My first thought after I finished watching Lizzo’s People’s Champion Award speech was “I need to follow all these people on social media.” And my next thought was, “Other people should too.”
Tag: police brutality
Stonewalled: That Time I Fought the Law and the Law Lost
One of our favorite re-occurring guest-writers, Denny Upkins, is back with this amusing and empowering tale to remind everyone fighting the impacts of marginalization to share and celebrate our wins.
So, You Want to Write an Article for Yopp
No single person can express the experience of every form of marginalization, which is why we rely on guest writers from a wide variety of backgrounds and perspectives to ensure that we represent as many perspectives as possible. These are the guidelines for how to submit your story.
We Hold These Truths of the Black Experience To Be Self Evident
White Supremacy is so insidious that even if you’ve spent years working to eliminate anti-black beliefs from your subconscious, there will always be more hiding under the false pretense of reason and logic. Denny Upkins is here to keep us on our toes, make sure we check our biases at the door, and to direct us toward the beliefs we should actively be trying to incorporate into our understanding of the black experience, instead.
You Are Not Alone: How to Respond to Escalating Fascism
If your social circles are progressive in the same way mine are, then you’ve heard warnings about the continuing escalating of fascism in the US, and the threat of violent backlash if Trump loses the presidential election. This post gives you some ideas of what to do about it.
S.W.A.T.: How a TV Show Gave Us A Template For Police Reform
We know that fiction can be based on fact but how often is fact influenced by fiction? The beloved show Star Trek has long been famous for inspiring the invention of many of the “futuristic” technologies used in the show. The Black Lives Matter movement has repeatedly called on us to dismantle and recreate our law enforcement systems, to replace the current oppressive, violent, and racist version. Now, Dennis Upkins takes a look at how the reboot of the television show S.W.A.T. can offer inspiration for what police, and related agencies, could look like in the future.
What Bolivia Can Teach Us About Confronting Systemic Violence
Guest writer Marie-Ève Monette does an excellent job connecting the recent protests in the US to movements in Bolivia that have fought against colonialism and gender-based violence, as well as looking at the question of when we should use which tools in activism.
7 Lessons on Racism That White People Need To Learn
When the Black Lives Matter protests reached a peak in June 2020, I sought out Dennis Upkins’ writing, whose scathing and witty critiques have been published here before. I’m honored to publish these lessons on racism that he sent me.
The Problem with Misrepresenting Oppression as Just Part of Life
When we undermine someone’s life-altering issue by framing it as something that everyone deals with, we dismiss the magnitude of the societal problems that contextualize bigotry, we disrespect marginalized people’s ability to assess their own problems, we discourage the pursuit of solutions for widespread unearned suffering, and we sign off on allowing that suffering to continue.
What You Can Do to Close the Camps
I’ve compiled a list of actions to take in response to the recent news of the concentration camps for immigrants. If you’re here just for the list of resources and don’t need any background info, skip past the intro straight to the first heading, “First Step is to Pick Your Next Step”. Priority #1 is to close the camps.