Black Witch

EEOC update: Alright, I haven’t really talked too much about my situation about dealing with my case. It almost looked like I returned to normal. Still, Baltimore City Police’s Internal Affairs is still currently investigating the police officer that decided to raid and trash my apartment.

That is really all. Can’t really say more than that because, well, lawyer. Onward with the post.

Firstly, thank you everyone who participated in the Black Witch 6^th Anniversary livestream yesterday. I apologize for being so hare-brained, I never really know what to say live. I will also try to get better about promoting these livestreams because so far (aside from my battery dying or the connection being crap, which are both my phone’s problem), I definitely want to do more of these. I really like the fact that now I can get more use out of my Black Witch Fan Page on Facebook and that I no longer have to fight with Ustream or the like. Hooray.

Due to my horrific situation with my transmission dying and the $5000+ bill that needed to be paid and the fact that to pay it, I can’t get my usual treatment for my trauma disorders (also known as, “the thing that keeps me stable”), I have been looking around for replacement cars because sooner or later, that will have to happen. Eventually, I stumbled onto electric cars. I think they’re pretty cool and the lot I know about them was basically:

1) Tesla

2) Yuppies (also known as “non-Tesla” cars)

Annnnnd that’s it. So, I researched because that’s what I do. I’ve always liked the Kia Soul so I pretty much hovered around that car as an example because I rather look into cars that a normal person can afford, not cars that should be parked next to Bugatti. Kia Soul came out with the Kia Soul EV (“EV” means “Electric Vehicle”) back in 2015. This is what I discovered from researching electric car questions (“What is the transmission?”, “What is the gauge of travel fuel? Charges? Watts?”, “How long can a car go sitting and uncharged? Will it die like a smartphone?” etc, etc):

I discovered a stark reminder of why I hate the Green movement and how pretentious it is.

Y’see, it appears the biggest reason I’m tripping across on countless blogs and forums about electric cars is some version of “I want to save the environment, I’m better than those fossil-fuel cars.” Like, it is major. I honestly am a bit surprised that every purchase of an electric car that isn’t a Tesla doesn’t come with a coupon book for Whole Foods and Birkenstocks. The pretentiousness of the commenters, bloggers and forum-users reminded me of the mid-2000s when the “Green Revolution” got its first bearings, from BP switching their logo to the flowery one during Live Earth (then had an oil spill on the gulf coast they tried to squirm out of), to the onslaught of delusional yuppies who thought they could solve all the world of its ills if everyone sold their cars, bought expensive fixie bikes, put solar panels on their homes and other extremely short-sighted ideas. And how if anyone doesn’t participate, they somehow want to murder the earth, it doesn’t matter if that person can’t buy organic food and Fair Trade.

One thing I disliked about the Green movement because it was constructed in a pretty prejudiced manner (racism, classism, ableism) and was less about saving the forest and more about middle class White people who just want to fling their money around in effort to look better than everyone else. Seriously, they don’t even know if what they’re doing actually is doing anything to help the earth (because if people were serious about this, they would note that it’s corporations that should be bearing the majority of responsibility and there’s no amount of “fine, we won’t buy from them” that will fix things) but maaaaaaaaaan do they have a stick up their derrieres about it as if they’re better. Especially to people who can’t spend thousands of dollars on whimsies.

I’m certain readers (mainly White ones) are going, “How is caring about the earth racist, classist and ableism? Aren’t we are all one race, the human race?” because they tend to question that a lot. And usually follow up with, “Don’t you care about the earth?”

Dude, I’m Pagan. This means I care about the environment as a standard basis of my religious beliefs…but I’m not dumb either. I was raised in the inner city so I take on environmentalism from a more realistic and humanistic approach. Y’know, eradication of food deserts, sustainable (and affordable) housing and sustainable employment, basic stuff like that. Notice I never said, “reduce carbon footprint by getting an electric car” or “eat more quinoa”. And let me break it down why the “Green Revolution” isn’t as shiny and wonderful as it sounds.

Racism: Dude, look at the advertising for anything Green living or sustainability. It’s overly White. No diversity to be seen for miles. And if there is diversity, it’s usually under a “white saviorist” context. We’re usually depicted as poor migrant workers, villages filled with poor – but happy – people. Basically, the only time diversity really shows up is with the undertone of “Do {phony environmentalist act} and you’re helping this miserable bastard. White man’s burden, saving the world. They can’t do it themselves, too primitive to even know that plastic exists.”

This doesn’t even include the micro-aggression towards Black people want to be involved as “oh, you’re a credit to your race” or “isn’t this a bit pricy for you?” Buying sustainably is definitely not buying cheap and with the stereotype of “Black = poor”, that means a lot of irritation if you’re Black and you want to just do your thing, even if it is just wanting to maintain a small garden. This leads to the next point…

Classism: If sustainability cravers were actually serious about helping the world, they wouldn’t make the options to go green be so pricy. I mean, why not put solar panels on schools and projects in the hood? How about allowing low-income people getting an actual leg up to get an electric car because a) this puts less gas cars on the road and b) it creates an access for people to find decent work and be able to manage their lives a little better? How about not only community gardens but also allow people in the community to maintain a small grocery store that actually hires people from the community and etc etc etc? That way, there’s an economy and access to organic food. It’s not $6 asparagus water but hey, it puts nutrients in hungry and hard-worked bodies. There’s no sign of the “Green Revolution” in poorer areas because it’s just a game for the upper classes, not an actual effort to make the world better. If it, the “revolution”, cannot benefit those who need it most, then it’s not a revolution because no one of value is being helped. It’s not fair to not be able to purchase the more expensive filters for water, the nicer cars instead of the 1980s and 1990s clunkers we’re forced to stay with, to not have access to sustainable foods or jobs to provide money to buy them with…and to get shamed and ragged all the same about it.

Ableism: One thing I noticed, Green Living folks tend to be very able-bodied…and assume that if they recycle and have a paleo diet, somehow people who are disabled brought it on themselves. That if someone drank more organic smoothies, they would be able to get out of that wheelchair. If they just had a garden, they would somehow be cured of bipolar and depression. (Mental institutions have been making the mentally ill doing field work since at least the Victorian times – hasn’t worked then, not going to work now.) These people, those who tend to be hyper-focused on Green Living, tend to not operate within the basic realms of science and biology. Having a disorder or disease or any condition will not magically go away because someone had free range goat cheese and wild, raw turnips. That’s not how illness works. Does eating better and having access to better food and water improve health? Absolutely! Is it the cure-all of any human ailment, physical or mental? Absolutely not. Because health doesn’t work that way.

How annoying. All I wanted to do was look at cars and the capabilities of vehicles, instead I have to wade through the briar patch of self-absorbed douchebags.

Next week is The Arts! No word yet on who to feature but it shall be a thing! However, if you have something artistic that you want to share, feel free to drop me a line!