Florida Lawmakers Are Working Hard to Bring Back Racist Poll Taxes
Aiming to mitigate the impact of a new felon enfranchisement measure, Republican lawmakers are turning to Jim Crow like policies. Republicans typically don't like taxes, unless they’re poll taxes. Last week a bill passed the Republican state house panel in
How White Womens’ Tears Threaten Black Existence
White women are weaponizing their emotions and femininity to assert their power over BIPOC. This isn't new, but it is dangerous.
If you've been paying attention to anything in the news lately, then you've seen the onslaught of headlines about racialized violence. Across the country, Black people are facing a continuous waves of anti-Blackness at the hands of white folks calling the police on them, simply for existing in public. While this may read as a new way for white people to assume their racism onto Black people, it actually isn't anything new at all. #ExistingWhileBlack illustrates the history of anti-Blackness that reigns throughout U.S. history and reminds us of the ways that white people — and particularly, white women — are evolving their white fragility to keep anti-Black racism thriving. To call the police on Black people, no matter the reasoning, is violent in and of itself simply because the act cannot be separated from historical context. In the last decade alone, we've seen how police brutality has led to the murders of Black people across all genders and ages throughout the country. We've seen documentation of how systemic and systematic anti-Blackness is, and how it permeates Black communities at all economic levels. Most recently, in Oakland, California, a white woman called the police on a Black family having a cookout in a public park because they weren't in a "grilling approved section" of the park. A Starbucks store manager in Philadelphia called the police on two Black men waiting for a friend. A mother and daughter in Brooklyn were accused of shoplifting at a vintage store in Williamsburg, where they were also handcuffed and searched by police. A group of Black filmmakers (including Bob Marley's granddaughter) had the police were called on her and a group of fellow Black filmmakers checking out of an AirBnB because she didn't smile to a white neighbor who claimed that they were robbers. A Yale student called campus police on another Yale grad student for napping in her common room. The list goes on and on but these seemingly random instances reinforce the assertion of dominance that white people are fighting to keep hold of over Black people.Related: WHITE PEOPLE: STOP WEAPONIZING OUR EMOTIONS TO AVOID YOUR RACISM
The Racist History of Tipping
Problems associated with tipping are seen throughout the country.
Tipping can be a great way to earn extra income. As you may often see on social media, people tip others for providing useful information, unique content, or when they need a little extra help financially. But living completely off tips like many waiters are forced to do comes from a system that has been in the United States for over 100 years, and it's actually a really problematic practice based on its history. The roots of the tipping system are racist, and low-wage workers who rely on tips tend to be disproportionately women and people of color today. According to Saru Jayaraman, writing for University of California, Berkeley’s Labor Center, the American tipping system was used widely to keep freed slaves poor. According to Jayaraman's research, many white employers resented having to pay former slaves, and tipping was a legal way around providing actual wages. Jayaraman has written a book that further outlines what goes on in American restaurants. When the tipping system first began to take hold in the United States, it was almost exclusively used for Black people. John Speed, a journalist during this time, wrote, "Negroes take tips of course; one expects that of them — it is a token of their inferiority." This practice kept Black people poor, and provided white people with cheap labor. Aaron Ross Coleman, a New York University business and economic reporting Masters student tells Wear Your Voice, “The tipping system as constructed doesn’t benefit customers or employees. Patrons of restaurants regularly have to pay more money than advertised for their food because of gratuity. And waitresses and waiters often engage in performative and sometimes taxing emotional labor just to make a decent wage. And all of this is happening so employers don’t have to pay a living wage. If fast food restaurants and grocery stores can manage to pay the minimum wage, casual restaurants can too.”Related: WHY LIVING WITH CHRONIC ILLNESS IN A CAPITALIST SOCIETY IS DEHUMANIZING
What My Kid’s (Very Short) Football Career Can Teach President Trump About “Respect”
I tell my kids of another type of “respect” that is very old and insidious. It is one that no one talks about, but the type that is implied every single time a black person protests any injustice. By Jonita Davis When
