People of Color

This video is a look into how the Bhuddist conept of mindfulness was appropriated and commodified by capitalists to solve "mental health problems", only for it to seem more sinister than the name suggests. This Western "mindfulness lite" can actually do more damage by instilling certain attitudes into people, reaffirming biases, and making people docile and subservient.

Some more actionable notes from the video:

• [ ] McMindfulness -- the appropriation and watering down of Bhuddist Mindfulness
  • [ ] Appropriated "mindfullness" used to neforce subservience and docility to capitalism -- mindfulness as a technique to get happy, obedient workers
  • [ ] Religion and faith traditions can be powerful, but when tied closely to the state, religion can also be used to militarize
  • [ ] Mindfulness is a more complex topic--not "shutting off your brain and not thinking", but rather thinking critically
  • [ ] Engaged Bhuddism -- similar to liberation theology
    • [ ] Learn about other radical theologies -- I know black radicalism pretty well, but need to learn about other peoples and cultures

This video is a look into how the Bhuddist conept of mindfulness was appropriated and commodified by capitalists to solve "mental health problems", only for it to seem more sinister than the name suggests. This Western "mindfulness lite" can actually do more damage by instilling certain attitudes into people, reaffirming biases, and making people docile and subservient.l, and not solving the problems that cause mental health problems.

Some more actionable notes from the video:

• [ ] McMindfulness -- the appropriation and watering down of Bhuddist Mindfulness
  • [ ] Appropriated "mindfullness" used to neforce subservience and docility to capitalism -- mindfulness as a technique to get happy, obedient workers
  • [ ] Religion and faith traditions can be powerful, but when tied closely to the state, religion can also be used to militarize
  • [ ] Mindfulness is a more complex topic--not "shutting off your brain and not thinking", but rather thinking critically
  • [ ] Engaged Bhuddism -- similar to liberation theology
    • [ ] Learn about other radical theologies -- I know black radicalism pretty well, but need to learn about other peoples and cultures

Archive.today link

Potent new anti-obesity drugs can reduce body weight by 15-20%. However, regulation and costs limit who can take them. In America, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has approved just one of the new drugs, Wegovy, for weight loss—and only for patients with a body-mass index (BMI) above certain thresholds. The cut-off is 27 for people with weight-related illnesses, and 30 otherwise. For someone 1.7 metres (5’7”) tall, these correspond to 78kg (172lb) and 87kg. People with lower BMIs can try to get a prescription anyway. However, insurers rarely cover such “off-label” use of the $1,000-per-month drugs.

BMIs vary between racial groups. According to the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey, run by the Centres for Disease Control and Prevention, Asian-Americans aged 18-75 have an average BMI of 25, compared with 29 for whites, 30 for Hispanics and 31 for black people. As a result, few Asians meet the FDA’s criteria.

Archive.today link

The social platform, created by ex-Twitter employees Alphonzo “Phonz” Terrell and DeVaris Brown, has garnered online buzz in the last week, with Black celebrities including musician Questlove and actor Keke Palmer counted among its recent members. By Monday, after Musk limited the number of tweets users can see, Spill began to climb the rankings of Apple’s App Store.

The recent boost in popularity comes amid constant discourse among Black Twitter, an informal digital enclave noted for its meme culture and political activism. Many within the community have voiced concerns about inadequate moderation of hate speech on Twitter, arguing that the app has become an increasingly “toxic” space under Musk’s leadership.

The question isn’t the problem. The problem is the question.

• Nearly seven in ten (67%) say it is a serious problem that individuals treat Black, Latino, Asian, and Native Americans worse than white Americans. Two-fifths (39%) say it is a very serious problem.
• Three-fifths (63%) say racism makes it more difficult for people of color to succeed in America.
• Nearly half (49%) of Americans believe that racism is both a problem of how society works and how individuals treat each other. A quarter (26%) say it is mostly a problem of how individuals treat each other. These findings are similar to when asked in June 2020 (48% and 28%, respectively).

It's a bit of a long podcast, but it raised some very good points. As an Asian American who went to a elite school, I'm very much torn between the two camps myself. However, I'd be very curious to hear other folks thoughts on this matter, especially on the points raised in this podcast.

As we build a new social network, it's important to reflect on the mistakes of those that came before.

This is admittedly A Take, but it's genuine and I hope it will be engaged as such.

I noticed the language here refers to "minorities" in regards to race often. I think that should stop. It isn't demographics that are responsible for racial oppression, it's power dynamics and ostensibly anti-racist language should reflect that.

Some might try to point out that in some areas, non-white communities are literally minorities. I only think this is true from the viewpoint of majority-white, European colonialist countries, and that isn't a viewpoint which should be assumed or taken for granted, given they are the oppressors in this situation. Globally, no single race constitutes a majority. Locally, "minorities" quickly become "majorities" if you draw boundaries appropriately—for example, a given group may be 20% of the population of a given city, but in certain neighborhoods of that city they are 60-90% of the residents.

I'm pointing this out because in general decolonization is neglected in "people of color" spaces so that racially oppressed people strive to become equal participants in a racially oppressive system rather than destroying that system altogether. It would be nice if that did not happen here.

cross-posted from: https://baraza.africa/post/299555

Some excerpts I pulled are below.

with extremely few exceptions, especially outside of southern Africa, scholars of continental Africa do not engage the complex ways that race continues to be significant in this postcolonial moment.

The North–sub-Saharan Africa divide shapes continental and global politics (take, for example, the coverage of the “Arab Spring”). … in treating these two geographical areas as distinct—without the associated analysis of the basis of this distinction—we lose sight of the impact of global racial projects in maintaining such a separation

We need to take bold steps to dismantle the established theoretical, methodological, and epistemological structures that continue to impede race analysis on the African continent.

Haggerty suggested the allegation his client was motivated by “hate based on race or ethnic origin” may have been filed in error, something later confirmed by the Calgary Police Service.

“It looks like there was a clerical error with the initial charge, with the incorrect (Criminal Code) subsection,” the service said.

Nwofor is president of Black Lives Matter YYC and has also been active in the community as a supporter of abortion rights.