tmirai:

With 68 hours ago, Urbance still has $54,000 left to raise. A significant portion of it’s $189,000 goal. And it doesn’t look like it’s going to make it.

When Urbance was nothing more than a few gifs and a short video with no name or premise, Tumblr was clamoring for it to be a thing. “PoCs in a beautifully animated show!” Tumblr cried with excitement, because if it’s one thing Tumblr loves it’s seeing PoCs on their dash. It makes them feel good. Because they care about that sort of thing.

Yet as Urbance actually started to become a thing, defining its premise and direction, and reached out to the community that had sang it’s praises, Tumblr was like “RAWR NO THIS IS BAD!” and did that thing Tumblr did with its easily executed Hive Mind mentality.

“Urbance is transphobic!” “Urbance is acephobic!” “Urbance is erasure of race and ethnicity!” Tumblr exclaimed, when all that had been shared was the barest of bare synopsis and explanation of a 26 minute long episode. Tumblr strawmaned the fuck out of Urbance, damning every aspect of the project from day one from its creators to its characters.

So, I’d like to say: Fuck you, Tumblr.

Specifically, fuck you White Tumblr.

And to get more specific, fuck you White LGBTQ Tumblr.

Why? Because you don’t realize how much of your oh-so-loathed-and-shunned white privilege you’re still exuding and utilizing. And it’s why the reason why Urbance probably isn’t going to happen.

By spreading misinformation, assumptions, and flat out lies about the Urbance project, you have severely damaged and, most likely, prevented its success, all because Urbance did not fit your standards of LGBTQ and race inclusion and portrayal DESPITE the fact the artistic team responded to every single topic of criticism presented in a way that was thoughtful and receptive.

This is all your fucking fault, and I am pissed.

Do you know how many examples of “PoCs” in science fiction/fantasy there are, especially animation? Very few. Like, tiny amounts. I’d think you’d be aware of this given how many “We need more PoCs!” posts you love to reblog, but I’ve figured you out now: You don’t really give a shit about “PoCs” especially when topics of race are weighed against topics of LGBTQ issues. It’s one or the other with you, and only when you can be bothered to hit that reblog button, and in that case the latter is always going to trump. Even in light of Mike Brown and Darrien Hunt.

Does the Tumblr community realize that many LGBTQ issues aren’t “mainstream?” That outside of the Tumblr Hive, not many people are familiar with terms like cisgender and asexual, the spectrum of sexuality, or the experiences and struggles within the trans community? Even among LGBTQ people—from my experience talking with many—many are ignorant to the issues of other sub-groups within the community. Ignorant in the sense that they just do not know. The visibility of LGBTQ people to the degree that exists now is still fairly new, and still very fought against.

Knowledge is not innate, and everyone is somehow ignorant to the issues of others outside of their various socio-economic, cultural, ethnic, demographic, etc. groups. And we are often ignorant about the issues of those inside the groups that we share. If you don’t have the first or second had experience of somethings existence and prevalence, you are ignorant of it.

That is why I give props to the Urbance team for wanting to learn, for wanting to reconsider where they may have gone wrong, misspoke, or not done their research in regard to issues of sexuality, gender, and even race. One could argue that if they had planned to do this story about PoCs in a gender war, they should have done their research already and known all this. False. These issues and terms might not be brand-spankin’ new, but consider that we still live in a very binary world. You’re either straight or gay. Male/man/masculine or female/woman/feminine. That’s it. Even among those that consider themselves proponents of LGBTQ issues—like myself—there is a very binary perception of “You are either this or that” that is hard to break away from because it’s so prevalent. Way more so than discussions of asexuality, trans people, or genderfluid people.

So did I fault the Urbance team for not considering trans characters? No. And I am not saying that for my straight priviledge. I mean they never said they weren’t considering trans characters. It was just an assumption based on a plot summary. Just like it was assumed only the bad guys would be gay and asexual and the story was some sort of heterosexuality championing story just because two of the main characters were (assumed to be) straight. Which was far from the truth.

You expect for a 26 minute PILOT animation (that has the primary focus of depicting a story) to also be this super politically-correct and thorough exploration of all topics of gender and sexuality to the absurdly detailed degree that Tumblr would demand? That’s not going to happened, and primarily because you’d never be satisfied with anything anyone created unless you did it yourselves. Urbance can be inclusive—and the team showed us that it was going to be inclusive—and be about race, gender, and sexuality, but that doesn’t mean that it has to focus on every aspect of such topics. And it won’t. Not in a pilot episode.

White Tumblr can ship their favorite pretty white actors and characters. Gender and orientation bend them to serve their fantasies and wants for more inclusion. Yet when a creative team wants to put forth a story about non-white and non-straight characters and explore topics of gender and sexuality, you all flip your fucking lid. I’m all for holding people accountable and challenging them to think further with their storytelling and inclusion. But attacking creators like they had the intention to exclude and erase is not the way to do it.

I fully believe that the fact this was a multi-ethnic story is a huge factor in this. We’re still a prop to you. Black faces that aren’t real people or individuals, but just a generalized, non-white thing that is exotic and different. Hence the popularity of PoC, which is a term I loathe and only use in sarcasm. You soothe your White Guilt by reblogging pretty PoCs and posts about representational media. You snarl when a tv show or movie white-washes a cast or doesn’t take the opportunity to utilize non-white actors. But you do the equivalent of what most white people do when they see the commercials about donating to starving children in Africa. “Oh, that’s too bad,” shed a tear of guilt-sorrow, and move on with your life.

Because it’s not about you, you don’t really give a shit. Not really.

The face of LGBTQ issues is still very white. The face of Social Justice in general is still very white, and it always has been. It’s white people speaking for marginalized groups and what they want; or, if the platform is shared by multiple groups, putting their concerns and issues forward first above all others.

Social justice issues are not created equal. They do not have the same histories, problems, and solutions as one another, and sometimes they cannot always be addressed in the same space. But white people have a history and a continued tendency to focus primarily on issues that affect them—whether directly or because of White Guilt—and only save room for thinking about the issues of others outside of their identifiers when it suits them.

So yeah. I’m pissed. Because as a black woman, I was really excited about this project. Of course I hope Urbance handles issues of gender, sex, and sexuality with considerate and well researched storytelling. But they might not even get the chance to show us that they can.

So fuck you, White LGBTQ Tumblr.

Get off this damn website and into the real world.