You Get An Edible, And YOU Get An Edible!
When they gonna ban the drug of white supremacy tho??
This week we’re talking about — what else? — capitalism! That sweet, salty, sexy structure of oppression and greed that envelopes us all! Wait, is it sexy though? We just liked the sibilance. Truly the perfect conversation coming out of Pride Month. But take heart my dearest thotties: we need those checks to survive!
For our newsletter, I’m doing a cute lil roundup because gworls... it’s been a WEEK!
On Wednesday, America’s Creepiest Dad was released from prison only 3 years into his sentence. A Pennsylvania court overturned the 2018 ruling saying that his due process was violated — nevermind that he violated 50+ women over the course of his life! A non-prosecution agreement — from all the way back in 2005 and granted by a lawyer who defended Tr*mp in his impeachment trial!!! — meant that he should never have been charged in the first place. In reading about this, all I could think was how, collectively, we are more invested in protecting the legacies of dangerous men than we are in protecting the lives of our most vulnerable. And because of this, a serial rapist goes free on a technicality.
Whew, child — I needed an edible just to get through the week!
Which reminds me: On the same day, Olympic runner Sha’Carri Richardson tested positive for one miss Mary Jane, a banned substance according to the International Olympic Committee (IOC), and as such, received a 30 day suspension. Girlfriend went from America’s sweetheart to America’s villainess in less than two-weeks! Now that, my thotties, is a record. Of course the real villain is the IOC and their continued policing of the excellence of Black women. (Read the caption)!
After all, since when has weed made anyone run FASTER?
This comes on the heels of the IOC’s decision to ban @soulcapofficial, a swim cap designed for Black swimmers with natural hair, from the Games, and the decision to limit which races Namibia’s Christine Mboma, Beatrice Masilingi, Caster Semenya, Francine Niyonsaba, and Margaret Wambui can compete in, just because they have higher natural testosterone levels, and therefore can’t be classified as “women”. Cis people stay cis-ing, I guess. Black Lives Matter apparel has also been banned, and racist white people are obsessed with Gwen Berry for knowing her damn history and refusing to acknowledge the national anthem.
You know the real problem is all that damned critical race theory being taught in pre-k, right?
Can you imagine the outcry if the IOC had determined that Michael Phelps, with his freakishly long wingspan and torso, his flipper-like legs and feet, and lack of lactic acid production meant that he couldn’t be categorized as a man, and therefore couldn’t compete? (And yes, I would still let him crush me — not proud of it!)
But the IOC would literally never. One thing I’ve learned early in my transition is that in our society, masculinity can be any and everything. It’s all about excess, all encompassing.
But femininity? Womanhood?
That’s small, delicate, dainty. It must be policed and protected, kept within very specific boundaries. Femininity must face limitations, and none more so than the explosive power and strength of Black femininity.
FUCK! THAT!
Come Tokyo 2021, I’m rooting for everybody Black (if anyone Black will actually be allowed to compete at all)!
XOXO,
Denne Michele
*extra* delectable content
1. The Macy Gray song Denne refers to in the opening of the episode is the wildly underrated “I’ve Committed Murder…” which you can see a recent (2018) live performance of here!
2. Mutual Aid by Dean Spade. If you’re unfamiliar with the term, mutual aid is the voluntary reciprocal exchange of resources for mutual benefits.
3. The Crisis of the Negro Intellectual, by Harold Cruise, which basically critiques American culture from the arts to the economy, and argues that Black Americans will only find a just place in society when we are creating our own.
4. Adrienne Marie Brown on Pleasure Activism: “The only way to deal with an unfree world is to become so absolutely free that your very existence is an act of rebellion.” — Camus. We all need a lil extra pleasure in our thotty lil lives, even after Pride Month, right? ;-)
5. In his most on brand moment ever, Joe won’t let us put out this newsletter without including The Accumulation of Capital by Rosa Luxemburg, so here it is — ya know, if you’re looking for some easy breezy summer reading!
6. Denne is currently obsessed with Black Queer singer-songwriter, aspiring Jewish husband, and sensitive stoner, Joy Oladokun, and her new album “In Defense of My Own Happiness”. She first heard Joy’s song “Breathe Again” when it was featured on what is probably the saddest TV show known to (wo)man, This Is Us. Be on the lookout — one of these days Denne will do a skating routine to this song <3. And not to worry about the drama because there’s plenty of joy to be taken in Sterling K. Brown’s backside!
7. And with today being July 4th, the day we celebrate *some* people’s independence, we’re left feeling rather ambivalent. Here are some reminders of how far we’ve come. Take a look, then take an edible — as long as you’re not a black woman. Then remember that we marched for queer liberation and Black trans lives, all in the past month!
also
In perhaps the week’s most unexpected news, on Thursday morning Page Six leaked that Meghan McCain would be announcing her departure from The View. And then it turned out they were right! No one was happier than Joy Behar, but I’d like to take a moment of silence and gratitude for Meghan’s hair stylist, whose epic shade will never be forgotten.
