Tournament: ADA Nationals | Round: 2 | Opponent: Mary Washington Stackhouse-Young | Judge: Foley
Same as JVNovice Nats Finals

Tournament: ADA Nationals | Round: 4 | Opponent: Wake Forest Cronin-Lopez | Judge: Shook
Same as JVNovice Nats Finals 1AC

Tournament: ADA Nationals | Round: 6 | Opponent: Mary Washington McElhinny-Pacheco | Judge: Chaganti
Nommo is a vernacular strategy of resistance that preserved the ontological subjectivity of black bodies who survived the Middle Passage – our methodology is one that is essential to ontology and strategies that scream “NO!” in the face of white oppression
Yancy, Professor of Philosphy at Duquesne University, 2012
(George, Ph.D. Duquesne University, Reframing the Practice of Philosophy: Bodies of Color, Bodies of Knowledge”, State University Press of New York, accessed on 10/14/13, Ben)

Contrary to the white … during the African Holocaust.

Our stylistic approach changes this- code-switching is an example of how we navigate the power structure that are active in both the debate community and society at large
Reid-Brinkley, Kelsie, Brady, and Evans Department of Communication University of Pittsburgh, 13
(Shanara, Assistant Professor of Public Address and Advocacy Director of Debate, William Pitt Debating Union, Amber Kelsie, M.A. Doctoral Student, Department of Communication University of Pittsburgh, Nicholas Brady, Doctoral Student, Department of Culture and Theory University of California, Irvine, Ignacio Evans, B.A. History Towson University, 10-06-13, “We Be Fresh As Hell Wit’ Da Feds Watchin’: A Bad Black Debate Family Responds,” http://resistanceanddebate.wordpress.com/2013/10/06/we-be-fresh-as-hell-wit-da-feds-watchin-a-bad-black-debate-family-responds/, vc)

Bankey’s positioning of himself … accusations of anti-intellectualism

Culture is the basis for building a bridge through performative acts that creates a condition of possibility for all excluded perspectives
Clarke, Assistant Professor of Communication at Northwestern, 2004
(Lynn, studies rhetorical theory and its relationships to philosophy, "Talk About Talk: Promises, Risks, and a Proposition Out of Nommo", The Journal of Speculative Philosophy, Vol 18:4, accessed on 10/13/13, Ben)

Importantly, Yancy and Docta G … possible in and through speech.

Our performance is our own- as black women we are always reshaping the way that politics interact with our bodies in order to create a new politics that allows for people of color everywhere to speak- this is a drastic shift from traditional forms of socio-linguistics
Morgan, Professor of Afro-American Studies at Harvard University, 2002
(Marcyliena, Professor of Anthropology at University of California and the editor of Language and the Social Construction of Identity in Creole Situations, “Language Discourse and Power in African American Culture”, Cambridge University Press, accessed on 10/14/13, Ben)

During the 1970s, … their race, gender, class and sexuality.5

Therefore, Vida and I advocate the United Snakes of Amerikkka stop snipin and lockin up dem bodies. 

Minorities are locked up in the status quo because difference is targeted and exploited. Rights are systematically denied by the president and difference is continually manipulated rather than celebrated
Ford, political analyst, 11
(Glen, Black Agenda Respond executive editor, journalist, “The Racist Roots of Obama’s Preventive Detention,” 2011, http://blackagendareport.com/content/racist-roots-obamaE28099s-preventive-detention, accessed 08/05/2013, blh)

It should have … they will lose those freedoms.

This comes as no surprise- civil society is manipulated and controlled by white supremacist capital patriarchy that aims at exploiting and maintain difference – it does it through its linguistic construction of difference and categories based on value and expectation – our political methodology is a necessary step to deconstruct the way that bodies are shaped by intersecting structures of domination
hooks, distinguished professor of English at City College in New York, 92
(bell, Ph.D. from the University of California, Santa Cruz, 1992, “Eating the Other,” from “Black Looks: Race and Representation,” pages 21-22, da 10-10-13, http://www.scribd.com/doc/118302450/Eating-the-Other-bell-Hooks, mee)

This is theory’s acute … longings are ever fulfilled.

Cultural practices are a survival strategy
Ross, Professor British Romanticism, 20th Century African American Literature, Gender and Queer Theory, 2000
(Marlon B., Ph.D. University of Chicago, M.A. University of Chicago, B.A. Southwestern University,  “Commentary: Pleasuring Identity, or the Delicious Politics of Belonging,” New Literary History, Vol. 31, No. 4, pages 836-837)blh

More to the point, … economy of pleasure dictates

Tournament: CEDA | Round: 2 | Opponent: Minnesota Zhang-Shevik | Judge: Thach
“we do not sweat and summon our best in order to rescue
the killers”
there are days, in fact,
that i’ll be damned if i rescue any killer
or someone even approaching such a terrible status
to work in solidarity with those who are like me
unlike me
or resemble me
does not demand or require that i save those who would identify others dead or
annihilated
either through neglect
indifference
calculation
or theoethical musings
i will not rescue the killers
for being women all the time
is like breathing in and out
it is like the moments of smiles and whispers
it is like warmth and passion
it is like naming a voice through the song you sing
it is like the roll of a dice weighed to come up doubles
but to reach for your winnings
and find nothing there
being women all the time
is like breathing in and out
it is like finding yourself in the midst of degradation
and having the will to stake a claim for liberation
it is like turning and turning and turning into a shimmering tomorrow
it is like noticing a still, small voice
that you craft into a roaring wind
as you recognize and feel wholeness as no longer an abstract, independent
category
but what we all yearn for
so black women can, if we must, begin with the wounds
the folds of those old wounds, that in some cases destroyed us
with lies, secrets, and silences we are told about other women
that are told about ourselves
these wounds mark us, but they do not need to define us
for as wise women
or women seeking wisdom
we must grasp a hermenuetic of suspicion
that is, we must examine our first works over
again and again
and consider how we are with each other
and let our religious homes and the academy care of themselves for
awhile
and ponder
what it means for each of us
to be in this work of ornery hope
this work of performing Topsy
knowing Topsy
being Topsy
growing Topsy
yes all of us gathered here in our global clearing are subject to the ravages of
structural racism, sexism, heterosexism, classism, speciesism, agism, ableism
but what interests me is that african american women have and do join
others
in holding these “isms”
these masters’ and mistresses’ tools
in our control
and we have used them
sometimes relentlessly
we have used them
to avoid our depression and discontent
by cheering ourselves and finding a woman who is worse off
than we are
to avoid the questions we have about our beauty
by failing to question who sets the standards
and then dressing
literally
to kill
we have used these deadly tools to protect ourselves against charges that we
aren’t feminine
by pointing to someone who may
or may not
be tougher than we are
to prove that we really do know the color pink
to cloak our fears that we may not be bright enough or talented enough
by ridiculing other women and making them into postmodern
pickaninnies
by charging that they are sublimating their frustrations
in their work
in religious communities
in the goal of a more whole black community
within black communities across the landscape
to do this—amongst ourselves, at times
means we bring fractured selves into all manner of relationships and that
we often abide sexism and heterosexism
rather than question their existence in the household of God
hear me now, we tolerate single issue politicians and pastors and academicians
who spew poison into african american life
and we think its milk and honey for soul salvation and we lap it
up—greedily
as we fail to recognize the death pangs that sear us
with each dribbling drop down our throats
we turn away from injustice and run for the sanctuary of the alleged holy
and fail to see the graves dug before us
until we find ourselves
our communities
falling in
as the dirt of judgment is mournfully
if not gleefully
tossed over us
as it commemorates the remarkable assault all of us can
launch against ourselves
and then have the audacity and the naivety to name it
righteousness
and black women are not the only ones in God’s creation who do this
we have all manner and manifestations of this emanating from the vast
cultural communities that mark our commonalities
the rolling eyes and kinky hair of the pickaninny is no longer
confined to black children—they mark each and everyone one of us
in the american social order and beyond
i will not rescue the killers
of dreams of a world better than this
of hopes that continue to pulse, however faintly, in the midst
of disaster and ruin
i will not rescue the killers
who create optional reading lists
that signal to me
that some actual or alleged scholars really believe
that there are optional bodies, cultures, lives, ideas,
hopes, realities
and secondary lists are little better
when they traffic yearnings and expectations as
ideologies and abstractions
i will not rescue the killer
who remains silent when the innocent are murdered
and it is called patriotism or cleansing or white male rage
or horizontal violence
when there is starvation on our streets
while there is more than enough food for everyone to eat
three squares a day and at least one snack
when children die unloved and unwanted and thrown away
and we shake our collective pious heads and shut the
doors of homes and our hearts
when money determines right and wrong
good and evil
unity and dissent
diversity and blandness
hope and despair
promise and lies
damnation and salvation
no, absolutely no, i will not rescue the killers
when the academy devolves into gigantic public holding pens
for creativity and intellect
in other words
for me and my house
growing Topsy while standing with others across differences
does not require that I
sacrifice my very soul
so that others may find comfort and ease in the macabre
spectacle of my self annihilation
or the obliteration of whole communities
Topsy as a womanist does not find it acceptable that I acquiesce to a least
common denominator justice
that is really no justice at all
she does not require that I check my passions
my insights
my communities
at the door to enter the hall of kumbaya
and if there is any wisdom that can come
from this black woman
on notions of solidarities and differences that are strong
enough, wise enough, and strong enough to go
toe-to-toe
with the fantastic hegemonic imagination
it is that
to engage in such work is absolutely dangerous
it may, in fact, not be good for one’s health at all
it can lead to heart and soul-ache
it can make us old before our time
it can make us eat and drink too much or too little
of all the unhealthy things
it can turn us bitter and sarcastic
it can make you ornery and mean
it can turn justice into vengeance
it can turn us into killers
but the danger does not stop here
it is dangerous because it means that we refuse the emotional
numbing panaceas
of acquisition and status and competitive spirit that does
not seek excellence, only winning
we pierce through the straw figure of a free market
and speak with increasing precision and accuracy about
the impact of transnationals
from agribusiness
to munitions
to clothing manufacturers
to western tastes and cultures passing themselves
off as neutral or the markers of progress
we become dangerous when
we speak the truth that the king is naked
when it comes to the U.S. prison industrial complex
when we question declarations of war that are soon
accompanied by massive bail outs for corporations that
even that bastion of progressive monetary policies, the
wall street journal, said “mainly padded corporate bottom
lines”
when we express confusion and dismay when terrorism is
used as the reason for a sharp cut in the capital gains tax
a tax in which 80 percent of the benefits would
go to the wealthiest 2 percent of the taxpayers
yes, this is a naked butt king
when it comes to public policy that is really the personal
agenda of moralizing rhetoricians
who are dangerous because they now hold elected office
and someone believed that they should bring us back to
the good old days
that were, for many of us, deadly days
when almost every piece of legislation we are told is good for us
is sold to us with one price tag (like medicare drug benefits
for the elderly)
and then we are told—as many predicted on the left and
the right that the costs would be more and strain the federal
budget more
but we are told—just trust us, we know we are
right
and then we find that a $400 billion price tag
over 10 years is now, weeks after the dust had
settled from the debate, is really a $530 billion
price tag
when we go to war based on claims about weapons of
mass destruction in Iraq based on “documentary evidence”
that was forged and doubted by CIA analysts from the
beginning
and each time any of us express doubt about this “evidence,”
we were branded as weak or unpatriotic
and now, months and deaths later, we detect federal
officials recasting their words as if they never knew that
the “evidence” could possibly be cooked
and that the president was not told the truth
and we should be glad we invaded Iraq anyway
because Saddam Hussein had to be removed
from power
and it should not matter, ultimately, that we were lied to
although most of us are taught that when you lie,
you should be exposed and punished
but the fact is that these lies went largely
unreported by U.S. domestic media that does a
dangerous dance against free speech with the
federal administration
no i am not here for the killers
when it comes to solidarity
which i assume is another way to say justice
i am not interested in them
except for how to decrease their numbers
and their power
i have no wish to be objective about their behavior, methods, ideologies, or
strategies
when i do the work of justice
it is with and as an advocate for the victims
actual
possible
imagined
of evil
it is subjective, it is emotional, it is passionate, it is very interested
and if i cannot find others who are interested and committed to this
then there is no solidarity
and our differences not only separate us
they make us adversaries
or enemies
in other words, for me, i do not assume solidarity
when i join others in the work of justice
solidarity is something that is nurtured and grown
in the yearning for and living out of justice
solidarity comes from hard work
listening
analyzing
questioning
rethinking
accepting
rejecting
it comes from a place of respecting and being respected
and that, i think, does not come easily or naturally for most of us
if it were so natural, then we wouldn’t be in the fix we are trying to get out of
for to respect others
means we must also respect ourselves
and centuries of inherited messages about inherent evil (with
a large measure of this brutalizing swill aimed at women)
pose a wall of judgment and condemnation
that is hard for many of us to scale
so as we seek to work together, we must always be working on ourselves

Tournament: Fullerton | Round: Doubles | Opponent: Minnesota Crunkilton-Ehrlich | Judge: Kennedy, Antonucci, Najor
Poem by Layli Phillips

i have been pondering them of late as i feel and think about the major transitions i am going through
that all of us are going through in some measure
with all the comings and leavings that are part of life and death
but i also think about them in relation to what they may have to say in
reminding me why i do what i do
and how
and in what ways
for me, to talk about standing with one another
to conjure solidarity across differences
to spark womanist wisdom on solidarity and differences
is, at first glance
(and i must admit on several glances looks mullings later)
to tempt the agony of the absurd
i feel as though i have been cast back in time
to that 60s cocktail party in which Ralph Ellison
the author of Invisible Man spoke in “clipped, deliberate syllables” to his peers
“Show me the poem, tell me the names of the opera/the
symphony that will stop one man from killing another
man and then maybe” he gestured toward the elegant
bejeweled assembly with his hand that held a cut-crystal
glass of scotch—“just maybe some of this can be justified.”
i am relieved to say that tempting the agony of the absurd
does not leave me in Ellison’s condemnatory despair
but it does leave me with a frustrated hope
a hope that is imbued with Jordan’s words
as they echo
“we do not sweat and summon our best in order to rescue
the killers”
there are days, in fact,
that i’ll be damned if i rescue any killer
or someone even approaching such a grotesque status
to work in solidarity with those who are like me
unlike me
or resemble me
does not demand or require that i save those who would see others dead or
annihilated
either through neglect
indifference
calculation
or theoethical musings
i will not rescue the killers
of dreams and visions of a world better than this
of hopes that continue to pulse, however faintly, in the midst
of disaster and ruin
i will not rescue the killers
who create optional reading lists
that signal to me
that some actual or alleged scholars really believe
that there are optional peoples, cultures, lives, ideas,
hopes, realities
and secondary lists are little better
when they traffic peoples’ yearnings and expectations as
ideologies and abstractions
i will not rescue the killer
who remains silent when the innocent are murdered
and it is called patriotism or cleansing or white male rage
or horizontal violence
when people starve on our streets
while there is more than enough food for everyone to eat
three squares a day and at least one snack
when children die unloved and unwanted and thrown away
and we shake our collective pious heads and shut the
doors of homes and our hearts
when money determines right and wrong
good and evil
unity and dissent
diversity and blandness
hope and despair
promise and lies
damnation and salvation
no, absolutely no, i will not rescue the killers
when the church functions like an efficient corporation
and numbers and spaces in parking lots and the joy of
multiple worship services
serve as the markers for spirit and love and
mercy and justice
hear me now, i will not rescue the killers
when the academy devolves into gigantic public holding pens
for creativity and intellect
in other words
for me and my house
growing Topsy while standing with others across differences
does not require that i be run over in a mad teleological drive toward a misbegotten
notion of solidarity
that i accept a specious deontological notion of a disinterested love
that asks me to sacrifice my very soul
so that others may find comfort and ease in the macabre
spectacle of my self annihilation
or the obliteration of whole peoples
Topsy as a womanist does not find it acceptable that i acquiesce to a least
common denominator justice
that is really no justice at all
she does not require that i check my passions
my insights
my communities
at the door to enter the hall of kumbaya
and if there is any wisdom that can come
from this black woman
on notions of solidarities and differences that are strong
enough, wise enough, and ornery enough to go
toe-to-toe
with the fantastic hegemonic imagination
it is that
to engage in such work is absolutely dangerous
it may, in fact, not be good for one’s health at all
it can lead to heart and soul-ache
it can make us old before our time
it can make us eat and drink too much or too little
of all the unhealthy things
it can turn us bitter and sarcastic
it can make you ornery and mean as a snake
it can turn justice into vengeance
it can turn us into killers
but the danger does not stop here
it is dangerous because it means that we refuse the emotional
numbing panaceas
of acquisition and status and competitive spirit that does
not seek excellence, only winning
we see through the straw figure of a free market
and speak with increasing precision and accuracy about
the impact of transnationals
from agribusiness
to munitions
to clothing manufacturers
to western tastes and cultures passing themselves
off as neutral or the markers of progress
we become dangerous when
we speak the truth that the king is naked
when it comes to the U.S. prison industrial complex
when we question declarations of war that are soon
accompanied by massive bail outs for corporations that
even that bastion of progressive monetary policies, the
wall street journal, said “mainly padded corporate bottom
lines”
when we express confusion and dismay when terrorism is
used as the reason for a sharp cut in the capital gains tax
a tax in which 80 percent of the benefits would
go to the wealthiest 2 percent of the taxpayers
when folk hide behind conveniently literal interpretations
of scripture that support their views
on homosexuality, abortion, the roles of women
and men, the place of clergy and laity, the
pillaging of the environment, and just about
anything else
except individual and corporate sinning in the
name of individualism and the alleged common
good
yes, this is a naked butt king
when it comes to public policy that is really the personal
agenda of moralizing rhetoricians
who are dangerous because they now hold elected office
and someone believed that they should bring us back to
the good old days
that were, for many of us, deadly days
when almost every piece of legislation we are told is good for us
is sold to us with one price tag (like medicare drug benefits
for the elderly)
and then we are told—as many predicted on the left and
the right that the costs would be more and strain the federal
budget more
but we are told—just trust us, we know we are
right
and then we find that a $400 billion price tag
over 10 years is now, weeks after the dust had
settled from the debate, is really a $530 billion
price tag24
when we are go to war based on claims about weapons of
mass destruction in Iraq based on “documentary evidence”
that was forged and doubted by CIA analysts from the
beginning
and each time any of us express doubt about this “evidence,”
we were branded as weak or unpatriotic
and now, months and deaths later, we hear and see federal
officials recasting their words as if they never knew that
the “evidence” could possibly be cooked
and that the president was not told the truth
and we should be glad we invaded Iraq anyway
because Saddam Hussein had to be removed
from power
and it should not matter, ultimately, that we were lied to
although most of us are taught that when you lie,
you should be exposed and punished
but the fact that these lies went largely
unreported by U.S. domestic media that does a
dangerous dance against free speech with the
federal administration
is like the dead skunk in the middle of
the road
stinking to high heaven
but we drive around it as if it
were not there
no i am not here for the killers
when it comes to solidarity
which i assume is another way to say justice
i am not interested in them
except for how to decrease their numbers
and their power
i have no wish to be objective about their behavior, methods, ideologies, or
strategies
when i do the work of justice
it is with and as an advocate for the victims
actual
possible
imagined
of evil
it is subjective, it is emotional, it is passionate, it is very interested
and if i cannot find others who are interested and committed to this
then there is no solidarity
and our differences not only separate us
they make us adversaries
or enemies
in other words, for me, i do not assume solidarity
when i join others in the work of justice
solidarity is something that is nurtured and grown
in the yearning for and living out of justice
solidarity comes from hard work
listening
hearing
analyzing
questioning
rethinking
accepting
rejecting
it comes from a place of respecting and being respected
and that, i think, does not come easily or naturally for most of us
if it were so natural, then we wouldn’t be in the fix we are trying to get out of
for to respect others
means we must also respect ourselves
and centuries of inherited messages about the inherent evil of humanity (with
a large measure of this brutalizing swill aimed at women)
pose a wall of judgment and condemnation
that is hard for many of us to scale
so as we seek to work together, we must always be working on ourselves
and perhaps this is where the comforting begins
as each of us has that dawning and then awakening in us
that the point is in some religious version of perfection
but that we live our humanity with passion and vigor—
regardless
that we live our lives in justice and hope and even love—
relentlessly
that we recognize that none of us has the corner on righteousness
that we are the ones we have been waiting for
and ultimately, there is no one to do this work for us
this, then, is the first light of empowerment
when we realize that we cannot do the work of justice
to end structural injustice
by individual acts of valor and conviction alone
they may help, to be sure
but tackling structural evil takes a whole bunch of folks
with varieties of skills and insights
because structures of domination rarely come in such pristine
forms as
circles
triangles
rectangles
or rhomboids
no, structures of domination are like demonic ink blots
they have cores
but the splatter marks are far and wide and absolutely
dangerous
and they can cause so much collateral damage
that they disfigure and maim
to speak of solidarity
to conjure standing anywhere together
is, then, to tempt the agony of the absurd
but frankly, i simply don’t know what else to do
and remain faithful
and although Jordan’s description of tinkering, daydreaming, revising, and
memorizing
does not sit well for this womanist ethicist
i do believe in strategizing, envisioning, challenging, debunking, and
transforming
but always with an eye to sharing and receiving the dignity
and gift of humanity and creation
this means that a solidarity seeking the status quo is not one i can embrace a
solidarity that teaches a studied silence that rewards blind, thought-less, clueless
obedience
and punishes vital curiosity
is not one that i can come near
a solidarity that only tolerates oppositional knowledge on playgrounds,
streets, homes, popular culture, youth groups
but never in board meetings, religious councils, strategy sessions
or in policy development or pulpits or curriculum revisions
is not a solidarity that is actually concerned about justice
and it does not deserve my time
but it does need to be watched, monitored, like a hawk
and if need be, be destroyed
whatever wisdom i have on solidarity and differences
has been crafted from the hard experiences
of learning over and over again
that just because folk espouse solidarity does not mean
they either know it or mean it
that there are many good works being done to bring in
justice
but that there is only one of me
and that i must, as each of us must
make some choices about who we stand in solidarity with
and how we will or will not deal with the differences
that can enrich us
challenge us
deny us
destroy us
but to remember also that we must not take so long to choose
that the choice gets made by our indecision or inaction
we may choose wisely or foolishly
but the point is that we develop the ability to recognize where
our actions are leading us
and where we have actually gone
and reformulate and assess on a continual basis
if we are truly working for justice or if we have fallen into
cooptation
or complicity
or betrayal
there are always options
i’ve learned this from the trickster tradition in my culture
but they cut both ways and sometimes even slice and dice
to move beyond the tight circle that we often seem caught in that is hollowed
out by conservatism and liberalism
means that we stop collapsing difference and diversity and
plurality
and all those terms we use to signal humanity and creation
is large
into such neat and pristine buzz words
and instead realize that
we will not always agree
there will be times of reasoned (and unreasoned) dissent
that we may not be able to work
together on everything or every issue
sometimes it is to recast
from our worldviews
the things we’ve learned through the years
but even as small children:
the police are not always your friend
it is not always wise to wait to cross at
a corner
or even to cross only at corners
in other words, there are few absolutes in life
and solidarities and differences are just as caught up in this
reality as episodes or steady diets of disaster and ruin
no, as i continue being a part of growing Topsy, i do not sweat and summon
whatever best there is in me to rescue the killers
but i do try to give all of who i am to the work for justice
and hang in there with others who recognize that solidarities
and differences are messy
and ultimatly human
and in some small way this marks our humanity
and turns the absurdities
into living, breathing, active hope

The United States Congress should immediately require that all persons captured by the United States in AUMF affiliated groups be afforded due process rights through trial in US Federal Courts guaranteed under the United States constitution.

Tournament: Clarion | Round: 3 | Opponent: James Madison Bosley-Miller | Judge: Rubino
There’s a child on the playground. Each group huddles closer and lowers the volumes of their whisper as the child approaches. Her presence is not ignored, but also not encouraged. She is allowed into their circle but not invited there. She can stay, but she cannot speak. She runs to other children. Their circle is the same way. She runs to another group. She is still not good enough. Her skin is too black, then too white. Her hair is too short and too curly. She is a girl. She is not welcome in any of their circles. She runs to the teacher for protection and finds only more of the same. Hurt. Rejection. Anger. Confusion. But most of all, she feels exclusion. She experiences an exclusion that no other child on that playground understands and she experiences exclusion that the teacher cannot protect her from and she experiences exclusion that will follow her for all of her life. 

Aiight so yo, let’s talk for a minute. This game we play, this is something else. I remember when I first started debate. I remember talkin’ bout the government and I remember coming up with silly things for them to do that they would never hear and never actually do. I remember seein’ other teams doin’ other things, and I remember wanting to do that. I remember bein’ told that was cheating, I should just focus on the good ol’ USFG. Ha. I remember trying to do it anyway. I remember when I walked into a round and someone said that I was “Liberty’s Wilderson team.” Hahaha, playa, I ain’t neva read Wilderson in a debate round in mah life. Nice try though, everybody always thinkin all us black girls are the same. I remember a round we had when the judge decided to vote for the other team because he liked debate. Cool story bro. I like debate too, but it don’t like me. We gotsta introduce some culture to this place or we are never going to be able to change anything. The debate community uses the resolution to detain my identity- it holds it within a prison-like state by forcing me to believe that I cannot participate in this game without abandoning myself when I walk into a round. The state detains my identity by forcing me into the margin- by allowing systems of oppression to arrest me and hold me captive until they see fit to let me go. I am indefinitely detained.

My detainment is not an isolated instance- The USFG polices marked bodies and targets them by exploiting difference and systematically denying rights
Ford, political analyst, 11
(Glen, Black Agenda Respond executive editor, journalist, “The Racist Roots of Obama’s Preventive Detention,” 2011, http://blackagendareport.com/content/racist-roots-obamaE28099s-preventive-detention, accessed 08/05/2013, blh)

It should have been clear …will lose those freedoms.

This comes as no surprise civil society is manipulated and controlled by white supremacyist capital patriarchy that aims at exploiting and maintain difference – it does it through its linguistic construction of difference and categories based on value and expectation – our political methodology is a necessary step to deconstruct the way that bodies are shaped by intersecting structures of domination
hooks, distinguished professor of English at City College in New York, 92
(bell, Ph.D. from the University of California, Santa Cruz, 1992, “Eating the Other,” from “Black Looks: Race and Representation,” pages 21-22, da 10-10-13, http://www.scribd.com/doc/118302450/Eating-the-Other-bell-Hooks, mee)

This is theory’s acute dilemma….. longings are ever fulfilled.

In politicized cultural spaces like the debate community – the way that we speak is necessary to be able to change the direction of politics – our linguistic approach is one that is critical to displacing white cultural hegemony
Yancy, Professor of Philosphy at Duquesne University, 2012 (George, Ph.D. Duquesne University, Reframing the Practice of Philosophy: Bodies of Color, Bodies of Knowledge”, State University Press of New York, accessed on 10/14/13, Ben)

This cultural space is ……the anguish of their mothers. ‘

What can I as a mixed, middle-class, woman who has personally experienced exclusion in this community, what is there for me to do? I reflect on my experiences as a debater and recognize three options.
One- I could leave the community.
Second- I could continue to deny myself subjectivity and continue discussing policies I know I have no influence over.
Or, my last option is to adopt a new political strategy to reclaim my subjectivity and change the current structure of the debate community in order to be more inclusive of currently excluded bodies.

Therefore, Vida and I advocate that the United Snakes of Amerikkka stop locking up them bodies 

Debate is a training ground for political discussions and knowledge production. The current systems in place prioritize traditional knowledge- the exclusion of alternative forms of knowledge perpetuates a view of those positions as secondary. Analyzing current structures of power allows us to change those systems and prevent perpetual erasure of key knowledge forms
Andersen and Collins, Prof of Sociology and Women’s Studies at the University of Delaware, Distinguished Prof of Sociology at University of Maryland, 10
(Margaret L., M.A and  Ph. D. from the University of Massachusetts, Amherst, and Patricia Hill, Ph.D. Sociology, Brandeis University, “Why Race, Class, and Gender Still Matter”, Race, Class and Gender: an Anthology, p. 11, mee)

We think that the matrix …….for race, class, and gender relations

We are not a static notion of Black Feminism but rather a radical version of intersectionality that deploys narratives in order to decenter the quintessential icon of oppression and open up a space for all political beings to exist specifically in political spaces such as the debate community.
Our focus on linguistics is necessary to abstract current notions of knowledge production – this stands as a counterlanguage deployed to benefit the knowledge of oppressed bodies
Morgan, Professor of Afro-American Studies at Harvard University, 2002 (Marcyliena, Professor of Anthropology at University of California and the editor of Language and the Social Construction of Identity in Creole Situations, “Language Discourse and Power in African American Culture”, Cambridge University Press, accessed on 10/14/13, Ben)

Whether trying to understand the ….and the hostess and her family in particular.

Culture invokes a creative ability to restore agency through the usage of language – such an act is the basis for building a bridge through performative acts that creates a condition of possibility for all excluded perspectives
Clarke, Assistant Professor of Communication at Northwestern, 2004
(Lynn, studies rhetorical theory and its relationships to philosophy, "Talk About Talk: Promises, Risks, and a Proposition Out of Nommo", The Journal of Speculative Philosophy, Vol 18:4, accessed on 10/13/13, Ben)

Importantly, Yancy and Docta G are ….made possible in and through speech.

Our strategy is one that depends on a intersectional approach – recognizing the temporality of linguistics, culture and collective memory is a critical part of our strategy that helps to reveal how all information informs our knowledge base
Morgan, Professor of Afro-American Studies at Harvard University, 2002
(Marcyliena, Professor of Anthropology at University of California and the editor of Language and the Social Construction of Identity in Creole Situations, “Language Discourse and Power in African American Culture”, Cambridge University Press, accessed on 10/14/13, Ben)

Contact situations are often ……without being aware of “now.”

We are constantly on the move using our language as an attempt to reshape culture – in this debate space we use our stylistic approach to resolve common debate practices
Reid-Brinkley et al, Department of Communication University of Pittsburgh, 13
(Shanara, Assistant Professor of Public Address and Advocacy Director of Debate, William Pitt Debating Union, Amber Kelsie, M.A. Doctoral Student, Department of Communication University of Pittsburgh, Nicholas Brady, Doctoral Student, Department of Culture and Theory University of California, Irvine, Ignacio Evans, B.A. History Towson University, 10-06-13, “We Be Fresh As Hell Wit’ Da Feds Watchin’: A Bad Black Debate Family Responds,” http://resistanceanddebate.wordpress.com/2013/10/06/we-be-fresh-as-hell-wit-da-feds-watchin-a-bad-black-debate-family-responds/, vc)

Bankey’s positioning of himself at ……….accusations of anti-intellectualism

Tournament: D7qualifier | Round: 1 | Opponent: Pittsburgh C--Keefe | Judge: Davis
Adapted poem by Layli Maparyan Phillips from "Introduction: The Womanist Reader" 2006

i have been pondering them of late as i feel and think about the major transitions i am going through
that all of us are going through in some measure
with all the comings and leavings that are part of life and death
but i also think about them in relation to what they may have to say in
reminding me why i do what i do
and how
and in what ways
for me, to talk about standing with one another
to conjure solidarity across differences
to spark womanist wisdom on solidarity and differences
is, at first glance
(and i must admit on several glances looks mullings later)
to tempt the agony of the absurd
i feel as though i have been cast back in time
to that 60s cocktail party in which Ralph Ellison
the author of Invisible Man spoke in “clipped, deliberate syllables” to his peers
“Show me the poem, tell me the names of the opera/the
symphony that will stop one man from killing another
man and then maybe” he gestured toward the elegant
bejeweled assembly with his hand that held a cut-crystal
glass of scotch—“just maybe some of this can be justified.”
i am relieved to say that tempting the agony of the absurd
does not leave me in Ellison’s condemnatory despair
but it does leave me with a frustrated hope
a hope that is imbued with Jordan’s words
as they echo
“we do not sweat and summon our best in order to rescue
the killers”
there are days, in fact,
that i’ll be damned if i rescue any killer
or someone even approaching such a grotesque status
to work in solidarity with those who are like me
unlike me
or resemble me
does not demand or require that i save those who would identify others dead or
annihilated
either through neglect
indifference
calculation
or theoethical musings
i will not rescue the killers
of dreams and visions of a world better than this
of hopes that continue to pulse, however faintly, in the midst
of disaster and ruin
i will not rescue the killers
who create optional reading lists
that signal to me
that some actual or alleged scholars really believe
that there are optional peoples, cultures, lives, ideas,
hopes, realities
and secondary lists are little better
when they traffic peoples’ yearnings and expectations as
ideologies and abstractions
i will not rescue the killer
who remains silent when the innocent are murdered
and it is called patriotism or cleansing or white male rage
or horizontal violence
when people starve on our streets
while there is more than enough food for everyone to eat
three squares a day and at least one snack
when children die unloved and unwanted and thrown away
and we shake our collective pious heads and shut the
doors of homes and our hearts
when money determines right and wrong
good and evil
unity and dissent
diversity and blandness
hope and despair
promise and lies
damnation and salvation
no, absolutely no, i will not rescue the killers
when the church functions like an efficient corporation
and numbers and spaces in parking lots and the joy of
multiple worship services
serve as the markers for spirit and love and
mercy and justice
hear me now, i will not rescue the killers
when the academy devolves into gigantic public holding pens
for creativity and intellect
in other words
for me and my house
growing Topsy while standing with others across differences
does not require that i be run over in a mad teleological drive toward a misbegotten
notion of solidarity
that i accept a specious deontological notion of a disinterested love
that asks me to sacrifice my very soul
so that others may find comfort and ease in the macabre
spectacle of my self annihilation
or the obliteration of whole peoples
Topsy as a womanist does not find it acceptable that i acquiesce to a least
common denominator justice
that is really no justice at all
she does not require that i check my passions
my insights
my communities
at the door to enter the hall of kumbaya
and if there is any wisdom that can come
from this black woman
on notions of solidarities and differences that are strong
enough, wise enough, and ornery enough to go
toe-to-toe
with the fantastic hegemonic imagination
it is that
to engage in such work is absolutely dangerous
it may, in fact, not be good for one’s health at all
it can lead to heart and soul-ache
it can make us old before our time
it can make us eat and drink too much or too little
of all the unhealthy things
it can turn us bitter and sarcastic
it can make you ornery and mean as a snake
it can turn justice into vengeance
it can turn us into killers
but the danger does not stop here
it is dangerous because it means that we refuse the emotional
numbing panaceas
of acquisition and status and competitive spirit that does
not seek excellence, only winning
we pierce through the straw figure of a free market
and speak with increasing precision and accuracy about
the impact of transnationals
from agribusiness
to munitions
to clothing manufacturers
to western tastes and cultures passing themselves
off as neutral or the markers of progress
we become dangerous when
we speak the truth that the king is naked
when it comes to the U.S. prison industrial complex
when we question declarations of war that are soon
accompanied by massive bail outs for corporations that
even that bastion of progressive monetary policies, the
wall street journal, said “mainly padded corporate bottom
lines”
when we express confusion and dismay when terrorism is
used as the reason for a sharp cut in the capital gains tax
a tax in which 80 percent of the benefits would
go to the wealthiest 2 percent of the taxpayers
when folk hide behind conveniently literal interpretations
of scripture that support their views
on homosexuality, abortion, the roles of women
and men, the place of clergy and laity, the
pillaging of the environment, and just about
anything else
except individual and corporate sinning in the
name of individualism and the alleged common
good
yes, this is a naked butt king
when it comes to public policy that is really the personal
agenda of moralizing rhetoricians
who are dangerous because they now hold elected office
and someone believed that they should bring us back to
the good old days
that were, for many of us, deadly days
when almost every piece of legislation we are told is good for us
is sold to us with one price tag (like medicare drug benefits
for the elderly)
and then we are told—as many predicted on the left and
the right that the costs would be more and strain the federal
budget more
but we are told—just trust us, we know we are
right
and then we find that a $400 billion price tag
over 10 years is now, weeks after the dust had
settled from the debate, is really a $530 billion
price tag24
when we are go to war based on claims about weapons of
mass destruction in Iraq based on “documentary evidence”
that was forged and doubted by CIA analysts from the
beginning
and each time any of us express doubt about this “evidence,”
we were branded as weak or unpatriotic
and now, months and deaths later, we detect federal
officials recasting their words as if they never knew that
the “evidence” could possibly be cooked
and that the president was not told the truth
and we should be glad we invaded Iraq anyway
because Saddam Hussein had to be removed
from power
and it should not matter, ultimately, that we were lied to
although most of us are taught that when you lie,
you should be exposed and punished
but the fact that these lies went largely
unreported by U.S. domestic media that does a
dangerous dance against free speech with the
federal administration
is like the dead skunk in the middle of
the road
stinking to high heaven
but we drive around it as if it
were not there
no i am not here for the killers
when it comes to solidarity
which i assume is another way to say justice
i am not interested in them
except for how to decrease their numbers
and their power
i have no wish to be objective about their behavior, methods, ideologies, or
strategies
when i do the work of justice
it is with and as an advocate for the victims
actual
possible
imagined
of evil
it is subjective, it is emotional, it is passionate, it is very interested
and if i cannot find others who are interested and committed to this
then there is no solidarity
and our differences not only separate us
they make us adversaries
or enemies
in other words, for me, i do not assume solidarity
when i join others in the work of justice
solidarity is something that is nurtured and grown
in the yearning for and living out of justice
solidarity comes from hard work
listening
analyzing
questioning
rethinking
accepting
rejecting
it comes from a place of respecting and being respected
and that, i think, does not come easily or naturally for most of us
if it were so natural, then we wouldn’t be in the fix we are trying to get out of
for to respect others
means we must also respect ourselves
and centuries of inherited messages about the inherent evil of humanity (with
a large measure of this brutalizing swill aimed at women)
pose a wall of judgment and condemnation
that is hard for many of us to scale
so as we seek to work together, we must always be working on ourselves
and perhaps this is where the comforting begins
as each of us has that dawning and then awakening in us
that the point is in some religious version of perfection
but that we live our humanity with passion and vigor—
regardless
that we live our lives in justice and hope and even love—
relentlessly
that we recognize that none of us has the corner on righteousness
that we are the ones we have been waiting for
and ultimately, there is no one to do this work for us
this, then, is the first light of empowerment
when we realize that we cannot do the work of justice
to end structural injustice
by individual acts of valor and conviction alone
they may help, to be sure
but tackling structural evil takes a whole bunch of folks
with varieties of skills and insights
because structures of domination rarely come in such pristine
forms as
circles
triangles
rectangles
or rhomboids
no, structures of domination are like demonic ink blots
they have cores
but the splatter marks are far and wide and absolutely
dangerous
and they can cause so much collateral damage
that they disfigure and maim
to speak of solidarity
to conjure standing anywhere together
is, then, to tempt the agony of the absurd
but frankly, i simply don’t know what else to do
and remain faithful
and although Jordan’s description of tinkering, daydreaming, revising, and
memorizing
does not sit well for this womanist ethicist
i do believe in strategizing, envisioning, challenging, debunking, and
transforming
but always with an eye to sharing and receiving the dignity
and gift of humanity and creation
this means that a solidarity seeking the status quo is not one i can embrace a
solidarity that teaches a studied silence that rewards thought-less, clueless
obedience
and punishes vital curiosity
is not one that i can come near
a solidarity that only tolerates oppositional knowledge on playgrounds,
streets, homes, popular culture, youth groups
but never in board meetings, religious councils, strategy sessions
or in policy development or pulpits or curriculum revisions
is not a solidarity that is actually concerned about justice
and it does not deserve my time
but it does need to be watched, monitored, like a hawk
and if need be, be destroyed
whatever wisdom i have on solidarity and differences
has been crafted from the hard experiences
of learning over and over again
that just because folk espouse solidarity does not mean
they either know it or mean it
that there are many good works being done to bring in
justice
but that there is only one of me
and that i must, as each of us must
make some choices about who we stand in solidarity with
and how we will or will not deal with the differences
that can enrich us
challenge us
deny us
destroy us
but to remember also that we must not take so long to choose
that the choice gets made by our indecision or inaction
we may choose wisely or foolishly
but the point is that we develop the ability to recognize where
our actions are leading us
and where we have actually gone
and reformulate and assess on a continual basis
if we are truly working for justice or if we have fallen into
cooptation
or complicity
or betrayal
there are always options
i’ve learned this from the trickster tradition in my culture
but they cut both ways and sometimes even slice and dice
to move beyond the tight circle that we often seem caught in that is hollowed
out by conservatism and liberalism
means that we stop collapsing difference and diversity and
plurality
and all those terms we use to signal humanity and creation
is large
into such neat and pristine buzz words
and instead realize that
we will not always agree
there will be times of reasoned (and unreasoned) dissent
that we may not be able to work
together on everything or every issue
sometimes it is to recast
from our worldviews
the things we’ve learned through the years
but even as small children:
the police are not always your friend
it is not always wise to wait to cross at
a corner
or even to cross only at corners
in other words, there are few absolutes in life
and solidarities and differences are just as caught up in this
reality as episodes or steady diets of disaster and ruin
no, as i continue being a part of growing Topsy, i do not sweat and summon
whatever best there is in me to rescue the killers
but i do try to give all of who i am to the work for justice
and hang in there with others who recognize that solidarities
and differences are messy
and ultimatly human
and in some small way this marks our humanity
and turns the absurdities
into living, breathing, active hope

Tournament: D7qualifier | Round: 3 | Opponent: Towson Thomas-Whitley | Judge: Godbey
Adapted poem by Layli Maparyan Phillips from "Introduction: The Womanist Reader" 2006

i have been pondering them of late as i feel and think about the major transitions i am going through
that all of us are going through in some measure
with all the comings and leavings that are part of life and death
but i also think about them in relation to what they may have to say in
reminding me why i do what i do
and how
and in what ways
for me, to talk about standing with one another
to conjure solidarity across differences
to spark womanist wisdom on solidarity and differences
is, at first glance
(and i must admit on several glances looks mullings later)
to tempt the agony of the absurd
i feel as though i have been cast back in time
to that 60s cocktail party in which Ralph Ellison
the author of Invisible Man spoke in “clipped, deliberate syllables” to his peers
“Show me the poem, tell me the names of the opera/the
symphony that will stop one man from killing another
man and then maybe” he gestured toward the elegant
bejeweled assembly with his hand that held a cut-crystal
glass of scotch—“just maybe some of this can be justified.”
i am relieved to say that tempting the agony of the absurd
does not leave me in Ellison’s condemnatory despair
but it does leave me with a frustrated hope
a hope that is imbued with Jordan’s words
as they echo
“we do not sweat and summon our best in order to rescue
the killers”
there are days, in fact,
that i’ll be damned if i rescue any killer
or someone even approaching such a grotesque status
to work in solidarity with those who are like me
unlike me
or resemble me
does not demand or require that i save those who would identify others dead or
annihilated
either through neglect
indifference
calculation
or theoethical musings
i will not rescue the killers
of dreams and visions of a world better than this
of hopes that continue to pulse, however faintly, in the midst
of disaster and ruin
i will not rescue the killers
who create optional reading lists
that signal to me
that some actual or alleged scholars really believe
that there are optional peoples, cultures, lives, ideas,
hopes, realities
and secondary lists are little better
when they traffic peoples’ yearnings and expectations as
ideologies and abstractions
i will not rescue the killer
who remains silent when the innocent are murdered
and it is called patriotism or cleansing or white male rage
or horizontal violence
when people starve on our streets
while there is more than enough food for everyone to eat
three squares a day and at least one snack
when children die unloved and unwanted and thrown away
and we shake our collective pious heads and shut the
doors of homes and our hearts
when money determines right and wrong
good and evil
unity and dissent
diversity and blandness
hope and despair
promise and lies
damnation and salvation
no, absolutely no, i will not rescue the killers
when the church functions like an efficient corporation
and numbers and spaces in parking lots and the joy of
multiple worship services
serve as the markers for spirit and love and
mercy and justice
hear me now, i will not rescue the killers
when the academy devolves into gigantic public holding pens
for creativity and intellect
in other words
for me and my house
growing Topsy while standing with others across differences
does not require that i be run over in a mad teleological drive toward a misbegotten
notion of solidarity
that i accept a specious deontological notion of a disinterested love
that asks me to sacrifice my very soul
so that others may find comfort and ease in the macabre
spectacle of my self annihilation
or the obliteration of whole peoples
Topsy as a womanist does not find it acceptable that i acquiesce to a least
common denominator justice
that is really no justice at all
she does not require that i check my passions
my insights
my communities
at the door to enter the hall of kumbaya
and if there is any wisdom that can come
from this black woman
on notions of solidarities and differences that are strong
enough, wise enough, and ornery enough to go
toe-to-toe
with the fantastic hegemonic imagination
it is that
to engage in such work is absolutely dangerous
it may, in fact, not be good for one’s health at all
it can lead to heart and soul-ache
it can make us old before our time
it can make us eat and drink too much or too little
of all the unhealthy things
it can turn us bitter and sarcastic
it can make you ornery and mean as a snake
it can turn justice into vengeance
it can turn us into killers
but the danger does not stop here
it is dangerous because it means that we refuse the emotional
numbing panaceas
of acquisition and status and competitive spirit that does
not seek excellence, only winning
we pierce through the straw figure of a free market
and speak with increasing precision and accuracy about
the impact of transnationals
from agribusiness
to munitions
to clothing manufacturers
to western tastes and cultures passing themselves
off as neutral or the markers of progress
we become dangerous when
we speak the truth that the king is naked
when it comes to the U.S. prison industrial complex
when we question declarations of war that are soon
accompanied by massive bail outs for corporations that
even that bastion of progressive monetary policies, the
wall street journal, said “mainly padded corporate bottom
lines”
when we express confusion and dismay when terrorism is
used as the reason for a sharp cut in the capital gains tax
a tax in which 80 percent of the benefits would
go to the wealthiest 2 percent of the taxpayers
when folk hide behind conveniently literal interpretations
of scripture that support their views
on homosexuality, abortion, the roles of women
and men, the place of clergy and laity, the
pillaging of the environment, and just about
anything else
except individual and corporate sinning in the
name of individualism and the alleged common
good
yes, this is a naked butt king
when it comes to public policy that is really the personal
agenda of moralizing rhetoricians
who are dangerous because they now hold elected office
and someone believed that they should bring us back to
the good old days
that were, for many of us, deadly days
when almost every piece of legislation we are told is good for us
is sold to us with one price tag (like medicare drug benefits
for the elderly)
and then we are told—as many predicted on the left and
the right that the costs would be more and strain the federal
budget more
but we are told—just trust us, we know we are
right
and then we find that a $400 billion price tag
over 10 years is now, weeks after the dust had
settled from the debate, is really a $530 billion
price tag24
when we are go to war based on claims about weapons of
mass destruction in Iraq based on “documentary evidence”
that was forged and doubted by CIA analysts from the
beginning
and each time any of us express doubt about this “evidence,”
we were branded as weak or unpatriotic
and now, months and deaths later, we detect federal
officials recasting their words as if they never knew that
the “evidence” could possibly be cooked
and that the president was not told the truth
and we should be glad we invaded Iraq anyway
because Saddam Hussein had to be removed
from power
and it should not matter, ultimately, that we were lied to
although most of us are taught that when you lie,
you should be exposed and punished
but the fact that these lies went largely
unreported by U.S. domestic media that does a
dangerous dance against free speech with the
federal administration
is like the dead skunk in the middle of
the road
stinking to high heaven
but we drive around it as if it
were not there
no i am not here for the killers
when it comes to solidarity
which i assume is another way to say justice
i am not interested in them
except for how to decrease their numbers
and their power
i have no wish to be objective about their behavior, methods, ideologies, or
strategies
when i do the work of justice
it is with and as an advocate for the victims
actual
possible
imagined
of evil
it is subjective, it is emotional, it is passionate, it is very interested
and if i cannot find others who are interested and committed to this
then there is no solidarity
and our differences not only separate us
they make us adversaries
or enemies
in other words, for me, i do not assume solidarity
when i join others in the work of justice
solidarity is something that is nurtured and grown
in the yearning for and living out of justice
solidarity comes from hard work
listening
analyzing
questioning
rethinking
accepting
rejecting
it comes from a place of respecting and being respected
and that, i think, does not come easily or naturally for most of us
if it were so natural, then we wouldn’t be in the fix we are trying to get out of
for to respect others
means we must also respect ourselves
and centuries of inherited messages about the inherent evil of humanity (with
a large measure of this brutalizing swill aimed at women)
pose a wall of judgment and condemnation
that is hard for many of us to scale
so as we seek to work together, we must always be working on ourselves
and perhaps this is where the comforting begins
as each of us has that dawning and then awakening in us
that the point is in some religious version of perfection
but that we live our humanity with passion and vigor—
regardless
that we live our lives in justice and hope and even love—
relentlessly
that we recognize that none of us has the corner on righteousness
that we are the ones we have been waiting for
and ultimately, there is no one to do this work for us
this, then, is the first light of empowerment
when we realize that we cannot do the work of justice
to end structural injustice
by individual acts of valor and conviction alone
they may help, to be sure
but tackling structural evil takes a whole bunch of folks
with varieties of skills and insights
because structures of domination rarely come in such pristine
forms as
circles
triangles
rectangles
or rhomboids
no, structures of domination are like demonic ink blots
they have cores
but the splatter marks are far and wide and absolutely
dangerous
and they can cause so much collateral damage
that they disfigure and maim
to speak of solidarity
to conjure standing anywhere together
is, then, to tempt the agony of the absurd
but frankly, i simply don’t know what else to do
and remain faithful
and although Jordan’s description of tinkering, daydreaming, revising, and
memorizing
does not sit well for this womanist ethicist
i do believe in strategizing, envisioning, challenging, debunking, and
transforming
but always with an eye to sharing and receiving the dignity
and gift of humanity and creation
this means that a solidarity seeking the status quo is not one i can embrace a
solidarity that teaches a studied silence that rewards thought-less, clueless
obedience
and punishes vital curiosity
is not one that i can come near
a solidarity that only tolerates oppositional knowledge on playgrounds,
streets, homes, popular culture, youth groups
but never in board meetings, religious councils, strategy sessions
or in policy development or pulpits or curriculum revisions
is not a solidarity that is actually concerned about justice
and it does not deserve my time
but it does need to be watched, monitored, like a hawk
and if need be, be destroyed
whatever wisdom i have on solidarity and differences
has been crafted from the hard experiences
of learning over and over again
that just because folk espouse solidarity does not mean
they either know it or mean it
that there are many good works being done to bring in
justice
but that there is only one of me
and that i must, as each of us must
make some choices about who we stand in solidarity with
and how we will or will not deal with the differences
that can enrich us
challenge us
deny us
destroy us
but to remember also that we must not take so long to choose
that the choice gets made by our indecision or inaction
we may choose wisely or foolishly
but the point is that we develop the ability to recognize where
our actions are leading us
and where we have actually gone
and reformulate and assess on a continual basis
if we are truly working for justice or if we have fallen into
cooptation
or complicity
or betrayal
there are always options
i’ve learned this from the trickster tradition in my culture
but they cut both ways and sometimes even slice and dice
to move beyond the tight circle that we often seem caught in that is hollowed
out by conservatism and liberalism
means that we stop collapsing difference and diversity and
plurality
and all those terms we use to signal humanity and creation
is large
into such neat and pristine buzz words
and instead realize that
we will not always agree
there will be times of reasoned (and unreasoned) dissent
that we may not be able to work
together on everything or every issue
sometimes it is to recast
from our worldviews
the things we’ve learned through the years
but even as small children:
the police are not always your friend
it is not always wise to wait to cross at
a corner
or even to cross only at corners
in other words, there are few absolutes in life
and solidarities and differences are just as caught up in this
reality as episodes or steady diets of disaster and ruin
no, as i continue being a part of growing Topsy, i do not sweat and summon
whatever best there is in me to rescue the killers
but i do try to give all of who i am to the work for justice
and hang in there with others who recognize that solidarities
and differences are messy
and ultimatly human
and in some small way this marks our humanity
and turns the absurdities
into living, breathing, active hope

Tournament: D7qualifier | Round: 5 | Opponent: James Madison Lepp-Miller | Judge: Taylor
“we do not sweat and summon our best in order to rescue
the killers”
there are days, in fact,
that i’ll be damned if i rescue any killer
or someone even approaching such a terrible status
to work in solidarity with those who are like me
unlike me
or resemble me
does not demand or require that i save those who would identify others dead or
annihilated
either through neglect
indifference
calculation
or theoethical musings
i will not rescue the killers
for being women all the time
is like breathing in and out
it is like the moments of smiles and whispers
it is like warmth and passion
it is like naming a voice through the song you sing
it is like the roll of a dice weighed to come up doubles
but to reach for your winnings
and find nothing there
being women all the time
is like breathing in and out
it is like finding yourself in the midst of degradation
and having the will to stake a claim for liberation
it is like turning and turning and turning into a shimmering tomorrow
it is like noticing a still, small voice
that you craft into a roaring wind
as you recognize and feel wholeness as no longer an abstract, independent
category
but what we all yearn for
so black women can, if we must, begin with the wounds
the folds of those old wounds, that in some cases destroyed us
with lies, secrets, and silences we are told about other women
that are told about ourselves
these wounds mark us, but they do not need to define us
for as wise women
or women seeking wisdom
we must grasp a hermenuetic of suspicion
that is, we must examine our first works over
again and again
and consider how we are with each other
and let our religious homes and the academy care of themselves for
awhile
and ponder
what it means for each of us
to be in this work of ornery hope
this work of performing Topsy
knowing Topsy
being Topsy
growing Topsy
yes all of us gathered here in our global clearing are subject to the ravages of
structural racism, sexism, heterosexism, classism, agism, ableism
but what interests me is that african american women have and do join
others
in holding these “isms”
these masters’ and mistresses’ tools
in our control
and we have used them
sometimes relentlessly
we have used them
to avoid our depression and discontent
by cheering ourselves and finding a woman who is worse off
than we are
to avoid the questions we have about our beauty
by failing to question who sets the standards
and then dressing
literally
to kill
we have used these deadly tools to protect ourselves against charges that we
aren’t feminine
by pointing to someone who may
or may not
be tougher than we are
to prove that we really do know the color pink
to cloak our fears that we may not be bright enough or talented enough
by ridiculing other women and making them into postmodern
pickaninnies
by charging that they are sublimating their frustrations
in their work
in religious communities
in the goal of a more whole black community
within black communities across the landscape
to do this—amongst ourselves, at times
means we bring fractured selves into all manner of relationships and that
we often abide sexism and heterosexism
rather than question their existence in the household of God
hear me now, we tolerate single issue politicians and pastors and academicians
who spew venom into african american life
and we think its milk and honey for soul salvation and we lap it
up—greedily
as we fail to recognize the death pangs that sear us
with each dribbling drop down our throats
we turn away from injustice and run for the sanctuary of the alleged holy
and fail to see the graves dug before us
until we find ourselves
our communities
falling in
as the dirt of judgment is mournfully
if not gleefully
tossed over us
as it commemorates the remarkable assault all of us can
launch against ourselves
and then have the audacity and the naivety to name it
righteousness
and black women are not the only ones in God’s creation who do this
we have all manner and manifestations of this emanating from the vast
cultural communities that mark our commonalities
the rolling eyes and kinky hair of the pickaninny is no longer
confined to black children—they mark each and everyone one of us
in the american social order and beyond
i will not rescue the killers
of dreams of a world better than this
of hopes that continue to pulse, however faintly, in the midst
of disaster and ruin
i will not rescue the killers
who create optional reading lists
that signal to me
that some actual or alleged scholars really believe
that there are optional peoples, cultures, lives, ideas,
hopes, realities
and secondary lists are little better
when they traffic peoples’ yearnings and expectations as
ideologies and abstractions
i will not rescue the killer
who remains silent when the innocent are murdered
and it is called patriotism or cleansing or white male rage
or horizontal violence
when people starve on our streets
while there is more than enough food for everyone to eat
three squares a day and at least one snack
when children die unloved and unwanted and thrown away
and we shake our collective pious heads and shut the
doors of homes and our hearts
when money determines right and wrong
good and evil
unity and dissent
diversity and blandness
hope and despair
promise and lies
damnation and salvation
no, absolutely no, i will not rescue the killers
to engage in such work is absolutely dangerous
it may, in fact, not be good for one’s health at all
it can lead to heart and soul-ache
it can make us old before our time
it can make us eat and drink too much or too little
of all the unhealthy things
it can turn us bitter and sarcastic
it can make you ornery and mean as a snake
it can turn justice into vengeance
it can turn us into killers
but the danger does not stop here
it is dangerous because it means that we refuse the emotional
numbing panaceas
of acquisition and status and competitive spirit that does
not seek excellence, only winning
we pierce through the straw figure of a free market
and speak with increasing precision and accuracy about
the impact of transnationals
from agribusiness
to munitions
to clothing manufacturers
to western tastes and cultures passing themselves
off as neutral or the markers of progress
we become dangerous when
we speak the truth that the king is naked
when it comes to the U.S. prison industrial complex
when we question declarations of war that are soon
accompanied by massive bail outs for corporations that
even that bastion of progressive monetary policies, the
wall street journal, said “mainly padded corporate bottom
lines”
when we express confusion and dismay when terrorism is
used as the reason for a sharp cut in the capital gains tax
a tax in which 80 percent of the benefits would
go to the wealthiest 2 percent of the taxpayers
yes, this is a naked butt king
when it comes to public policy that is really the personal
agenda of moralizing rhetoricians
who are dangerous because they now hold elected office
and someone believed that they should bring us back to
the good old days
that were, for many of us, deadly days
when almost every piece of legislation we are told is good for us
is sold to us with one price tag (like medicare drug benefits
for the elderly)
and then we are told—as many predicted on the left and
the right that the costs would be more and strain the federal
budget more
but we are told—just trust us, we know we are
right
and then we find that a $400 billion price tag
over 10 years is now, weeks after the dust had
settled from the debate, is really a $530 billion
price tag
when we go to war based on claims about weapons of
mass destruction in Iraq based on “documentary evidence”
that was forged and doubted by CIA analysts from the
beginning
and each time any of us express doubt about this “evidence,”
we were branded as weak or unpatriotic
and now, months and deaths later, we detect federal
officials recasting their words as if they never knew that
the “evidence” could possibly be cooked
and that the president was not told the truth
and we should be glad we invaded Iraq anyway
because Saddam Hussein had to be removed
from power
and it should not matter, ultimately, that we were lied to
although most of us are taught that when you lie,
you should be exposed and punished
but the fact that these lies went largely
unreported by U.S. domestic media that does a
dangerous dance against free speech with the
federal administration
is like the dead skunk in the middle of
the road
stinking to high heaven
but we drive around it as if it
were not there
no i am not here for the killers
when it comes to solidarity
which i assume is another way to say justice
i am not interested in them
except for how to decrease their numbers
and their power
i have no wish to be objective about their behavior, methods, ideologies, or
strategies
when i do the work of justice
it is with and as an advocate for the victims
actual
possible
imagined
of evil
it is subjective, it is emotional, it is passionate, it is very interested
and if i cannot find others who are interested and committed to this
then there is no solidarity
and our differences not only separate us
they make us adversaries
or enemies
in other words, for me, i do not assume solidarity
when i join others in the work of justice
solidarity is something that is nurtured and grown
in the yearning for and living out of justice
solidarity comes from hard work
listening
analyzing
questioning
rethinking
accepting
rejecting
it comes from a place of respecting and being respected
and that, i think, does not come easily or naturally for most of us
if it were so natural, then we wouldn’t be in the fix we are trying to get out of
for to respect others
means we must also respect ourselves
and centuries of inherited messages about inherent evil (with
a large measure of this brutalizing swill aimed at women)
pose a wall of judgment and condemnation
that is hard for many of us to scale
so as we seek to work together, we must always be working on ourselves

Tournament: D7qualifier | Round: 7 | Opponent: Mary Washington Stackhouse-Young | Judge: Harper, Paqueo, Swanlek
Same as Round 5

Tournament: GSU | Round: 1 | Opponent: West Georgia MaZa | Judge: Eszenyi
Plan Text 

The United States Congress should amend the Authorization for Use of Military Force to limit drone strikes to specific groups, countries, and geographic areas authorized by Congress

Tournament: GSU | Round: 1 | Opponent: West Georgia MaZa | Judge: Eszenyi
1AC- Advantage- Proliferation 

Prolif high now- States and non-state actors acquiring drones
Boyle, Assistant Professor of Political Science at La Salle University,13
(Michael J.,Research Fellow at the Centre for the Study of Terrorism and Political Violence, January, 15, 2013, “The costs and consequences of drone warfare”, http://www.chathamhouse.org/sites/default/files/public/International20Affairs/2013/89_1/89_1Boyle.pdf, vc)

An important, …can match US capabilities.

Expansion of drones setting dangerous international precedent- US safe norms needed
Williams, LA Times Staff Writer, 13
(Carol J., February 07, 2013 “U.S. drone use could set dangerous example for rogue powers”, accessed 8/25/13, http://articles.latimes.com/2013/feb/07/world/la-fg-wn-us-drones-global-precedent-20130206,vc) 

Imagine if North …self-imposed restraint is unlikely. 

Proliferation leads to war- lack of norms and increased tension
Roberts, National Journal News editor, 13
(Kristin Roberts, March 22, 2013 “When the Whole World Has Drones”, accessed 8/9/13, http://www.nationaljournal.com/magazine/when-the-whole-world-has-drones-20130321, vc) 

The proliferation of …...capabilities of this generation.

Drone proliferation undermines deterrence- Chinese drones, miscalc and Indo-Pak war inevitable
Boyle, Assistant Professor of Political Science at La Salle University,13
(Michael J, Research Fellow at the Centre for the Study of Terrorism and Political Violence, January, 15, 2013, “The costs and consequences of drone warfare”, accessed 9/4/13, http://www.chathamhouse.org/sites/default/files/public/International20Affairs/2013/89_1/89_1Boyle.pdf, vc)

The emergence of this ….giving them a fair trial.147

Credible nuclear deterrence stops escalation, reduces miscalc, and prevents nuclear war
 Spulak, Senior Analyst at the Strategic Studies Center at Sandia National Laboratory, 1997
 (Dr. Robert, “The Case in Favor of US Nuclear Weapons,” Parameters, Spring, P. 106-118) 

The need for nuclear …..deterrence to erode visibly. 

nuclear war causes extinction – cooling and agriculture
Toon and Robock, 10
(Toon-chair of the Dept of Atmospheric and Oceanic Sciences at the University of Colorado at Boulder, Robock-Prof of atmospheric science at Rutgers University in New Brunswick, January 2010, “New Jersey Local Nuclear War, Global Suffering;” accessed 9-19-13, http://www.sciamdigital.com/index.cfm?fa=Products.ViewIssuePreviewandISSUEID_CHAR=944156A6-237D-9F22-E8E572150DCA8E65andARTICLEID_CHAR=97CA0A88-237D-9F22-E861FD76EBEE2611, hec)

Twenty-five years …..became known as "The Year”.

Miscalc lead to war - illogical actors or accidents
Dowd, senior fellow with the American Security Council Foundation, 13
(Alan W., 2013, “Drone Wars: Risks and Warnings”, accessed 9/4/13, http://www.alanwdowd.com/Biography.aspx, vc)

If these geo-political …..the United States and its allies.

Indo Pak war leads to nuclear exchange and extinction
Cordesman, CSIS Arleigh A. Burke chair, 13
(Anthony H., 3/16, “Red Lines, Deadlines, and Thinking the Unthinkable: India, Pakistan, Iran, North Korea, and China,” accessed: 9/12/2013, ADC)

 Any war between India and Pakistan …….possible nuclear “wargasm.”

China will use drones for its dominance in the East Asia Sea – increases tensions makes arms race inevitable
Kaiman and McCurry, The Guardian staff writers, 13
(Jonathan and Justin, The guardian, January 2013 , “Japan and China step up drone race as tension builds over disputed islands”, accessed 9/6/13, http://www.theguardian.com/world/2013/jan/08/china-japan-drone-race, vc)

Drones have taken centre ……as part of its "Asia Pivot" strategy.

Extinction
Lieven, Professor in the War Studies Department at King’s College, 12
(Anatol, 6-12, “Avoiding US – China War”, date accessed: 9-14-13, http://www.nytimes.com/2012/06/13/opinion/avoiding-a-us-china-war.html, LMM)

Relations between the ……crumbling states of Central America. 

US reformation solves Prolif – other countries will model
Zenko, Fellow in the Center for Preventive Action (CPA) at the Council on Foreign Relations (CFR), 13
Micah, vice chair of the World Economic Forum Global Agenda Council on Terrorism January 2013,  “Reforming U.S. Drone Strike Policies”, Accessed 8/23/13, i.cfr.org/content/publications/attachments/Drones_CSR65.pdf?, vc) 

The second major …..acceptable use of drones.

Tournament: GSU | Round: 1 | Opponent: West Georgia MaZa | Judge: Eszenyi
1AC- Advantage- Hegemony
Soft power is on the brink now
Hadas, Reuters Economics editor, 12
(Edward, 11/19, “Has the United States Lost Its Power to Peacefully Coerce Other Nations?” accessed: 9/14/2013,http://www.slate.com/blogs/breakingviews/2012/11/19/the_disappearance_of_soft_power_has_the_united_states_lost_its_power_to.html, ADC)

Soft power is …. better described as soft weakness. 

Squo drone policy hurts US credibility due lack of transparency- Pakistan proves
Crowley, former United States Assistant Secretary of State for Public Affairs, 12
(P.J., November 2012, director of national defense and homeland security  at the Center for American Progress, “The Rise of Transparency and the Decline of Secrecy in the Age of Global and Social Media”, accessed/26/13,  http://elibrary.law.psu.edu/jlia/vol1/iss2/2,vc)

There are institutional ….. cannot afford to lead from behind.

Lack of credibility hurts US soft power  
Etzioni, professor of international relations at George Washington University,11
(Amitai, April 2011, Ph.D. in Sociology from the University of California, Berkeley, The Coming Test of U.S. Credibility, accessed 8/26/13, http://icps.gwu.edu/files/2011/03/credibility.pdf,vc)

The relative power of ….it must exercise its power.

Soft power is key to exercise hard power
Nye, political scientist and former Harvard school of government dean, 04
(Joseph S., 2004, “Soft Power and American Foreign Policy”, accessed 9/15/13, http://www.jstor.org/stable/pdfplus/20202345.pdf?acceptTC=true, vc)

In the global information ….We cannot afford that.

Maintenance of U.S. global leadership is vital to preventing numerous scenarios for nuclear conflict
Thayer, 06 (Bradley, "In Defense of Primacy," The National Interest, November/December 2006, p. lexis) 

Throughout history, peace …..solving the world's ills. 

Congressional oversight solves - transparency
The Bloomberg, 13
( May 23, 2013, “Obama’s Drone Changes Change Very Little”, accessed 8/26/13, http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2013-05-23/obama-s-drone-changes-change-very-little.html,vc)

There are two real choices: ….. non-expiring 2001 authorization

Tournament: GSU | Round: 1 | Opponent: West Georgia MaZa | Judge: Eszenyi
1AC-Solvency
Policy reform key - congressional oversight is key  
Zengerle, Reuters staff Writer, 13
(Patricia, May 2, 2013, “Amid new security threats, some in Congress look to update 9/11 law”, accessed 8/27/13, http://www.reuters.com/article/2013/05/02/us-usa-congress-counterterrorism-idUSBRE94105V20130502,vc)
The AUMF gives the ……no immediate comment.

Revising the AUMF increases congressional oversight and limits presidential power
Chesney et. al ,13
(Robert, Professor in Law at the University of Texas School of Law, Senior Fellow of the Brookings Institution, Jack Goldsmith, Henry L. Shattuck Professor at Harvard Law School, Matthew C. Waxman, American law professor at Columbia University, Benjamin Wittes, Research Director in Public Law, and Co-Director of the Harvard Law School - Brookings Project on Law and Security, Feb 25, 2013, “A Statutory Framework for Next-Generation Terrorist Threats”, accessed 8/26/13, http://media.hoover.org/sites/default/files/documents/Statutory-Framework-for-Next-Generation-Terrorist-Threats.pdf,vc)

Congress could instead …..  within the September 2001 AUMF.

US lead and transparency key to safe drone usage
Boyle, Assistant Professor of Political Science at La Salle University,13
(Michael J, Research Fellow at the Centre for the Study of Terrorism and Political Violence, January, 15, 2013, “The costs and consequences of drone warfare”, accessed 9/4/13, http://www.chathamhouse.org/sites/default/files/public/International20Affairs/2013/89_1/89_1Boyle.pdf, vc)

A final, and crucial, step …..  worst consequences of their use.

Plan solves- transparency key to credibility
Byman, Senior Fellow, Foreign Policy, Saban Center for Middle East Policy, 13
(Daniel L., Research Director, Saban Center for Middle East Policy, August 2013, “Why Drones Work: The Case for Washington's Weapon of Choice”, accessed 9/5/13, http://www.brookings.edu/research/articles/2013/06/17-drones-obama-weapon-choice-us-counterterrorism-byman, vc)
The spread of drones ….. civilians before ordering a strike.

Restricting the AUMF solves inevitable warfare- creates structural checks to a riskless system
Friedman, CATO Institute Defense and Homeland Security research fellow, 12
(Benjamin, 6/19, “Drones, Special Operations, and Whimsical Wars,” accessed: 9/15/2013, http://www.cato.org/blog/drones-special-operations-whimsical-wars, ADC)

 Asked the last week on 60 Minutes ….. to identify and remove the obstruction. 

Small reforms like the plan are key to institutional change and getting others to sign on to the alt
Wright, Wisconsin sociology professor, 2007
(Erik, “Guidelines for Envisioning Real Utopias”, April, http://www.ssc.wisc.edu/~wright/Guidelines.pdf, DOA: 10-24-11, ldg)

The final guideline for discussions of envisioning real …..ways which enlarge their scope of action in the future

Realism is good—when combined with pragmatic action it can challenge institutional power.
Booth, Professor at the University of Wales, 2005
(Ken, Ph.D. in International Politics. Critical Security Studies and World Politics, 2005. pg. 270-71). Jt

The article demonstrates that contrary to ….as a critique of the powers-that-be

Congressional review is key – unilateral action creates mistrust that prevents cooperation and doesn’t set a precedent for modeling – only review solves
Goldsmith, Professor of Law at Harvard Law School, 13
(Jack, 4-7, “Why the Administration Needs to Get Congress On Board for its Stealth War”, date accessed: 9-14-13, http://www.lawfareblog.com/2013/03/why-the-administration-needs-to-get-congress-on-board-for-its-stealth-war/, LMM)

I disagree with Steve’s claim that …..deploying in the “war on terrorism.”

Tournament: GSU | Round: 6 | Opponent: Samford Carley-Higgins | Judge: Bankey
1AC

Belonging
Everybody seems to know where they go
But where is there to go when everyone says no?
These are the days I just want to burrow
My belonging is what I feel I lack
And it is definitely a major setback
This society we live in is whack
I sure can’t sing and my high school was white
You tell that to the blacks and it’s just not alright
To all the blacks, my skin is much too light
I have a loud voice and I crave soul food,
My nappy hair, most times, can barely be subdued,
Therefore I am not white; the whites conclude
I am black, I am white, I am female
Minorities are attacked on every detail,
“Mixed woman” shouldn’t mean my life’s a fail 

Embracing key visions is necessary to break down exclusion- we need to value intellect that is created from realities. Intersections of oppression create an “outsider-within” position that is ignored within mainstream academic discourse and therefore pushes aside the ability to belong
Collins, 2k
(Patricia Hill, “Black Feminist Thought: Knowledge, Consciousness, and the Politics of Empowerment,” pages 12-13, accessed ebsco 2-13-12, mee)

Historically, while they ……alternative Black feminist worldviews. 

This mode of thinking involves divergence from standard academic theory and is necessary in light of current oppression- our methodology celebrates liberation through lived experiences
Collins, 2k
(Patricia Hill, “Black Feminist Thought: Knowledge, Consciousness, and the Politics of Empowerment,” pages 9-10, accessed ebsco 2-13-12, mee)

As an historically oppressed ……oppositional knowledges designed to resist racial oppression. 

The association of thoughts and actions creates a dialogue of empowerment- epistemology is key
Collins, 2k
(Patricia Hill, “Black Feminist Thought: Knowledge, Consciousness, and the Politics of Empowerment,” page 30, accessed ebsco 2-13-12, mee)

As members of an oppressed …….thought inform one another. 

Excluding these key perspectives leads to a reentrenchment of the overarching systems of oppression- White Supremacy has found its place in global society as the controlling force behind all forms of oppression by connecting and exploiting the existing differences that exist between us causing continued exclusion and disenfranchisement
Rabaka, Associate Professor of Africana Studies in the Department of Ethnic Studies at the University of Colorado at Boulder, 2007 (Reiland, Affiliate Professor of Women and Gender Studies and a Research Fellow at the Center for Studies of Ethnicity and Race in America (CSERA), August 4, “The Souls of White Folk: W.E.B. Du Bois’s Critique of White Supremacy and Contributions to Critical White Studies”, Journal of African American Studies, Vol. 11, Issue 1-15, pgs. 2-4)

Traditionally “white supremacy” has been ……….and “non-white” (Allen 1994, 1997; Goldberg 1997; Harris 1999; Lopez 1995, 1996; Omi and Winant 1994; Roediger 1994, 1999).

The usage of narratives in a political space creates a moment of radical disruption that creates a community of resistance against social injustice
James Chair of Africana Studies at Williams College 2007 (Joy, "Violations," Warfare in the American Homeland: Policing and Prison in a Penal Democracy, p. xi-xii)

The very project ……pentagon, or public-relations briefings.

The usage of narratives is the only way to effectively advocate policy– instead of taking narratives out of policy making we should refocus discussion around excluded perspectives and voices. Narratives are reflections that allow us to engage in the state in a personal level based on the way that ideas are formed and interact in reality
McDonough, associate professor at the Heller School at Brandeis University, 2006 (John E., and former health committee chairman in the Massachusetts House of Representatives, Using and Misusing Anecdote in Policy Making, Narrative Matters, pg 9-12 http://content.healthaffairs.org/cgi/reprint/20/1/207.pdf)

Why is narrative so central to …….more intelligent consumers of stories.

In the status quo, the United States has declared a war against marked bodies
Omolade, city college center for worker education in New York City, 84
(Barbara, a historian of black women for the past twenty years and an organizer in both the women’s and civil rights/black power movements; Women of Color and the Nuclear Holocaust; WOMEN’S STUDIES QUARTERLY, Vol. 12., No. 2, Teaching about Peace, War, and Women in the Military, Summer, p. 12; http://www.jstor.org/stable/4004305)

In April, 1979, …..and housing? Who will stand up?

Structural violence is rendered invisible by society
Abu-Jamal, 98
(Mumia, award-winning PA journalist, 9/19, http://www.flashpoints.net/mQuietDeadlyViolence.html)

We live, equally immersed, and …..throughout the world. Gilligan, p. 196

Structural violence will always be the biggest impact
Köhler and Alcock, Computer Science professor and physicist, 76
(Gernot is a Sheridan College Professor of Computer Studies, and Norman is a physicist and founder of Canada’s first peace research institute, "An Empirical Table of Structural Violence," Journal of Peace Research Vol. 13, No. 4, p. 343-356, 1976, JSTOR, accessed 3-5-11, mtf)

Table II shows the ……(armed) violence are presented in Table III.

Plan Text: Vida and I advocate that the United States federal government should substantially restrict the war powers authority of the United States by no longer indefinitely detaining oppressed bodies.

Obama’s alignment with indefinite detention ensures a legalized extermination of marked bodies. Rights are systematically denied and state power is abused in order to exploit those considered different
Ford, political analyst, 11
(Glen, Black Agenda Respond executive editor, journalist, “The Racist Roots of Obama’s Preventive Detention,” 2011, http://blackagendareport.com/content/racist-roots-obamaE28099s-preventive-detention, accessed 08/05/2013, blh)

It should have been ……And that is how they will lose those freedoms.

Indefinite is uncertain
Merriam-Webster, no date
(“indefinite,” da 9-22-13, http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/indefinite, mee)

in•def•i•nite adjective \in-?def-n?t, -?de-f?-\

not certain in …..meaning or details

Detainment is the status quo
Merriam-Webster, no date
(“detention,” da 9-22-13, http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/detention?show=0andt=1379865011, mee)

de•ten•tion noun \di-?ten-ch?n\

the act of …..prison or similar place

Tournament: JMU | Round: 1 | Opponent: Wake Forest Crowe-Sullivan | Judge: Mendenhall
There’s a child on the playground. Each group huddles closer and lowers the volumes of their whisper as the child approaches. Her presence is not ignored, but also not encouraged. She is allowed into their circle but not invited there. She can stay, but she cannot speak. She runs to other children. Their circle is the same way. She runs to another group. She is still not good enough. Her skin is too black, then too white. Her hair is too short and too curly. She is a girl. She is not welcome in any of their circles. She runs to the teacher for protection and finds only more of the same. Hurt. Rejection. Anger. Confusion. But most of all, she feels exclusion. She experiences an exclusion that no other child on that playground understands and she experiences exclusion that the teacher cannot protect her from and she experiences exclusion that will follow her for all of her life. 

I remember when I expressed interest in K arguments as a novice. “You can’t do that, it’s cheating.” Oh, sorry, I didn’t realize that the state was the only option. That caused me to think about my place in the community but didn’t push me to actually interrogate it. I remember the round that I first realized that exclusion exists in this community. I walked into a round and the opponents took one look at me and said “oh, you’re Liberty’s Wilderson team” and scrambled to change their frontlines. No, sorry, there’s more than one black girl on our team, but thanks for that assumption. That encounter forced me to think about the way that I was perceived in the community but did not fully change my approach. I remember stopping and thinking about the way that people saw me, remembering that my skin is both too dark and too light. I remember the round that Vida and I lost because “debate is good so you should’ve read framework.” I’m sorry, but I don’t want to force anyone else to advocate for state action because I can’t even do that myself. I’m done saying “sorry” and I’m done pretending to have agency over institutions that exclude me. I am a marked body because when I walk into a round I am perceived in a certain way that ignores any subjectivity I have claimed. The debate community uses the resolution to detain my identity- it holds it within a prison-like state by forcing me to believe that I cannot participate in this game without abandoning myself when I walk into a round. The state detains my identity by forcing me into the margin- by allowing systems of oppression to arrest me and hold me captive until they see fit to let me go. I am indefinitely detained.

My detainment is not an isolated instance- The USFG polices marked bodies and targets them by exploiting difference and systematically denying rights
Ford, political analyst, 11
(Glen, Black Agenda Respond executive editor, journalist, “The Racist Roots of Obama’s Preventive Detention,” 2011, http://blackagendareport.com/content/racist-roots-obamaE28099s-preventive-detention, accessed 08/05/2013, blh)

It should have been clear ……they will lose those freedoms.

These practices are not new in oppressed communities- current institutions have declared war against marked bodies that leads to constant violence and war
Omolade, city college center for worker education in New York City, 84
(Barbara, a historian of black women for the past twenty years and an organizer in both the women’s and civil rights/black power movements; Women of Color and the Nuclear Holocaust; WOMEN’S STUDIES QUARTERLY, Vol. 12., No. 2, Teaching about Peace, War, and Women in the Military, Summer, p. 12; http://www.jstor.org/stable/4004305)

In April, 1979, ……Who will stand up?

Specifically, legalism is structured in dynamic ways to control which bodies are allowed to access political settings. The debate community is not the exception but the extension of such logic- The state implements their policy of imprisonment under their own legal interpretations that rips ontology from those bodies deemed different
Butler, American post-structuralist philosopher, 2004 (Judith, a professor in the Rhetoric and Comparative Literature departments at the University of California, Berkeley, and is also the Hannah Arendt Professor of Philosophy at the European Graduate School, “Precarious Life: The Powers of Moutning and Violence” pp. 63-68, blh) 

We might, and should, object …….is highly, if not fatally, politicized. 

Such a logic is supported by a larger structure of hierarchies- white supremacist capital patriarchy informs the way that we engage by prioritizing certain identities and exploiting difference. Discussing differences is the only way to create insulation from it
hooks, distinguished professor of English at City College in New York, 92
(bell, Ph.D. from the University of California, Santa Cruz, 1992, “Eating the Other,” from “Black Looks: Race and Representation,” pages 21-22, da 10-10-13, http://www.scribd.com/doc/118302450/Eating-the-Other-bell-Hooks, mee)

This is theory’s acute dilemma……. longings are ever fulfilled.

What can I as a mixed, middle-class, woman who has personally experienced exclusion in this community, what is there for me to do? I reflect on my experiences as a debater and recognize three options.
One- I could leave the community.
Second- I could continue to deny myself subjectivity and continue discussing policies I know I have no influence over.
Or, my last option is to adopt a new political strategy to reclaim my subjectivity and change the current structure of the debate community in order to be more inclusive of currently excluded bodies.
Therefore, Vida and I advocate that the United States federal government no longer indefinitely detain oppressed bodies.

Debate is a training ground for political discussions and knowledge production. The current systems in place prioritize traditional knowledge- the exclusion of alternative forms of knowledge perpetuates a view of those positions as secondary. Analyzing current structures of power allows us to change those systems and prevent perpetual erasure of key knowledge forms
Andersen and Collins, Prof of Sociology and Women’s Studies at the University of Delaware, Distinguished Prof of Sociology at University of Maryland, 10
(Margaret L., M.A and  Ph. D. from the University of Massachusetts, Amherst, and Patricia Hill, Ph.D. Sociology, Brandeis University, “Why Race, Class, and Gender Still Matter”, Race, Class and Gender: an Anthology, p. 11, mee)

We think that the ……class, and gender relations

We are not a static notion of Black Feminism but rather a radical version of intersectionality that deploys narratives in order to decenter the quintessential icon of oppression and open up a space for all political beings to exist specifically in political spaces such as the debate community.
We can create a moment of radical disruption that creates a community of resistance against social injustice through narratives
James Chair of Africana Studies at Williams College 2007 (Joy, "Violations," Warfare in the American Homeland: Policing and Prison in a Penal Democracy, p. xi-xii)

The very project …..pentagon, or public-relations briefings.

The affirmative’s approach renders knowledge accessible through narratives- they’re a unique reason why our stylistic choice and methodological approach is beneficial for debate because they are the only way for us to effectively advocate policy
McDonough, associate professor at the Heller School at Brandeis University, 2006 (John E., and former health committee chairman in the Massachusetts House of Representatives, Using and Misusing Anecdote in Policy Making, Narrative Matters, pg 9-12 http://content.healthaffairs.org/cgi/reprint/20/1/207.pdf)

Why is narrative so central …….The challenge is to raise everyo

Tournament: JV Novice Nationals | Round: Finals | Opponent: GMU BK | Judge: Warne, Webster-Dunn, Jensen
“we do not sweat and summon our best in order to rescue
the killers”
there are days, in fact,
that i’ll be damned if i rescue any killer
or someone even approaching such a terrible status=
to work in solidarity with those who are like me
unlike me
or resemble me
does not demand or require that i save those who would identify others dead or
annihilated
either through neglect
indifference
calculation
or theoethical musings
i will not rescue the killers
for being women all the time
is like breathing in and out
it is like the moments of smiles and whispers
it is like warmth and passion
it is like naming a voice through the song you sing
it is like the roll of a dice weighed to come up doubles
but to reach for your winnings
and find nothing there
being women all the time
is like breathing in and out
it is like finding yourself in the midst of degradation
and having the will to stake a claim for liberation
it is like turning and turning and turning into a shimmering tomorrow
it is like noticing a still, small voice
that you craft into a roaring wind
as you recognize and feel wholeness as no longer an abstract, independent
category
but what we all yearn for
so black women can, if we must, begin with the wounds
the folds of those old wounds, that in some cases destroyed us
with lies, secrets, and silences we are told about other women
that are told about ourselves
these wounds mark us, but they do not need to define us
for as wise women
or women seeking wisdom
we must grasp a hermenuetic of suspicion
that is, we must examine our first works over
again and again
and consider how we are with each other
and let our religious homes and the academy care of themselves for
awhile
and ponder
what it means for each of us
to be in this work of ornery hope
this work of performing Topsy
knowing Topsy
being Topsy
growing Topsy
yes all of us gathered here in our global clearing are subject to the ravages of
structural racism, sexism, heterosexism, classism, speciesism, agism, ableism
but what interests me is that african american women have and do join
others
in holding these “isms”
these masters’ and mistresses’ tools
in our control
and we have used them
sometimes relentlessly
we have used them
to avoid our depression and discontent
by cheering ourselves and finding a woman who is worse off
than we are
to avoid the questions we have about our beauty
by failing to question who sets the standards
and then dressing
literally
to kill
we have used these deadly tools to protect ourselves against charges that we
aren’t feminine
by pointing to someone who may
or may not
be tougher than we are
to prove that we really do know the color pink
to cloak our fears that we may not be bright enough or talented enough
by ridiculing other women and making them into postmodern
pickaninnies
by charging that they are sublimating their frustrations
in their work
in religious communities
in the goal of a more whole black community
within black communities across the landscape
to do this—amongst ourselves, at times
means we bring fractured selves into all manner of relationships and that
we often abide sexism and heterosexism
rather than question their existence in the household of God
hear me now, we tolerate single issue politicians and pastors and academicians
who spew poison into african american life
and we think its milk and honey for soul salvation and we lap it
up—greedily
as we fail to recognize the death pangs that sear us
with each dribbling drop down our throats
we turn away from injustice and run for the sanctuary of the alleged holy
and fail to see the graves dug before us
until we find ourselves
our communities
falling in
as the dirt of judgment is mournfully
if not gleefully
tossed over us
as it commemorates the remarkable assault all of us can
launch against ourselves
and then have the audacity and the naivety to name it
righteousness
and black women are not the only ones in God’s creation who do this
we have all manner and manifestations of this emanating from the vast
cultural communities that mark our commonalities
the rolling eyes and kinky hair of the pickaninny is no longer
confined to black children—they mark each and everyone one of us
in the american social order and beyond
i will not rescue the killers
of dreams of a world better than this
of hopes that continue to pulse, however faintly, in the midst
of disaster and ruin
i will not rescue the killers
who create optional reading lists
that signal to me
that some actual or alleged scholars really believe
that there are optional bodies, cultures, lives, ideas,
hopes, realities
and secondary lists are little better
when they traffic yearnings and expectations as
ideologies and abstractions
i will not rescue the killer
who remains silent when the innocent are murdered
and it is called patriotism or cleansing or white male rage
or horizontal violence
when there is starvation on our streets
while there is more than enough food for everyone to eat
three squares a day and at least one snack
when children die unloved and unwanted and thrown away
and we shake our collective pious heads and shut the
doors of homes and our hearts
when money determines right and wrong
good and evil
unity and dissent
diversity and blandness
hope and despair
promise and lies
damnation and salvation
no, absolutely no, i will not rescue the killers
when the academy devolves into gigantic public holding pens
for creativity and intellect
in other words
for me and my house
growing Topsy while standing with others across differences
does not require that I
sacrifice my very soul
so that others may find comfort and ease in the macabre
spectacle of my self annihilation
or the obliteration of whole communities
Topsy as a womanist does not find it acceptable that I acquiesce to a least
common denominator justice
that is really no justice at all
she does not require that I check my passions
my insights
my communities
at the door to enter the hall of kumbaya
and if there is any wisdom that can come
from this black woman
on notions of solidarities and differences that are strong
enough, wise enough, and strong enough to go
toe-to-toe
with the fantastic hegemonic imagination
it is that
to engage in such work is absolutely dangerous
it may, in fact, not be good for one’s health at all
it can lead to heart and soul-ache
it can make us old before our time
it can make us eat and drink too much or too little
of all the unhealthy things
it can turn us bitter and sarcastic
it can make you ornery and mean
it can turn justice into vengeance
it can turn us into killers
but the danger does not stop here
it is dangerous because it means that we refuse the emotional
numbing panaceas
of acquisition and status and competitive spirit that does
not seek excellence, only winning
we pierce through the straw figure of a free market
and speak with increasing precision and accuracy about
the impact of transnationals
from agribusiness
to munitions
to clothing manufacturers
to western tastes and cultures passing themselves
off as neutral or the markers of progress
we become dangerous when
we speak the truth that the king is naked
when it comes to the U.S. prison industrial complex
when we question declarations of war that are soon
accompanied by massive bail outs for corporations that
even that bastion of progressive monetary policies, the
wall street journal, said “mainly padded corporate bottom
lines”
when we express confusion and dismay when terrorism is
used as the reason for a sharp cut in the capital gains tax
a tax in which 80 percent of the benefits would
go to the wealthiest 2 percent of the taxpayers
yes, this is a naked butt king
when it comes to public policy that is really the personal
agenda of moralizing rhetoricians
who are dangerous because they now hold elected office
and someone believed that they should bring us back to
the good old days
that were, for many of us, deadly days
when almost every piece of legislation we are told is good for us
is sold to us with one price tag (like medicare drug benefits
for the elderly)
and then we are told—as many predicted on the left and
the right that the costs would be more and strain the federal
budget more
but we are told—just trust us, we know we are
right
and then we find that a $400 billion price tag
over 10 years is now, weeks after the dust had
settled from the debate, is really a $530 billion
price tag
when we go to war based on claims about weapons of
mass destruction in Iraq based on “documentary evidence”
that was forged and doubted by CIA analysts from the
beginning
and each time any of us express doubt about this “evidence,”
we were branded as weak or unpatriotic
and now, months and deaths later, we detect federal
officials recasting their words as if they never knew that
the “evidence” could possibly be cooked
and that the president was not told the truth
and we should be glad we invaded Iraq anyway
because Saddam Hussein had to be removed
from power
and it should not matter, ultimately, that we were lied to
although most of us are taught that when you lie,
you should be exposed and punished
but the fact is that these lies went largely
unreported by U.S. domestic media that does a
dangerous dance against free speech with the
federal administration
no i am not here for the killers
when it comes to solidarity
which i assume is another way to say justice
i am not interested in them
except for how to decrease their numbers
and their power
i have no wish to be objective about their behavior, methods, ideologies, or
strategies
when i do the work of justice
it is with and as an advocate for the victims
actual
possible
imagined
of evil
it is subjective, it is emotional, it is passionate, it is very interested
and if i cannot find others who are interested and committed to this
then there is no solidarity
and our differences not only separate us
they make us adversaries
or enemies
in other words, for me, i do not assume solidarity
when i join others in the work of justice
solidarity is something that is nurtured and grown
in the yearning for and living out of justice
solidarity comes from hard work
listening
analyzing
questioning
rethinking
accepting
rejecting
it comes from a place of respecting and being respected
and that, i think, does not come easily or naturally for most of us
if it were so natural, then we wouldn’t be in the fix we are trying to get out of
for to respect others
means we must also respect ourselves
and centuries of inherited messages about inherent evil (with
a large measure of this brutalizing swill aimed at women)
pose a wall of judgment and condemnation
that is hard for many of us to scale
so as we seek to work together, we must always be working on ourselves

Tournament: Jvnovicenationals | Round: 2 | Opponent: James Madison Lepp-Miller | Judge: Godbey
for being women all the time
is like breathing in and out
it is like the moments of smiles and whispers
it is like warmth and passion
it is like naming a voice through the song you sing
it is like the roll of a dice weighed to come up doubles
but to reach for your winnings
and find nothing there
being women all the time
is like breathing in and out
it is like finding yourself in the midst of degradation
and having the will to stake a claim for liberation
it is like turning and turning and turning into a shimmering tomorrow
it is like noticing a still, small voice
that you craft into a roaring wind
as you recognize and feel wholeness as no longer an abstract, independent
category
but what we all yearn for
so black women can, if we must, begin with the wounds
those scars, in Eula’s word, that are our mothers’, daughters’, sisters’
thick and hard so no one can ever pass through to hurt us again19
the folds of those old wounds, that in some cases maimed us
with lies, secrets, and silences we are told about other women
that are told about ourselves
these wounds mark us, but they do not need to define us
for as wise women
or women seeking wisdom
we must grasp a hermenuetic of suspicion
that is, we must examine our first works over
again and again
and consider how we are with each other
and let our religious homes and the academy care of themselves for
awhile
and ponder
what it means for each of us
to be in this work of ornery hope
this work of performing Topsy
knowing Topsy
being Topsy
growing Topsy
yes all of us gathered here in our global clearing are subject to the ravages of
structural racism, sexism, heterosexism, classism, agism, ableism
but what interests me is that african american women have and do join
others
in holding these “isms”
these masters’ and mistresses’ tools
in our control
and we have used them
sometimes relentlessly
we have used them
to avoid our depression and discontent
by cheering ourselves and finding a woman who is worse off
than we are
to avoid the questions we have about our beauty
by failing to question who sets the standards
and then dressing
literally
to kill
we have used these deadly tools to protect ourselves against charges that we
aren’t feminine
by pointing to someone who may
or may not
be tougher than we are
to prove that we really do know the color pink
to cloak our fears that we may not be bright enough or talented enough
by ridiculing other women and making them into postmodern
pickaninnies
by charging that they are sublimating their frustrations
in their work
in religious communities
in the goal of a more whole black community
within black communities across the landscape
to do this—amongst ourselves, at times
means we bring fractured selves into all manner of relationships and that
we often abide sexism and heterosexism
rather than question their existence in the household of God
hear me now, we tolerate single issue politicians and pastors and academicians
who spew venom into african american life
and we think its milk and honey for soul salvation and we lap it
up—greedily
as we fail to recognize the death pangs that sear us
with each dribbling drop down our throats
we turn away from injustice and run for the sanctuary of the alleged holy
and fail to see the graves dug before us
until we find ourselves
our communities
falling in
as the dirt of judgment is mournfully
if not gleefully
tossed over us
as it commemorates the remarkable assault all of us can
launch against ourselves
and then have the audacity and the naivety to name it
righteousness
and black women are not the only ones in God’s creation who do this
we have all manner and manifestations of this emanating from the vast
cultural communities that mark our common humanity
the rolling eyes and kinky hair of the pickaninny is no longer
confined to black children—they mark each and everyone one of us
in the american social order and beyond
i have been pondering them of late as i feel and think about the major transitions i am going through
that all of us are going through in some measure
with all the comings and leavings that are part of life and death
but i also think about them in relation to what they may have to say in
reminding me why i do what i do
and how
and in what ways
for me, to talk about standing with one another
to conjure solidarity across differences
to spark womanist wisdom on solidarity and differences
is, at first glance
(and i must admit on several glances looks mullings later)
to tempt the agony of the absurd
there are days, in fact,
that i’ll be damned if i rescue any killer
or someone even approaching such a grotesque status
to work in solidarity with those who are like me
unlike me
or resemble me
does not demand or require that i save those who would identify others dead or
annihilated
either through neglect
indifference
calculation
or theoethical musings
i will not rescue the killers
of dreams and visions of a world better than this
of hopes that continue to pulse, however faintly, in the midst
of disaster and ruin
i will not rescue the killers
who create optional reading lists
that signal to me
that some actual or alleged scholars really believe
that there are optional peoples, cultures, lives, ideas,
hopes, realities
and secondary lists are little better
when they traffic peoples’ yearnings and expectations as
ideologies and abstractions
i will not rescue the killer
who remains silent when the innocent are murdered
and it is called patriotism or cleansing or white male rage
or horizontal violence
when people starve on our streets
while there is more than enough food for everyone to eat
three squares a day and at least one snack
when children die unloved and unwanted and thrown away
and we shake our collective pious heads and shut the
doors of homes and our hearts
when money determines right and wrong
good and evil
unity and dissent
diversity and blandness
hope and despair
promise and lies
damnation and salvation
no, absolutely no, i will not rescue the killers
when the academy devolves into gigantic public holding pens
for creativity and intellect
in other words
for me and my house
growing Topsy while standing with others across differences
does not require that i be run over in a mad teleological drive toward a misbegotten
notion of solidarity
that i accept a specious deontological notion of a disinterested love
that asks me to sacrifice my very soul
so that others may find comfort and ease in the macabre
spectacle of my self annihilation
or the obliteration of whole peoples
Topsy as a womanist does not find it acceptable that i acquiesce to a least
common denominator justice
that is really no justice at all
she does not require that i check my passions
my insights
my communities
at the door to enter the hall of kumbaya
and if there is any wisdom that can come
from this black woman
on notions of solidarities and differences that are strong
enough, wise enough, and ornery enough to go
toe-to-toe
with the fantastic hegemonic imagination
it is that
to engage in such work is absolutely dangerous
it may, in fact, not be good for one’s health at all
it can lead to heart and soul-ache
it can make us old before our time
it can make us eat and drink too much or too little
of all the unhealthy things
it can turn us bitter and sarcastic
it can make you ornery and mean as a snake
it can turn justice into vengeance
it can turn us into killers
but the danger does not stop here
it is dangerous because it means that we refuse the emotional
numbing panaceas
of acquisition and status and competitive spirit that does
not seek excellence, only winning
we pierce through the straw figure of a free market
and speak with increasing precision and accuracy about
the impact of transnationals
we become dangerous when
we speak the truth that the king is naked
when it comes to the U.S. prison industrial complex
when we question declarations of war that are soon
accompanied by massive bail outs for corporations that
even that bastion of progressive monetary policies, the
wall street journal, said “mainly padded corporate bottom
lines”
when we express confusion and dismay when terrorism is
used as the reason for a sharp cut in the capital gains tax
a tax in which 80 percent of the benefits would
go to the wealthiest 2 percent of the taxpayers
yes, this is a naked butt king
when it comes to public policy that is really the personal
agenda of moralizing rhetoricians
who are dangerous because they now hold elected office
and someone believed that they should bring us back to
the good old days
that were, for many of us, deadly days
when almost every piece of legislation we are told is good for us
is sold to us with one price tag (like medicare drug benefits
for the elderly)
and then we are told—as many predicted on the left and
the right that the costs would be more and strain the federal
budget more
but we are told—just trust us, we know we are
right
and then we find that a $400 billion price tag
over 10 years is now, weeks after the dust had
settled from the debate, is really a $530 billion
price tag24
when we are go to war based on claims about weapons of
mass destruction in Iraq based on “documentary evidence”
that was forged and doubted by CIA analysts from the
beginning
and each time any of us express doubt about this “evidence,”
we were branded as weak or unpatriotic
and now, months and deaths later, we detect federal
officials recasting their words as if they never knew that
the “evidence” could possibly be cooked
federal administration
is like the dead skunk in the middle of
the road
stinking to high heaven
but we drive around it as if it
were not there
no i am not here for the killers
when it comes to solidarity
which i assume is another way to say justice
i am not interested in them
except for how to decrease their numbers
and their power
i have no wish to be objective about their behavior, methods, ideologies, or
strategies
when i do the work of justice
it is with and as an advocate for the victims
actual
possible
imagined
of evil
it is subjective, it is emotional, it is passionate, it is very interested
and if i cannot find others who are interested and committed to this
then there is no solidarity
and our differences not only separate us
they make us adversaries
or enemies
in other words, for me, i do not assume solidarity
when i join others in the work of justice
solidarity is something that is nurtured and grown

Tournament: Jvnovicenationals | Round: 4 | Opponent: Samford Bennie-Morrison-Alvarez | Judge: Shook
“we do not sweat and summon our best in order to rescue
the killers”
there are days, in fact,
that i’ll be damned if i rescue any killer
or someone even approaching such a terrible status
to work in solidarity with those who are like me
unlike me
or resemble me
does not demand or require that i save those who would identify others dead or
annihilated
either through neglect
indifference
calculation
or theoethical musings
i will not rescue the killers
for being women all the time
is like breathing in and out
it is like the moments of smiles and whispers
it is like warmth and passion
it is like naming a voice through the song you sing
it is like the roll of a dice weighed to come up doubles
but to reach for your winnings
and find nothing there
being women all the time
is like breathing in and out
it is like finding yourself in the midst of degradation
and having the will to stake a claim for liberation
it is like turning and turning and turning into a shimmering tomorrow
it is like noticing a still, small voice
that you craft into a roaring wind
as you recognize and feel wholeness as no longer an abstract, independent
category
but what we all yearn for
so black women can, if we must, begin with the wounds
the folds of those old wounds, that in some cases destroyed us
with lies, secrets, and silences we are told about other women
that are told about ourselves
these wounds mark us, but they do not need to define us
for as wise women
or women seeking wisdom
we must grasp a hermenuetic of suspicion
that is, we must examine our first works over
again and again
and consider how we are with each other
and let our religious homes and the academy care of themselves for
awhile
and ponder
what it means for each of us
to be in this work of ornery hope
this work of performing Topsy
knowing Topsy
being Topsy
growing Topsy
yes all of us gathered here in our global clearing are subject to the ravages of
structural racism, sexism, heterosexism, classism, agism, speciesism, ableism
but what interests me is that african american women have and do join
others
in holding these “isms”
these masters’ and mistresses’ tools
in our control
and we have used them
sometimes relentlessly
we have used them
to avoid our depression and discontent
by cheering ourselves and finding a woman who is worse off
than we are
to avoid the questions we have about our beauty
by failing to question who sets the standards
and then dressing
literally
to kill
we have used these deadly tools to protect ourselves against charges that we
aren’t feminine
by pointing to someone who may
or may not
be tougher than we are
to prove that we really do know the color pink
to cloak our fears that we may not be bright enough or talented enough
by ridiculing other women and making them into postmodern
pickaninnies
by charging that they are sublimating their frustrations
in their work
in religious communities
in the goal of a more whole black community
within black communities across the landscape
hear me now, we tolerate single issue politicians and academicians
who spew venom
and we think its milk and honey for soul salvation and we lap it
up—greedily
as we fail to recognize the death pangs that sear us
with each dribbling drop down our throats
we turn away from injustice and run for the sanctuary of the alleged holy
and fail to see the graves dug before us
until we find ourselves
our communities
falling in
as the dirt of judgment is mournfully
if not gleefully
tossed over us
as it commemorates the remarkable assault all of us can
launch against ourselves
and then have the audacity and the naivety to name it
righteousness
and black women are not the only ones in God’s creation who do this
we have all manner and manifestations of this emanating from the vast
cultural communities that mark our commonalities
the rolling eyes and kinky hair of the pickaninny is no longer
confined to black children—they mark each and everyone one of us
i will not rescue the killers
of dreams of a world better than this
of hopes that continue to pulse, however faintly, in the midst
of disaster and ruin
i will not rescue the killers
who create optional reading lists
that signal to me
that some actual or alleged scholars really believe
that there are optional peoples, cultures, lives, ideas,
hopes, realities
and secondary lists are little better
when they traffic yearnings and expectations as
ideologies and abstractions
i will not rescue the killer
who remains silent when the innocent are murdered
and it is called patriotism or cleansing or white male rage
or horizontal violence
when there is starvation on our streets
while there is more than enough food for all to eat
three squares a day and at least one snack
when children die unloved and unwanted and thrown away
and we shake our collective pious heads and shut the
doors of homes and our hearts
when money determines right and wrong
good and evil
unity and dissent
diversity and blandness
hope and despair
promise and lies
damnation and salvation
no, absolutely no, i will not rescue the killers
to engage in such work is absolutely dangerous
it may, in fact, not be good for one’s health at all
it can lead to heart and soul-ache
it can make us old before our time
it can make us eat and drink too much or too little
of all the unhealthy things
it can turn us bitter and sarcastic
it can make you ornery and mean as a snake
it can turn justice into vengeance
it can turn us into killers
but the danger does not stop here
it is dangerous because it means that we refuse the emotional
numbing panaceas
of acquisition and status and competitive spirit that does
not seek excellence, only winning
we pierce through the straw figure of a free market
and speak with increasing precision and accuracy about
the impact of transnationals
and western tastes and cultures passing themselves
off as neutral or the markers of progress
we become dangerous when
we speak the truth that the king is naked
when it comes to the U.S. prison industrial complex
when we question declarations of war that are soon
accompanied by massive bail outs for corporations that
even that bastion of progressive monetary policies, the
wall street journal, said “mainly padded corporate bottom
lines”
when we express confusion and dismay when terrorism is
used as the reason for a sharp cut in the capital gains tax
a tax in which 80 percent of the benefits would
go to the wealthiest 2 percent of the taxpayers
yes, this is a naked butt king
when it comes to public policy that is really the personal
agenda of moralizing rhetoricians
who are dangerous because they now hold elected office
and someone believed that they should bring us back to
the good old days
that were, for many of us, deadly days
when almost every piece of legislation we are told is good for us
is sold to us with one price tag (like medicare drug benefits
for the elderly)
and then we are told—as many predicted on the left and
the right that the costs would be more and strain the federal
budget more
but we are told—just trust us, we know we are
right
and then we find that a $400 billion price tag
over 10 years is now, weeks after the dust had
settled from the debate, is really a $530 billion
price tag
when we go to war based on claims about weapons of
mass destruction in Iraq based on “documentary evidence”
that was forged and doubted by CIA analysts from the
beginning
and each time any of us express doubt about this “evidence,”
we were branded as weak or unpatriotic
and now, months and deaths later, we detect federal
officials recasting their words as if they never knew that
the “evidence” could possibly be cooked
and that the president was not told the truth
and we should be glad we invaded Iraq anyway
because Saddam Hussein had to be removed
from power
and it should not matter, ultimately, that we were lied to
although most of us are taught that when you lie,
you should be exposed and punished
but the fact that these lies went largely
unreported by U.S. domestic media that does a
dangerous dance against free speech with the
federal administration
is like the dead skunk in the middle of
the road
stinking to high heaven
but we drive around it as if it
were not there
no i am not here for the killers
when it comes to solidarity
which i assume is another way to say justice
i am not interested in them
except for how to decrease their numbers
and their power
i have no wish to be objective about their behavior, methods, ideologies, or
strategies
when i do the work of justice
it is with and as an advocate for the victims
actual
possible
imagined
of evil
it is subjective, it is emotional, it is passionate, it is very interested
and if i cannot find others who are interested and committed to this
then there is no solidarity
and our differences not only separate us
they make us adversaries
or enemies
in other words, for me, i do not assume solidarity
when i join others in the work of justice
solidarity is something that is nurtured and grown
in the yearning for and living out of justice
solidarity comes from hard work
listening
analyzing
questioning
rethinking
accepting
rejecting
it comes from a place of respecting and being respected
and that, i think, does not come easily or naturally for most of us
if it were so natural, then we wouldn’t be in the fix we are trying to get out of
for to respect others
means we must also respect ourselves
and centuries of inherited messages about inherent evil (with
a large measure of this brutalizing swill aimed at women)
pose a wall of judgment and condemnation
that is hard for many of us to scale
so as we seek to work together, we must always be working on ourselves

Tournament: Jvnovicenationals | Round: 5 | Opponent: Binghamton Evans-Bleyle | Judge: Opperman
“we do not sweat and summon our best in order to rescue
the killers”
there are days, in fact,
that i’ll be damned if i rescue any killer
or someone even approaching such a terrible status
to work in solidarity with those who are like me
unlike me
or resemble me
does not demand or require that i save those who would identify others dead or
annihilated
either through neglect
indifference
calculation
or theoethical musings
i will not rescue the killers
for being women all the time
is like breathing in and out
it is like the moments of smiles and whispers
it is like warmth and passion
it is like naming a voice through the song you sing
it is like the roll of a dice weighed to come up doubles
but to reach for your winnings
and find nothing there
being women all the time
is like breathing in and out
it is like finding yourself in the midst of degradation
and having the will to stake a claim for liberation
it is like turning and turning and turning into a shimmering tomorrow
it is like noticing a still, small voice
that you craft into a roaring wind
as you recognize and feel wholeness as no longer an abstract, independent
category
but what we all yearn for
so black women can, if we must, begin with the wounds
the folds of those old wounds, that in some cases destroyed us
with lies, secrets, and silences we are told about other women
that are told about ourselves
these wounds mark us, but they do not need to define us
for as wise women
or women seeking wisdom
we must grasp a hermenuetic of suspicion
that is, we must examine our first works over
again and again
and consider how we are with each other
and let our religious homes and the academy care of themselves for
awhile
and ponder
what it means for each of us
to be in this work of ornery hope
this work of performing Topsy
knowing Topsy
being Topsy
growing Topsy
yes all of us gathered here in our global clearing are subject to the ravages of
structural racism, sexism, heterosexism, classism, agism, ableism
but what interests me is that african american women have and do join
others
in holding these “isms”
these masters’ and mistresses’ tools
in our control
and we have used them
sometimes relentlessly
we have used them
to avoid our depression and discontent
by cheering ourselves and finding a woman who is worse off
than we are
to avoid the questions we have about our beauty
by failing to question who sets the standards
and then dressing
literally
to kill
we have used these deadly tools to protect ourselves against charges that we
aren’t feminine
by pointing to someone who may
or may not
be tougher than we are
to prove that we really do know the color pink
to cloak our fears that we may not be bright enough or talented enough
by ridiculing other women and making them into postmodern
pickaninnies
by charging that they are sublimating their frustrations
in their work
in religious communities
in the goal of a more whole black community
within black communities across the landscape
to do this—amongst ourselves, at times
means we bring fractured selves into all manner of relationships and that
we often abide sexism and heterosexism
rather than question their existence in the household of God
hear me now, we tolerate single issue politicians and pastors and academicians
who spew venom into african american life
and we think its milk and honey for soul salvation and we lap it
up—greedily
as we fail to recognize the death pangs that sear us
with each dribbling drop down our throats
we turn away from injustice and run for the sanctuary of the alleged holy
and fail to see the graves dug before us
until we find ourselves
our communities
falling in
as the dirt of judgment is mournfully
if not gleefully
tossed over us
as it commemorates the remarkable assault all of us can
launch against ourselves
and then have the audacity and the naivety to name it
righteousness
and black women are not the only ones in God’s creation who do this
we have all manner and manifestations of this emanating from the vast
cultural communities that mark our commonalities
the rolling eyes and kinky hair of the pickaninny is no longer
confined to black children—they mark each and everyone one of us
in the american social order and beyond
i will not rescue the killers
of dreams of a world better than this
of hopes that continue to pulse, however faintly, in the midst
of disaster and ruin
i will not rescue the killers
who create optional reading lists
that signal to me
that some actual or alleged scholars really believe
that there are optional peoples, cultures, lives, ideas,
hopes, realities
and secondary lists are little better
when they traffic peoples’ yearnings and expectations as
ideologies and abstractions
i will not rescue the killer
who remains silent when the innocent are murdered
and it is called patriotism or cleansing or white male rage
or horizontal violence
when people starve on our streets
while there is more than enough food for everyone to eat
three squares a day and at least one snack
when children die unloved and unwanted and thrown away
and we shake our collective pious heads and shut the
doors of homes and our hearts
when money determines right and wrong
good and evil
unity and dissent
diversity and blandness
hope and despair
promise and lies
damnation and salvation
no, absolutely no, i will not rescue the killers
to engage in such work is absolutely dangerous
it may, in fact, not be good for one’s health at all
it can lead to heart and soul-ache
it can make us old before our time
it can make us eat and drink too much or too little
of all the unhealthy things
it can turn us bitter and sarcastic
it can make you ornery and mean as a snake
it can turn justice into vengeance
it can turn us into killers
but the danger does not stop here
it is dangerous because it means that we refuse the emotional
numbing panaceas
of acquisition and status and competitive spirit that does
not seek excellence, only winning
we pierce through the straw figure of a free market
and speak with increasing precision and accuracy about
the impact of transnationals
from agribusiness
to munitions
to clothing manufacturers
to western tastes and cultures passing themselves
off as neutral or the markers of progress
we become dangerous when
we speak the truth that the king is naked
when it comes to the U.S. prison industrial complex
when we question declarations of war that are soon
accompanied by massive bail outs for corporations that
even that bastion of progressive monetary policies, the
wall street journal, said “mainly padded corporate bottom
lines”
when we express confusion and dismay when terrorism is
used as the reason for a sharp cut in the capital gains tax
a tax in which 80 percent of the benefits would
go to the wealthiest 2 percent of the taxpayers
yes, this is a naked butt king
when it comes to public policy that is really the personal
agenda of moralizing rhetoricians
who are dangerous because they now hold elected office
and someone believed that they should bring us back to
the good old days
that were, for many of us, deadly days
when almost every piece of legislation we are told is good for us
is sold to us with one price tag (like medicare drug benefits
for the elderly)
and then we are told—as many predicted on the left and
the right that the costs would be more and strain the federal
budget more
but we are told—just trust us, we know we are
right
and then we find that a $400 billion price tag
over 10 years is now, weeks after the dust had
settled from the debate, is really a $530 billion
price tag
when we go to war based on claims about weapons of
mass destruction in Iraq based on “documentary evidence”
that was forged and doubted by CIA analysts from the
beginning
and each time any of us express doubt about this “evidence,”
we were branded as weak or unpatriotic
and now, months and deaths later, we detect federal
officials recasting their words as if they never knew that
the “evidence” could possibly be cooked
and that the president was not told the truth
and we should be glad we invaded Iraq anyway
because Saddam Hussein had to be removed
from power
and it should not matter, ultimately, that we were lied to
although most of us are taught that when you lie,
you should be exposed and punished
but the fact that these lies went largely
unreported by U.S. domestic media that does a
dangerous dance against free speech with the
federal administration
is like the dead skunk in the middle of
the road
stinking to high heaven
but we drive around it as if it
were not there
no i am not here for the killers
when it comes to solidarity
which i assume is another way to say justice
i am not interested in them
except for how to decrease their numbers
and their power
i have no wish to be objective about their behavior, methods, ideologies, or
strategies
when i do the work of justice
it is with and as an advocate for the victims
actual
possible
imagined
of evil
it is subjective, it is emotional, it is passionate, it is very interested
and if i cannot find others who are interested and committed to this
then there is no solidarity
and our differences not only separate us
they make us adversaries
or enemies
in other words, for me, i do not assume solidarity
when i join others in the work of justice
solidarity is something that is nurtured and grown
in the yearning for and living out of justice
solidarity comes from hard work
listening
analyzing
questioning
rethinking
accepting
rejecting
it comes from a place of respecting and being respected
and that, i think, does not come easily or naturally for most of us
if it were so natural, then we wouldn’t be in the fix we are trying to get out of
for to respect others
means we must also respect ourselves
and centuries of inherited messages about inherent evil (with
a large measure of this brutalizing swill aimed at women)
pose a wall of judgment and condemnation
that is hard for many of us to scale
so as we seek to work together, we must always be working on ourselves

Tournament: Jvnovicenationals | Round: 7 | Opponent: George Mason Melton-Thomas | Judge: Montee
“we do not sweat and summon our best in order to rescue
the killers”
there are days, in fact,
that i’ll be damned if i rescue any killer
or someone even approaching such a terrible status=
to work in solidarity with those who are like me
unlike me
or resemble me
does not demand or require that i save those who would identify others dead or
annihilated
either through neglect
indifference
calculation
or theoethical musings
i will not rescue the killers
for being women all the time
is like breathing in and out
it is like the moments of smiles and whispers
it is like warmth and passion
it is like naming a voice through the song you sing
it is like the roll of a dice weighed to come up doubles
but to reach for your winnings
and find nothing there
being women all the time
is like breathing in and out
it is like finding yourself in the midst of degradation
and having the will to stake a claim for liberation
it is like turning and turning and turning into a shimmering tomorrow
it is like noticing a still, small voice
that you craft into a roaring wind
as you recognize and feel wholeness as no longer an abstract, independent
category
but what we all yearn for
so black women can, if we must, begin with the wounds
the folds of those old wounds, that in some cases destroyed us
with lies, secrets, and silences we are told about other women
that are told about ourselves
these wounds mark us, but they do not need to define us
for as wise women
or women seeking wisdom
we must grasp a hermenuetic of suspicion
that is, we must examine our first works over
again and again
and consider how we are with each other
and let our religious homes and the academy care of themselves for
awhile
and ponder
what it means for each of us
to be in this work of ornery hope
this work of performing Topsy
knowing Topsy
being Topsy
growing Topsy
yes all of us gathered here in our global clearing are subject to the ravages of
structural racism, sexism, heterosexism, classism, speciesism, agism, ableism
but what interests me is that african american women have and do join
others
in holding these “isms”
these masters’ and mistresses’ tools
in our control
and we have used them
sometimes relentlessly
we have used them
to avoid our depression and discontent
by cheering ourselves and finding a woman who is worse off
than we are
to avoid the questions we have about our beauty
by failing to question who sets the standards
and then dressing
literally
to kill
we have used these deadly tools to protect ourselves against charges that we
aren’t feminine
by pointing to someone who may
or may not
be tougher than we are
to prove that we really do know the color pink
to cloak our fears that we may not be bright enough or talented enough
by ridiculing other women and making them into postmodern
pickaninnies
by charging that they are sublimating their frustrations
in their work
in religious communities
in the goal of a more whole black community
within black communities across the landscape
to do this—amongst ourselves, at times
means we bring fractured selves into all manner of relationships and that
we often abide sexism and heterosexism
rather than question their existence in the household of God
hear me now, we tolerate single issue politicians and pastors and academicians
who spew poison into african american life
and we think its milk and honey for soul salvation and we lap it
up—greedily
as we fail to recognize the death pangs that sear us
with each dribbling drop down our throats
we turn away from injustice and run for the sanctuary of the alleged holy
and fail to see the graves dug before us
until we find ourselves
our communities
falling in
as the dirt of judgment is mournfully
if not gleefully
tossed over us
as it commemorates the remarkable assault all of us can
launch against ourselves
and then have the audacity and the naivety to name it
righteousness
and black women are not the only ones in God’s creation who do this
we have all manner and manifestations of this emanating from the vast
cultural communities that mark our commonalities
the rolling eyes and kinky hair of the pickaninny is no longer
confined to black children—they mark each and everyone one of us
in the american social order and beyond
i will not rescue the killers
of dreams of a world better than this
of hopes that continue to pulse, however faintly, in the midst
of disaster and ruin
i will not rescue the killers
who create optional reading lists
that signal to me
that some actual or alleged scholars really believe
that there are optional bodies, cultures, lives, ideas,
hopes, realities
and secondary lists are little better
when they traffic yearnings and expectations as
ideologies and abstractions
i will not rescue the killer
who remains silent when the innocent are murdered
and it is called patriotism or cleansing or white male rage
or horizontal violence
when there is starvation on our streets
while there is more than enough food for everyone to eat
three squares a day and at least one snack
when children die unloved and unwanted and thrown away
and we shake our collective pious heads and shut the
doors of homes and our hearts
when money determines right and wrong
good and evil
unity and dissent
diversity and blandness
hope and despair
promise and lies
damnation and salvation
no, absolutely no, i will not rescue the killers
when the academy devolves into gigantic public holding pens
for creativity and intellect
in other words
for me and my house
growing Topsy while standing with others across differences
does not require that I
sacrifice my very soul
so that others may find comfort and ease in the macabre
spectacle of my self annihilation
or the obliteration of whole communities
Topsy as a womanist does not find it acceptable that I acquiesce to a least
common denominator justice
that is really no justice at all
she does not require that I check my passions
my insights
my communities
at the door to enter the hall of kumbaya
and if there is any wisdom that can come
from this black woman
on notions of solidarities and differences that are strong
enough, wise enough, and strong enough to go
toe-to-toe
with the fantastic hegemonic imagination
it is that
to engage in such work is absolutely dangerous
it may, in fact, not be good for one’s health at all
it can lead to heart and soul-ache
it can make us old before our time
it can make us eat and drink too much or too little
of all the unhealthy things
it can turn us bitter and sarcastic
it can make you ornery and mean
it can turn justice into vengeance
it can turn us into killers
but the danger does not stop here
it is dangerous because it means that we refuse the emotional
numbing panaceas
of acquisition and status and competitive spirit that does
not seek excellence, only winning
we pierce through the straw figure of a free market
and speak with increasing precision and accuracy about
the impact of transnationals
from agribusiness
to munitions
to clothing manufacturers
to western tastes and cultures passing themselves
off as neutral or the markers of progress
we become dangerous when
we speak the truth that the king is naked
when it comes to the U.S. prison industrial complex
when we question declarations of war that are soon
accompanied by massive bail outs for corporations that
even that bastion of progressive monetary policies, the
wall street journal, said “mainly padded corporate bottom
lines”
when we express confusion and dismay when terrorism is
used as the reason for a sharp cut in the capital gains tax
a tax in which 80 percent of the benefits would
go to the wealthiest 2 percent of the taxpayers
yes, this is a naked butt king
when it comes to public policy that is really the personal
agenda of moralizing rhetoricians
who are dangerous because they now hold elected office
and someone believed that they should bring us back to
the good old days
that were, for many of us, deadly days
when almost every piece of legislation we are told is good for us
is sold to us with one price tag (like medicare drug benefits
for the elderly)
and then we are told—as many predicted on the left and
the right that the costs would be more and strain the federal
budget more
but we are told—just trust us, we know we are
right
and then we find that a $400 billion price tag
over 10 years is now, weeks after the dust had
settled from the debate, is really a $530 billion
price tag
when we go to war based on claims about weapons of
mass destruction in Iraq based on “documentary evidence”
that was forged and doubted by CIA analysts from the
beginning
and each time any of us express doubt about this “evidence,”
we were branded as weak or unpatriotic
and now, months and deaths later, we detect federal
officials recasting their words as if they never knew that
the “evidence” could possibly be cooked
and that the president was not told the truth
and we should be glad we invaded Iraq anyway
because Saddam Hussein had to be removed
from power
and it should not matter, ultimately, that we were lied to
although most of us are taught that when you lie,
you should be exposed and punished
but the fact is that these lies went largely
unreported by U.S. domestic media that does a
dangerous dance against free speech with the
federal administration
no i am not here for the killers
when it comes to solidarity
which i assume is another way to say justice
i am not interested in them
except for how to decrease their numbers
and their power
i have no wish to be objective about their behavior, methods, ideologies, or
strategies
when i do the work of justice
it is with and as an advocate for the victims
actual
possible
imagined
of evil
it is subjective, it is emotional, it is passionate, it is very interested
and if i cannot find others who are interested and committed to this
then there is no solidarity
and our differences not only separate us
they make us adversaries
or enemies
in other words, for me, i do not assume solidarity
when i join others in the work of justice
solidarity is something that is nurtured and grown
in the yearning for and living out of justice
solidarity comes from hard work
listening
analyzing
questioning
rethinking
accepting
rejecting
it comes from a place of respecting and being respected
and that, i think, does not come easily or naturally for most of us
if it were so natural, then we wouldn’t be in the fix we are trying to get out of
for to respect others
means we must also respect ourselves
and centuries of inherited messages about inherent evil (with
a large measure of this brutalizing swill aimed at women)
pose a wall of judgment and condemnation
that is hard for many of us to scale
so as we seek to work together, we must always be working on ourselves

Tournament: Kentucky | Round: 2 | Opponent: Kansas Reed-Goh | Judge: Taylor
Plan Text:  Therefore, Vida and I advocate that the United States federal government should substantially restrict the war powers authority of the United States by no longer indefinitely detain oppressed bodies

Knowledge is produced on a subjective level and used to create objective truths- understanding the intersectional nature of oppression is necessary in order to understand how reality allows for a constant alienation of both knowledge and bodies
Collins, 2k
(Patricia Hill, “Black Feminist Thought: Knowledge, Consciousness, and the Politics of Empowerment,” pages 12-13, accessed ebsco 2-13-12, mee)

Historically, while they often …..on alternative Black feminist worldviews. 

Exclusion has a radical effect on oppressed bodies- divergence from standard academic theory allows us to create a condition of possibility for a new methodology that celebrates liberation through experience
Collins, 2k
(Patricia Hill, “Black Feminist Thought: Knowledge, Consciousness, and the Politics of Empowerment,” pages 9-10, accessed ebsco 2-13-12, mee)

As an historically oppressed group, ……knowledges designed to resist racial oppression. 

Excluding these key perspectives leads to a reentrenchment of the overarching systems of oppression- white supremacist capitalist patriarchy is a system of global oppression that exists by continually shifting to disenfranchise marked bodies- a personal approach is necessary to disrupting the system
Rabaka, Associate Professor of Africana Studies in the Department of Ethnic Studies at the University of Colorado at Boulder, 7 (Reiland, Affiliate Professor of Women and Gender Studies and a Research Fellow at the Center for Studies of Ethnicity and Race in America (CSERA), August 4, “The Souls of White Folk: W.E.B. Du Bois’s Critique of White Supremacy and Contributions to Critical White Studies”, Journal of African American Studies, Vol. 11, Issue 1-15, pgs. 2-4)

Traditionally “white supremacy” ……the racial rules and ethnic ethics of who counts as “white” and “non-white” (Allen 1994, 1997; Goldberg 1997; Harris 1999; Lopez 1995, 1996; Omi and Winant 1994; Roediger 1994, 1999).

We recognize that our ability to participate in this space is premised on the discussion of political strategies. We feel as though the most important action is to create a place for oppressed bodies to speak- the debate community is a political space in which we can create a moment of radical disruption that creates a community of resistance against social injustice through narratives
James Chair of Africana Studies at Williams College 2007 (Joy, "Violations," Warfare in the American Homeland: Policing and Prison in a Penal Democracy, p. xi-xii)

The very project of ……attentiveness given to press, pentagon, or public-relations briefings.

The affirmative’s approach renders knowledge accessible through narratives- they’re a unique reason why our stylistic choice and methodological approach is beneficial for debate because they are the only way to effectively advocate policy
McDonough, associate professor at the Heller School at Brandeis University, 2006 (John E., and former health committee chairman in the Massachusetts House of Representatives, Using and Misusing Anecdote in Policy Making, Narrative Matters, pg 9-12 http://content.healthaffairs.org/cgi/reprint/20/1/207.pdf)

Why is narrative so central ……to be more intelligent consumers of stories.

Discussion of war scenarios are non-unique- the United States has declared a war against marked bodies and maintained that stance
Omolade, city college center for worker education in New York City, 84
(Barbara, a historian of black women for the past twenty years and an organizer in both the women’s and civil rights/black power movements; Women of Color and the Nuclear Holocaust; WOMEN’S STUDIES QUARTERLY, Vol. 12., No. 2, Teaching about Peace, War, and Women in the Military, Summer, p. 12; http://www.jstor.org/stable/4004305)

In April, 1979, the U.S. …..housing? Who will stand up?

Discussing future possibilities for violence and war pave over status quo structural violence and reinforce its invisibility
Abu-Jamal, 98
(Mumia, award-winning PA journalist, 9/19, http://www.flashpoints.net/mQuietDeadlyViolence.html)

We live, equally immersed, and to …..hroughout the world. Gilligan, p. 196

Systematic structural violence is inevitable in a world where we don’t learn to appreciate difference
Köhler and Alcock, Computer Science professor and physicist, 76
(Gernot is a Sheridan College Professor of Computer Studies, and Norman is a physicist and founder of Canada’s first peace research institute, "An Empirical Table of Structural Violence," Journal of Peace Research Vol. 13, No. 4, p. 343-356, 1976, JSTOR, accessed 3-5-11, mtf)

Table II shows the …….behavioral (armed) violence are presented in Table III.

Indefinite Detention requires an intersectional response- key to fighting against assault on civil liberties
Mandit, Executive Director of Men Stopping Violence, 11
(Eesha, writer for The Nation, 12-20-11, “Obama admin refuses to veto detainee bill in a snub to human rights,” da 9-22-13, http://feministing.com/2011/12/20/obama-admin-refuses-to-veto-detainee-bill-in-a-snub-to-human-rights/, mee)

President Barack Obama’s recent …. far beyond the people who are detained.

Obama’s alignment with indefinite detention ensures a legalized extermination of marked bodies. Rights are systematically denied and state power is abused in order to exploit those considered different
Ford, political analyst, 11
(Glen, Black Agenda Respond executive editor, journalist, “The Racist Roots of Obama’s Preventive Detention,” 2011, http://blackagendareport.com/content/racist-roots-obamaE28099s-preventive-detention, accessed 08/05/2013, blh)

It should have been clear that …….And that is how they will lose those freedoms.

Indefinite detention is the denial of the viability and subjectivity of the prisons under the law and in the public sphere which becomes entrenched in the war system and extends the worst violence of governmentality
Butler, American post-structuralist philosopher, 2004 (Judith, a professor in the Rhetoric and Comparative Literature departments at the University of California, Berkeley, and is also the Hannah Arendt Professor of Philosophy at the European Graduate School, “Precarious Life: The Powers of Moutning and Violence” pp. 63-68, blh) 

We might, and should, object …….highly, if not fatally, politicized. 

The deployment of disenfranchised voices refigures speech as a political project of visibility which radicalizes academic spaces like debate into communities of resistance
James, Chair of Africana Studies at Williams College, 2007 (Joy, , "Violations," Warfare in the American Homeland: Policing and Prison in a Penal Democracy, p. xi-xii)

Containment, police powers, …….., pentagon, or public-relations briefings.

Tournament: Kentucky | Round: 8 | Opponent: Dartmouth College Kreus-Singh | Judge: Revelins
“Debate is good.”

“Debate is good.”

These are the words that finally changed my opinion. See, I started this activity as a novice and everyone always told me that we were supposed to debate about governmental policies and I didn’t see anything wrong with that. I thought that I could do that without being excluded. Ha, I even thought that as a mixed woman, I would be fighting exclusion because the few black women that I had seen all did “K debate” or “performance debate” and I decided that I was going to be the one that did it- the one that didn’t have to resort to what I was taught was “cheating.”  Debate was good.
That all changed when I explicitly experienced the structural oppressions in place that worked beneath the surface; that disguised themselves until that point. Vida and I lost a round not because our arguments weren’t articulated well, which they very well might not have been, but because we are black women. I realized that there was nothing I could have said in my 2NR that would have won the negative ballot- not because we messed up in the block and not because the 1AR was the best speech in the history of the debate- but because as black women we were placed at a fatal disadvantage.
These structural oppressions don’t make explicit appearances often because they thrive off of existing under the surface- that’s what makes the status quo so exclusionary- every marked body experiences this pushing to the side in a different way.
The debate community uses the resolution to detain my identity- it holds it within a prison-like state by forcing me to believe that I cannot participate in this game without abandoning myself when I walk into a round. The state detains my identity by forcing me into the margin- by allowing systems of oppression to arrest me and hold me captive until they see fit to let me go. I am indefinitely detained.

Knowledge is produced on a subjective level and used to create objective truths- understanding the intersectional nature of oppression is necessary in order to understand how reality allows for a constant alienation of both knowledge and bodies
Collins, 2k
(Patricia Hill, “Black Feminist Thought: Knowledge, Consciousness, and the Politics of Empowerment,” pages 12-13, accessed ebsco 2-13-12, mee)

Historically, while they often … on alternative Black feminist worldviews. 

Exclusion has a radical effect on oppressed bodies- divergence from standard academic theory allows us to create a condition of possibility for a new methodology that celebrates liberation through experience
Collins, 2k
(Patricia Hill, “Black Feminist Thought: Knowledge, Consciousness, and the Politics of Empowerment,” pages 9-10, accessed ebsco 2-13-12, mee)

As an historically … designed to resist racial oppression. 

Excluding these key perspectives leads to a reentrenchment of the overarching systems of oppression- white supremacist capitalist patriarchy is a system of global oppression that exists by continually shifting to disenfranchise marked bodies- a personal approach is necessary to disrupting the system
Rabaka, Associate Professor of Africana Studies in the Department of Ethnic Studies at the University of Colorado at Boulder, 7 (Reiland, Affiliate Professor of Women and Gender Studies and a Research Fellow at the Center for Studies of Ethnicity and Race in America (CSERA), August 4, “The Souls of White Folk: W.E.B. Du Bois’s Critique of White Supremacy and Contributions to Critical White Studies”, Journal of African American Studies, Vol. 11, Issue 1-15, pgs. 2-4)

Traditionally “white supremacy” … Omi and Winant 1994; Roediger 1994, 1999).

We recognize that our ability to participate in this space is premised on the discussion of political strategies. We feel as though the most important action is to create a place for oppressed bodies to speak- the debate community is a political space in which we can create a moment of radical disruption that creates a community of resistance against social injustice through narratives
James Chair of Africana Studies at Williams College 2007 (Joy, "Violations," Warfare in the American Homeland: Policing and Prison in a Penal Democracy, p. xi-xii)

The very project of … pentagon, or public-relations briefings.

The affirmative’s approach renders knowledge accessible through narratives- they’re a unique reason why our stylistic choice and methodological approach is beneficial for debate because they are the only way to effectively advocate policy
McDonough, associate professor at the Heller School at Brandeis University, 2006 (John E., and former health committee chairman in the Massachusetts House of Representatives, Using and Misusing Anecdote in Policy Making, Narrative Matters, pg 9-12 http://content.healthaffairs.org/cgi/reprint/20/1/207.pdf)

Why is narrative so … intelligent consumers of stories.

Discussion of war scenarios are non-unique- the United States has declared a war against marked bodies and maintained that stance
Omolade, city college center for worker education in New York City, 84
(Barbara, a historian of black women for the past twenty years and an organizer in both the women’s and civil rights/black power movements; Women of Color and the Nuclear Holocaust; WOMEN’S STUDIES QUARTERLY, Vol. 12., No. 2, Teaching about Peace, War, and Women in the Military, Summer, p. 12; http://www.jstor.org/stable/4004305)

In April, 1979, … Who will stand up?

Discussing future possibilities for violence and war pave over status quo structural violence and reinforce its ability to hide
Abu-Jamal, 98
(Mumia, award-winning PA journalist, 9/19, http://www.flashpoints.net/mQuietDeadlyViolence.html)

We live, equally immersed, …, throughout the world. Gilligan, p. 196

Systematic structural violence is inevitable in a world where we don’t learn to appreciate difference
Köhler and Alcock, Computer Science professor and physicist, 76
(Gernot is a Sheridan College Professor of Computer Studies, and Norman is a physicist and founder of Canada’s first peace research institute, "An Empirical Table of Structural Violence," Journal of Peace Research Vol. 13, No. 4, p. 343-356, 1976, JSTOR, accessed 3-5-11, mtf)

Table II shows the … violence are presented in Table III.

Systemic structural violence continues to infliltrate all levels of society – even as a debater I am marked with certain preconceived notions that effect how people look, talk, and interact with me. I walk into a room and I am seen as a black “performance” debater. My mixed background is erased. My socio-economic status is as bankrupt. My gender is secondary to the initial thought of my phenotype. There is nothing I can do to change that nor would I want to because my identity is my own but that level of subjectivity does not matter in the status quo. I am more than a black woman; I am a multiplicity of things. The structures that are inherent to society and the state and the policy debate structure hold my identity captive without trial. My body is the body that will continue to elevate oppressed bodies because I know what it means to be excluded in a public space, in a private space and in a debate space. Therefore, Vida and I advocate that the United States federal government should no longer indefinitely detain oppressed bodies

Indefinite Detention requires an intersectional response- key to fighting against assault on civil liberties
Mandit, Executive Director of Men Stopping Violence, 11
(Eesha, writer for The Nation, 12-20-11, “Obama admin refuses to veto detainee bill in a snub to human rights,” da 9-22-13, http://feministing.com/2011/12/20/obama-admin-refuses-to-veto-detainee-bill-in-a-snub-to-human-rights/, mee)

President Barack Obama’s recent … the people who are detained.

Obama’s alignment with indefinite detention ensures a legalized extermination of marked bodies. Rights are systematically denied and state power is abused in order to exploit those considered different
Ford, political analyst, 11
(Glen, Black Agenda Respond executive editor, journalist, “The Racist Roots of Obama’s Preventive Detention,” 2011, http://blackagendareport.com/content/racist-roots-obamaE28099s-preventive-detention, accessed 08/05/2013, blh)

It should have been … how they will lose those freedoms.

Indefinite detention is the denial of the viability and subjectivity of the prisons under the law and in the public sphere which becomes entrenched in the war system and extends the worst violence of governmentality
Butler, American post-structuralist philosopher, 2004 (Judith, a professor in the Rhetoric and Comparative Literature departments at the University of California, Berkeley, and is also the Hannah Arendt Professor of Philosophy at the European Graduate School, “Precarious Life: The Powers of Moutning and Violence” pp. 63-68, blh) 

We might, and should, … highly, if not fatally, politicized. 

The deployment of disenfranchised voices refigures speech as a political project which radicalizes academic spaces like debate into communities of resistance
James, Chair of Africana Studies at Williams College, 2007 (Joy, , "Violations," Warfare in the American Homeland: Policing and Prison in a Penal Democracy, p. xi-xii)

Containment, police powers, …, pentagon, or public-relations briefings.

Tournament: NDT | Round: 3 | Opponent: Idaho State Doty-Ivanovic | Judge: Green, Marty, Reid-Brinkley

1AC: Topsy

2AC

Your attempt to frame us fails because you don’t know me and my past and where I come from – out performance as Topsy in this debate allows us to avoid cooption because white folks view us as good negroes

Townes, Dean of Vanderbilt Divinity School, 2006 (Emilie, distinguished Yale University scholar and adminstrator whose expertise include Christian ethics and womanist theology, "Womanist Ethics and the Cultural Production of Evil: Growing like Topsy: Solidarity in the Work of Dismantling", accessed on 12/31/13, BEN)

This conversation, between the …, our inherited humanity.22

Topsy has entails no history/identity- she just steals.

O’Loughlin, prof at University of Northern Iowa, 2k
(Jim, Summer 2000, "Articulating Uncle Tom’s Cabin," New Literary History, Volume 31, Number 3, pgs 573-597, accessed Project Muse 2-22-14, mee)

Topsy appears midway …influence in shaping her.

Our performance is an opening a space – one that allows us to disconfigure the structural antagonisms that exist in debate and civil society

Townes, Dean of Vanderbilt Divinity School, 2006 (Emilie, distinguished Yale University scholar and adminstrator whose expertise include Christian ethics and womanist theology, "Womanist Ethics and the Cultural Production of Evil: Growing like Topsy: Solidarity in the Work of Dismantling", accessed on 12/31/13, BEN)

What happens when Topsy … being women all the time.

we just stole your stuff…

Harney, professor of Strategic Management Education 26 Moten, professor of Modern Poetry, 2013 (Stefano, co-founder of the School for Study 26 Fred, PhD, University of Berkeley, "The Undercommons: Fugitive Planning 26 Black Study", accessed 01/15/14, BEN)

"To the university …, the only possible act. 

Opacity key to solve

Walker, Dean of the College of Arts and Sciences at Winston-Salem State University, 11
(Corey D. B., Ph.D., The College of William and Mary, former Chair of the Department of Africana Studies at Brown University, Fall 2011, "’How Does It Feel to be a Problem?’: (Local) Knowledge, Human Interests, and The Ethics of Opacity," Transmodernity: Journal of Peripheral Cultural Production of the Luso-Hispanic World, 1(2), da 2-16-14, http://escholarship.org/uc/item/0xj5402h, mee)

The ethics of opacity … an ethics of opacity?

Womanism is a perspective that aims to deconstruct all oppression – previous political ideologies simply maintain singular perspectives that fail to address all oppression and difference which ensure that they fall short of offering a sustaining strategy of survival

Phillips, associate professor and graduate director of Women’s Studies and African American Studies at Georgia State University, 2006 (Layli Maparyan, former chair of the University Consortium for Liberia, "Introduction: The Womanist Reader", accessed on 12/30/13, BEN)

With all the focus … terminology is old.

Tournament: NDT | Round: 1 | Opponent: Kansas City Kansas CC Gonzaba-Casas | Judge: Evans, Love, Weathers
Topsy 1AC- See CEDA Round 2

Tournament: NDT | Round: 1 | Opponent: Kansas City Kansas CC Gonzaba-Casas | Judge: Evans, Love, Weathers
Your attempt to frame us fails because you don’t know me and my past and where I come from – out performance as Topsy in this debate allows us to avoid cooption because white folks view us as good negroes
Townes, Dean of Vanderbilt Divinity School, 2006 (Emilie, distinguished Yale University scholar and adminstrator whose expertise include Christian ethics and womanist theology, "Womanist Ethics and the Cultural Production of Evil: Growing like Topsy: Solidarity in the Work of Dismantling", accessed on 12/31/13, BEN)

This conversation, between the .. , our inherited humanity.22

Our performance is an opening a space – one that allows us to disconfigure the structural antagonisms that exist in debate and civil society
Townes, Dean of Vanderbilt Divinity School, 2006 (Emilie, distinguished Yale University scholar and adminstrator whose expertise include Christian ethics and womanist theology, "Womanist Ethics and the Cultural Production of Evil: Growing like Topsy: Solidarity in the Work of Dismantling", accessed on 12/31/13, BEN)

What happens when …  being women all the time.

Opacity key to solve
Walker, Dean of the College of Arts and Sciences at Winston-Salem State University, 11
(Corey D. B., Ph.D., The College of William and Mary, former Chair of the Department of Africana Studies at Brown University, Fall 2011, "'How Does It Feel to be a Problem?': (Local) Knowledge, Human Interests, and The Ethics of Opacity," Transmodernity: Journal of Peripheral Cultural Production of the Luso-Hispanic World, 1(2), da 2-16-14, http://escholarship.org/uc/item/0xj5402h, mee)

The ethics of opacity … with an ethics of opacity?

Our refusal of transparency is a radical form of intellectualism that is critical to address racial/colonial genocide. Such a move is necessary to address the current state of Academic and American Politics of protogenocidal desire
Rodriguez, professor and chair of the Department of Ethnic Studies at the Univeristy of California, Riverside, 2012
(Dylan, founding member of Critical Resistance: Beyond the Prison Industrial Complex, "Racial/Colonial Genocide and the "Neoliberal Academy": In Excess of a Problematic", American Quarterly, accessed on 02/21/14, BEN)

My place of employment … within intellectual courage.

Opacity is best ethical choice
Walker, Dean of the College of Arts and Sciences at Winston-Salem State University, 11
(Corey D. B., Ph.D., The College of William and Mary, former Chair of the Department of Africana Studies at Brown University, Fall 2011, "'How Does It Feel to be a Problem?': (Local) Knowledge, Human Interests, and The Ethics of Opacity," Transmodernity: Journal of Peripheral Cultural Production of the Luso-Hispanic World, 1(2), da 2-16-14, http://escholarship.org/uc/item/0xj5402h, mee)

With this understanding, ethics …” prefixed theoretical formulations.

Womanism is a perspective that aims to deconstruct all oppression – previous political ideologies simply maintain singular perspectives that fail to address all oppression and difference which ensure that they fall short of offering a sustaining strategy of survival
Phillips, associate professor and graduate director of Women's Studies and African American Studies at Georgia State University, 2006 (Layli Maparyan, former chair of the University Consortium for Liberia, "Introduction: The Womanist Reader", accessed on 12/30/13, BEN)

With all the focus … than the terminology is old.

Tournament: Shirley | Round: Octas | Opponent: Michigan State Ramesh-Thur | Judge: Crowe, Hall, Harper, Spring, Zagorin
Now you see…here…we…go…again…
Another tournament…same ol’ tired songs,
Affirmative teams whining about something else being wrong,
Hahaha…I tell ya…here we go again…
I am tired…tired of listening to people talk about implementing policies,
Tired of listening to people talk about solving problems without seeing me,
Cause this debate space is trifling’…
its nothing new but still these political discussion still be just as stiflin’ 

 Debaters be like: Welcome to the debate community – a site of collusion
One that makes sure to always practice active exclusion
Every round we enter someone is screaming, “Trust the State”
When I hear it all I think is “Ha! That’s like setting my execution date”
But hey that’s the aculturalistic style of debate…
One that is made to interrogate, accumulate and exterminate my black body 

For its in this space that we realize that dreams constantly be getting piped in’
Not skyped in, or Flava Flav Hyped in
Hahah…but enough about me and this “reality tv” experience…
Its time to focus on what we came to do…
There are some things you need to know…excuse me…cause actually I don’t care if you know them or not but there are some things that I came TO TELL you…

Languages are not only important for speech, but also for the preservation of cultural values and for coping with culture clash.
Reyhner and Tennant, 1995 (Jon and Edward, Northern Arizona University and Educational Research Associates, “Maintaining and Renewing Native Languages”, The Bilingual Research Journal, Spring, Volume 19, no 2, pp. 279-304)

The reason for this …  cultural situation (Tennant, 1993).

Discussions of AAE are focused on a young, black, male as the informing figure from which we gather information – this view point furthers the marginalization of black women and suspends all possible liberatory power from AAE as a counter-hegemonic force
Morgan, Professor of Afro-American Studies at Harvard University, 2002
(Marcyliena, Professor of Anthropology at University of California and the editor of Language and the Social Construction of Identity in Creole Situations, “Language Discourse and Power in African American Culture”, Cambridge University Press, accessed on 10/14/13, Ben)

During the 1970s, research … their race, gender, class and sexuality.5

Nommo preserved the ontological subjectivity of black bodies who survived the Middle Passage – our methodology is one that is essential to ontology and strategies that scream “NO!” in the face of white oppression
Yancy, Professor of Philosphy at Duquesne University, 2012
(George, Ph.D. Duquesne University, Reframing the Practice of Philosophy: Bodies of Color, Bodies of Knowledge”, State University Press of New York, accessed on 10/14/13, Ben)

Contrary to the white colonialist … the African Holocaust.

Tournament: Shirley | Round: 2 | Opponent: Kansas City Kansas CC Ford-Glanzman | Judge: Evans
2AC

Languages are not only important for speech, but also for the preservation of cultural values and for coping with culture clash.
Reyhner and Tennant, 1995 (Jon and Edward, Northern Arizona University and Educational Research Associates, “Maintaining and Renewing Native Languages”, The Bilingual Research Journal, Spring, Volume 19, no 2, pp. 279-304)

The reason for this is … cultural situation (Tennant, 1993).

Nommo preserved the ontological subjectivity of black bodies who survived the Middle Passage – our methodology is one that is essential to ontology and strategies that scream “NO!” in the face of white oppression
Yancy, Professor of Philosphy at Duquesne University, 2012
(George, Ph.D. Duquesne University, Reframing the Practice of Philosophy: Bodies of Color, Bodies of Knowledge”, State University Press of New York, accessed on 10/14/13, Ben)

Contrary to the … during the African Holocaust.

Their illusion of a home isolates black women- the community doesn’t translate into power for black feminist thought- this community will never be acceptant of us biut we say that we need to open up a space for dismissed voices to speak inspite of the community- regardless of whether or not they choose to listen
Tate, University of Leeds senior lecturer, 7
(Shirley Anne, Director of Studies in the Centre for Interdisciplinary Gender Studies at the University of Leeds, previously Senior Lecturer in the Sociology Department at Manchester Metropolitan University, 2-1-07, “Translating Melancholia: A poetics of Black interstitial community,” Community, Work and Family, accessed Taylor and Francis, 10-20-13, mee)

Looking at how community … a Black anti-racist politics.

Tournament: Shirley | Round: 3 | Opponent: Gonzaga Skoog-Hand | Judge: Green
There’s a child on the playground. Each group huddles closer and lowers the volumes of their whisper as the child approaches. Her presence is not ignored, but also not encouraged. She is allowed into their circle but not invited there. She can stay, but she cannot speak. She runs to other children. Their circle is the same way. She runs to another group. She is still not good enough. Her skin is too black, then too white. Her hair is too short and too curly. She is a girl. She is not welcome in any of their circles. She runs to the teacher for protection and finds only more of the same. Hurt. Rejection. Anger. Confusion. But most of all, she feels exclusion. She experiences an exclusion that no other child on that playground understands and she experiences exclusion that the teacher cannot protect her from and she experiences exclusion that will follow her for all of her life. 

Aiight so yo, let’s talk for a minute. This game we play, this is something else. I remember when I first started debate. I remember talkin’ bout the government and I remember coming up with silly things for them to do that they would never hear and never actually do. I remember seein’ other teams doin’ other things, and I remember wanting to do that. I remember bein’ told that was cheating, I should just focus on the good ol’ USFG. Ha. I remember trying to do it anyway. I remember when I walked into a round and someone said that I was “Liberty’s Wilderson team.” Hahaha, playa, I ain’t neva read Wilderson in a debate round in mah life. Nice try though, everybody always thinkin all us black girls are the same. I remember a round we had when the judge decided to vote for the other team because he liked debate. Cool story bro. I like debate too, but it don’t like me. We gotsta introduce some culture to this place or we are never going to be able to change anything. The debate community uses the resolution to detain my identity- it holds it within a prison-like state by forcing me to believe that I cannot participate in this game without abandoning myself when I walk into a round. The state detains my identity by forcing me into the margin- by allowing systems of oppression to arrest me and hold me captive until they see fit to let me go. I am indefinitely detained.

My detainment is not an isolated instance- The USFG polices marked bodies and targets them by exploiting difference and systematically denying rights
Ford, political analyst, 11
(Glen, Black Agenda Respond executive editor, journalist, “The Racist Roots of Obama’s Preventive Detention,” 2011, http://blackagendareport.com/content/racist-roots-obamaE28099s-preventive-detention, accessed 08/05/2013, blh)

It should have … is how they will lose those freedoms.

This comes as no surprise civil society is manipulated and controlled by white supremacyist capital patriarchy that aims at exploiting and maintain difference – it does it through its linguistic construction of difference and categories based on value and expectation – our political methodology is a necessary step to deconstruct the way that bodies are shaped by intersecting structures of domination
hooks, distinguished professor of English at City College in New York, 92
(bell, Ph.D. from the University of California, Santa Cruz, 1992, “Eating the Other,” from “Black Looks: Race and Representation,” pages 21-22, da 10-10-13, http://www.scribd.com/doc/118302450/Eating-the-Other-bell-Hooks, mee)

This is theory’s …  longings are ever fulfilled.

In politicized cultural spaces like the debate community – the way that we speak is necessary to be able to change the direction of politics – our linguistic approach is one that is critical to displacing white cultural hegemony
Yancy, Professor of Philosphy at Duquesne University, 2012 (George, Ph.D. Duquesne University, Reframing the Practice of Philosophy: Bodies of Color, Bodies of Knowledge”, State University Press of New York, accessed on 10/14/13, Ben)

This cultural space is … anguish of their mothers. ‘

What can I as a mixed, middle-class, woman who has personally experienced exclusion in this community, what is there for me to do? I reflect on my experiences as a debater and recognize three options.
One- I could leave the community.
Second- I could continue to deny myself subjectivity and continue discussing policies I know I have no influence over.
Or, my last option is to adopt a new political strategy to reclaim my subjectivity and change the current structure of the debate community in order to be more inclusive of currently excluded bodies.

Therefore, Vida and I advocate that the United Snakes of Amerikkka stop locking up them bodies 

We are not a static notion of Black Feminism but rather a radical version of intersectionality that deploys narratives in order to decenter the quintessential icon of oppression and open up a space for all political beings to exist specifically in political spaces such as the debate community.
Our focus on linguistics is necessary to abstract current notions of knowledge production – Our performance stands as a counterlanguage deployed to benefit the knowledge of oppressed bodies
Morgan, Professor of Afro-American Studies at Harvard University, 2002 (Marcyliena, Professor of Anthropology at University of California and the editor of Language and the Social Construction of Identity in Creole Situations, “Language Discourse and Power in African American Culture”, Cambridge University Press, accessed on 10/14/13, Ben)

Whether trying to …and her family in particular.

We are constantly on the move using our language as an attempt to reshape culture – in this debate space we use our stylistic approach to resolve common debate practices
Reid-Brinkley et al, Department of Communication University of Pittsburgh, 13
(Shanara, Assistant Professor of Public Address and Advocacy Director of Debate, William Pitt Debating Union, Amber Kelsie, M.A. Doctoral Student, Department of Communication University of Pittsburgh, Nicholas Brady, Doctoral Student, Department of Culture and Theory University of California, Irvine, Ignacio Evans, B.A. History Towson University, 10-06-13, “We Be Fresh As Hell Wit’ Da Feds Watchin’: A Bad Black Debate Family Responds,” http://resistanceanddebate.wordpress.com/2013/10/06/we-be-fresh-as-hell-wit-da-feds-watchin-a-bad-black-debate-family-responds/, vc)

Bankey’s positioning of … accusations of anti-intellectualism

Culture invokes a creative ability to restore agency through the usage of language – such an act is the basis for building a bridge through performative acts that creates a condition of possibility for all excluded perspectives
Clarke, Assistant Professor of Communication at Northwestern, 2004
(Lynn, studies rhetorical theory and its relationships to philosophy, "Talk About Talk: Promises, Risks, and a Proposition Out of Nommo", The Journal of Speculative Philosophy, Vol 18:4, accessed on 10/13/13, Ben)

Importantly, Yancy and Docta G … possible in and through speech.

Our strategy is one that depends on a intersectional approach – recognizing the temporality of linguistics, culture and collective memory is a critical part of our strategy that helps to reveal how all information informs our knowledge base
Morgan, Professor of Afro-American Studies at Harvard University, 2002
(Marcyliena, Professor of Anthropology at University of California and the editor of Language and the Social Construction of Identity in Creole Situations, “Language Discourse and Power in African American Culture”, Cambridge University Press, accessed on 10/14/13, Ben)

Contact situations are often … being aware of “now.”

Tournament: Shirley | Round: 3 | Opponent: Gonzaga Skoog-Hand | Judge: Green
Languages are not only important for speech, but also for the preservation of cultural values and for coping with culture clash.
Reyhner and Tennant, 1995 (Jon and Edward, Northern Arizona University and Educational Research Associates, “Maintaining and Renewing Native Languages”, The Bilingual Research Journal, Spring, Volume 19, no 2, pp. 279-304)

The reason for this is … r cultural situation (Tennant, 1993).

Nommo preserved the ontological subjectivity of black bodies who survived the Middle Passage – our methodology is one that is essential to ontology and strategies that scream “NO!” in the face of white oppression
Yancy, Professor of Philosphy at Duquesne University, 2012
(George, Ph.D. Duquesne University, Reframing the Practice of Philosophy: Bodies of Color, Bodies of Knowledge”, State University Press of New York, accessed on 10/14/13, Ben)

Contrary to the white … during the African Holocaust.

Tournament: Shirley | Round: 6 | Opponent: North Texas Quinn-McCullough | Judge: Wash
Languages are not only important for speech, but also for the preservation of cultural values and for coping with culture clash.
Reyhner and Tennant, 1995 (Jon and Edward, Northern Arizona University and Educational Research Associates, “Maintaining and Renewing Native Languages”, The Bilingual Research Journal, Spring, Volume 19, no 2, pp. 279-304)

The reason for this is … r cultural situation (Tennant, 1993).

Nommo preserved the ontological subjectivity of black bodies who survived the Middle Passage – our methodology is one that is essential to ontology and strategies that scream “NO!” in the face of white oppression
Yancy, Professor of Philosphy at Duquesne University, 2012
(George, Ph.D. Duquesne University, Reframing the Practice of Philosophy: Bodies of Color, Bodies of Knowledge”, State University Press of New York, accessed on 10/14/13, Ben)

Contrary to the white … during the African Holocaust.

Tournament: Texas | Round: 1 | Opponent: Kansas State Klucas-Mays | Judge: Jensen
Nommo is a vernacular strategy of resistance that preserved the ontological subjectivity of black bodies who survived the Middle Passage – our methodology is one that is essential to ontology and strategies that scream “NO!” in the face of white oppression
Yancy, Professor of Philosphy at Duquesne University, 2012
(George, Ph.D. Duquesne University, Reframing the Practice of Philosophy: Bodies of Color, Bodies of Knowledge”, State University Press of New York, accessed on 10/14/13, Ben)

Contrary to the white ... during the African Holocaust.

We are constantly on the move using our language as an attempt to reshape culture. We ain't got no choice but to change how we speak, how we act, both what we say and how we say it. Debate mandates the way that we behave and requires a certain level of conformity in order to be accepted. Our stylistic approach changes this- code-switching is an example of how we navigate the power structure that are active in both the debate community and society at large
Reid-Brinkley, Kelsie, Brady, and Evans Department of Communication University of Pittsburgh, 13
(Shanara, Assistant Professor of Public Address and Advocacy Director of Debate, William Pitt Debating Union, Amber Kelsie, M.A. Doctoral Student, Department of Communication University of Pittsburgh, Nicholas Brady, Doctoral Student, Department of Culture and Theory University of California, Irvine, Ignacio Evans, B.A. History Towson University, 10-06-13, “We Be Fresh As Hell Wit’ Da Feds Watchin’: A Bad Black Debate Family Responds,” http://resistanceanddebate.wordpress.com/2013/10/06/we-be-fresh-as-hell-wit-da-feds-watchin-a-bad-black-debate-family-responds/, vc)

Bankey’s positioning of himself ... misdirected accusations of anti-intellectualism

Culture invokes a creative ability to restore agency through the usage of language. Culture is who we be. It's inextricable from our beings and our language and our arguments because it represents who we are and where we came from.  As marked bodies we are perceived and defined in a certain way. Using Nommo allows us to reclaim our culture and identify our own subjectivity.
Culture is the basis for building a bridge through performative acts that creates a condition of possibility for all excluded perspectives
Clarke, Assistant Professor of Communication at Northwestern, 2004
(Lynn, studies rhetorical theory and its relationships to philosophy, "Talk About Talk: Promises, Risks, and a Proposition Out of Nommo", The Journal of Speculative Philosophy, Vol 18:4, accessed on 10/13/13, Ben)

Importantly, Yancy and ... possible in and through speech.

Our performance is our own- as black women we are always reshaping the way that politics interact with our bodies in order to create a new politics that allows for people of color everywhere to speak- this is a drastic shift from traditional forms of socio-linguistics
Morgan, Professor of Afro-American Studies at Harvard University, 2002
(Marcyliena, Professor of Anthropology at University of California and the editor of Language and the Social Construction of Identity in Creole Situations, “Language Discourse and Power in African American Culture”, Cambridge University Press, accessed on 10/14/13, Ben)

During the 1970s, ... gender, class and sexuality.5

Therefore, Vida and I advocate the United Snakes of Amerikkka stop snipin and lockin up dem bodies. 

Minorities are locked up in the status quo because difference is targeted and exploited. Rights are systematically denied by the president and difference is continually manipulated rather than celebrated
Ford, political analyst, 11
(Glen, Black Agenda Respond executive editor, journalist, “The Racist Roots of Obama’s Preventive Detention,” 2011, http://blackagendareport.com/content/racist-roots-obamaE28099s-preventive-detention, accessed 08/05/2013, blh)

It should have ... they will lose those freedoms.

This comes as no surprise- civil society is manipulated and controlled by white supremacist capital patriarchy that aims at exploiting and maintain difference – it does it through its linguistic construction of difference and categories based on value and expectation – our political methodology is a necessary step to deconstruct the way that bodies are shaped by intersecting structures of domination
hooks, distinguished professor of English at City College in New York, 92
(bell, Ph.D. from the University of California, Santa Cruz, 1992, “Eating the Other,” from “Black Looks: Race and Representation,” pages 21-22, da 10-10-13, http://www.scribd.com/doc/118302450/Eating-the-Other-bell-Hooks, mee)

This is theory’s ... longings are ever fulfilled.

Tournament: Texas | Round: 4 | Opponent: Binghamton Sehgal-Reddick | Judge: Keenan
Adapted poem by Layli Maparyan Phillips from "Introduction: The Womanist Reader" 2006

i have been pondering them of late as i feel and think about the major transitions i am going through
that all of us are going through in some measure
with all the comings and leavings that are part of life and death
but i also think about them in relation to what they may have to say in
reminding me why i do what i do
and how
and in what ways
for me, to talk about standing with one another
to conjure solidarity across differences
to spark womanist wisdom on solidarity and differences
is, at first glance
(and i must admit on several glances looks mullings later)
to tempt the agony of the absurd
i feel as though i have been cast back in time
to that 60s cocktail party in which Ralph Ellison
the author of Invisible Man spoke in “clipped, deliberate syllables” to his peers
“Show me the poem, tell me the names of the opera/the
symphony that will stop one man from killing another
man and then maybe” he gestured toward the elegant
bejeweled assembly with his hand that held a cut-crystal
glass of scotch—“just maybe some of this can be justified.”
i am relieved to say that tempting the agony of the absurd
does not leave me in Ellison’s condemnatory despair
but it does leave me with a frustrated hope
a hope that is imbued with Jordan’s words
as they echo
“we do not sweat and summon our best in order to rescue
the killers”
there are days, in fact,
that i’ll be damned if i rescue any killer
or someone even approaching such a grotesque status
to work in solidarity with those who are like me
unlike me
or resemble me
does not demand or require that i save those who would identify others dead or
annihilated
either through neglect
indifference
calculation
or theoethical musings
i will not rescue the killers
of dreams and visions of a world better than this
of hopes that continue to pulse, however faintly, in the midst
of disaster and ruin
i will not rescue the killers
who create optional reading lists
that signal to me
that some actual or alleged scholars really believe
that there are optional peoples, cultures, lives, ideas,
hopes, realities
and secondary lists are little better
when they traffic peoples’ yearnings and expectations as
ideologies and abstractions
i will not rescue the killer
who remains silent when the innocent are murdered
and it is called patriotism or cleansing or white male rage
or horizontal violence
when people starve on our streets
while there is more than enough food for everyone to eat
three squares a day and at least one snack
when children die unloved and unwanted and thrown away
and we shake our collective pious heads and shut the
doors of homes and our hearts
when money determines right and wrong
good and evil
unity and dissent
diversity and blandness
hope and despair
promise and lies
damnation and salvation
no, absolutely no, i will not rescue the killers
when the church functions like an efficient corporation
and numbers and spaces in parking lots and the joy of
multiple worship services
serve as the markers for spirit and love and
mercy and justice
hear me now, i will not rescue the killers
when the academy devolves into gigantic public holding pens
for creativity and intellect
in other words
for me and my house
growing Topsy while standing with others across differences
does not require that i be run over in a mad teleological drive toward a misbegotten
notion of solidarity
that i accept a specious deontological notion of a disinterested love
that asks me to sacrifice my very soul
so that others may find comfort and ease in the macabre
spectacle of my self annihilation
or the obliteration of whole peoples
Topsy as a womanist does not find it acceptable that i acquiesce to a least
common denominator justice
that is really no justice at all
she does not require that i check my passions
my insights
my communities
at the door to enter the hall of kumbaya
and if there is any wisdom that can come
from this black woman
on notions of solidarities and differences that are strong
enough, wise enough, and ornery enough to go
toe-to-toe
with the fantastic hegemonic imagination
it is that
to engage in such work is absolutely dangerous
it may, in fact, not be good for one’s health at all
it can lead to heart and soul-ache
it can make us old before our time
it can make us eat and drink too much or too little
of all the unhealthy things
it can turn us bitter and sarcastic
it can make you ornery and mean as a snake
it can turn justice into vengeance
it can turn us into killers
but the danger does not stop here
it is dangerous because it means that we refuse the emotional
numbing panaceas
of acquisition and status and competitive spirit that does
not seek excellence, only winning
we pierce through the straw figure of a free market
and speak with increasing precision and accuracy about
the impact of transnationals
from agribusiness
to munitions
to clothing manufacturers
to western tastes and cultures passing themselves
off as neutral or the markers of progress
we become dangerous when
we speak the truth that the king is naked
when it comes to the U.S. prison industrial complex
when we question declarations of war that are soon
accompanied by massive bail outs for corporations that
even that bastion of progressive monetary policies, the
wall street journal, said “mainly padded corporate bottom
lines”
when we express confusion and dismay when terrorism is
used as the reason for a sharp cut in the capital gains tax
a tax in which 80 percent of the benefits would
go to the wealthiest 2 percent of the taxpayers
when folk hide behind conveniently literal interpretations
of scripture that support their views
on homosexuality, abortion, the roles of women
and men, the place of clergy and laity, the
pillaging of the environment, and just about
anything else
except individual and corporate sinning in the
name of individualism and the alleged common
good
yes, this is a naked butt king
when it comes to public policy that is really the personal
agenda of moralizing rhetoricians
who are dangerous because they now hold elected office
and someone believed that they should bring us back to
the good old days
that were, for many of us, deadly days
when almost every piece of legislation we are told is good for us
is sold to us with one price tag (like medicare drug benefits
for the elderly)
and then we are told—as many predicted on the left and
the right that the costs would be more and strain the federal
budget more
but we are told—just trust us, we know we are
right
and then we find that a $400 billion price tag
over 10 years is now, weeks after the dust had
settled from the debate, is really a $530 billion
price tag24
when we are go to war based on claims about weapons of
mass destruction in Iraq based on “documentary evidence”
that was forged and doubted by CIA analysts from the
beginning
and each time any of us express doubt about this “evidence,”
we were branded as weak or unpatriotic
and now, months and deaths later, we detect federal
officials recasting their words as if they never knew that
the “evidence” could possibly be cooked
and that the president was not told the truth
and we should be glad we invaded Iraq anyway
because Saddam Hussein had to be removed
from power
and it should not matter, ultimately, that we were lied to
although most of us are taught that when you lie,
you should be exposed and punished
but the fact that these lies went largely
unreported by U.S. domestic media that does a
dangerous dance against free speech with the
federal administration
is like the dead skunk in the middle of
the road
stinking to high heaven
but we drive around it as if it
were not there
no i am not here for the killers
when it comes to solidarity
which i assume is another way to say justice
i am not interested in them
except for how to decrease their numbers
and their power
i have no wish to be objective about their behavior, methods, ideologies, or
strategies
when i do the work of justice
it is with and as an advocate for the victims
actual
possible
imagined
of evil
it is subjective, it is emotional, it is passionate, it is very interested
and if i cannot find others who are interested and committed to this
then there is no solidarity
and our differences not only separate us
they make us adversaries
or enemies
in other words, for me, i do not assume solidarity
when i join others in the work of justice
solidarity is something that is nurtured and grown
in the yearning for and living out of justice
solidarity comes from hard work
listening
analyzing
questioning
rethinking
accepting
rejecting
it comes from a place of respecting and being respected
and that, i think, does not come easily or naturally for most of us
if it were so natural, then we wouldn’t be in the fix we are trying to get out of
for to respect others
means we must also respect ourselves
and centuries of inherited messages about the inherent evil of humanity (with
a large measure of this brutalizing swill aimed at women)
pose a wall of judgment and condemnation
that is hard for many of us to scale
so as we seek to work together, we must always be working on ourselves
and perhaps this is where the comforting begins
as each of us has that dawning and then awakening in us
that the point is in some religious version of perfection
but that we live our humanity with passion and vigor—
regardless
that we live our lives in justice and hope and even love—
relentlessly
that we recognize that none of us has the corner on righteousness
that we are the ones we have been waiting for
and ultimately, there is no one to do this work for us
this, then, is the first light of empowerment
when we realize that we cannot do the work of justice
to end structural injustice
by individual acts of valor and conviction alone
they may help, to be sure
but tackling structural evil takes a whole bunch of folks
with varieties of skills and insights
because structures of domination rarely come in such pristine
forms as
circles
triangles
rectangles
or rhomboids
no, structures of domination are like demonic ink blots
they have cores
but the splatter marks are far and wide and absolutely
dangerous
and they can cause so much collateral damage
that they disfigure and maim
to speak of solidarity
to conjure standing anywhere together
is, then, to tempt the agony of the absurd
but frankly, i simply don’t know what else to do
and remain faithful
and although Jordan’s description of tinkering, daydreaming, revising, and
memorizing
does not sit well for this womanist ethicist
i do believe in strategizing, envisioning, challenging, debunking, and
transforming
but always with an eye to sharing and receiving the dignity
and gift of humanity and creation
this means that a solidarity seeking the status quo is not one i can embrace a
solidarity that teaches a studied silence that rewards thought-less, clueless
obedience
and punishes vital curiosity
is not one that i can come near
a solidarity that only tolerates oppositional knowledge on playgrounds,
streets, homes, popular culture, youth groups
but never in board meetings, religious councils, strategy sessions
or in policy development or pulpits or curriculum revisions
is not a solidarity that is actually concerned about justice
and it does not deserve my time
but it does need to be watched, monitored, like a hawk
and if need be, be destroyed
whatever wisdom i have on solidarity and differences
has been crafted from the hard experiences
of learning over and over again
that just because folk espouse solidarity does not mean
they either know it or mean it
that there are many good works being done to bring in
justice
but that there is only one of me
and that i must, as each of us must
make some choices about who we stand in solidarity with
and how we will or will not deal with the differences
that can enrich us
challenge us
deny us
destroy us
but to remember also that we must not take so long to choose
that the choice gets made by our indecision or inaction
we may choose wisely or foolishly
but the point is that we develop the ability to recognize where
our actions are leading us
and where we have actually gone
and reformulate and assess on a continual basis
if we are truly working for justice or if we have fallen into
cooptation
or complicity
or betrayal
there are always options
i’ve learned this from the trickster tradition in my culture
but they cut both ways and sometimes even slice and dice
to move beyond the tight circle that we often seem caught in that is hollowed
out by conservatism and liberalism
means that we stop collapsing difference and diversity and
plurality
and all those terms we use to signal humanity and creation
is large
into such neat and pristine buzz words
and instead realize that
we will not always agree
there will be times of reasoned (and unreasoned) dissent
that we may not be able to work
together on everything or every issue
sometimes it is to recast
from our worldviews
the things we’ve learned through the years
but even as small children:
the police are not always your friend
it is not always wise to wait to cross at
a corner
or even to cross only at corners
in other words, there are few absolutes in life
and solidarities and differences are just as caught up in this
reality as episodes or steady diets of disaster and ruin
no, as i continue being a part of growing Topsy, i do not sweat and summon
whatever best there is in me to rescue the killers
but i do try to give all of who i am to the work for justice
and hang in there with others who recognize that solidarities
and differences are messy
and ultimatly human
and in some small way this marks our humanity
and turns the absurdities
into living, breathing, active hope

Tournament: Texas | Round: 6 | Opponent: Wichita State McFarland-ODonnell | Judge: Loghry
Same as Round 4

Tournament: USC | Round: 1 | Opponent: Dartmouth College Chen-Cramer | Judge: Lundeen
Policy debate is good, they said. Learn about the state, they said. And now I’m spending all my time trying to unlearn all that jank. Trying to remember how to be myself. See, myself is not something that’s easy to know. There’s white people constantly telling me to speak lower, speak slower, better yet, sit down and shut up. Well you’re at it, take out your braids and perm your hair, maybe you’ll pass. Maybe people will think you’re one of us. Then I got black folk telling me that I’m light skinned, raised white, and not from the hood. Leave those braids in and sound less educated; we all know you’re smart now just stop talking like you’re white. Aiight homies imma try to come through for you. Sure don’t stop there though; then we got them men telling me to focus on what I’m supposed to. Shut up, I’m not speaking to you woman, don’t you know that women aint supposed to be loud like you are? …
Yeah I know. Women aren’t supposed to be like me, whites aren’t supposed to be like me, blacks ain’t supposed to be like me. I am done passing; I am not what you define me as but I am a multiplicity of things. I do sit at the intersection and I will not sit down, shut up, and let you define me. Vida and I are done reading policy arguments to avoid cheating, we done reading kritical arguments cuz we supposed to, we done doing anything but being ourselves in this round. We ain’t got agency over nobody else, and we are done pretending we do.
Nommo is a vernacular strategy of resistance that preserved the ontological subjectivity of black bodies who survived the Middle Passage – our methodology is one that is essential to ontology and strategies that scream “NO!” in the face of white oppression
Yancy, Professor of Philosphy at Duquesne University, 2012
(George, Ph.D. Duquesne University, Reframing the Practice of Philosophy: Bodies of Color, Bodies of Knowledge”, State University Press of New York, accessed on 10/14/13, Ben)

Contrary to the white ... tongue during the African Holocaust.

We are constantly on the move using our language as an attempt to reshape culture. We ain't got no choice but to change how we speak, how we act, both what we say and how we say it. Debate mandates the way that we behave and requires a certain level of conformity in order to be accepted. Our stylistic approach changes this- code-switching is an example of how we navigate the power structure that are active in both the debate community and society at large
Reid-Brinkley, Kelsie, Brady, and Evans Department of Communication University of Pittsburgh, 13
(Shanara, Assistant Professor of Public Address and Advocacy Director of Debate, William Pitt Debating Union, Amber Kelsie, M.A. Doctoral Student, Department of Communication University of Pittsburgh, Nicholas Brady, Doctoral Student, Department of Culture and Theory University of California, Irvine, Ignacio Evans, B.A. History Towson University, 10-06-13, “We Be Fresh As Hell Wit’ Da Feds Watchin’: A Bad Black Debate Family Responds,” http://resistanceanddebate.wordpress.com/2013/10/06/we-be-fresh-as-hell-wit-da-feds-watchin-a-bad-black-debate-family-responds/, vc)

Bankey’s positioning of himself ...accusations of anti-intellectualism

Culture invokes a creative ability to restore agency through the usage of language. Culture is who we be. It's inextricable from our beings and our language and our arguments because it represents who we are and where we came from.  As marked bodies we are perceived and defined in a certain way. Using Nommo allows us to reclaim our culture and identify our own subjectivity.
Culture is the basis for building a bridge through performative acts that creates a condition of possibility for all excluded perspectives
Clarke, Assistant Professor of Communication at Northwestern, 2004
(Lynn, studies rhetorical theory and its relationships to philosophy, "Talk About Talk: Promises, Risks, and a Proposition Out of Nommo", The Journal of Speculative Philosophy, Vol 18:4, accessed on 10/13/13, Ben)

Importantly, Yancy and Docta G ... in and through speech.

Our performance is our own- as black women we are always reshaping the way that politics interact with our bodies in order to create a new politics that allows for people of color everywhere to speak- this is a drastic shift from traditional forms of socio-linguistics
Morgan, Professor of Afro-American Studies at Harvard University, 2002
(Marcyliena, Professor of Anthropology at University of California and the editor of Language and the Social Construction of Identity in Creole Situations, “Language Discourse and Power in African American Culture”, Cambridge University Press, accessed on 10/14/13, Ben)

During the 1970s, ...gender, class and sexuality.5

Why is it that when two white people walk into a room it’s assumed that they’ll be reading a policy aff? Better yet, why is it that two white women can walk into a room and you don’t assume they’re going to read a feminism aff? When Vida and I walk into a debate round we are objectified: the majority of people’s first thoughts are “oh, they’re black women, they must not read a policy aff,” or better yet, “Oh, they’re Liberty’s K team.” We are not “black women” and we are not “Liberty’s K team.” We are Meagan and Vida and if we are objectified in any sense than we are the objects of the resolution: We be the locked up bodies, we be walkin with targets for killin, we be hacked, we are dem hostilities.
But we are here.
And we will no longer be objectified by this community. Specifically, we will no longer be imprisoned by this community, the precious resolution, or the United States federal government. Therefore, Vida and I advocate the United Snakes of Amerikkka stop lockin up dem bodies. 

Minorities are locked up in the status quo because difference is targeted and exploited. Rights are systematically denied by the president and difference is continually manipulated rather than celebrated
Ford, political analyst, 11
(Glen, Black Agenda Respond executive editor, journalist, “The Racist Roots of Obama’s Preventive Detention,” 2011, http://blackagendareport.com/content/racist-roots-obamaE28099s-preventive-detention, accessed 08/05/2013, blh)

It should have been ... is how they will lose those freedoms.

This comes as no surprise- civil society is manipulated and controlled by white supremacist capital patriarchy that aims at exploiting and maintain difference – it does it through its linguistic construction of difference and categories based on value and expectation – our political methodology is a necessary step to deconstruct the way that bodies are shaped by intersecting structures of domination
hooks, distinguished professor of English at City College in New York, 92
(bell, Ph.D. from the University of California, Santa Cruz, 1992, “Eating the Other,” from “Black Looks: Race and Representation,” pages 21-22, da 10-10-13, http://www.scribd.com/doc/118302450/Eating-the-Other-bell-Hooks, mee)

This is theory’s acute ... longings are ever fulfilled.

A long time ago, Anansi the spider, had all the wisdom in the world stored in a huge pot. The sky god had given it to him. Anansi had been instructed to share it with everyone. 

Every day, Anansi looked in the pot, and learned different things. The pot was full of wonderful ideas and skills. 

Anansi greedily thought, "I will not share the treasure of knowledge with everyone. I will keep all the wisdom for myself." 

So, Anansi decided to hide the wisdom on top of a tall tree. He took some vines and made some strong string and tied it firmly around the pot, leaving one end free. He then tied the loose end around his waist so that the pot hung in front of him. 

He then started to climb the tree. He struggled as he climbed because the pot of wisdom kept getting in his way, bumping against his tummy. 

Anansi's son watched in fascination as his father struggled up the tree. Finally, Anansi's son told him "If you tie the pot to your back, it will be easier to cling to the tree and climb." 

Anansi tied the pot to his back instead, and continued to climb the tree, with much more ease than before. 

When Anansi got to the top of the tree, he became angry. "A young one with some common sense knows more than I, and I have the pot of wisdom!" 

In anger, Anansi threw down the pot of wisdom. The pot broke, and pieces of wisdom flew in every direction. People found the bits scattered everywhere, and if they wanted to, they could take some home to their families and friends. 

That is why to this day, no one person has ALL the world's wisdom. People everywhere share small pieces of it whenever they exchange ideas.

Tournament: Westpoint | Round: 2 | Opponent: CUNY McIntyre-Joseph | Judge: Keeton
Perm do both
A combination of methodologies is key to making resistance effective
Reid-Brinkley et al, Department of Communication University of Pittsburgh, 13
(Shanara, Assistant Professor of Public Address and Advocacy Director of Debate, William Pitt Debating Union, Amber Kelsie, M.A. Doctoral Student, Department of Communication University of Pittsburgh, Nicholas Brady, Doctoral Student, Department of Culture and Theory University of California, Irvine, Ignacio Evans, B.A. History Towson University, 10-06-13, “We Be Fresh As Hell Wit’ Da Feds Watchin’: A Bad Black Debate Family Responds,” http://resistanceanddebate.wordpress.com/2013/10/06/we-be-fresh-as-hell-wit-da-feds-watchin-a-bad-black-debate-family-responds/, vc)

Which leads us to the …..by its nature false.

An anti-black focus on the black body perpetuates the erasure of black female experience – their strategy of a non-ontological being ensures continued domination and exclusion
Hodges, undergraduate of African American Studies at University of California Irvine, 2012
(Asia, “Mama’s Baby and the Black Gender Problematic”, http://www.academia.edu/2027925/Mamas_Baby_and_the_Black_Gender_Problematic, accessed on 10/05/2013, blh)

For me, this paper represents ……..make a place for this different social subject.“