thus erasure of people of colour in society. They are also not all werewolves, nor did the show open in the first minute of the premiere with Scott being a werewolf. He lived for over a decade before becoming a werewolf in high school which makes for substantial writing material. I fail to see the logic in his ethnicity or race no longer mattering after a wolf bite.

His needs are not addressed and yes, like you say he is thrown around like a ragdoll. That is a perfect example of what I am saying. We do not know his personality outside of how it relates to keeping Allison, or anyone else safe. Every single action and thought of his is born out of wanting to protect and do right by others. His character is constantly in motion with very few minutes of him being mentally healthy or calm. That is something people of colour are not allowed on television. Scott McCall is always in pain and the fandom enjoys it. His anguish and trauma keeps everyone elses’ lives in motion. We also know very little about his background and family. You thinking his race is irrelevant is proof of the writers failing to establish who he is. We do however know about Allison and Stiles’ families, who are white. We know that Stiles’ mother passed away but Scott’s father has never been discussed. We know and have been introduced to Allison’s extended family and their legacy but nothing about Boyd who is Black and nothing about Scott who is Latin@. That is not a coincidence, nor is the lack of racial diversity on the show one either. Everything about media is intentional. Stiles, or should I call him the perfect white boy as he is perceived to be, is allowed to be a dynamic, evolving character who contradicts himself, makes a fool out of himself, is funny, and sad and angry and everyone loves him for it. He is allowed to be bitter about Lydia not liking him in return. He is allowed to be passive-aggressive towards her with this Monday’s season finale showing him yell at her for not returning his feelings. The fandom calls it cute, romantic and dedicated. I point it out as misogyny. In a recent episode Stiles said to an unnamed Black girl that she made him reconsider hitting a girl, because she dunked his head in water to help him sober up. He blatantly threatened violence towards a Black girl and nobody said a word about it, within the show or fandom. Racism is very prevalent on the show, and therefore race matters. It dictates every decision the writers and director make regarding casting and story-lines.

As for sexual orientations being irrelevant that logic will never hold up either. The show depicts multiple romantic and sexual relationships of heterosexual couples. That is expressing sexuality, no? Scott and Allison and Lydia and Jackson are the main couples but there have been brief representations of other hetero romances. The sole gay character on the show is Danny, who is also a man of colour. His sexuality is hardly allowed to be shown outside of using it as a tool to get the straight characters what they want. He is the token gay man who is baited into performing tasks for the other men under the guise of flirtation and potential romance with them. He is depicted as a gay man who is easily manipulated by the bodies and touch of other men. He is hypersexualized and every characteristic attributed to him is extended onto gay men of colour.

You are extremely arrogant to insert yourself in a conversation about the representation of people of colour on Teen Wolf and how non-white actors have to live and work in a racist industry. These are things you may not have to even think about, because Whiteness is the default. But many of us, including the star of the show itself, have to worry about being invisible and we deserve a safe space to have these conversations.

(Source: onedirectionfacingmecca)

minatobaby:

whenever anyone mentions “playing the race card” in an argument I can only think

“I PLAY WHITE PRIVILEGE IN ATTACK MODE”

(Source: cheriass)

thesavagesalad:

btw if you have one of those “HOTTEST MEN EVER” tumblr photo set things and it’s void of any POC like idk Elliot Knight or Tiger JK or Idris Elba then I ever every reason in the world to h8 blog u just fyi