fyah links

Everyday I come across so much on the blogosphere that I need to read or wish I’d wrote- not depriving people of their skill but just wishing I had that sort of skill. Today I feature three things I’ve come across in the last little while that really brought fyah.

 

Okay, so I’m not 30 but I’m getting there but the wonderful womyn of the crunk feminist collective put out this list 20 things I’d want to say to my 20s self. And who doesn’t wish they could go back and tell themselves don’t stress it. I’ve actually stopped reading my diaries/journals from yesteryear, they scare me so immensely, they reek of insecurity and security that the insecurity will remain. It’s not a me I want to remember of dwell on. Though, as I type this I’m wondering if it’s about being patient, I’ve come along way from that person. I think the list also serves as reminder to be patient with yourself, change is coming.

This if a fyah piece by soyluv that talks about appropriation in the Caribbean, specially the religious Hindu festival Divali and how it has been and is taken up as national festival to which everyone has rights. My comment as provided on the post: This was one of the infuriating things about living in Trinidad, the “all ah we is one” mentality completely undermines all elements of appropriation that people were so comfortable practicing. And it being pushed as being “truly Trini” makes it ever harder to argue against.

This I think is partially why many people are so invested in identifying as mixed, once we have the blood of the indigenous people as well as African, Indian, Syrian-Lebanese, Chinese, Portuguese and the list goes on… no one can call into question anything we are do, b/c we are truly Trini. Fully absolving us of the responsibility to question our privilege, oppression and position as oppressors.

I put this last because I am not sure how relevant it still is. I’m not a sports person as I’ve said many many times before, but I’ve always thought about how obscene the amounts of money that many professional athletes make. It wasn’t however until I saw Chris Rock’s bit re: who rich vs wealth that I began to think about how much more obscene the wealth of the persons who own these teams must be. This article looks at the strike in the NBA and why players should not be dismissed solely because they are rich so their financial concerns are not real.