This Is Literally The Most Heart Warming Story I Have Read On Twitter So Far. I Think This Is Exactly

simongerman600

Its the Eve of Black History Month so lets kick it off by pissing off White queers by reminding them that: Y’all have the capacity to be racist as fuck! white gays can be so blatantly racist and not realize it! I don’t care how good your intentions were or if you didn’t mean to be racist, or if you have BLM in your bio. Trans and cis alike, any insistence that you couldn’t possibly be racist blinds you from learning how to accept any rightful criticism or taking accountability for your actions. 

When your first instinct to being told you’ve been racist is self defense, all that tells the queer black people around you is that 1) You are too inept to acknowledge you are being racist or 2) You’d rather preserve your feelings than listen to the people of color around you. It is exhausting to have to coddle white queers who think they are too oppressed to be racist.

White People Can And Should Reblog This.

Humans are adorable.

Supporting evidence:

1. Humans say ‘ow’, even if they haven’t actually been hurt. It’s just a thing they say when they think they might have been hurt, but aren’t sure yet.

2. Humans collect shiny things and decorate their bodies and nests with them. The shinier the better, although each individual has a unique taste for style and colouring

3. Humans are not an aquatic or even amphibious species, but they flock to bodies of water simply to play in it. They can’t even hold their breath all that long; they just love to splash!

4. When night falls and the sky goes dark, humans become drowsy and begin to cocoon themselves in soft, fluffy bedding.

5. Some humans spend time in each other’s nests! Just for fun! It’s not their nest; they’re just visiting each other.

6. Some humans use pigments and dyes to make their bodies flashy and colourful! They even attach shiny dangly bits to their cartalidgous membranes!

7. Humans are very clever, and sometimes adopt creatures from other species into their family units. They don’t seem to notice the obvious differences, and often raise them alongside their own young!

8. If a human sees another creature in distress, they can commonly be observed trying to help! Even at their own risk, most humans are deeply compassionate creatures!

9. If a human hears a particularity catchy sound or tune, it will often mimic it, even to the point of annoying themselves!

10. Sneezes are entirely involuntary, and completely adorable. Especially when the human in question becomes frustrated

11. Humans love treats!!! Some more than others. Many humans will save these treats specifically for a later date when they are in need of comfort or reassurance. IE, pickles, pop tarts, Popsicles, etc

12. They’re learning to travel in space!!! They can’t get very far, but they’re trying!!! So far, they’ve made it to the end of their yard, and have found rocks

Today I learned about an incredible artist named John Conrad Berkey. He created cover art for many science fiction books, and also created artwork for NASA! But he’s most famous for his incredible Star Wars illustrations.

George Lucas actually bought several John Berkey science fiction illustrations and used them to help pitch Star Wars to studios. And many of Berkey’s pervious artwork was used as inspiration for Star Wars’s visuals.

Berkey was later commissioned by LucasFilm to create posters for Star Wars, shown below:

"Berkey's imagination and expressionistic style quickly set him apart from other sci-fi illustrators. From a distance, his paintings appear very exacting and perfectly rendered. But upon closer inspection, they reveal a beautifully loose and freely abstract style."

―Rusty Freeman, Vice-President, Collections & Public Programs, Plains Art Museum, Fargo, North Dakota

You can check out Berkey’s website here, and read his Wookieepedia page here

Jedi women appreciation post

(press “j” to skip, it’s a very long one)

Did you know that out of the twenty-four named female Jedi (PT Order) who ever appeared onscreen (movies + cartoons), only three are caucasian? Because dang, I’ve seen people shitting on Lucas for his white male protagonists (unjustly in my opinion, he wanted Obi-Wan to be Japanese but Toshiro Mifune turned down the role), but the guy delivered on the background characters! Let me take you on a little tour that’s very likely to blow your mind.

(names are linked to the characters’ wookieepedia pages)

THE MOVIES:

Here’s Madame Jocasta Nu (human), formerly of the High Council, portrayed by Australian actress Aleathea McGrath. She’s so cool they call her Madame and not Master. Wonderful book grandma. (Also appears in TCW, has characterization in canon.)

(She’s incredibly badass.)

Then, here is Padawan Bene (human), one of the Padawans who died during Operation Knightfall in RotS. She’s played by Mousy McCallum, from the UK.

Okay, that’s two beautiful ladies so far.

And then we have Knight Aayla Secura (Twi’Lek) played by American actress Amy Allen. She’s the third caucasian-played Jedi woman, and the last one. She’s also the ONLY Jedi woman to wear something that’s even remotely sexualizing. (Also appears in TCW, has characterization in canon.)

Aaw, what a smile.

Then we have Master Yaddle (unknown species), the frog grandma from TPM. She’s lovely, and the only Jedi woman who isn’t absolutely drop dead gorgeous.

Finally, here is baby Ashla (Togruta), a little youngling in AotC. I wasn’t able to find who played her, so I’ve got nothing on her ethnicity. She looks like Shaak Ti though? She’s adorable.

Now, onto all the other beautiful, beautiful ladies George Lucas blessed us with :D

Here is Master Adi Gallia (Tholothian), of the High Council, played by English model Gin Clarke. (Also appears in TCW, has characterization in canon.)

I love her so much. TCW did not do her beauty justice.

Here is her cousin, Master Stass Allie (Tholothian), of the High Council. She was played by different actresses in AotC and RotS, but the most significant one is Lily Nyamwasa. She was meant to appear in TCW but the show was cancelled.

Stunning. I had to physically restrain myself from adding more pictures.

Moving on, we have Master Luminara Unduli (Mirialan), played by Kenyan actress Mary Oyaya. (Also appears in TCW + Rebels, has characterization in canon.)

Her outfit is just amazing. She’s awesome.

Wow.

Then, we have her Padawan, Barriss Offee (Mirialan), played by Australian actress Nalini Krishan, who is from the Fiji islands. (Also appears in TCW, has characterization in canon.)

Here is Master Depa Billaba (human), of the High Council. She’s played by Indian actress Dipika O'Neill Joti. (Also appears in comics, has characterization.)

Here is her sister, Master Sar Labooda (human), whose actress I couldn’t find. Yes, Depa has a sister!!! And it’s canon! But it’s such an obscure fact that no EU material ever made use of that it, kinda like with Adi Gallia and Stass Allie. I learned this just yesterday, and I’m very disappointed I didn’t know about it when I made my post on Jedi families and blood ties.

There were many background Jedi on Geonosis, and here is Master Khaat Qiyn (human), played by Zuraya Hamilton. (Also appears in comics.)

Also on Geonosis, we have Knight Bultar Swan (human), played by Australian actress Mimi Daraphet. Look at her <3

And here is youngling Mari Amithest (human), also from AotC - she’s from Clan Bear, like Ashla, and she’s played by Phoebe Yiamkiati. Not to be dramatic, but I’d die for her.

Finally, Master Shadday Potkin, whose actress I couldn’t find. She appears briefly in RotS.

That’s it for the movies. Some bright eyes might have noticed I didn’t include Master Shaak Ti. That’s because her make-up in the movies is atrocious and does not do justice to the beauty of the actress - so I’m putting her in the TCW category.

THE CARTOONS:

Master Shaak Ti (Togruta), of the High Council. In the movies, she was played by Oli Shoshan, an Israeli actress. (Has characterization in canon.)

TCW!Shaak Ti is so beautiful I wanna cry.

Here is Katooni (Tholothian), an adorable youngling. (Has characterization in canon.)

Then we have Padawan Ahsoka Tano (Togruta), who is going to be played in live-action by American actress Rosario Dawson. (Is to appear in live-action series, also appears in Rebels, has characterization in canon.)

Rosario looks more like Ahsoka’s design from Rebels, but I can’t be assed to go fishing for another picture. This post already crashed on me twice and this is my third time rewriting this.

Finally, here is Kalifa (human), a youngling. She’s always covered in dirt and TCW really isn’t the best at rendering distinctive ethnic features, and we have no actress to go on from. In the concept art I’ve found she kinda looks like she might be Eastern Asian? (Has characterization in canon.)

Now, onto the few characters who are too alien to belong to any human ethnic group.

We have Jedi Masters and twin sisters Tiplar and Tiplee (Mikkians). They wear matching outfits, which I love. (Have characterization in canon, Tiplee also appears in comics.)

Knight Finn Ertay (Twi’Lek).

Ganodi (Rodian), a youngling from the same clan as Katooni. She’s so cute I could cuddle her to death. Look at her little antennae! (Has characterization in canon.)

And Jedi Consular Rig Nema (unknown species). Her outfit is amazing. (Has characterization in canon.)

BONUS CONTENT:

Here are the few named Jedi left. They’re from the Disney canon, not the LucasFilm canon, so they appear in video games and comics. They follow the same trend though.

Master Cere Junda (human), played by American actress Debra Wilson. (Has characterization.)

Her Padawan, Trilla Suduri (human), played by American/Dominican actress Elizabeth Grullon. (Has characterization.)

Master Cyslin Myr (Mirialan), from the Age of the Republic comics. I’d say she looks human enough to see that she has African features, like Luminara. (Has characterization.)

Knight Rissa Mano (Devaronian), from the same comics. Unfortunately, the drawing style is too inconsistent, so we’ll put her in the “too alien” category. (Has characterization.)

Knight Bant Eerin (Mon Calamari), who was re-canonized by the Obi-Wan and Anakin book. (Has characterization.)

And finally, Tai Uzuma, a youngling from the Kanan comics. (Has characterization.)

That’s all the named female Jedi from the PT-era Order (except for the ones who only appear in books and thus have no faces). There are thirty of them, and three are caucasian, nine are too alien for ethnicity to be applicable, and eighteen are women of color. Fourteen out of the twenty-two adult ones are Masters, not Knights (that’s over one in two) and six have been on the Council (that’s over one in four)!

They are all simply gorgeous, they are not sexualized in any way, and many of them wear incredible custom outfits.

tldr: The Jedi Order rocks.

I'm begging other trans people to read an ounce of Black Feminist or Decolonialist Feminist writing. I'm on my hands and knees and begging you. I promise you, I promise you, there is so much more to Feminist theory than anything you have picked up from White/Radical/Pop/Liberal Feminism I promise you. Read There Is No Hierarchy Of Oppressions By Audre Lorde. I have a link to the PDF right here you can read it for free. Take my hand I can't do this alone (thanks glass beach). Peace And Love On Planet Earth.

Nathan J. Anderson on Instagram

There are people – some in my own Party – who think that if you just give Donald Trump everything he wants, he’ll make an exception and spare you some of the harm. I’ll ignore the moral abdication of that position for just a second to say — almost none of those people have the experience with this President that I do. I once swallowed my pride to offer him what he values most — public praise on the Sunday news shows — in return for ventilators and N95 masks during the worst of the pandemic. We made a deal. And it turns out his promises were as broken as the BIPAP machines he sent us instead of ventilators. Going along to get along does not work – just ask the Trump-fearing red state Governors who are dealing with the same cuts that we are. I won’t be fooled twice.

I’ve been reflecting, these past four weeks, on two important parts of my life: my work helping to build the Illinois Holocaust Museum and the two times I’ve had the privilege of reciting the oath of office for Illinois Governor.

As some of you know, Skokie, Illinois once had one of the largest populations of Holocaust survivors anywhere in the world. In 1978, Nazis decided they wanted to march there.

The leaders of that march knew that the images of Swastika clad young men goose stepping down a peaceful suburban street would terrorize the local Jewish population – so many of whom had never recovered from their time in German concentration camps.

The prospect of that march sparked a legal fight that went all the way to the Supreme Court. It was a Jewish lawyer from the ACLU who argued the case for the Nazis – contending that even the most hateful of speech was protected under the first amendment.

As an American and a Jew, I find it difficult to resolve my feelings around that Supreme Court case – but I am grateful that the prospect of Nazis marching in their streets spurred the survivors and other Skokie residents to act. They joined together to form the Holocaust Memorial Foundation and built the first Illinois Holocaust Museum in a storefront in 1981 – a small but important forerunner to the one I helped build thirty years later.

I do not invoke the specter of Nazis lightly. But I know the history intimately — and have spent more time than probably anyone in this room with people who survived the Holocaust. Here’s what I’ve learned – the root that tears apart your house’s foundation begins as a seed – a seed of distrust and hate and blame.

The seed that grew into a dictatorship in Europe a lifetime ago didn’t arrive overnight. It started with everyday Germans mad about inflation and looking for someone to blame.

I’m watching with a foreboding dread what is happening in our country right now. A president who watches a plane go down in the Potomac – and suggests — without facts or findings — that a diversity hire is responsible for the crash. Or the Missouri Attorney General who just sued Starbucks – arguing that consumers pay higher prices for their coffee because the baristas are too “female” and “nonwhite.” The authoritarian playbook is laid bare here: They point to a group of people who don’t look like you and tell you to blame them for your problems.

I just have one question: What comes next? After we’ve discriminated against, deported or disparaged all the immigrants and the gay and lesbian and transgender people, the developmentally disabled, the women and the minorities – once we’ve ostracized our neighbors and betrayed our friends – After that, when the problems we started with are still there staring us in the face – what comes next.

All the atrocities of human history lurk in the answer to that question. And if we don’t want to repeat history – then for God’s sake in this moment we better be strong enough to learn from it.

I swore the following oath on Abraham Lincoln’s Bible: “I do solemnly swear that I will support the constitution of the United States, and the constitution of the state of Illinois, and that I will faithfully discharge the duties of the office of Governor .... according to the best of my ability.

My oath is to the Constitution of our state and of our country. We don’t have kings in America – and I don’t intend to bend the knee to one. I am not speaking up in service to my ambitions — but in deference to my obligations.

If you think I’m overreacting and sounding the alarm too soon, consider this:

It took the Nazis one month, three weeks, two days, eight hours and 40 minutes to dismantle a constitutional republic. All I’m saying is when the five-alarm fire starts to burn, every good person better be ready to man a post with a bucket of water if you want to stop it from raging out of control.

Those Illinois Nazis did end up holding their march in 1978 – just not in Skokie. After all the blowback from the case, they decided to march in Chicago instead. Only twenty of them showed up. But 2000 people came to counter protest. The Chicago Tribune reported that day that the “rally sputtered to an unspectacular end after ten minutes.” It was Illinoisans who smothered those embers before they could burn into a flame.

Tyranny requires your fear and your silence and your compliance. Democracy requires your courage. So gather your justice and humanity, Illinois, and do not let the “tragic spirit of despair” overcome us when our country needs us the most.

Sources:

• NBC Chicago & J.B. Pritzker, Democratic governor of Illinois, State of the State address 2025: Watch speech here | Full text

• Betches News on Instagram (screencaps)