Black History Month

It should be obvious now that Erasure is a problem. It's not only a problem for all women no matter their race, DNA, sexual orientation, or religion. (Look up Intersectional Feminism if you don't get where I'm at with that.) Erasure is a tool used against all oppressed groups. (Repeat after me: oppression is a system. It has easily definable patterns.) Bring on Black History Month. It's been a great excuse to educate myself. (This is, the purpose of Black History Month, after all.) I admit, I'm doing partly because I'm writing about persons of color more and more in my work. I'm also doing it because this is a huge gap in my education and it sucks. Speaking as a white person to white people, we cannot afford a) to rely on what we're taught in school because it's mostly bullshit--THANK YOU, TEXAS[1] and b) we ignore Black History at the peril of democracy--that is, what shred there is remaining in the US.

As a result of that self-education and exploration, I've recently discovered Pivot Television. It's nothing new, but it makes me happy. They're addressing issues of more substance than what outfit Paris Hilton is wearing, or the latest verbal attack on Taylor Swift.[2] Now, once you've watched that episode on BLM go to this article by SFF author Mikki Kendall: The police can’t police themselves. And now the public is too scared to cooperate with them. Also, PBS is running a show on The Black Panther Party. I haven't seen it yet, but given my 1970s research I'm very much looking forward to it.

Two more links: Writing & Social Justice Teleseminar (it's free.) and Four Ways White People Can Process Their Emotions Without Bringing the White Tears. That last one is extremely helpful and reasonable, y'all. Wish I'd read it years ago, myself.[3] 

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[1] For those who don't understand that comment, I give you this. Yes, I understand that influence is waning at last, but the damage is done and continues to be done.
[2] Hey, there's nothing wrong with Pop Culture News. Sometimes mindless entertainment is necessary in order to de-stress. I get it. It's only a problem if that's ALL you pay attention to, you know? I can't help seeing the new frequency that that crap is being featured on standard news outlets as a Bread and Circuses tactic. I also feel that way about 'reality' television, but I digress.
​[3] It doesn't only apply to White Tears either. It can also apply to CIS/Het Man Discomfort too.