Phillip Winn @pwinn@qoto.org

February is Black History Month. Fellow white people, do you have any idea how much better-educated than you nearly every Black person you know is about American history? There are events and people you have not been taught about at all, or about which and whom you have been taught a "white-washed" version, reshaped to fit into the great American myth of white history.

As a white kid, I was taught poorly, too. We used to call the process of learning the real history "waking up," with the end result of becoming more woke, maybe even fully woke. Now that term is being widely used pejoratively, so I'll say instead: open your eyes!

Open your eyes, and see what has always been there. Become someone who sees.

I've got a few links tucked away for February, and I'll find more as the month goes on, but let's start by turning to the people who've been taught Black history from the time they were young.

10 accounts to follow:

@mekkaokereke Mekka Okereke

@black_intellect blk_intellect

@liberate The Way of Accountability

@DHS Darker Hue Studios

@onlymeindc Sherri G., PhD

@nadinestorying she who weaves stories

@popcornreel Omar Moore

@carnage4life Dare Obasanjo

@Jaden2@mstdn.social Jaden

@kingsley kingsley

#BlackHistoryMonth

I don't mean it go off on a rant here, but, my fellow Americans, we live in a country in which a six-year-old boy deliberately shot his first grade teacher with his mother's gun twenty-five days ago, and the national reckoning, the deep soul-searching and re-evaluation of every law and every cultural norm that has followed is... nonexistent. God bless America.

The school system's superintendent was removed, and the principal was reassigned, while the assistant principal resigned. The kids at this elementary school now have to walk through metal detectors and use clear plastic backpacks under the watchful eye of two cops. Which did no good at all less than a year ago in Uvalde, Texas. God bless America.

And that's it! Nobody has even bothered making a serious plea to change anything at all, because we know nothing will change. Virginia won't change anything any more than Texas did after the Uvalde shooting. We just know that this is now a part of life: sometimes people go to school to get shot. Sometimes it's children being shot. Sometimes it's children doing the shooting. Sometimes it's both. God bless America.

You might say it's been overshadowed in the news by the cops who murdered yet another Black man, a situation in which the Black cops were fired and charged with murder, while the white cops were put on administrative leave. But that murder didn't even happen until the next day, and didn't become public knowledge until three weeks after Virginia shooting. God bless America.

You might say it's been overshadowed in the news by January 6 being the anniversary of an attempted insurrection, for which the prime suspect remains at large. God bless America.

But if that's true, what does it say about this country that a six-year-old shooting his teacher takes third place at most to still more murderous cops and a scofflaw ex-president getting away with inciting rebellion?

God bless America.

#blog #politics #BlackLivesMatter #guns

Oh, consequences of my own inaction, why are you inevitably here at my doorstep, costing my $9.2 million each day?

I mean, not *my* inaction, but *someone's* inaction. And since it's not *my* inaction, it's fun to watch.

https://infosec.exchange/@SecurityWriter/109777576538835360

#nerdery #blog

Recent movies I've seen, in reverse order:

_RRR_ is over the top in the best possible way. There were certainly things going on in terms of Indian culture and politics that I didn't understand, but that didn't affect my enjoyment at all. It's a fantastic movie about brotherhood and friendship and how incredibly evil British colonialists were. I loved it!

_Men_ is... strange. Moody, creepy, and then confusing, I'm not sure anyone quite knows exactly what the Cronenbergesque ending is supposed to mean, including writer and director Alex Garland. Still, it's clear in broad strokes, and I don't consider my time wasted.

_Glass Onion_ is great, a worthy successor to _Knives Out_, which remains great. I loved the cameos, spotted the editing trick, and still was surprised by the full reveal. Rian Johnson and Daniel Craig need to keep making these!

_Avatar: The Way of Water_ doesn't need me to say anything, and I think James Cameron literally reads about his story problems as a fetish. Still, I really, really disliked the first Avatar movie, and this one... wasn't bad! It could have been a shorter movie, but I'll admit the visuals balanced out the pacing issues. And sure, our characters end the movie in the same situation they were in about five minutes in, so you might wonder what the three hours were for, but: water! I'm guessing the next movie is when the fire nation attacks.

#blog #movies #reviews #rrr #men #GlassOnion #avatar

"But mercy has never arisen from an ideal situation – it grows as a garden at the end of this long maze of non-ideals."

https://www.plough.com/en/topics/justice/social-justice/strange-mercies

#blog #personal #mercy