this is what post brexit britain looks like, we have given in to xenophobia and racism, and it’s terrifying
this is why it irritates the hell out of me when I see people saying “it wasn’t about racism!” okay, maybe not everyone who voted out did it for that reason – most seem to be regretting it now they see and understand the consequences – but the result is encouraging the racists who did vote out for racist reasons to show their true colours.
Of course, not all the people who voted Leave are racist. No doubt everyone who voted had their own reasons. But you cannot deny that some of the votes were the result of racist motivations, hopes that Brexit would stop immigration and that those who weren’t born on British soil would be forced to ‘go back to their own country’.
If you look through social media their are accounts of Brexit supporters taking this opportunity to air their racism now more than ever, even school children are worried about their future, being told by their peers to leave. Those who can’t identify accents have been telling the Welsh to get back to their own country.
It won’t happen everywhere, and it may be a minority of Brexit supporters, but it’s still happening.
So basically if your skin doesn’t look like milk and your accent doesn’t sound like you’ve spent the past few years rimming David Cameron, heads up now more than before.
The sheer amount of anecdotes I’ve been hearing from people who are having violent racism hurled at them in the streets now is horrific. This isn’t even the half of it. Ditto for this. Stories keep on coming, I don’t think I’ve ever been so disgusted with my country in my LIFE.
Honestly, there are so many reasons to be angry at the world right now, but I’m a little extra angry at this, because some absolute assholes saw a good and progressive thing being done and decided to use it as an excuse for racism. Fuck those people.
A single mom from Detroit says Bank of America is holding literally “every single dime” she has to her name hostage. After receiving $50,000 in settlement money from a lawsuit regarding her younger brother’s death a teller at one of the bank’s branches took one look at her and decided it was suspicious that someone like her would have this kind of money. Assuming something fishy had to be going on, he flagged her account for fraud, which resulted in her account being frozen.
The $50,000 was wired directly into her account with Bank of America on May 20. There was an initial two-hour hold placed on the funds until everything could be verified, but then she was told she would have full access to her money. Over the next several days she was able to make substantial withdrawals from her account with no problems.
Then on May 24, Anderson totaled her car. She went to a different branch of Bank of America to withdraw $5,000 from her account so that she could purchase a new vehicle. But the teller that waited on her decided there was no way someone like her should have money like that.
The guy behind the counter started asking me where did I get the money from, and a bunch of questions” she recalled. “And I told him, I feel that’s none of his business, so I’m going to go to another branch where I feel more comfortable.”
When Anderson got to a different branch she found out that her account had been frozen, meaning all the money she has is now off-limits. When she accused the bank of discrimination she was told to leave.
I feel like you guys are discriminating against me; is it because I’m black?’ And then … she told me to leave out the back because I was upset,” Anderson said she asked the staff at the bank. “Yes, I was [upset]. I was mad because these are my funds. Why can’t I receive my funds?”
Anderson says she has not been able to access any of her funds since that day. Her rent is due and without a car, she can’t even get to work. The bank has told her nothing about the status of her account..
We’ve frozen the customer’s account under the terms of our Deposit Agreement and Disclosures,” the bank statement explained. “In the agreement, if at any time we believe a customers’ account may be subject to irregular, unauthorized, fraudulent or illegal activity, we may, in our discretion, freeze the funds in the account and in other accounts they maintain with us, without any liability to the customer, until we are able to complete our investigation of the account and transactions.”
The Patriot Act of 2001 gives bank employees the leeway to use their discretion to freeze any accounts that they suspect of suspicious activity. For example, a single black mother who isn’t poverty-stricken. Clearly suspicious.
I feel like my money is being held hostage. Every single dime is tied up in that bank,”Anderson said. “I thought I was being safe putting money in the bank, but it seems I’m safer putting it under my mattress.”
Anderson said she was told by the bank that it could take up to a year for the investigation to be completed and for access to her funds to be restored.
hey baby! so, this is gonna be a huge huge spoiler, and this comes from a white girl living in south america, so what i’m telling you is repeating what other people have taught me:
there is only one named, visible character of color in the entire movie. if you squint, you might see a few brown faces in the background, but the only named, visible character of color is max dillon, a.k.a. electro.
max is, in the comics, and in every animated adaptation up to this moment, a white, mentally able man who really, really enjoys being bad. some gangster who got superpowers and couldn’t have been happier about it. a complete asshole, but not a problematic character. max, in the movie, is a mentally ill black man. not any mentally ill black man, but specifically a schizophrenic black man.
and, i didn’t know this until a while ago because, of course, racial politics change from country to country, but this is a movie written and produced in the united states, with a story happening in the united states; so we need to specially look into what is the relation between schizophrenia and black men in the states’ history. and what do we find when we look into this? that schizophrenia was specifically re-defined during the 60s to invalidate and institutionalize rebellious black men. [for a more extensive read: x] schizophrenia was re-defined to meanobsession (with their cause, with this idea of a rebellion, with the idea that they deserved more than they had), violence (so that black men who joined any militancy for their rights would be seen as ill and out of control) and paranoia (because these black men blamed the white man of their troubles and thought they had somehow been wronged, and that was obviously a delusion, right?).
max dillon starts the movie obsessed with being recognized for his work and obsessed with peter. then, when he gets in an accident and becomes electro, he becomes violent and tries to seek revenge in the (white) men who stole his work, and on spiderman for not recognizing him. he is institutionalized, and during the whole movie we can hear the ‘voices in his head’ telling him how he was wronged, and robbed, and needs to get his vendetta. he dies at the end of the movie, while the white villain continues to live.
this movie also lacks in female representation, and is terribly ableist not only towards mentally ill people, but towards physically ill people with chronic illnesses. it’s a giant pile of shit, and i really, really suggest you rewatch spider-man 3 and laugh at how terrible that one was instead of growing as bitter and angry as i did after tasm2.
I just wanted to add that there’s also that scene where Peter subdues Electro using a fire-hose, which should recall state violence committed against Black protestors during the Civil Rights era – and it’s played for laughs.
Spider-Man 3 isn’t fantastic for representation or anything, but it’s a hell of a lot better than ASM2. Damn.
[I did a lot of railing against that movie for its ableism when it first came out, but the intersection of racism-ableism re Electro never occured to me. My apologies, folks. :( ]
Nicole Marshall, a 22-year-old mother of a 3-year-old girl, died in custody on Tuesday, May 10.
According to Marshall’s family she was in a serious car accident on April, where her car rolled over multiple times.
However, she wasn’t taken to the hospital. Instead the police took her
to the Walker County Jail in Huntsville, Texas.
Symone’s sister, Honey, said:
“When I talked to her from jail, she complained that her head was hurting and she kept blacking out. I called the jail several times and requested for them to take her to a real hospital and they wouldn’t do so. If they would have this, her death could have been prevented and my sister would still be here. My heart hurts so bad. She was my best friend. I am so angry that they did this to her. She moved to Texas for a fresh start in life a few months ago. She was doing good down there, had a job and was about to buy a house. She’s a beautiful person, never been in trouble before and didn’t deserve this.”
Texas police and Walker County jail officials refused to comment or release information about the accident.
Marshall’s family hasn’t been able to get details from officials either.
Natasha McKenna, Sandra Bland, Gynnya McMillen and now Symone Marshall. We can’t take this anymore…We want justice!
After the backlash surrounding Johansson’s role in the film, producers reportedly attempted to quell the controversy with an old standby Hollywood uses to fix a lot of problems: CGI.
According to multiple independent sources close to the project, Paramount and DreamWorks commissioned visual effects tests that would’ve altered Scarlett Johansson in post-production to “shift her ethnicity” and make the Caucasian actress appear more Asian in the film.
“a lot of people are upset that we chose a white actress to play a Japanese woman in a Japanese franchise that takes place in Japan.
perhaps digitally altering her appearance to look like a Japanese woman post-production would make more sense than hiring an actual Japanese actress?
