Quickies: Anti-racist actions and discussions this week…
and the return of Cute Animal Friday
Hey, all. Have you been keeping up with the from last week’s quickies? Because actions keep getting added. Tragically, names are as well, some of them seriously injured protestors. Some people feel (hope, even?) that we’ve hit a critical point in anti-racist actions in the United States… I don’t know enough to agree or disagree, but I know these things take time, action, and work. So let’s (especially my fellow White people) do that work.
Anti-racist action isn’t just about police brutality and racist violence. This week, Black folks have been telling what it’s like to be Black. Actually, they’ve been doing that all along… but these are the stories that have grabbed media attention. Black academics shared their stories with the #BlackInTheIvory hashtag because they were “fed up” and because “if we’re going to call for change in systems, why not academic systems?” according to Joy Melody Woods, a graduate student who helped start the hashtag. Meanwhile, author L.L. McKinney started the #PublishingPaidMe hashtag to highlight racial pay inequities for writers. H/t Muscadine, who also shared this list of Black food writers and chefs, since we all gotta eat.
Meanwhile, the CEO of CrossFit, Greg Glassman, got his brand in some hot water with his insensitive at best, racist at worst, tweeting. As he stepped down as CEO, it was revealed that the racism went even deeper. As I’ve written about my positive experience with this particular brand of exercise before, I’ll note that I’ve had issues with the brand for some time, mainly for promoting what I think is strangely ableist and pseudo-scientific health commentary… so I’m glad that my local gym has joined many others in disaffiliating. Good riddance.
Finally, I’d like to share this helpful article on grammar, yes, grammar, from the Center for the Study of Social Policy entitled, “Recognizing Race in Language: Why We Capitalize ‘Black’ and ‘White.’” I’m working to adopt that formalism, auto-correct be damned. I’ve resisted capitalizing “White” for a long time since it smacks of White supremacy, but the article addresses that as well. Hey, I’m learning. I found this in online discussions of the Concord, New Hampshire, chapter of Showing Up for Racial Justice.
I’m still not sure we as humans really deserve Cute Animal Friday right now, but what the heck. All via Muscadine who is ON IT when it comes to fauna:
- This is less about ants themselves, and more about the popular snack “ants on a log,” but I found it pretty interesting to know that the Girl Scouts came up with it.
- The well preserved stomach contents of a dinosaur reveal what armored herbivores preferred to nom.
- Let’s all appreciate Stella the duck who promptly adopted 10 orphaned ducklings on top of her own 9, swimming off with all 19 babies in line!
