FLOTUS Haters Pay For Their Racist Bigotry With Their Jobs

The election of Trump has sent a signal to bigoted and racist white people that they can be as offensive as they wanna be.  

But with that First Amendment freedom to be as reprehensibly racist as they wish to be, they are also finding out the hard way racist hate speech has a cost.

Pam Taylor, the former director of the non profit Clay County Development Corporation in Clay, WV found this lesson out the hard way along with Clay, WV mayor Beverly Whaling

Taylor wrote a racist message on her Facebook page cosigned by Whaling calling First Lady Michelle Obama an 'ape in heels', and then was shocked when the post went viral and the inevitable backlash hit her azz over the offensive comment that  cost Taylor her job.. 

Mayor Whaling, who cosigned Taylor racist post by writing, 'Just made my day, Pam' and subsequently deleting it when she also began to feel the heat, has resigned from the Clay. WV mayor's chair.

What Pam, you and former mayor Whiting mad because the FLOTUS not only hold two Ivy League degrees earned with cum laude grades, but has been the epitome of grace despite having to deal with nonstop ethnic slurs hurled at her, her daughters and her husband?

Miss me with those white women's tears.  You comment makes it clear you are.  You're only mad because you posted your ugly bigoted disdain for the FLOTUS on social media and got busted for it..

Bye, Pam.  Just an FYI for your ignorant behind, apes can also look like this:

Maybe you can find a job in the incoming Trump administration you love so much since it seems that being an overtly racist white person doesn't disqualify you for employment in it.

Hillary Clinton Calls Out Trump For 'Steady Stream Of Bigotry'

Hillary Clinton put Donald Trump on blast during a speech in Reno, Nevada on race relations that rebutted Trump's ludicrous charge that Clinton was a bigot.

Stop projecting, Donald.

Clinton didn't call him a bigot, but made it clear without uttering his name that she was talking about the Republican nominee. She  came armed in this Reno speech with numerous examples of Trump's bigotry during this campaign and in his personal life.

"There's always been a paranoid fringe in our politics, a lot of it arising from racial resentment. But it's never had the nominee of the major party stoking it. encouraging it, and giving it a national megaphone until now." Clinton said in her speech.

Here's the link to that speech if you missed it.

Rep. Steve King Shows His White Supremacist Side

While Melania Trump is justifiably being dragged by Twitter for plagiarizing First Lady Michelle Obama's 2008 speech, need to direct your attention to much more egregious commentary made earlier in the day by a longtime TransGriot SUF Awards contender in Rep. Steve King (R-IA)

I can't stand King because of his long history racist remarks, but yesterday he went too far during an MSNBC interview in which he must have been reading Mein Kampf before he went on air



King said that non-whites 'subgroups' haven't contributed to Western civilization in comments made in response to writer Charles Pierce's comments about 'old white guys' running the Republican Party. .
Well Steve, here's a short list for the stuff just African Americans have contributed to society like blood banks, open heart surgery, traffic signals, gas masks, potato chips, refrigerated trucks and railway cars, the world's fastest computer, automated steam engine lubricator and the Super Soaker water gun..

Benjamin Banneker not only built the first clock in the Americas, he published an almanac for over a decade and helped do the surveys that laid out Washington D.C.

So naw fool, your ignorant racist behind doesn't even need to try to go there

Note To KY Bigots: Don't Yell The N-Word At A Black Judge

We're barely six days into 2016 and we already have vanillacentric privileged white guys showing their asses and jockeying for SUF honors.

The latest example came in my old Louisville stomping grounds in Kentucky Circuit Court Judge Olu Stevens court..   He was elected to the 30th Judicial Court seat in Louisville in 2010 and was unopposed in his 2014 reelection campaign for an eight year term that doesn't expire until January 1, 2023.

Stevens is one of the few African-American judges in the commonwealth of Kentucky, and has had to deal with his share of racist commentary from people transiting his Louisville area courtroom.

He is also not 'scurred' to tell it like it T-I-S is either.   He chided one person for writing some problematic racist comments in a victim impact statement.  He has criticized all white juries for trials involving Black defendants in a Louisville that is 25% African-American.

And on Monday, the latest instance in which he has faced racism in his courtroom happened.

Adam Satterly was facing the legal music in front of Judge Stevens for violating the terms of his bond on multiple methamphetamine charges.  
As he was being taken into custody, Satterly uttered the audible to many observers in the courtroom comment of "punk azz n----r",

He was immediately brought back before Judge Stevens, and realizing he'd screwed up, tried to claim he was speaking to his brother.  Judge Stevens wasn't buying that excuse, held Satterly in contempt of court and gave him a 60 day sentence for it.   After Satterly apologized the next day to him in his courtroom, he commuted the sentence to time served.

And what did we learn here Kentucky bigots?  If you get in legal trouble and find yourself in front of a Black judge, it would be wise of you to keep your racist commentary to yourself..

Y'all Still Hatin' On Serena

Was happy to find out that Sports Illustrated chose Serena Williams as their 2015 Sportsperson of the Year, and deservedly so.

When you come within two sets of accomplishing a tennis feat that hasn't been successfully completed since 1988, you dominated your sport so thoroughly at age 34 that the biggest news in it was you losing in the US Open semis,yeah, you deserve it.

But there are some folks out there, starting with the LA Times who were hatin' on my fave tennis playing sibling and showed their racist  behinds by disrespectfully running a poll comparing her with a horse.and transmisogynist horse racing fans showing their asses on Twitter.

Bet you wouldn't do the same thing to Maria Sharapova, who BTW, wishes she had 1/10th of Serena's talent along with the rest of the European glamazons she routinely beats on the WTA tour.

This ongoing racist and trans misogynistic hatred of her unapologetically Black self is why I and the rest of Black America love her and gleefully celebrate Serena's Grand Slam wins and mourn when she loses in Grand Slam tournaments.


And I and Black America are tired of you vanillacentric privileged haters attacking her femininity.

And with the 2016 tennis schedule about to kick off with the first Grand Slam tournament of the year being the Australian Open from January 18-31, frankly I'm hoping Serena uses it as a springboard to accomplishing the Golden Slam in 2016.

What's the Golden Slam?   Winning all four tennis majors plus the Olympic singles gold medal in a calendar year, which is what Steffi Graf accomplished in 1988.

And speaking of Graf, with one more Grand tournament win, she ties Steffi for all time Grand Slam tournament wins, and Margaret Court's 24 wins are in striking range of Serena this upcoming season as well.

Go Serena!  See y'all haters in Melbourne next month for the Australian Open.

International Anti-Blackness Is Real

One of the problems that we have as African descended people across the Diaspora is that Blackness is despised and demonized across the planet and has been for centuries.

Planet Earth ain't post-racial either.  Whether it is a Kenneth Eng writing a 2007 column entitled 'Why I Hate Blacks' in an San Francisco based Asian newspaper, Satoshi Kanazawa trying to justify his fracked up 2011 study that declared Black women ugly, and Asian-Americans being called out by other Asian-Americans for their anti-Black racism, anti-Black attitudes and racism have an undeniable international cachet.

The recent complaints in The Land of the Rising Sun that Miss Universe Japan 2015 Ariana Miyamoto isn't Japanese enough despite being born there, a Japanese citizen currently residing in that nation, her mother being full blooded Japanese, having fifth degree mastery of calligraphy and she being a fluent Japanese speaker only add to the pissivity and anger of Black people across the African Diaspora having to confront anti-Black racism no matter where they go on this planet.. 

I'm aware of anti-Black racism rearing its ugly head in the Arab world, and even in supposedly progressive Israel, they have their problems with anti-Black racism rearing its ugly head there as well.

And while they try to ignore, deny it or pass it off as a 'North American issue', anti-Black racism is alive and is a problem in Latin America.

And haven't forgotten the ugly instances of anti-Black racism that have popped up repeatedly on European soccer pitches in spite of an ongoing worldwide FIFA`'Say No To Racism' campaign in which Black players like Italy's Mario Balotelli and other African descended players playing in Europe have to deal with European soccer hooligans slinging bananas and racial epithets.

And with the rise of ultra-right wing parties in some European nations, the level of anti-black racist animus in Europe is sadly rising as well..

I'd been hearing disturbing comments about Thais considering dark skin 'ugly', and my annoyance with that alleged anti-Black sentiment was only heightened after the controversial ending of the 2011 Miss International Queen trans pageant to pissed off levels after an all Thai judging panel literally screwed a trans woman representing Nigeria out of the crown.

Now comes this shot of materials used to teach Thai.kids English that has gone viral in social media, and note the caption under the Black male head.

International anti-Blackness is real, and it needs to be confronted and dealt with not only by the indigenous black people in those nations, but coordinated action is needed across the Diaspora to combat it...

White Supremacists Start Crap With Armed FL Brother, Guess What Happens?

All Jehrardd Williams and Jorge Hernandez wanted to do back in January was just peacefully grab something to eat at a Fort Myers, FL Waffle House and go on their merry way when they were finished.

But three drunk white supremacists had other plans.   They walked into the Waffle House in question, decided to show their azzes and mess with Jehrardd and his friend.   Dakota Fields, uttered racial slurs at the men as they sat at the Waffle House counter attempting to finish their meal.

Then Robert Black approaches Williams and wants to shake their hands.  Really?   You are that delusional, drunk or both that you think I'd want to shake you hand after you just publicly insulted me? 

He manages to shake Hernandez's hand, but when Williams justifiably declines to do so, Black punched Williams in the face, and subsequently finds out that he is messing with the wrong Black man, one who is packing a pistol.

Then as Black is probably peeing in his pants at his worst nightmare,  Dakota Field comes charging back into the restaurant to attack Williams unaware that he has a gun and gets three caps busted in him.

He and his homeboy them rush the mortally wounded Field our of the restaurant and to a waiting vehicle that while trying to find a hospital gets into an accident..  

Field was pronounced dead at the scene of the accident, and no charges were filed (surprise surprise) no charges were filed against Williams for Standing His Ground. 

Here's the surveillance video of the incident.  TRIGGER WARNING for violence.




So what did we learn today white supremacist fools?  

*You white males are the violent people that society should be on guard against. 

*Black people own guns, and know how to properly use them in self defense.

*Don't start none, won't be none

. 

How A Black Trans Woman Ended Up In Jail Because Of An Iowa Transphobe

When 22 year old cosmetology student Meagan Taylor and a trans feminine girlfriend traveled to Des Moines, IA from Illinois for a visit, they were only planning to stay a few days in the city before returning home.when they checked into the Drury Inn in West De Moines.  

Unfortunately transphobic hotel staff and racist assumptions about them would combine to make this visit to Iowa a less than pleasant one.

Taylor and her friend noticed that the staff was in their words 'acting funny towards them' when they checked in.

That 'acting funny' was the transphobia the hotel staff was expressing, and several hours later it manifested itself into the police arriving at their hotel room door after being called by the staff about 'two males possibly engaged in prostitution activity.'

When the police officer arrived to begin the investigation, he found no prostitution activity occurring.   But a search of Taylor's purse led to the discovery of the spironolactone she was taking as part of her hormone regimen in an unmarked bottle, and she was arrested and charged with possession of prescription drugs without a prescription.  

She is also being head-scratchingly charged with  'malicious prosecution', which is an aggravated misdemeanor and Taylor’s bond was set at $2,000.

A subsequent check revealed that Taylor had an outstanding Illinois warrant for a probation violation stemming from a previous 2010 credit card fraud conviction that occurred when she was 17.  She had served time for it, but still owed $500 in fees.

She was taken to a Polk County jail that has no policy for housing trans prisoners, and since she was pre-op, they used a female officer to search the top half of the patdown search and a male office for the  bottom.

Because Polk County officials don't feel comfortable housing her with women, and the Prison Rape Elimination Act (PREA) still is unclear about where trans feminine prisoners should be housed (it definitely ain't with the cis men) she's being stuck in isolation in the medical unit.   She told the Des Moines Register in an interview that if she were from Polk County, she could have paid 10 percent of her $2000 bond and been released.

But because Taylor is from out of state, she would need someone in Polk County to co-sign.  She doesn’t have a lawyer and doesn't have a court date set until August 25..

So because a transphobic Drury Inn hotel employee racially profiled two Black trans women who were minding their own damned business, Meagan Taylor is stuck in an Iowa jail at least until August 25,  or until she gets some help from the local LGBT community

TransGriot Update,  Since I wrote this post, crowdfunding has started to raise the money to not only pay for bail in Iowa, but the $500 she still owes in Illinois.  Also been advised that an attorney has stepped up to represent Meagan.

There is also a protest being organized that will take place in front of the West Des Moines, IA Drury Inn where this mess started.

And Still Serena Rises

One of the things I'm absolutely sick of along with other African-Americans is the racist hatred and trans misogyny that flows from the mouths of vanillacentric privileged white peeps mad that their European tennis glamazons weren't up to the task (again) of beating the world's number one ranked tennis player in Serena Jameka Williams.

It's not a new problem.  I've written about it previously, but it still pisses me off to see it.

Serena earned that sixth title, going through a three set match with Victoria Azarenka in the quarters, beating down Maria Sharapova for the (ho hum) 17th straight time since 2004 in the semis and taking out a tough Garbine Muguruza to claim that 'Williams'-don crown and the Serena Slam

But y'all still hate on her.

I'm tired of this ongoing pattern of successful Black female athletes like Serena Williams having their femininity attacked because they excel at what they do.  It is part of the same four century old racist pattern of whiteness and white supremacy demonizing Black women and Black womanhood in general.

If Serena Williams had the same number 34 ranking as Sloane Stephens and the same number of Grand Slam titles won (zero) instead of being the World Number 1 ranked player with 21 Career Grand Slams (and counting), white folks wouldn't be saying jack about Serena.


Neither would they be saying anything if she were mixed race like 18th ranked Madison Keys trying to downplay the fact she has a Black father. Then again Keys, like Stephens hasn't won a Grand Slam either.   Keys was vanquished by Serena in straight sets in the 2015 Australia Open semis.

Serena clearly being the best women's tennis player on the planet, repeatedly kicking European tennis glamazon azz, staking her increasingly unassailable claim to being the greatest tennis player of all time while being unapologetically Black and a curvy dark skinned Black woman who got back in a sport with predominately white players is clearly setting some people free and has since 1999.

And I'm enjoying every nanosecond of Serena's tennis superiority as the vanillacentric privileged haters try to find a reason to not give her credit for her decade of dominance. . 

I didn't appreciate the problematic July 10 New York Times tennis body image article by Ben Rothenberg that insinuated in thinly racist tones that Serena's was the body the glamazons didn't want to have. 

Well, Serena's happy with it, Black women are happy with it, her fans and supporters are happy with her fine brown frame, and so am I

As one person who slammed the article on Twitter remarked about the description of Serena as 'animal-like said and I concur with that,“This black people as ‘beast’ thing needs to go down with the #ConfederateFlag.”

Even David Frum's tired behind tried to shadily slime her by throwing out the steroid accusation before retracting after getting called out about it.

FYI dog, since tennis is an Olympic sport, it uses the same IOC drug screening protocol.to the point that during last month's French Open, Serena was playing and beating all comers at Roland Garros while suffering from a cold.

David, ask the former East Germans or Shirley Babashoff what women on steroids look and sound like before you have several seats and some strawberries and cream flavored Haterade.

And still Serena rises.  And y'all hate it.

See y'all in New York at the US Open.

There Will Never Be An OU Chapter Of SAE, Either

Was infuriating to see  not even 24 hours after the 50th anniversary of Bloody Sunday and President Obama's speech the not so surprising action of white frat member gone racist on viral video.

And I wasn't surprised when I heard it was Sigma Alpha Epsilon, a fraternity that proudly touts its association to the Confederacy on its website and has a long history of racist and nekulturny behavior.



In this latest episode of frat boys gone wild, after the video of their racist ditty went viral, OU President David Boren took swift and decisive action to call out the bad behavior, give SAE until today to pack their stuff and leave their frat house, and started an investigation to determine who the miscreants are.

SAE National also condemned the behavior of its now shut down OU Chapter

“Sigma Alpha Epsilon’s national headquarters has closed its Oklahoma Kappa chapter at the University of Oklahoma following the discovery of an inappropriate video,” according to a statement on SAE’s website. “In addition, all of the members have been suspended, and those members who are responsible for the incident may have their membership privileges revoked permanently.”

The University of Oklahoma has already lost one highly touted football recruit as a result of this incident, and it remains to be seen how many more they lose.

And something else that remains to be seen is whether the person or persons that started this latest mess that an SAE chapter has found itself in gets punished.

Top GOP Congressional Leaders No Show Selma 50 Event

For those people, especially in Conservaworld and even the liberal ranks who don't understand why I have an intense dislike for the Republican Party, it's simple.

The Republicans hate me and my people.

I'll repeat it for you again if you think Moni was kidding about what I just wrote in that last sentence and write it in bold print for you this time:  The Republicans hate me and my people.

You would think that a part that bristles at the commentary I and other African-Americans inside and outside the TBLGQ community that they are racist, bigoted toward African-Americans, anti-Black, (fill in the blank), you would think they would jump at opportunities to at least symbolically show African-Americans they aren't as bad as we say they are.

But the Selma 50 event came and went without an appearance from top GOP leaders like Speaker of the House John Boehner, Sen Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, and House Majority Klansman, er Whip Steve Scalise or their leading candidates for the GOP 2016 presidential nomination.

And naw, I don't want to hear any false equivalence grousing pointing out some Democratic leaders didn't show up either.

It ain't the Democrats who are gleefully saying racist crap on an almost daily basis or passing repressive legislation, that's all on you Republicans.   

Hell, it would have been more shocking to me if they had shown up, seeing that their party has made attacking the Voting Rights Act one of the centerpieces of conservative movement activity over the last 50 years.

So the next time I or anyone else in Black America calls you out on your racism and your blatantly anti-Black commentary, demagoguery, laws and policies detrimental to our community, I don't want to hear a mumbling FOX broadcast word in protest of it.  

And don't be surprised when I look at you funny when you say you're a proud Republican.

You Republicans and the conservafool movement as a whole are the party of white supremacy, and it's past time that people call them on it and vote accordingly.

Racism Rears Its Pointed Hooded Head At TX HS Basketball Game

Some of us in the Lone Star State sarcastically refer to North Texas, because of its proximity to the madness in the Sooner State, as Baja Oklahoma.

Much of the state house and senate legislative representation in that part of the state is unfortunately Tea Klux Klan, and we all know how racist the Tea Party is.

It seems that the Tea Party racism pimped by FOX Noise, the Tea Party and right wing talk radio to their parents is filtering down to the younglings.

At a boys basketball game played on February 13 between Flower Mound HS and Plano East last Friday that went into triple overtime, some nekulturny Flower Mount HS knuckleheads held up 'White Power' signs that were spotted by the visiting Plano East players and their fans.

“I saw ... [the signs] during the game, and I just didn’t think anything of it until I heard ... [a] racial slur at the free throw line,” Plano East junior player Devin Gifford said in an interview. “I didn’t say anything; I just let students be students.”.  

Gifford posted the photo of the signs on Twitter with the caption, “This is ridiculous I thought we passed the racial stage of society.”

Sadly Kevin, we still haven't evolved to become the beloved community that the Rev.Dr. Martin Luther King Jr talked about.and we have a lot of work to do to get there.

While Flower Mound administrators quickly confiscated the offensive signs, they were still up long enough for them to be photographed, posted and subsequently commented about on social media.  

Flower Mound's head coach issued an emphatic condemnation of the incident via Twitter, and Lewisville ISD Interim Superintendent Kevin Rogers issued this written statement yesterday.

As Interim Superintendent of a very diverse school district and community, I have been involved with our internal investigation regarding the unfortunate occurrence at Friday night’s Flower Mound High School vs. Plano East varsity boys’ basketball game. I want to be clear that this type of incident – however it has been perceived – has not and will not be tolerated in LISD. We have always had high expectations for our more than 53,000 students and hold them to those standards both in and outside of the classroom.

As we stated yesterday, the investigation of this occurrence is still underway, and we fully intend to act on our findings. We regret that this unfortunate event has been elevated to this level on so many social media circles.

I am disheartened that the perceived actions of a few may reflect poorly on two great schools – Flower Mound and Plano East High Schools – school districts and communities. Ultimately, please know we have the highest respect for the students, staff and community of Plano East High School.

The game was a75-73 Flower Mound win, but nobody will remember that this triple overtime boys varsity basketball tilt was considered one of the best games of the 2014-15 Texas high school basketball season.  

This reprehensible incident has overshadowed the result of the game, and has once again in the wake of similar racist incidents at high school games in other parts of the country, shined a necessary spotlight on race and race relations in the US and the lack of societal progress in solving the problem.

Come Out Of The KKKloset About Your Racism, GOP

Here we go again with another GOP legislator trying to convince us that he's not a racist, but with a problematic association, record as a Louisiana state legislator and 'F' grades since 2008 on his  NAACP Congressional Report Cards creating a things that make you go hmm moment. 

Rep. Steve Scalise (R-LA) is the latest conservafool to fail to navigate their ongoing problem of trying to appeal to their bigot base while not alienating the white swing voters that would be repulsed by their attempted on the down low associations with white supremacists

As a Louisiana state legislator, he was one of six legislators who voted against a Martin Luther King holiday in 2004, and consistently opposed efforts by the Black mayors of New Orleans to draw more government funding to the city.  

He also damned sure know who the hell David Duke is since he ran for Louisiana's governorship in 1991, much of his state house district voted for him and Duke has been defending him..

Scalise's been on the fast track in the GOP House leadership hierarchy, becoming the majority whip after Eric Cantor lost his seat in June and he moved up to the Number 3 spot

The fact that he is now the number three person in the GOP leadership hierarchy in the upcoming 114th Congress , even though this meeting with Duke's white supremacist group happened in 2002 only makes this look more odious.

Yeah, you try to claim the Republican Party is not racist, but those Dixiecrats in your midst combined with your policy stances that end up pissing off non-white voters keep reinforcing the percetion and the reality you are.

It amuses me to see the contortions that GOP conservafools twist themselves into when they get caught being the racist bigots that all non-whites and conscious white people know they are.

And then the conservafools predictably try to play that failed Robert Byrd false equivalency card or the I have Black friends' card  to try to justify their BS they executed while pushing the Southern Strategy and Southern Strategy 2.0.

Here's a suggestion conservatives. If you don't want to be called a racist bigot, stop acting like one.

You also need to stop giving speeches to white supremacist groups, and pushing policies that reinforce the impression that you are all about perpetuating whiteness and white supremacy.

If you can't or won't do that, then you need to come out of the KKKloset about your GOP flavored racism

Adam Silver's Big Decision

In about an hour, NBA Commissioner Adam Silver is about to hold a press conference at 1 PM CDT that will shape the perception of his leadership during this first major test of his brief two months in office.

He'll have to make the decision about what to do concerning LA Clippers owner Donald Sterling and  his disgusting racial remarks that have overshadowed the playoffs, pissed off the players in a league that is 70% African-American and sent Clippers advertising partners fleeing for the exits. 

Some of Sterling's fellow owners aren't happy either about the firestorm that has happened over the last few days

Detroit Pistons owner Tom Gores probably echoed the sentiments of the other 29 team owners watching this PR disaster when he said, "There is no place for prejudice and intolerance in our league, or anywhere else. That's not a debatable point.  It's a first principle." 

Leslie Alexander, the owner of my fave NBA ballers told the Houston Chronicle that while the NBA constitution only allows an owner to be summarily stripped of his franchise for gambling, the Rockets owner does think something needs to be done to ensure "this kind of event never happens again."

But the question in everyone's minds right now is what is that something?  What kind of punishment can you come up with that hurts a multibillionaire who is a serial racist that sticks? 

Silver, like the other major sports league commissioners has 'best interests of the game' powers that do give him some latitude here.  He could declare all of the Clippers players free agents while indefinitely suspending Sterling and assessing him a substantial fine.  He could call for a meeting of the owners that could result in them voting to strip him of the club.  

But the only person that knows what's going to happen is Commissioner Silver.   He is also quite aware that the world is watching and the NBA does have to tread carefully to avoid legal trouble. 

Bottom line is Sterling should have been dealt with by the NBA when the DOJ discrimination suit came down and he paid that hefty fine.   But now that his racist chickens have come home and pooped all over the NBA's porch, they have to deal with it.

And it will be interesting to see just how that happens.

TransGriot Update:  Commissioner Silver dropped the hammer.   Slapped Sterling with a lifetime ban from the sport and a $2.5 million fine. The meeting will be held soon with the owners to get the authorization to force the sale of the team.

Tired Of People Racistly Painting Trans Women Of Color As 'Uniquely Violent'

We have seen this disgusting racist pattern before.    It was present when CeCe McDonald was sentenced to jail time in Minnesota despite defending herself from being violently attacked by a white supremacist and his buddies. 

Jewlyes Gutierrez was facing criminal charges for defending herself after a November fight at her high school despite being bullied and attacked  by three cis female girls in California.   Never mind the inconvenient fact that Jewlyes had been bullied by the same girls for over a year and tried to get indifferent school officials to intervene to stop it.

And now we have the jacked up case of Jane Doe.  She is a 16 year old trans girl of color who despite being in that system since age 4, surviving numerous incidents of violence, sexual assault and abuse, that in some cases perpetrated by the people in the Connecticut Department of Children and Families (DCF) that were supposed to help and protect her, she was sent to an adult male prison on April 8 despite not being charged with any crime.   Only increasing national outrage over this got her moved to an adult female prison, which is still messed up.

And the reason why this happened?  Because according to the fear mongering DCF Commissioner Joette Katz, Jane was 'far too dangerous' to remain in their care.

Really?   When DCF personnel are complicit in some of the violence that Jane Doe has faced, they are obligated to fix their part of the problem they caused in Jane's young life.  

Throwing her in a lockup with adult male prisoners is not fixing the problem, it's exacerbating and pouring gasoline on it. 

In all these cases, we have the intersections of several problematic societal layers. The first problem is the obvious whiff of racism combined with the overwhelming stench of transphobia in all these cases.  The other dynamic involved here is the racist assumption that trans youth of color are 'uniquely violent' and 'dangerous to women'.

Some of that 'dangerous to women' piece has its roots in the predator memes trans exclusionary radical feminists (TERF) have been peddling for over four decades.

And hello, let's inject another dose of reality into this conversation.  If you're constantly being picked on or have violence directed at you simply for trying to live your trans life as best you can, sooner or later you are going to snap and lash out at the person that sent you over the edge.  Hell, I was an adult when I transitioned, and there were days I'd had enough of people's transphobic bullshyt and snapped on the very next person that crossed my path spouting transphobic ish.

The bottom line is that I'm tired of transwomen of color who far too often are the victims of violent attacks aimed at them by cisgender people being given the side eye by a transphobic society as if they are the problem.  

When we transwomen of color already have to deal with societal drama brought on by our ethnicity,  and we have to deal with an unjust and racist  legal system, the last thing we need is the misguided perception of being tagged as 'uniquely violent' being thrown into this toxic transphobic stew.      

Clippers Players Protest Racist Owner

Kudos to the Los Angeles Clipper players who in the midst of the firestorm of criticism headed their owner's way over his racist comments, are trying to handle this difficult situation the best way they can. 

Before yesterday's 118-97 playoff loss to the Golden State Warriors that deadlocked their series at 2-2,  the Clipper players held a meeting to decide if they were even going to play the game..

They decided to do so, but wore their warmup jersey shirts inside out to hide the Clipper logo.  They wore their normal game uniforms, but with black socks and armbands.  

They along with their NBA brethren have been vocal about the disgusting comments from serial bigot and longtime LA Clippers owner Donald Sterling that are threatening to overshadow the NBA playoffs.  They are also causing a major PR headache for the team, the league and new commissioner Adam Silver.

Tuesday Game 5 in LA should be very interesting.

Annie Is Black, And The Pointed White Hoods Come Out

A remake of Annie is about to hit your local multiplexes that when it was in the discussion stages, Willow Smith was rumored to be in the running for the part but it went to Oscar Best Actress nominee Quvenzhané Wallis.

And now that the trailer has come out for this movie coming soon to your local multiplex starring her and Jamie Foxx, I was shocked but not surprised to read that elements of white America are losing their damned minds on Twitter about it.

So the same whiteness that has no problem with Jared Leto being cast as a trans woman or defending 70% of movie roles going to white males, arguing that 'casting should be color blind' and 'the best actors should get the part' now has a racist foaming at the mouth problem with Quvenzhané Wallis being cast as Annie?   

Sigh.  The War on Blackness continues.

The same White America that last week was tying itself in pretzel logic like knots trying to justify a white man playing a transwoman as moi and the trans community complained about it, had no problem with that same white male winning an Oscar for that problematic portrayal, smugly told the trans community to 'get over it' while hiding behind Calpernia Addams' skirts to do so, is now having a vanillacentric scented hissy fit because a Black girl is playing Annie.

Their pointed white hoods are showing along with their white sheets. 


I'd need another post to document all the times that white people have played Black or other ethnic characters in movies.

John Wayne as Genghis Khan ring a bell?    Liz Taylor as Cleopatra?  Natalie Wood as Maria Nunez in West Side Story?  Laurence Olivier donning blackface to play Othello?   

Another example was Ava Gardner being chosen over Lena Horne and using the makeup Max Factor developed for Lena to play the mixed race character Julie LaVerne in the 1951 movie Show Boat when hello, Lena Horne practically was living that character's life.   
 
It's not like this is the first time a classic film has been remade with an all-Black cast.   There was the musical The Wiz that was turned into a 1978 film starring Michael Jackson and Diana Ross. 

Most recently the movie Steel Magnolias was reimagined with an all Black cast featuring Phylicia Rashad and her daughter Condola Rashad, Queen Latifah, Alfre Woodard, and Jill Scott. 

IIt also speaks to another problematic issue that if the movie in question doesn't have Blacks interacting with Whites in servitude, deference, or emotional dependence, it results in whites leaving in droves after it starts.


I witnessed that phenomenon firsthand with the movie White Man's Burden. It starred John Travolta and Harry Belafonte in which the societal script was flipped and it was white peeps living in the hood and Black folks living in Beverly Hills.
I noticed whites leaving the theater and heard one brother say to one white guy exiting the theater, "What's wrong? Can't handle this movie? This is what we deal with everyday in America."
Another reality that needs to be dealt with is that in 21st century America, many of the orphans in those homes and the foster care system look like Quvenzhané.

As white people in this country, you can count on the fact that every week, a Hollywood movie will open that has casts who predominately look like you, and share your ethnic heritage and background.   I don't have that luxury as a person of color.  

An Annie that reflects my ethnic background is quite interesting to me, Black parents and the Black girls Quvenzhane's age who will see themselves reflected on the silver screen for once.

That should be celebrated, not racistly denounced..   

This Is An Afrocentric Blog-Deal With It

There is an on point 1984 James Baldwin quote from a Village Voice interview n which he talked about race in GL World.  I'm going to substitute trans for gay for the purposes of this post.

"Their reaction seems to me in direct proportion to their sense of feeling cheated of the advantages which accrue to white people in a white society. There's an element, it has always seemed to me, of bewilderment and complaint. Now that may sound very harsh, but the trans world as such is no more prepared to accept black people than anywhere else in society."


Over the last week and a half elements of white trans world have been showing their asses and letting their pink, white and blue sheets show because they are jealously pissed off about the deserved and increasing media attention that Black trans people are getting.  

The cadre of white trans women in question are upset that Black transpeople are not only closing ranks and owning their power, they see it as they bump their gums in their not so quiet Facebook rooms that this long ago needed development in the Black trans community ranks as 'a threat'

The star of their offline Two Minute Hates has been moi and my GLAAD Award nominated blog.
Aww, I'm flattered and frankly LMBTAO that I'm the focus of your hatred.  But what I said before to you still stands:  You need Jesus.

And I revel in your irrational hatred.  Why #youmad because for the first time in the 61 year modern history of the trans rights movement that Black trans people and their accomplishments are getting increased media attention and love?

Do you not see the point that a strong Black trans community that owns its power, confidently wields it, helps destroy transphobia in Black cis and SGL ranks, and does the Trans 101 education tailored to our history and culture in those communities helps all of Trans World?

Or do you peeps have so much internalized hatred for Black people that you are role modeling the remixed James Baldwin remark?

If you are, too bad.   We're not gonna let your lack of vision turn us around from our urgent mission of building community and stopping the off the charts violence aimed at us.

Are you that upset because we are finding innovative ways to lead, forming our own organizations and building community infrastructure that reflects our culture, are increasingly tackling the problems that ail our community with the help of our cis and SGL allies, are writing New York Times best selling narratives, are breakout stars on TV shows and have GLAAD nominated blogs that people flock to for intelligent commentary about issues inside and outside the trans, bi and SGL community?

Yeah, obviously you do and this isn't a new development.   Moni ain't the only person that has called you out on your racism that you tried and failed to keep under wraps and don't want to talk about.

If that's your problem. you can #staymad then.    You can also KMBTA because if you don't like the fact TransGriot is an Afrocentric blog founded by an unapologetically Black transperson, and have consistently called crap out in this community, too damned bad.  Deal with it.

As a matter of fact since I mentioned this was an Afrocentric blog, here's the Mission Statement I compiled on January 2, 2011 for it:

The TransGriot blog's mission is to become the griot of our community.  I will introduce you to and talk about your African descended transbrothers and transsisters across the African Diaspora, reclaim and document our chocolate flavored trans history, speak truth to power, comment on the thins that impact our community from an Afrocentric perspective and enlighten you about the general things that go on around me and in the communities that I am a member of.  

Hey, I did warn you and I was blunt about what was going to happen on these electronic pages.  
   
TransGriot was founded on New Year's Day 2006 with the mission of elevating the voice, thoughts, visibility and policy concerns of African descended trans people across the Diaspora as its Prime Directive. I comment on the issues of trans people of color and developments around the world from my Afrocentric perspective as well.

I am unapologetically Black and trans.   I an not going to apologize for that or the over 7000 posts in my tell it like it T-I-S is Afrocentric tone that is in sync with the journalistic style and traditions of my people  

Neither will I separate my transness from my Blackness just to make a certain segment of misguided white trans world comfortable

You don't like the fact I said it or my opinions don't neatly line up with yours, I don't care.   Neither do I give a rat's anus that you have a problem with me owning my power on behalf of my community as I have done since 1998.  

I speak truth to power inside and outside TBLG World and I'm damned sure going to do it on a blog that I founded and have control over.  You have a problem with that, then have several seats and choke on that bottle of Vanillacentic Privileged Frost Haterade you're liberally drinking from

My award winning blog with over 4.4 million hits (and counting), my cyberhome, my rules.   The opinions expressed here are the result of my unapologetically Black behind residing on this planet inside the borders of the United States since 1962 and my two decades of life being a transperson while Black.

If you don't like the opinions expressed here, you are always free to exercise your option of reading the hundreds of trans blogs that reflect your vanillacentric privileged world view.

But you do so with the knowledge that this blog for eight years is proudly rooted (and always will be) in the African-American community.  It is edited by an award winning trans human rights activist with 16 years experience in the game, and who has been blessed with mad writing skills to boot.

This is an Afrocentric blog.   For those of you who like that fact, I thank you for surfing by my cyberhome on a regular basis to check out the posts that I and my guest posters leave here for you to peruse.

For those of you who wanna hate, deal with it.