Debi V. Smith
@debivsmith.bsky.social
Bold, take-no-shit, movie-lovin, f-word-using awesome FilAm author
I thought he was Beck. 🤭
September 30, 2025 at 9:45 PM
I thought he was Beck. 🤭
""Don't voluntarily give up your rights, right? ...in the Philippines, where the first newspaper gave up — the television station gave up largest — it lost its franchise or license to operate.
And guess what? It never regained it even after the time of Duterte."
www.pbs.org/newshour/sho...
And guess what? It never regained it even after the time of Duterte."
www.pbs.org/newshour/sho...
Nobel Peace Prize winner Maria Ressa discusses state of U.S. democracy
Nobel Peace Prize laureate and journalist Maria Ressa has long fought for global press freedom. Her book, "How To Stand Up To A Dictator," detailed her experience running the news site Rappler under t...
www.pbs.org
September 18, 2025 at 4:48 PM
""Don't voluntarily give up your rights, right? ...in the Philippines, where the first newspaper gave up — the television station gave up largest — it lost its franchise or license to operate.
And guess what? It never regained it even after the time of Duterte."
www.pbs.org/newshour/sho...
And guess what? It never regained it even after the time of Duterte."
www.pbs.org/newshour/sho...
Whenever marginalized people feel forced to "prove" we're "model minorities" (as if that's even a real thing) I think of the following quote by Toni Morrison. (Thanks to @uppitynegress.bsky.social)
I want laws & supports that benefit us all as do most. Others actively work to deny us access. /end
I want laws & supports that benefit us all as do most. Others actively work to deny us access. /end
September 15, 2025 at 8:41 PM
Whenever marginalized people feel forced to "prove" we're "model minorities" (as if that's even a real thing) I think of the following quote by Toni Morrison. (Thanks to @uppitynegress.bsky.social)
I want laws & supports that benefit us all as do most. Others actively work to deny us access. /end
I want laws & supports that benefit us all as do most. Others actively work to deny us access. /end
No one owes anyone "respectability" upon their death & it's condescending to lecture us. It's authoritarian to wag fingers at those of us he targeted in life, threatening to strip our rights/liberty bc we refuse to show deference to a bigot who didn't like us. /12
September 15, 2025 at 8:30 PM
No one owes anyone "respectability" upon their death & it's condescending to lecture us. It's authoritarian to wag fingers at those of us he targeted in life, threatening to strip our rights/liberty bc we refuse to show deference to a bigot who didn't like us. /12
I know that we used it to destabilize other countries, especially those south of us, and then demonize the refugees who fled to us seeking safety from the tyranny we enabled. I know that what I've seen since the 2nd Trump admin began is a slide into dictatorship. /11
September 15, 2025 at 8:17 PM
I know that we used it to destabilize other countries, especially those south of us, and then demonize the refugees who fled to us seeking safety from the tyranny we enabled. I know that what I've seen since the 2nd Trump admin began is a slide into dictatorship. /11
I'm not a zero violence absolutist or a pacifist, & I don't want the power to take a life. I learned that last part about myself while studying Iaijutsu. Yet, I know the systems built here were through political violence, as was stealing & keeping other countries' sovereignty. /10
September 15, 2025 at 8:12 PM
I'm not a zero violence absolutist or a pacifist, & I don't want the power to take a life. I learned that last part about myself while studying Iaijutsu. Yet, I know the systems built here were through political violence, as was stealing & keeping other countries' sovereignty. /10
As a Sen, he was more ineffective than Portman was. And lest we forget, he leaned hard into the "dog eating foreigner" racism when Springfield's mayor contact his office for help with easing their overburdened systems. He ensured they received threats instead of helping. /9
September 15, 2025 at 8:07 PM
As a Sen, he was more ineffective than Portman was. And lest we forget, he leaned hard into the "dog eating foreigner" racism when Springfield's mayor contact his office for help with easing their overburdened systems. He ensured they received threats instead of helping. /9
This is how much Vance is disliked here. He never would've won the Sen primary w/o Trump's endorsement--he was like 4th in polling before it. In the general, he only won over Tim Ryan by about 6% pts while the rest of the OH GOP won their re/election by 20+. /8
September 15, 2025 at 8:05 PM
This is how much Vance is disliked here. He never would've won the Sen primary w/o Trump's endorsement--he was like 4th in polling before it. In the general, he only won over Tim Ryan by about 6% pts while the rest of the OH GOP won their re/election by 20+. /8
We have DOJ lawyers being sketchy at best in court. We just had to deport all those Guatamalan kids in the middle of the night bc their parents wanted them back. Except their parents didn't. We have civil servants fired for retribution & swaths of them laid off for appearing to keep promises. /7
September 15, 2025 at 8:02 PM
We have DOJ lawyers being sketchy at best in court. We just had to deport all those Guatamalan kids in the middle of the night bc their parents wanted them back. Except their parents didn't. We have civil servants fired for retribution & swaths of them laid off for appearing to keep promises. /7
We have POTUS sending NG into cities & feds unlawfully arresting people using racial profiling & overcharging them; & threatening to do the same in other cities. We have ICE & feds detaining, disappearing, & deporting BIPOC w/o due process & w/o regard for their status. /6
September 15, 2025 at 7:59 PM
We have POTUS sending NG into cities & feds unlawfully arresting people using racial profiling & overcharging them; & threatening to do the same in other cities. We have ICE & feds detaining, disappearing, & deporting BIPOC w/o due process & w/o regard for their status. /6
They are promises of political violence for exercising our First Amendment rights while relying on the antisemitic trope of Jewish people secretly running/funding everything. Meanwhile we have a weaponized DOJ investigating unis over allegations of not doing enough to prevent antisemitism. /5
September 15, 2025 at 7:56 PM
They are promises of political violence for exercising our First Amendment rights while relying on the antisemitic trope of Jewish people secretly running/funding everything. Meanwhile we have a weaponized DOJ investigating unis over allegations of not doing enough to prevent antisemitism. /5
This is while others with privilege are doing the "political violence has no place here." That's nothing but adjacent to "thoughts & prayers" in a country built & sustained on political violence at home & abroad. Vance's exclamations of "there is no unity" is stochastic terrorism. /4
September 15, 2025 at 7:53 PM
This is while others with privilege are doing the "political violence has no place here." That's nothing but adjacent to "thoughts & prayers" in a country built & sustained on political violence at home & abroad. Vance's exclamations of "there is no unity" is stochastic terrorism. /4
NYT or WaPo published an article the other day on people losing their jobs over their posts on "celebrating" his death, yet every embedded post they included wasn't about celebration. It was about the reality we lived with as people like him profit off dehumanizing us. /3
September 15, 2025 at 7:50 PM
NYT or WaPo published an article the other day on people losing their jobs over their posts on "celebrating" his death, yet every embedded post they included wasn't about celebration. It was about the reality we lived with as people like him profit off dehumanizing us. /3
What I see is a demand for performative grief/denouncement of violence from marginalized people who were harmed by his work fueled by bigotry when we simply say, yeah, okay, we're not sad to see someone who wished our end to have met his. That's not celebrating or wishing them dead. /2
September 15, 2025 at 7:48 PM
What I see is a demand for performative grief/denouncement of violence from marginalized people who were harmed by his work fueled by bigotry when we simply say, yeah, okay, we're not sad to see someone who wished our end to have met his. That's not celebrating or wishing them dead. /2
TL;dr Kavanaugh may be using "sound" legal precedent/reasoning, but it's full of blatant racism, & erroneous realities of the systems & numbers he uses to justify his position while ignoring the realities of what is happening in the raids & "stops" of Brown people, immigrant & citizen alike. /end
September 8, 2025 at 8:06 PM
TL;dr Kavanaugh may be using "sound" legal precedent/reasoning, but it's full of blatant racism, & erroneous realities of the systems & numbers he uses to justify his position while ignoring the realities of what is happening in the raids & "stops" of Brown people, immigrant & citizen alike. /end
2 former clients are brothers who spent about 2 yrs in a refugee camp (unaccompanied) b4 they were allowed to enter the U.S. Those 2 years added to the trauma they already experienced bc refugee camps aren't what most think they are. /11
September 8, 2025 at 8:03 PM
2 former clients are brothers who spent about 2 yrs in a refugee camp (unaccompanied) b4 they were allowed to enter the U.S. Those 2 years added to the trauma they already experienced bc refugee camps aren't what most think they are. /11
That brings me back to Kavanaugh & his claim that undoc are "jumping in front of those noncitizens who follow the rules and wait in line to immigrate..." There is no line. Many wait over a decade for the okay to move here bc we are exclusionary. /10
September 8, 2025 at 8:01 PM
That brings me back to Kavanaugh & his claim that undoc are "jumping in front of those noncitizens who follow the rules and wait in line to immigrate..." There is no line. Many wait over a decade for the okay to move here bc we are exclusionary. /10
My dad assimilated & lost his 1st language. He didn't even recognize Ilokano numbers when I returned from Lolo & Lola's one summer counting to 10 in Ilokano. He hated that his sibs & cousins (all U.S. born) made sure I was fluent in HPE bc he wanted me to be as assimilated as him. /9
September 8, 2025 at 7:56 PM
My dad assimilated & lost his 1st language. He didn't even recognize Ilokano numbers when I returned from Lolo & Lola's one summer counting to 10 in Ilokano. He hated that his sibs & cousins (all U.S. born) made sure I was fluent in HPE bc he wanted me to be as assimilated as him. /9
Because of the Page Act, the Manongs dated haole women (they were more fashionable with choke rizz too), which was met with violent haole men in days-long race riots.
FF my lolo being brought over as immigrant labor for 10 yrs b4 he could bring my lola & dad. /8
FF my lolo being brought over as immigrant labor for 10 yrs b4 he could bring my lola & dad. /8
September 8, 2025 at 7:54 PM
Because of the Page Act, the Manongs dated haole women (they were more fashionable with choke rizz too), which was met with violent haole men in days-long race riots.
FF my lolo being brought over as immigrant labor for 10 yrs b4 he could bring my lola & dad. /8
FF my lolo being brought over as immigrant labor for 10 yrs b4 he could bring my lola & dad. /8
The Chinese Exclusion Act, The Page Act, & The Geary Act were exclusionary & restrictive. The only reason Filipinos were allowed in was that the Philippines was a U.S. territory (no right to citizenship but). Biz/farm owners exploited their labor while enforcing segregation. /7
September 8, 2025 at 7:40 PM
The Chinese Exclusion Act, The Page Act, & The Geary Act were exclusionary & restrictive. The only reason Filipinos were allowed in was that the Philippines was a U.S. territory (no right to citizenship but). Biz/farm owners exploited their labor while enforcing segregation. /7