Clarissa hangs from the words "white supremacy"

White supremacy? Clarissa explains it all!

That’s right. Clarissa Explains White Supremacy is a thing. And Clarissa, well…she explains it all. 

A photo of clarissa with the words "the reason there is media silence around the NAACP bombing is that it's not the kind of terrorism that threatens white America"

Oh yeah, Americans may have missed it during the extensive coverage of the tragic shooting in Paris, but as it happens right here in the United States, a bomb detonated at the Colorado Springs, CO headquarters of the NAACP. Colorado Springs is not exactly known for its progressive politics, and it sure looks like a hate crime.

Unfortunately for those of us who might find it important to know more information about the bombing of a civil rights organization, there’s not a ton of news coverage of this event. Even though people have been consistently on the streets — from Ferguson to New York City to Oakland — protesting white supremacy for months now, and this event is relevant to the national conversation on race and racism, mainstream US media finds it way more important to fuel Islamophobia by speculating about the shootings happening in France. Or focus on the early violent deaths of police officers above the early violent deaths of people killed at the hands of the police. Nope, the death of Black bodies is not the kind of terrorism that threatens white America. Good point, Clarissa!

Clarissa explains: "All blame the victim behaviors have two things in common. First, they avoid the real problem: racism. Second, they take away from the picture the agents of racism, white people and institutions, who either intentionally perpectuate, or unintentionally collude with racism."

Right! It doesn’t matter whether or not Eric Garner was selling cigarettes; he did not deserve to be extrajudicially killed. It doesn’t matter whether a young queer or trans person is trading sex or not; they don’t deserve to be harassed by the cops for carrying condoms. Victim-blaming strategies do distract from the inherent racism of American policing, huh? Clarissa nails another one!

Clarissa with little brother Ferguson: "When the constitution was  created it was made to protect property. At the time property meant land...and people."

You mean to say that a system created to protect property at a time when Black and Indigenous people weren’t considered fully human doesn’t protect Black and Indigenous communities today? Clarissa explains it all!

Photo of Clarissa w text: All I want for Christmas is the abolition of imperialist white supremacist heteropatriarchy"

Me too, Clarissa. Me too.

H/T my homie Avery for putting me on to this genius!

New York, NY

Verónica Bayetti Flores has spent the last years of her life living and breathing reproductive justice. She has led national policy and movement building work on the intersections of immigrants' rights, health care access, young parenthood, and LGBTQ liberation, and has worked to increase access to contraception and abortion, fought for paid sick leave, and demanded access to safe public space for queer youth of color. In 2008 Verónica obtained her Master’s degree in the Sexuality and Health program at Columbia University’s Mailman School of Public Health. She loves cooking, making art, listening to music, and thinking about the ways art forms traditionally seen as feminine are valued and devalued. In addition to writing for Feministing, she is currently spending most of her time doing policy work to reduce the harms of LGBTQ youth of color's interactions with the police and making sure abortion care is accessible to all regardless of their income.

Verónica is a queer immigrant writer, activist, and rabble-rouser.

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