By Malik Thompson, on December 6th, 2015 
Cognitive dissonance is a term used to describe the experience of being incapable of reconciling inconsistent beliefs, thoughts, and attitudes.
Best understood by example, cognitive dissonance can look something like this; a recent study by Harvard University shows that men who express the most homophobic sentiments are the same men who most easily experience homo-erotic attraction.
The men mentioned above are a prime example of the process and effects of cognitive dissonance for two reasons; 1) these men are unwilling to accept their attractions to other men, which results in; 2) these men’s most exercised coping mechanism for dealing with their attractions toward other men is to express resentment toward men they believe to be gay.
Sadly, the realities of cognitive dissonance play a larger part in the maintenance of systems of oppression than the previous example encapsulates.
To this day, many people deny the fact that genocide committed against Indigenous people and the enslavement of African people has an effect on present day society. These people fail to take into consideration how African enslavement created the economic base which allowed the United States to accumulate vast stores of wealth, along with how Indigenous genocide allowed European colonizers access to previously inhabited lands.
Some who deny the effects of this nation’s history on present day society may simply be lacking in information and critical thinking skills. Too often, however, many individuals remain attached to these beliefs, even when presented with data and logically solid arguments.
Much has been written about how white people, men, and other people of privilege who claim to be committed to the work of justice, but are unwilling to accept criticisms of their own racism/misogyny/etc. These people are willing to acknowledge the fact of systemic injustice, to some extent, but are unwilling to include themselves within groups which wield power over others and refuse to accept criticisms of their own behavior.
The cognitive dissonance here reveals itself in the way people in positions of power can speak about oppression and injustice, even criticize people they share identities with, while lacking the willingness to be critical of themselves.
Often times, the urge to maintain beliefs grounded in faulty logic and fantasy compels the individual who has been challenged to shut down and/or lash out.
Currently, I work at a non-profit that claims racial justice and restorative justice as two of its core pillars of work. At a work meeting this past summer, I got into a heated argument with a cisgendered, heterosexual white male colleague on the day same-sex marriage was legalized by the federal government. This colleague decided to bring up same-sex marriage as a pre-meeting topic of conversation, so I decided to openly share my perspective. While I was attempting to explain to him that same-sex marriage doesn’t do much for me as a Black, genderqueer person, and most other people in LGBQ and Trans communities, he continued to aggressively and condescendingly insist that my perspective was invalid. Halfway into the conversation, he began cutting me off when I pointed out that the mainstream gay movement is extremely exclusionary of people of color/trans people. Eventually, I left the table out of sheer frustration. Upon returning to the table, I decided to share with this colleague that his cutting me off was particularly triggering due to his whiteness and maleness, speaking to the ways in which white men often speak over people of color/women/femme people/other marginalized groups of people. He responded by saying this was “my sh*t”. His response revealed his refusal to accept that our identities had a role in our conflict. In a facilitated conversation with this same colleague, I told him, “I can show you data, statistics, theories…” to prove my point. The potential of being introduced to information that would challenge his worldview nearly caused his eyes to pop out of their sockets.
My colleague’s cognitive dissonance was so ingrained that the mere thought of exposure to information that conflicted with his distorted sense of himself resulted in a visceral physical reaction.
All of this from a man who routinely wears a T-shirt reading, “You’re my baby, no matter if you’re Black or white”… This behavior is a perfect example of what happens when “allyship” goes bad.
Cognitive dissonance also manifests in the ways in which groups of people are represented in mass media; when referring to Black people who have engaged in criminal behavior, mass media often uses the label ‘thug’ while casually sharing details of allegedly dysfunctional . . . → Read More: Cognitive Dissonance and Its Political Repercussions
By Liane Scott, on December 3rd, 2015 
Staff of Clean Decisions, a company providing employment opportunities for Returning Citizens
I came across two stories on the Facebook feed about companies in the District that make a point of hiring Returning Citizens. This interests me because most of the folks who come into the Potomac Gardens Community Resource Center to use the computer lab to search for jobs and/or create a résumé also have criminal records. Regardless of how old the offense or how ridiculous the charge most employers don’t give them a second look. One woman, we’ll call her “Helen,” is still haunted by an assault charge. Sounds bad right? What happened was that she got into a fist-fight with a neighbor that resulted in some scratches and bruises. The yelling was enough to get the police called and both of them arrested. That was twenty years ago. “Helen” was asked about her record during the interview for the part-time cafeteria position which she’s held for the last fifteen years. Obviously, they gave her the job despite her scrap with the neighbor. But she’s been looking for a second part-time job on and off for the last decade and can’t get to the interview stage. She thinks it’s the felony charge. Frankly, so do I.
The passage of the Ban the Box Bill in the District of Columbia last year should have made it easier for Returning Citizens and even those like “Helen” who didn’t go to prison to get an interview. Employers aren’t allowed to ask about an applicant’s criminal history until after a conditional offer of employment has been made. Of course, there’s nothing to stop potential employers from conducting background checks on their own at any point during the hiring process. So, finding employers who are willing to hire residents who have records is crucial.
The following is a report by WUSA9 about the Courtyard Marriott Convention Center hotel in downtown D.C.
Another story Cleaning Up Their Act: A Clean Break for Ex-Cons about Clean Decisions, a company that helps violent ex-offenders find temporary jobs, allowing them to gain experience and build their resumes. These stories are great but two employers willing to hire Returning Citizens is hardly enough to make a dent in the problem. According to Anne Clark writing for NextCity.org :
The nation’s prison system grew by 400 percent after 1980, but with overcrowding and depleted budgets, more and more people are being released, mostly to urban cores. About 700,000 people — more than the entire population of D.C. — come home from prisons across the country every year. They face debilitating challenges in securing housing, jobs and transit, all of which contributes to recidivism and the most ubiquitous of urban challenges: crime and homelessness.
Between 2008 and 2014, the number of D.C. residents in prison dropped by 41 percent, with about 8,000 people returning home each year. About half of them will be back behind bars within three years, according to Thornton. Altogether, around 70,000 D.C. residents have criminal records. That’s nearly 10 percent of the total population.
Clearly, the few employers willing to hire Returning Citizens is not enough. Another approach is the Returning Citizens Business Development Program Act of 2015 which would establish a business development program within the Office On Returning Citizens Affairs that would assist in funding businesses owned, operated, or managed by returning citizens. The bill is sponsored by At-Large Councilmember Vincent Orange. I came across it in researching this article, but don’t see any stories by the mainstream press or any action in support of the legislation by advocates or activists. Perhaps the bill will pick up steam in the coming months.
By Malik Thompson, on November 23rd, 2015 
In the wake of the most recent attack on Paris, citizens across the globe are in mourning over the lives lost in the attack, which the extremist group ISIS (Islamic State of Iraq and Syria) have reportedly claimed was their doing. People across the globe are demonstrating their mourning for those who were killed or injured in Paris via social media (Facebook users laying a transparent French flag over their profile pictures, which has been criticized) and the organizing of vigils and rallies. Seeing people in sincere grief over the lives lost in Paris gives me hope that we are slowly, but surely, becoming a more empathetic, humane global community.
However, I find it difficult to witness these actions alongside the lack of recognition and/or awareness Western nations have for the lives of people who aren’t living in wealthy, Western nations.
This past summer, 147 people were killed at Garissa University College in Kenya by Somalian extremist group, al-Shabaab. Despite global coverage of this tragedy, the outcry in response to the horrors committed in Kenya paled in comparison to flood of sorrow and solidarity given to the citizens of Paris. What do these differing responses, to very similar tragedies, reveal about who we as Westerners are able and/or willing to empathize with? And what is the cause of our imbalanced ability to empathize? More recently, the attacks in Beirut, Lebanon, which resulted in the reported deaths of 47 people, received a significantly smaller amount of attention than the attacks in Paris as well.
In an article on her website Aphro-ism, Black feminist vegan, Aph Ko, writes about how we’re taught to associate humanity with Whiteness and being white; meaning, within a white supremacist perspective, white people are the only people on the planet who are complete human beings. Backing up Ko’s assertions are studies in race and empathy; it has been proven that, generally, white people have a limited ability, or inability, to empathize with PoC. In large part, a stunted ability to empathize has much to do with an inability/unwillingness to completely acknowledge the humanity of the other person/people. And the West has a long history of devaluing the humanity of people in the Middle East and Africa. In a piece published on Quartz, Emma Kelly condescendingly asserts that, while news media actually did give coverage to the attacks in Kenya and Beirut, the lack of outcry stems from news media consumers’ lack of Western attentiveness to international news. While I don’t completely disagree with Kelly’s argument (mainstream Western media ignores many, many international tragedies), I do add that part of Western media consumers’ lack of attentiveness to the plights of people in Africa and the Middle East stems from a lack of empathy as well. And, while I don’t believe empathy is a panacea for global injustice, I do believe apparatuses for injustice would be less difficult to overcome if people were genuinely interested in doing the work of justice for everyone.
If we are unwilling to interrogate and expand our own empathic capacities, than those in power who clearly have stunted empathic capacities will continue to exploit, subjugate, and domineer. This said, even while critiquing those who are blatantly misusing their power, it is critical that everyone remain vigilant in holding themselves accountable and avoid seeking out scapegoats to assuage feelings of guilt.
Of course, a lack of empathy doesn’t completely explain Western citizens’ responses to this most recent wave of extremist violence, however, it is of utmost importance to expand our empathic capacities as people across the globe are being facing extremists violence in the face of broader injustices.
. . . → Read More: The Empathy Gap and Western Responses to Extremist Violence
By Guest Contributor, on November 11th, 2015 
Cross-Posted from the Washington Legal Clinic for the Homeless Written by Patricia Mullahy Fugere
Last week, the DC Council voted 9-4 against requiring that the new DC General replacement shelters have private bathrooms. Councilmember Mary Cheh introduced an amendment requiring private bathrooms for every unit, and Councilmembers McDuffie, Silverman, and Orange supported it. Councilmembers Mendelson, Grosso, Bonds, Nadeau, Evans, Todd, Allen, Alexander and May voted against Cheh’s amendment. Instead, they voted for Chairman Mendelson’s “compromise”— an amendment that mandates that just 10% of the new units have private bathrooms and that there be one family bathroom for every five units. The issue was not, as some characterized it, about whether or not to close DC General. The Mayor and Council had previously committed to closing DC General, and this bill does not speak to nor require its closure. The debate was about what the minimal legal standards should be for the six new shelters that will replace DC General. Right before the vote on Councilmember Cheh’s amendment, she grew exasperated and said “Spend a little more money for dignity and safety! What’s wrong with us?” We need to stop and think about this question before we can move forward.
We do believe that there’s something wrong with the Council’s failure to require that each shelter room have its own bathroom. Our position, that private bathrooms are necessary to protect the health, safety, and dignity of homeless families, remains unchanged. We got our marching orders from our years of working with families sheltered in communal settings, and from a recent survey we did with 53 homeless families. We heard our clients and affected community members loud and clear when they said private bathrooms are critical in shelter to protect their own and their children’s physical and emotional health and safety. The “compromise” could require 90% of families to share residential bathrooms with strangers, shifting the balance almost entirely away from the expressed needs of the affected community.
We do believe there’s something wrong with the Council’s vote last Tuesday, not only because the legislation as passed could have serious, negative repercussions for homeless families for decades to come, but because it signifies that 9 out of 13 DC Councilmembers abdicated two essential responsibilities of the legislative branch of government when they failed to listen to the needs of the affected community and failed to exercise independent decision-making to enact sound public policy.
The entire process leading up to the Council’s vote was structured in a way that excluded the voices of the affected community, from scheduling a hearing at 2PM on a weekday when parents had to pick up children from school, to refusing to allow families to testify earlier to accommodate their schedules, to an Interagency Council on Homelessness (ICH) process that didn’t include even one homeless family. When we attempted to remedy these omissions, by conveying survey results, the family input was derided as not “relevant” and we were asked if we had any “studies” or “experts” to back up what the families were saying. Our view is that the real experts on the harmful effects of shared bathrooms are the families who are living right now in shelters with shared bathrooms.
While there was broad agreement from affected community members, most advocates, and many members of the public that private bathrooms are critical in the new shelters, the Administration claimed an ever-shifting series of terrible consequences if the law required private bathrooms. And yet, in spite of repeated requests from the Council, the Administration never provided any demonstrable evidence of these consequences. Nevertheless, 9 out of 13 Council members simply took the Mayor’s word for it, at considerable expense to the health and safety of the District residents they were elected to serve. We believe there’s something wrong with that.
Our criticism is not just about bathrooms, not just about families, and not just about homelessness. It’s also about the judgments that are made and the “-isms” that bleed into conversations and decisions about policies affecting people experiencing poverty in DC. It’s about the way the Administration claimed that private bathrooms would make homeless families too “comfortable” even when their data supported the opposite conclusion. And the ease with which decision-makers put up barriers to democratic participation by homeless families. And the ease with which these families are blamed for their homelessness when institutional racism and the resulting disinvestment in poor black communities are far more powerful forces in creating homelessness in DC than any one individual’s decision-making. . . . → Read More: DC Council Votes to Lower the Legal Standard for new Family Shelters: “What’s wrong with us?”
By Malik Thompson, on November 9th, 2015 
Her voice is ethereal; haunting- it often bars me from sleep, leaving me staring wild-eyed into infinity and oblivion. Her croon conjures images of women from centuries past, gathering in sensual worship of the moon, shadows, stars, and all things umbra. For a self-proclaimed pop artist, Be Steady’s art exhumes a depth as vast and enveloping as an ocean.
For a self-proclaimed pop artist, Be Steady’s art exhumes a depth as vast and enveloping as an ocean.
Singer/songwriter filmmaker Be Steadwell shares her struggles and triumphs as an independent artist by This Light on Mixcloud
Before I continue on about Be Steadwell’s art, I have a confession to make; I know Be personally.
I met Be as an adrift adolescent, attempting to formulate a self in the realm of DC’s radical art and social justice scene.
The first Be Steadwell performance I witnessed left me dazed- with a microphone, a looping machine, and her own voice, Be brought magic into the room.
Afterward, I obtained a CD; the thought of endlessly have more of these sonically euphoric experiences was euphoric. Be gave me the CD for free, even though she was selling them for $5, or more, each. Which is to say, Be is nice. However, ‘nice’ has never made great art.
Be Steady began recording music in the two-person group, The Lost Bois, with childhood friend Awkward Original (a.k.a A.O). According to the groups’ Bandcamp, A.O and Be sang in the same jazz band during their teen years. While in college, the two independently continued pursuing their musical passions and, upon returning to DC in the summer of 2009, the two began collaborating to “challenge the sexist, racist, and homophobic hot-mess that is mainstream music.”.
The Lost Bois released an EP in the early summer of 2012 and, in it, one can clearly hear the earlier stages of what I would name Be Steadwell’s sonic signature; ethereal, eclectic, and layered- without pretension.
The Lost Bois no longer seem to be collaborating as frequently anymore- music was last uploaded to their SoundCloud account four years ago. The Lost Bois are still “together” in some sense though, they had a 5-year anniversary concert this past April at the Potter’s House.
However, Be has been consistently rising in her career as a solo artist- in music as well as film.
Be’s art is complex, in form as well as content. From what I understand, Be produces, writes, and performs each of her musical pieces herself. Incorporating a wide variety of sounds, drop-ins, fall-outs, and other production sleight of hands- what would easily become ambitious and amateurish in the hands of a less talented and experienced producer, Be transforms into seamlessness and silk.
In regards to content, Be often sings of love; in its various stages and manifestations. Love in murkiness and mess. Love unwanted and unrequited. Queer love between women. In her track Gilded Cage, Be sings about a relationship as pleasurable as it is stifling. Although Gilded Cage is an exemplary example of Be handling the content of her work with complexity, it is by no means an aberration.
One of Be’s most recent releases, Black Girls Who Can’t Dance, was intentionally created to convey a more nuanced portrayal of Black woman- a representation rarely often seen in media- independent and mainstream.
In Be’s work, we are allowed an intimacy that is as alluring as it is astonishing. Unlike many other independent artists, Be doesn’t seek to construct a persona behind cheap aesthetics and pretension- instead, she lets us in, without betraying her mysteriousness and privacy.
Now an artist-in-residence at the Strathmore in Strathmore, MD, Be is steadily expanding her career.
Two or three years ago, a QWoC friend of mine posted lyrics from one of Be’s songs in a Facebook status. Initially, I was shocked to know that this friend, who lives in California, had ever heard of Be. However, this friend nonchalantly replied that Be is quite well-known across the United States, especially in QPoC circles.
In the time since this Facebook exchange, Be has been on tour across the country- performing her music live, as well as screening her film, Vow of Silence, which has been screened on 4 continents, over 10 countries, and close to 25 cities to date.
Before long, Be will be touring her music internationally, and haunting other Queer folks of color across the globe with her . . . → Read More: Be Steadwell: A Voice Not To Be Missed
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