being called “cis” or “cisgender” is in no fucking way like the n-word.
shut. up.

liquornspice:

marshmallowmegamama:

harrietsdaughter:

marshmallowmegamama:

Detroit Future Youth: Road to the Allied Media Conference — Indiegogo

besttumblr:

marshmallowmegamama:

Only five days left to support youth media makers in Detroit! THey need to hit $5,000—they’ve already raised $1,485!

I know tumblr can help with this. $5000 IS NOT A THING ON TUMBLR Y’ALL!!!!!

Hey tumblr, check this out! 4k in five days should be easy for the internet.

I’m pushing this fundraiser by youth media makers in Detroit so hard for multiple reasons. Probably the biggest reason is because it is entirely youth led, youth run, youth organized. And those youth are creating media from multiple perspectives. Food justice, environmental justice, digital justice, transportation justice all dominate the perspectives that they’re creating, along with just good old fashioned fun.

And this is important. *Extremely* important. Not just because of the justice perspective—but I need you to ask yourself something. What do you think about when you think about Detroit?

Having done workshops and known a lot of people who’ve done workshops that start off asking this question—and hell, just reading the Detroit tag on tumblr—the majority of responses sound something along the lines of:

destruction

apocolypse

burned out houses

tragic

poor

dead

dying

violent

murder capital

pollution

tragically beautiful

and on and on and on. Every once in a while, some people will mention the gardens and a few people will mention music. but 90% of the responses fall into the “dead dying” category.

What does this mean for Detroiters in general and Detroit youth specifically? It means that already marginalized communities (not the hipsters in midtown or corktown, but the generational detroiters in SW or 48217) are further marginalized. Why? because when something is dead or dying—do you give it resources?

or, as current mayor bing has decided—if the only parts of the city that are “viable” (i.e. “alive”) are the places where hipsters and young professionals are settling, do you give “dead” parts of the city resources? or do you redirect all the resources into the “viable” areas are?

this are not questions you’re meant to think through. you’re meant to see what is happening in Detroit. you’re meant to see that because of the ruin porn that gets reblogged endlessly on tumblr, people really DO stop and think through these questions. they assume that any neighborhood that looks like what they see on tumblr *needs* to be shut down. it only makes *sense*. why would you put resources into burned out destroyed dead communities?

or—more specifically, why do you put resources into a *black* city?

these youth—they aren’t focusing on showing that Detroit really is a good place (that’s the realm of the hipsters)—they’re instead working to build a new world. And the media they create *documents* that process. and through their documentation, they’re creating new narratives about Detroit. Detroit is where liberation isn’t just dreamed—it’s where liberation *happens*.

it says something to me that ruin porn of Detroit can get thousands and thousands and thousands of likes on tumblr, but youth that are doing such amazing work need to be contextualized so that people understand exactly how significant their work really is.

but i’m not really even bitter about that. it’s just a part of the work i need to do as an adult ally.

and now you can do it too. support this campaign in anyway you can. reblogs, donations—even just shifting how you understand detroit will help. asking your friend to pause and really think through what he’s saying when he says something like “detroit is such a [insert bad thing].” Do it so that eventually there comes a time when Detroit youth need help with their work and there are no explanations at all needed.

Everybody just helps however they can, no questions asked. because they know to do so means to be creating justice. 

BOOOOOST

Oh, PS—did I mention that any donation will be doubled??? so that teeny donation that you think is so insignificant it’s not worth it—will actually be doubled???

EVERY LITTLE BIT TRULY DOES HELP!!!!!

Other things that displease white people: GIVING LOTS OF MONEY TO DETROIT YOUTH!!!!!!  DONATE YOU GUYS!!!!!  DONATE DONATE DONATE!!!!!