Thandiwe breaks down some of the ways racist depictions of Africa plays out in current events and the hand the media has in perpetuating them.
Tag: racism
Interview with Alice Wong: Engaging with Stories of Disabled People
Today’s article is a first for Yopp: We have our very first interview! The wonderful Dennis Upkins had the opportunity to connect with Alice Wong, an amazing disability activist who I’ve admired from afar for several years, about the importance of the stories of disabled people. If you’ve been looking for some disability related resources to consume and activists to follow, this article is full of them. I highly recommend going and checking out Alice’s …Read More
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.
The Complexion For The Protection: White Privilege in Media
As always, the beauty of guest posts on this blog is that they enable Yopp to include subjects and types of content that I could never hope to create myself. In order to shift the societal scrutiny off of people of color and onto white people for once, Dennis does what he does best: Biting critiques about the ways media represents and encourages our society’s racial disparities, as well as educating us on the often …Read More
Good People: Race, Not Racism, Is the Social Construct
Thanks to guest writer Thandiwe I have an excellent resource to point to anytime I run into someone claiming that racism is a social construct. She’s going to break it down for all of us.
White Privilege at Work in Social Activism
This week’s guest blogger, an accomplished writer and activist, Dennis R. Upkins, is here to tell us all about the manifestations of white privilege within the context of activism.
The Problem with Slurs
What is a slur? What’s the difference between a slur and an insult? Why shouldn’t we use them? Why do marginalized people get to use slurs that describe them and we don’t? These are just some of the questions addressed in this article about slurs.