Readers Sound Off On Essence Drama, Arpaio Mess

Some of the week's best reader driven conversations.

By Channing Kennedy Jul 30, 2010

Welcome to a new feature here on ColorLines, where we lift up some of the week’s best reader conversation happening around our articles. We want to hear your voice, too — get involved on Twitter @colorlines, on Facebook, on Tumblr, and right here in the comments. Let’s dig in: One of our most-commented pieces of the week, spawning many great conversations, was Daisy Hernandez’s analysis of the race politics buried in the new movie The Kids Are All Right. And that’s not to say that everyone agreed with Daisy, or with each other. All the responses to "The Kids Are All Right, But Not the Queer Movement" are recommended reading, including Daisy’s responses to the responses. Here’s an excerpt of a late comment by dyke2watchout4:

It’s a very very very liberal (in the bad way) thing to say, "mentioning this will cause division in the community, when we should all just join together." the point is, we’re not united right now. we cannot be until we mention this, admit to it, acknowledge it, and work through it. it takes privilege to ignore it. it takes privilege (class, racial, sexual, etc.) to say "stop creating strife among the queers." that means that you can ignore the fact that the strife exists, especially because it must not affect you adversely.

Jenny H. digs deeper on Jamilah King’s "Arpaio Arrests Dozens in SB 1070 Protests":

I hadn’t heard the detail about the pink underwear before, but it’s very telling; his racism is closely connected with homophobia and misogyny in that he thinks forced feminization is an act of humiliation and control.  All the "isms" are connected. If we could only see each other as allies, all of us, rather than competing for the scraps from the table of the privileged, we could change the world.

In a thread on Michelle Chen’s "The Coming Fight Over Paying For The Pill," convo_girl says social conservatives are denying science, and invents a new verb:

Like every other prescription drug, hormonal contraceptives regulate the human bodily functions in a way that it can not be achieved naturally. Just like high blood pressure medicines, anti-depressives or digestive aids. There is nothing earth-shattering about that. By and large, birth control is safe, esp compared to many, many other drugs out there. Women, however, must find the right drug for them. The dirty little secret is that the anti-choice community does not support access to birth control. Because of its alliance with the Catholic church, they not only oppose hormonal contraceptives but condom use as well. Their tactics include spreading inaccurate and misleading information and applying a lot of political pressure. But it won’t work here. Common sense says birth control is right for women, and so does science and health care providers. Take your propaganda elsewhere. We will not let you Shirley Sherrod this issue.

On the ColorLines Facebook page, a mind gets changed by Julianne Hing’s "Obama to Critics: I’m Not Bashing Teachers": On Twitter, 32RED hits up @colorlines to ask about Jamilah King’s "Is Essence Leaving Black Women Behind?": Jamilah replies that, nope: And at the ColorLines Tumblr, we’ve reposted a great short narrative film linked to in our comments by its maker, DREAM Activist and filmmaker Jesus ‘Chuy’ Rosales.

Nine by Jesus "Chuy" Rosales_ Remake from Jesus 'Chuy' Rosales on Vimeo.

That’s all for this week. Thanks as always for reading and writing, and for making ColorLines a community!