Take a facet of crime, and then look at television shows/movies that feature those criminals as protagonists.
White mobs.
White pirates.
White serial killers.
White political corruption
White drug dealers
I mostly want to talk about this as a TV phenomenon, but pick…
Author Archives: charitythomas
What surprises me most about this article is that I know more about the Mormon church than Mormons. That’s because they’re fascinating to me. A religion created here with race all in it. Fascinating.
Ndlela invited me to review Only God Forgives with him. Enjoy.
Film Review: Only God Forgives (Dir: Nicolas Winding Refn) /w Charity Thomas
Come On Brooklyn: or, Do I Have to Tell You Babies Don’t Belong in Bars?
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I don’t think this should be necessary to write but:
It’s not cool to take a screaming baby into a bar on a Saturday afternoon and then proceed to breast feed it while drinking a beer.
I know I have an antiquated set of social mores, but last Saturday I really almost snapped. It was hot and I couldn’t figure out how to set up my new home theater so I decided to go get a beer and sit in a little AC.
I walked in, said my hellos and then noticed that my skin was crawling. Nails on a chalkboard. As my teeth were sitting on edge and after I realized no one was playing The Whispers or Ashanti- I heard it. A SCREAMING baby. My shoulders hunched, my jaw was tight and as I looked around for the miniature offender I saw- a breast.
I have breasts. I’ve even been known in some circles as a bit of a flasher. Breasts are cool and I was breast fed. I believe the only reason women have breasts is for feeding babies. But not in the back of a bar with a beer in front of you. (Now I’m probably exaggerating about the beer. I don’t know if I actually saw it, but between the screeching and the breast I might have began hallucinating a bit.)
I couldn’t stay. It was so cool in there. It’s so hot in my apt. The beer looked delicious. I just wanted to shout “ARE YOU FUCKING KIDDING ME?” Must adults be told this? I’m clear on the arguments that it’s natural and all that. I honestly believe that. There is nothing more natural than a mother feeding her child. But it was a sunny summer day. There’s a gi-normous park across the street. If it’s the AC factor there’s also a library across the street. I dig you want to be with your friends and socialize- but we can’t do it all at once.
New parents want to live the same lives they did pre- progeny and I don’t believe it works like that. I don’t have any children for just this reason. I like being able to get shitfaced in the middle of the afternoon if I want. And I’m not begrudging a new mother a cocktail. But perhaps the two acts are mutually exclusive. The topper was one of her friends coming out of the bar telling someone on the phone “no, no dogs, but we’re all here”.
Like babies, dogs shouldn’t be allowed in bars. Actually, if a dog is found in a bar, the bar owner could lose their liquor license. It’s unclean. And really?
I know I’m not particularly dog people. I like my friends dogs to a point. Some have more agreeable personalities for me than others, but where my cocktails come from- I don’t want to negotiate dog hair.
So, Come On Brooklyn. I know we’ve become all warm and fuzzy and suburban like, but again:
BROOKLYN IS NOT THE SUBURBS.
Fuck you, Texas!
{I’ve lived both places, and I approve this message.}
(Source: http://myimaginarybrooklyn.tumblr.com/)
Open letter to The Lone Ranger
Dear Lone Ranger,
That ship has sailed. You’re not going to recoup that money now. You can show all the commercials you want, nobody wants to see that movie. I haven’t seen it, because I DON’T WANT TO. I’m not interested in your colonialism. Nobody’s buying it. Johnny Depp can do his level best to show how he has both Native and African American blood in his veins to prove that he’s not a colonialist playing a stereotypically offensive Native American in the 21st century, but nobody’s buying it. He’s making millions of dollars, the movie cost over $250 million to make. And they’re showing commercials for it weeks after it already flopped. Maybe the international market is in the mood for this kind of nonsense. I’d love to see what the numbers are in Turkey.
You’re welcome,
Charity
These (cis, heterosexual) men that I call “me me me" patriarchal men are something else. Even if a (cis, heterosexual) woman chooses (or doesn’t actively choose because she thinks patriarchy is “normal,“ “biblical” or “scientific") a patriarchal relationship, these men demand women uphold their…
PISSED
My name is Charity Thomas and I’m coming out as a broke and angry 38 year old black woman. It’s taken me a long time to write those words but it’s true. I’d turned that anger in on myself and have been depressed for a very long time because I was ashamed. Ashamed of being a stereotype. Ashamed that maybe I wasn’t working hard enough to get a job (which for a while I wasn’t because the rejection was destroying my spirit). Selling and liquidating all of the money I’d tucked away over the years. Selling the life insurance policies that were bought for me when I was born by my sharecropping great grandparents. Ashamed that all my education had lead me to have to consider food stamps. Ashamed that I chose to follow a passion and followed it half-heartedly. Ashamed that I couldn’t even get server jobs because I’d never worked in service and felt that I was too old, too fat, too black with only one ACL to stand for 8 hours. Ashamed that I didn’t have skills I didn’t ever think I’d need or want.
But the shame stops here. I know I’m not the only one. And keeping this to myself is isolating. Because now I’m angry. I’m angry and I want to use my anger for change. I’m not even sure what kind of change yet, but I know I’m going to tell the story of change. From being a debutante to using change to buy food on some days.
I know I could have done better with my money, but I didn’t. I got a computer so I could keep up with the changes in my industry (film, a whole other can of worms) that now require faster speeds. I got a camera so I could maybe make some web videos and start a channel with some friends so we could at least do our artistic thing. I still drank when I could and started rolling my own cigarettes (another broke/ health shame, but the truth). My friends will come by and feed and water me, but then I’d start to feel guilty about that.
I’ve been freelance my whole life and figured it was just slow for me. But I worked one job in 2012 and that was in November/December. The damage was done. And my self-worth was wrecked. My story revolved around my poverty. But it also included my self-examinations. I did a lot of soul searching in that time and I am blessed to have a therapist who didn’t desert me when I went broke. It is forcing me to re-evaluate who I am and how I value myself every single day. And I’m learning. And today I learned that I AM PISSED!
PISSED at a systematic breakdown of my nation. Pissed at the cruelty of those elected to serve but only belittle. People we PAY a lot of money, but not as much as corporations. I’m pissed that corporations are people. I’m pissed that we are still having conversations about blacks that plays in to centuries old stereotypes that I have also swallowed despite my knowing better. I’m pissed that I did that.
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I want to tell the truth and the truth is I’m scared. I’m scared that I might get sucked into a system that I’ll never get out of. That no matter how many times I do my resume or how ever many I send out will never be enough. I’m afraid of this being the new normal. And I don’t want to take it lying down. I don’t know what’ll come of this, but this is what I had to do today.
The IRS Is Serious
I’ve got a few tax things I need to take care of. So I decided to share some of my favorite parts of what’s taxable. These are from the IRS in the “Miscellaneous Income”:
Bribes. If you receive a bribe, include it in your income.
-Really? You can just say that?
Foreign currency transactions. If you have a gain on a personal foreign currency transaction because of changes in exchange rates, you do not have to include that gain in your income unless it is more than $200. If the gain is more than $200, report it as a capital gain.
–Exchange rates can be some real bullshit.
Hobby losses. Losses from a hobby are not deductible from other income. A hobby is an activity from which you do not expect to make a profit. See Activity not for profit , earlier, under Other Income.
If you collect stamps, coins, or other items as a hobby for recreation and pleasure, and you sell any of the items, your gain is taxable as a capital gain. However, if you sell items from your collection at a loss, you cannot deduct the loss.
-That little caution sign is disturbing.
-Wait a minute, if I make money, then I have to claim that. But if I lose money, oh well.
Holocaust victims restitution. Restitution payments you receive as a Holocaust victim (or the heir of a Holocaust victim) and interest earned on the payments are not taxable. Excludable interest is earned by escrow accounts or settlement funds established for holding funds prior to the settlement. You also do not include the restitution payments and interest the funds earned prior to disbursement in any computations in which you ordinarily would add excludable income to your adjusted gross income, such as the computation to determine the taxable part of social security benefits. If the payments are made in property, your basis in the property is its fair market value when you receive it.
Excludable restitution payments are payments or distributions made by any country or any other entity because of persecution of an individual on the basis of race, religion, physical or mental disability, or sexual orientation by Nazi Germany, any other Axis regime, or any other Nazi-controlled or Nazi-allied country, whether the payments are made under a law or as a result of a legal action. They include compensation or reparation for property losses resulting from Nazi persecution, including proceeds under insurance policies issued before and during World War II by European insurance companies.
-That makes sense.
Illegal activities. Income from illegal activities, such as money from dealing illegal drugs, must be included in your income on Form 1040, line 21, or on Schedule C or Schedule C-EZ (Form 1040) if from your self-employment activity.
-Wait what? You can just say that? The IRS is the agency that actually got Al Capone locked up.
Pulitzer, Nobel, and similar prizes. If you were awarded a prize in recognition of accomplishments in religious, charitable, scientific, artistic, educational, literary, or civic fields, you generally must include the value of the prize in your income. However, you do not include this prize in your income if you meet all of the following requirements.
1. You were selected without any action on your part to enter the contest or proceeding.
2. You are not required to perform substantial future services as a condition for receiving the prize or award.
3. The prize or award is transferred by the payer directly to a governmental unit or tax-exempt charitable organization as designated by you. The following conditions apply to the transfer.
a. You cannot use the prize or award before it is transferred.
b. You should provide the designation before the prize or award is presented to prevent a disqualifying use. The designation should contain:
i. The purpose of the designation by making a reference to section 74(b)(3) of the Internal Revenue Code,
ii. A description of the prize or award,
iii. The name and address of the organization to receive the prize or award,
iv. Your name, address, and taxpayer identification number, and
v. Your signature and the date signed.
c. In the case of an unexpected presentation, you must return the prize or award before using it (or spending, depositing, investing it, etc., in the case of money) and then prepare the statement as described in (b).
d. After the transfer, you should receive from the payer a written response stating when and to whom the designated amounts were transferred.
-Wait, so you get to keep it, right? I mean…it is the Nobel or Pulitzer Prize. That’s such a specific one, right? I’d hate to have to think about the Taxman taking my Pulitzer money.
Rewards. If you receive a reward for providing information, include it in your income.
-Damn, Taxman don’t play!
Working Class Sha(wo)man 