Author: Teresa Smith


  • Was there a conspiracy to create “white Jesus”? And what does this have to do with the Doctrine of Discovery?

    Was there a conspiracy to create “white Jesus”? And what does this have to do with the Doctrine of Discovery?
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    The historical Jesus had brown skin, so who is the white guy Christians have been worshipping? Some believe it is a 16th Century Italian playboy, Cesare Borgia. Borgia’s father, Pope Alexander IV, is responsible for the 1493 Papal Bull that launched the genocidal Doctrine of Discovery. But did he also replace images of Jesus with pictures of his own son?

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  • Good Queer Decolonial Fun: The She-Ra Reboot

    Good Queer Decolonial Fun: The She-Ra Reboot

    Just like the old show, the new She-Ra is all about coalition-building towards decolonization, but it incorporates a lot of what folks have learned about organizing and hegemonic power over the last 25 years—even if its gloss is superficial, there’s definitely enough material in each episode to use as fodder in a “talking to your kids about capitalism” conversation.

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  • Replacing Pavement with Gardens: Beyond Leftist Fundamentalism

    Replacing Pavement with Gardens: Beyond Leftist Fundamentalism
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    It is early autumn and helicopters are circling the UC Berkeley campus as I write this. I can see them from my window. The tut-tut-tut of their propellers punctuate my thoughts. A few days ago, I rode my bike up to the university to use the library, and had to navigate through a swarm of media and security workers. An Alt Right speech was scheduled on campus that evening, but it was still several hours away. There were no protestors yet, but cable news teams were already milling all over the place, setting up their equipment, preparing their spins.

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