Avatar

reel 'im in boys ive got one

@theswordwizard / theswordwizard.tumblr.com

butch | 20s

You ever think about the MOVE bombing and then think about the fact that so few US Americans even know that the MOVE bombing like. Happened.

"The United States is dedicated to moving bombs away from people who would use them for nefarious purposes! Google MOVE bombing to learn more!"

jesus christ 😐

this also doesn't come close to telling the whole story.

the Philadelphia police harassed the MOVE organization for over a decade. MOVE began with peaceful protests against conditions at long-term-care facilities and against the city Zoo's mistreatment of animals. in 1972, police classified the group’s use of profanity as riotous and designated them violent threats to public order. the actual reason was their radical abolitionist message.

the Philadelphia police department had a brutal, corrupt, and racist reputation long before MOVE entered the picture. despite that fact, MOVE’s claims of police brutality typically fell on deaf ears, even when they had undeniable proof of mistreatment. the bombing is only one part of the story both because it is the culmination of violence between MOVE and the police and also because it is part of the broader narrative of police brutality in Philadelphia that is still largely played out today.

in 1957, two Black men were beaten by three off duty and allegedly drunk police officers, putting one in the hospital for 19 days. the commissioner at the time testified that all officers were trained in "race relations," which involved things such as having officers brandish shotguns out the window of their patrol vehicles as a show of force in so called "shotgun squads." the three officers were not convicted of any crimes.

in 1960, shots indiscriminately fired by officer Robert Marinelli killed two innocent Black bystanders. Marinelli was charged, tried, and then found not guilty on all charges by an all-white jury.

in 1967, a guy named Frank Rizzo became the police chief. his nickname while working in West Philadelphia as a captain was "The Cisco Kid," which referenced the fictional cowboy who "killed for the love of it or any other reason that came to mind." he referred to "vermin" in Philadelphia as the source of the crime and decline.

shortly after he was appointed, he sicced 300 officers in riot gear on Black students and advisors protesting the Board of Education who were protesting the lack of Black studies and Black teachers. Rizzo ordered the officers to "get their Black asses." 57 protesters were arrested, dozens were beaten, and 15 were hospitalized. Frank Rizzo was elected Mayor of Philadelphia 3 years later and during his bid for re-election in 1975, he said that he would "make Attila the Hun look like a faggot" once he was reelected.

so yeah, not only is the MOVE bombing virtually unheard of by the average person in America (and it's not much better in academia, for that matter), but the story that is often told when people do hear about is that this all happened in a vacuum "due to the actions of a violent Black resistance group." in reality, it was the culmination of over 50 years of brutality against Black people and minorities in Philly.

The cousin of "he would not say that:" he would not keep saying that. It was a one off funny line for one particular situation. Every memorable line does not need to become a running gag.

“People who didn’t live pre-Internet can’t grasp how devoid of ideas life in my hometown was. The only bookstores sold Bibles the size of coffee tables and dashboard Virgin Marys that glowed in the dark. I stopped in the middle of the SAT to memorize a poem, because I thought, This is a great work of art and I’ll never see it again.”

— Mary Karr, The Art of Memoir No 1 (via elesheva)

lolcows are such a display of the unbelievable mass cruelty people are capable of when given the chance

Pushing some of the most vulnerable mentally ill people to the very edge until they eventually do something egregious and then these people say “see they were a bad person all along so it’s fine to treat them this way”

hate how people are conflating 'butch' and 'handy' like anyone who fixes things is butch and being butch gives you mechanical skills and femmes never pick up tools. its gender essentialism 2.0 and i hate it so, so much. my butch ex couldnt fix or repair anything. im high femme and i can fix, build, or repair almost anything. cmon. dont make me a homemaker just because i wear a dress.

throughout history, the wealthy and powerful tend to create a set of rules for themselves to follow- european gentry, for example, developed specific rules for speech, dress, eating, manners, etc etc. and to some extent these rules did restrain them, but at the same time, it gave them power- by following these rules, you show your status as someone with power, both to other powerful people, and to those of lower class. certainly there were nobles who chafed under these rules, but the vast majority of them, consciously or subconsciously, accept them as the price for power, even enjoyed performing them as a status symbol. it would be ridiculous to say that the nobility was oppressed by feudialism- they wielded incredible power and freedom to use that power to hurt others, even if they had to play by a handful of rules to do so.

this post is about men.

You are using an unsupported browser and things might not work as intended. Please make sure you're using the latest version of Chrome, Firefox, Safari, or Edge.