The Post About Ed Skrein

Recently, Ed Skrein was casted as Ben Daimio in the “Hellboy” reboot: “Rise of the Blood Queen.” Many were objecting to the role not going to an Asian-American actor. The character is Japanese-American in Mike Mignola’s “Hellboy” comics. He released a statement on his personal social media that he has stepped down from the role.

The creative directors behind the film adaptation of this film released a statement as well. “Ed came to us and felt very strongly about this. We fully support his unselfish decision. It was not our intent to be insensitive to issues of authenticity and ethnicity, and we will look to recast the part with an actor more consistent with the character in the source material.”

There are too many white washed films being produced in Hollywood and often times there is huge backlash on social media over it. Between Scarlett Johansson in “Ghost in the Shell” and Emma Stone playing a Chinese-Hawaiian character in Aloha, white washing has been a huge problem in Hollywood.

Many times white actors, producers, and directors will make excuses to why they keep the actors casted in those roles.

Someone tell me what is so difficult with casting people of color in film and television, whether the character is make believe or based on a real person.

Scarlet Johanssen says on Good Morning America that her character was “essentially identity-less” and that she would never attempt to play a person of another race. But that’s what the fuck you did girl? That was a poor excuse because she further explained that the role was about feminism, not race. And too many times white women will focus more on things that will benefit themand not other women. There are plenty of talented Asian American women who could have been casted for this role and that would have benefited feminism more than a rich white woman who is constantly being presented with multiple opprotunities. Additionally, white people feel that being white is like being invisible, therefore, if they are casted for a role meant for an Egyptian or someone from an Arab country, they can simply slap on some bronzer and it’s basically the same thing. The generic everyman aspect to whiteness makes it so easy to have a casting room full of white actors and pick the best white guy to play this Hispanic man like Ben Affleck did in Argo or an Native American person like Johnny Depp did in Lone Ranger or like Nat Wolff in the Netflix adaptation of Death Note.

White washing is trend we need to let go. CBS, which can’t even cast diverse actors in their shows, failed to pay Daniel Dae Kim and Grace Park the same amount they pay their white counterparts. In earlier times, Hollywood casted white people to play black, Asian, and Native Americans, purely to hightlight harmful stereotypes that still believe in today. Now there are more actors of color on popular TV shows such as Fresh of the Boat, Blackish, Insecure, One Day at A Time, Queen of the South, and so many more. It is important that directors and producers take the time to cast actors, even if they are unknown, that match the ethnicity of the characters that they will play. Many people of color dealt with watching sitcoms and movies that depicted white families, white teens and their struggles, and white people going on adventures. It would be rare to see a Native American on television who was just a personand not a “savage” who was actually a white person with lots of dark foundation on. When you have more shows like East Los High and Dr. Ken, it makes people feel great that they are being represented as a part of society in popular media. It shows that they’re identity is their own and deserves to be shown in a true light.

When you casted a white person in place of a person of color in film, you are saying that their stories don’t matter. You are basically saying that placing them on screen is not worth your time nor your money, so you would rather face the consequences of angry consumers rather than accurately cast your movie characters. It doesn’t matter that Tilda Swinton was friends with Margaret Cho. That didn’t give her a pass to play a Himalayan mystic in Doctor Strange.

Audiences know when a movie is going to be lackluster waste of time. Time and time again, it’s been proven that films with a cast of diverse actors bring in big box office dollars and are critically acclaimed works. Insecure on HBO has been green lit for a third season and has a strong social media following. The Big Sick, which chronicals the real life romance between Kumail Nunjiani and Emily Kazan, is becoming one of the highest-grossing independent films of 2017. Get Out was the first movie to be a contender for an Oscar and went past the 200 million mark at the box office after having a 4.5 movie budget. Atlanta has a 100 percent rating on Rotten Tomatoes, as well as Master of None, Insecure, Jane the Virgin, and so many other great shows.

Ed Skrein shows us that it is not that difficult to reject roles. He will not be devoid of roles in the future. Hopefully, white actors, producers, and directors will stop making excuses and make an effort to cast talented people of color in their new projects. Because I am certainly being tired of having to tweet out my frustrations in a long thread, pleading with Hollywood to acknowledge our voices and our stories. I just want people to see that our stories are worth telling and that you should give undiscovered or even very popular actors of color a chance, you will not be disappointed. The people who are making these decisions should know that they shouldn’t acknowledge that diversity is important after they casted the wrong person in an important role.

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The Post About Taylor Swift's White Fragility

Recently, Taylor Wift shut down her Instagram and deleted many of old tweets. Then she posted a few teaser videos with snakes. Now she is supposedly dropping a new single and will be dropping a new album in November. Many people are reporting that the Internet is losing their minds over all of this news. 

I think a lot of people are just fine.

Moreover, many people are calling this a surprise album drop. Just because she hasn't said anything since the election and is now releasing an album; that doesn't qualify as a surprise album drop. 

Many of her fans are happy that Taylor is reclaiming the negative narrative that was surrounding her last year. When really this whole strategy is just another way for her to flex her white fragility in order to get what she wants. Taylor poised a black man that everyone already saw as crazy to be her enemy. They had said to have squashed their feud, but Taylor decided that she could benefit from Kanye being demonized by the media. She made a speech at the Grammy's about how no matter was thrown at this fragile white woman, she was able to survive the mean black man's hurtful words. That her success is because she rose above "people trying to take credit for your success". That's why Kanye never fought back. He knew that Taylor was seen as America's Sweetheart and that if he said anything then everyone would brush it off as him being an unstable black man. She spun the story around to benefit her and have everyone in the palm of her hand. It wasn't until Kim was fed up with this bullshit that she exposed Taylor on Snapchat for being a manipulative, soulless liar. Now Taylor is going to use this new albu as a way to portray herself as someone who was falsely accused of being a snake. She is going to make this album about how no matter what people say about her, she will remain unscathed and continue to succeed. Or in other words, no matter what you do, people will continue to believe this gentle white girl image she had spent her career building. 

Taylor knew full well about the verse in Kanye's song "Famous" and she decided to turn it around so that she would be seen as the victim. It was easy for her because everyone else was saying it was sexist and she put her stamp of approval of being against it.

Of course, there is plenty of sexism and misogyny in the music industry. Female artists face sexism everyday when they are just trying to pursue their dreams. Whether it is with Rick Ross saying he would have to fuck a female rapper if she were signed to his lable or with Dr. Luke still having a job even after the Kesha lawsuit, men have always been glorified in the music industry and given a free pass to be sexist without consequence. And yes, hip hop has been repeatedly sexist and homophobic, however, there is a huge difference with making a song that is sexist against women and contacting someone about a verse that was about them and they okayed the verse. There is big difference between the two. When Taylor heard Kanye say the line to her that mentions her voice, she was excited that he was going to mention her in his song as it was obvious in the Snapchat video from Kim. Taylor must have known from that moment that she could take her and Kanye's new friendship as an opprotunity to demonize him and position her to be the victim. 

After the Snapchat video came out, of course, Taylor Swift said that she wanted to excluded from the narrative. Mainly because she couldn't say that this never happened or what happened in the Snapchat video was misleading because everyone knew exactly what was going on in that Snapchat video. This whole feud starts when Kanye jumped on the stage at the MTV's VMAs in 2009 when he said that Beyonce should've won. It didn't help that the exact picture of the moment looks like the black man terrorising the innocent white woman. This picture also represents the idea of black men being a menance to white men is what constantly oppresses black men in larger way, such as with Emmett Till or with the Scotsboro Boys. And Taylor capitalized on that moment by using the incident to launch herself into the mainstreams consciousness. Kanye was using that moment to bring attention to the systemic racism in the mainstream music industry that repeatedly gives awards to white artists instead of to more deserving artists of color. Like with what happened at the 2016 Grammy's when Adele won Album of the Year instead of Beyonce winning it. People jumped on the train of calling Kanye crazy and an asshole even after he publically apologized for his outburst. Even after he explained that he didn't do that to offend Taylor, but to talk about how there are a lot of people in America who do not have a platform to talk about the racism that happens in our country. 

Taylor has always been quick to be the statue of victimhood and how everyone is after her and trying to undermine her fame. Of course, she does face sexism within the music industry and there may be people who want to discredit her. But Kanye is not trying to do so. However, she might use this album to talk about that and, against, position herself to the fragile white woman in the media's eyes so that she can catapult back to being America's lovable girl next door. Instead of being seen as the manipulative lying white feminist that she is. 

The Post About Marcellus Williams

In 1998, Felicia Gayle was murdered during a robbery. Following this, Marcellus Williams was charged and arrested for murder. In the 2001 trial, the court denied to test the murder weapon for DNA per William's attorney request. The newly acquired evidence showed that the DNA on the murder weapon did not match William's DNA. Moreover, hair samples that were found at the scene of the crime did not match Williams's DNA, but for a different male. Also, a footprint found at the scene does not match William's footprint. Moreover, William's conviction was obviously ruined by the racial bias of the case because prosecuters worked hard to keep black people off of the jury. 81 percent of cases with black defendents get convicted with an all white jury and many prosecutors go out of their way strike black jurors from the selection process. Williams was also prosecuted under the St. Louis prosecuter Bob McCulloch, who failed to indict Darren Wilson for the murder of Micheal Brown in 2014. The prosecuters were confident that they could get a conviction without any DNA evidence because Felicia's stolen laptop was found in a car and two people who told the police that Williams confessed to the killings. One man was a jailhouse snitch and the other person was William's ex girlfriend who was in need of money and took advantage of the $10,000 reward. Moreover, the car that had Gayle's stolen laptop wasn't even registered to Williams. 

By now you can see how ridiculous this is. These people are literally doing gymnastics in order for this man to go away for a long time. They are doing whatever they can so that this man will die. For what??? I don't know!!! Racists don't give an explanation as to why they are racist. They just want to pin this murder on this innocent man. So sad. But I'm not done.

In 2015, the Supreme Court of Missouri issued a last-minute stay of execution to allow Williams to obtain DNA testing. The results came back proving it was someone else and not Williams' DNA on the knife. The court denied him a chance to present that evidence and summarily denied the case without issuing any written explanation. Then the court gave Williams an execution date of April 22, 2017.

Governor Greitens halted his execution for a panel of 5 retired judges to review the case with the newly discovered evidence. 

I am really glad that this story made to CNN that afternoon because I saw my dad watching it. I am also grateful that this execution was halted. But that does not mean that he will be dismissed for the charges. They might find something else to charge him with so that he can still be imprisoned. But we will see what happens from here.

The Post About Dick Gregory

Dick Gregory was recently hospitalized because of an unknown condition. Now we learn that he has passed on at 84. His children released a statement on his instagram page. He was a very well known civil rights activist and comedian. Gregory made us all think about the way this country works. He was a true game changer and made us all think. He was an American hero and amazing mentor to many of us. He was a groundbreaker in comedy and a strong voice for social justice. Gregory marched with Martin Luther King Jr. He sat with Muhammad Ali and he also paved the way for many great comedians today. He passed away today, but he will never be forgotten. May you rest in power, Dick Gregory.

PSA to Conservatives: YOU ARE NOT A VICTIM!!!

Here’s the thing with Conservatives now. They hate the fact that there are so many people in their mentions and in their lives that are questioning their stance in politics. Now that so many people must face the fact that there are literal Nazis within our country, we are becoming more aware of what’s going on. We are all focusing more on what people are saying to other people and how they interact with different people that they are not used to being around.

If you are a Republican and you think that you are a victim, shut up. You are not a victim at all. Your rights are not being threatened every day by an unstable old white man in the oval office.

You think just because people are being mean to you that you can cry like a baby? People are acting this way towards you because of what you vote for! None of you did anything to truly oppose Trump's presidential campaign. You didn't really do anything when he said that he would defend his supporters if they beat up black people in the street in Trump's name. Ya'll didn't blink an eye when he came down that escalator and called all "Mexicans" rapists. Moreover, I didn't see one person with an american flag in their twitter handle oppose Trump's proposition of a Muslim ban. And now that this man is in office and trying to take away our healthcare, you are upset that a girl with a safety pin in her twitter handle called you an asshole? Buck the fuck up.

People are not being mean to you because you disagree with them. They are speaking you in a way that makes you feel attacked. Because you are not used to having your political views challenged by so many people. And now you feel like it’s more popular to be a leftist and that you are a minority. You are absolutely not a minority. You still have the majority of the House and Senate and the OVAL OFFICE. Also, the literal leader of your country is in bed with white supremacists and people who want to take away people’s rights so badly every chance that they can get. When you are okay with people taking away rights from marginalized people, you are like them. You have the same mindset that this country is somehow broken because people from different countries come here for a better life and end up doing dishes in the back of an IHOP or have to sell oranges on the side of the road. You all kept repeating the same rhetoric on

Stop comparing yourself to people in the 50s. I am so sick of people saying that being a conservative now is like being a jewish person in Nazi Germany. That is not the case at all. People are not going into your homes, taking you and your family to a concentration camp so that you can work and starve for years. None of that happens to you. Also, you are thrown in an oven and burned alive!! No one is doing that to you just for voting to put an old dotty racist in the White House.

Alan Turing, well-known and hugely influential computer scientist, was forcibly chemically castrated for being gay in the 50's. James Damore is not Alan Turing. He isn't even close because James Damore, as it has been recently revealed, he wasn't even properly qualified for his former cushy job at Google. If you don't know who James Damore is, he wrote a 10 page memo on the internal Google message boards about how women are not biologically wired to have jobs in technology. Obviously he experienced fierce insecurity that he was surrounded by smarter women. And then he decided to write this memo to have people validate his feelings, but that ended up getting him fired.

Maybe it is time for you to cross the other side and understand why everyone kind of doesn't like you. Because this isn't going to end. There are plenty of centrist democrats talking to republicans. It's time to stop pushing for more police in Detroit and start funding science and math programs. It's time to stop focusing on closing down Planned Parenthood and to start teaching kids how to have safe sex in school so that you can reduce the teen pregnancy rate in your States. And perhaps you need to stop seeing all Muslim people are terrorists and start arresting the neo-Nazis and white supremacists that live in your states and work in your police forces, colleges, high school, banks, and other government buildings.

Oh yeah! And keep them out of the White House.

The Post About Transphobic Jokes

So recently Janet Mock went on the Breakfast Club to talk about her book and the whole interview created this wave on social media called #TransFolksArentJokes . Basically, comedian Lil Duval make a joke about killing a transgender woman if he found out she was transgender after he slept with her. I honestly hated the fact that Janet was going to do this interview because I know that Charlamagne is an asshole, but this is just disgusting. The fact that you invited a New York Times best selling author onto your show just to have your guest host misgender her is ridiculous. And then your guest host made this disgusting joke

Okay, I'm just gonna start on how I feel about this. Transphobic jokes lead to anti trans violence and murders. It is beyond time for everyone, whether you are transgender or not, to show up and saym trans folks are not jokes. That is what Raquel Willis said in her Twitter video in response to the Breakfast Club interview. People are also calling advertisers to the Breakfast Club to get them off the air and also people are calling for a boycott. 

We need more folks, whether trans or not, to definitively state where they are when it comes to our humanity. The silence must end and if you're truly invested in liberation show up for trans folks publicly. Transgender people do not deserve to die because you are attracted to them. Men are too scared to let others know that they are attracted to someone who is transgender that they will kill the person to protect their masculinity. Transgender people do not have to reveal to people that they are sleeping with that they are in fact trans. Transgender people face discrimination and marginilization in all communities. Especially the black community. When Lil Duval made that joke and Charlamagne laughed, it legitimizes that thought a cisgender man will have when he meets a transgender woman. Transgender people do die for just living their lives. Recently, a transgender woman by the name of Miss Tee Tee was found murdered today in Atlanta. 

Black transgender woman are dying at an alarming rate. There have been 15 transgender deaths this year. Violent language and rhetoric towards transgender women of color continues to aid and abet the feeling towards them soon leads to their deaths. Condoning these jokes about transgender women of color is sooo wrong. Transgender people already face homelessness,cannot be allowed in public places, a great deal of chances for sexual assault, and often do not receive the appropriate healthcare that they need. And now there are people with huge platforms that are laughing at the thought of literally killing someone!!!!

The Post About North Korea

North Korea recently launched an intercontinental missile that has the potential to hit major US cities such as LA, Chicago, and Denver. Of course, this missile only has the potential to do this. It would still need a nuclear warhead in order for it to do real damage. Their technology hasn't be proven to be there, but this recent test is a grave warning to the US.

North Korea has been working on their nuclear arsenal since the 1950s with the USSR. The USSR was disbanded and then they had to keep supplying their nuclear arsenal on their own. The United States promised to help protect South Korea and Japan in case of an eventual nuclear attack. The United States has been trying to get North Korea to stop building nuclear weapons since the 90s. Bill Clinton tried to negotiate with them. Bush tried threatening them to stop. Obama tried to strategically wait them out. But now we are stuck with Number 45 who just tweets out nonsense because he doesn't know how to think like a rational human being. On Friday, North Korea demonstrated that they have a missile that can hit Alaska with a small nuclear warhead. North Korea couldn't figure out how to hit the United States a few months ago, but if they develop the technology any quicker then the US may not be able to protect Japan and South Korea. If North Korea figures out how to hit the US, the pretty soon South Korea and Japan will look into growing their own nuclear arsenal. This will lead to nuclear proliferation which is what past US presidents have been trying to avoid. If  we launch an attack on North Korea, then they will launch an attack on Seoul or Tokyo. North Korea's dictator is a self obsessed man with a completely obedient military and no empathy for other countries. The current leader of the free world has no foreign policy experience and practically no one working in the State Department who will be able to handle this. Also, he sends out random tweets that make no sense and are practically like empty bills that cannot become laws. If you shoot two loose and unpredictable canons at each other, you're bound to get blown up.