i was in the grocery store and saw an onion on the ground and picked it up, absently saying “poor little guy.” behind me a teenage girl started laughing and then stopped and went “aww. i’m sorry for laughing. that’s nice actually.” and the cycle of cruelty is broken for another generation as a young person realizes that it is not embarrassing to have empathy for another thing that was once living, because certainly to be a lone white onion rolling on the ground in a supermarket would be terrifying to anyone
image description: “blow pop” candy with a folded piece of paper attached with a rubber band. the paper says “support sex workers!.”
image description: the same candy with the paper unfolded. message says: “You’ve just committed a Class C Felony! (quoting Washington State law:) A person is guilty of promoting prostitution in the second degree if he or she knowingly […] accepts or receives money or other property pursuant to an agreement or understanding with any person whereby he or she participates or is to participate in the proceeds of prostitution activity. (RCW 9A.88.060 & 9A.88.080)
image description: again with the same candy, with the backside of the paper. it says: Don’t worry, chances are slim that anyone getting Blow (pop) from us will be charged with felony promoting prostitution. But it’s a real concern for our families, friends, and others who help us out by providing rides, health and safety support, housing, etc. Sex workers are isolated or isolate ourselves out of these fears, putting us in greater risks of violence. People in our lives who are not abusing or exploiting us should not be equated with those who use force, fraud, or coercion to make someone engage in sex work by labeling them both as felons under the “promoting prostitution” law. coalition@swop-seattle.org
honestly it’s almost like our generation is set up to be lonelier & more anxious & more insane like imagine already being 20/30-something, the period of your life where you’re expected to be “at your prime”, in the middle of a climate crisis and a pandemic, under late-stage capitalism’s celebrity culture that conditions you to be as likeable & “marketable” as possible, where it seems like every lived experience should be watchable/profitable. & you look at the future you’re supposed to be working hard for & all you see is climate catastrophe meanwhile you scroll down a little & see a skin care ad that’s like “fight aging”. i haven’t said anything here that hasn’t already been said by someone else, but imagine being 20/30-something & normal
[id: a thread of tweets from ‘la policia = basura’ (@HalfAtlanta):
everyone who’s spoken on defunding the police or gone to a protest in the last week: do you know the name, location, budget, and history of your local jail, prison, or detention center? are you speaking with folks trying to shut it down? how are you supporting those locked inside?
this is an actual exercise to commit to: learn the name of the jail, prison, detention center near you. learn its history, how much of the budget goes toward it, the human rights abuses taking place there. learn the local organizations helping the incarcerated people inside.
do you know your local bail policy? where undocumented people are housed when arrested? demographics of local incarcerated population? names of ministries doing outreach work inside your local prison? DoC budgets? book donation and pen pal programs? local decarceration efforts?
how many political prisoners can you name, whose stories you know well enough to educate others on? are you contributing to their legal and commissary funds? how are you actively working towards their freedom and supporting those who’ve dedicated their lives to freeing them?
abolition is a framework that requires asking practical questions that create actionable steps toward ending prisons. it requires rigorous local struggle as much as it does wider communication and solidarity. it requires knowing names, faces, stories, histories, and numbers.
which businesses, universities, and institutions have contracts w/ your local prison or jail? what’s the proposed budget increase for the next fiscal year? are the road signs and license plates in your town made from prison labor? can you name your local youth detention center?
last thing i’ll say on this: it will likely be *difficult* to find detailed information on your local jail, prison, detention center. that is intentional and by design, not coincidental. these centers of violence necessarily operate under lack of transparency and accountability. /end id]
