KERRY WASHINGTON ON CELEBRITY AND ACTIVISM

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AS: Your activism is really inspiring. As a talented and hugely successful actress, do you feel that you have a certain role or responsibility in the movement for social justice? 

KW: No. I always say to people I don’t participate in the political process as a “celebrity” or person in the public eye. I come from a political family. Talking politics and social issues, it was at the dinner table. It was a part of how I was raised. Giving back and participating in our democracy is part of how I was raised. When I became of the age to vote, it was like a big rite of passage party. My parents took me out to dinner, we talked about who I was going to vote for, and how I was going to decide. I participate in my democracy because I feel really lucky to live in a representational democracy where my leaders only know how to lead if I’m in communication with them. I know how many people have died for me to have this right. I know that the original Constitution of the United States, according to that document, I would be 3/5 of a person, as a person of African-American descent. I know that women went to prison in petticoats for me as a woman to have the right to vote. I don’t take my identity as an American, as a member of this democracy, lightly. I feel that we should all be participating. I don’t feel a responsibility as a celebrity, I feel a responsibility as an American, as a person of color, as a woman. 

AS: What is your favorite thing about being feminist?KW: The term feminist is so inclusive now. There isn’t one way to be a feminist or to practice feminism, to exercise feminism. You can be feminist in lots of different ways because the point is freedom of choice.
I also want to say that I very much identify with the term womanist, but I don’t think the two are mutually exclusive. I also identify as a humanist. I don’t think that either of those terms are mutually exclusive. 

AS: Who are your favorite fictional heroines, and who are your heroines in real life?KW:  Well my mom is one of my heroines in real life…Michelle Obama, Hillary Clinton, Diahann Carroll. Oh god, there’s so many. You know, my grandmother...  

Oh, you know what, I have to say that one of my real life heroines is Barbra Streisand. I just think she’s never accepted anybody else’s limitations or definitions. She is such a hero of mine. She worked on stage, on film. She’s been an actor, a singer, a director. She’s written books. She’s so politically active. She has a family. She was told she doesn’t fit within stereotypical ideas of beauty at the time and it didn’t matter. She didn’t change...

Read More: http://feministing.com/2012/06/02/the-feministing-five-kerry-washington/

Kerry Washington is one of the black feminists that stood up to be counted for the #MuteRKelly section of the #MeToo & #TimesUp movements.

Happy 42nd Birthday To Her!

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WHAT I'VE LEARNED by Aja Monet

Aja Monet does the kind of poetry that people who don't get poetry...actually get.  Worth listening to more than once.

Race
Class
Gender
Self-Love
Interdependence

She covers it all. 

Aja Monet

Poet, Feminist, Activist

I know cloud formations

that raindrops don't fall in a teardrop shape

they originally fall in the shape of a flat oval

I don't remember where I read that

...

how to be broken and put together again

I know my arms are long

and my hands remind me of vines

I know laughter

sometimes sounds like bubble wrap

and it's my favorite part of unpacking boxes

When I smile I quint my eyes

i know men with deep diaphram laughter

and lady bugs aren't really ladies..

I know they like to follow me into subway cars

on days when I need to be reminded of magic

I know spider webs sparkle like diamonds after rainshowers

I know yestedfay is the day before tomororw

and tomrrow is an illusion where I imagine...

LISTEN TO THE REST 

          OF 

"WHAT I'VE LEARNED"

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OPRAH'S TIMES UP SPEECH ONE YEAR LATER

"Thank you, Reese. In 1964, I was a little girl sitting on the linoleum floor of my mother's house in Milwaukee watching Anne Bancroft present the Oscar for best actor at the 36th Academy Awards. She opened the envelope and said five words that literally made history:" The winner is Sidney Poitier." Up to the stage came the most elegant man I ever remembered. His tie was white, his skin was black—and he was being celebrated. I'd never seen a black man being celebrated like that. I tried many, many times to explain what a moment like that means to a little girl, a kid watching from the cheap seats as my mom came through the door bone tired from cleaning other people's houses. But all I can do is quote and say that the explanation in Sidney's performance in Lilies of the Field: "Amen, amen, amen, amen."

In 1982, Sidney received the Cecil B. DeMille award right here at the Golden Globes and it is not lost on me that at this moment, there are some little girls watching as I become the first black woman to be given this same award. It is an honor—it is an honor and it is a privilege to share the evening with all of them and also with the incredible men and women who have inspired me, who challenged me, who sustained me and made my journey to this stage possible. Dennis Swanson who took a chance on me for A.M. Chicago. Saw me on the show and said to Steven Spielberg, she's Sophia in 'The Color Purple.' Gayle who's been a friend and Stedman who's been my rock.

I want to thank the Hollywood Foreign Press Association. We know the press is under siege these days. We also know it's the insatiable dedication to uncovering the absolute truth that keeps us from turning a blind eye to corruption and to injustice. To—to tyrants and victims, and secrets and lies. I want to say that I value the press more than ever before as we try to navigate these complicated times, which brings me to this: what I know for sure is that speaking your truth is the most powerful tool we all have. And I'm especially proud and inspired by all the women who have felt strong enough and empowered enough to speak up and share their personal stories. Each of us in this room are celebrated because of the stories that we tell, and this year we became the story.

But it's not just a story affecting the entertainment industry. It's one that transcends any culture, geography, race, religion, politics, or workplace. So I want tonight to express gratitude to all the women who have endured years of abuse and assault because they, like my mother, had children to feed and bills to pay and dreams to pursue. They're the women whose names we'll never know. They are domestic workers and farm workers. They are working in factories and they work in restaurants and they're in academia, engineering, medicine, and science. They're part of the world of tech and politics and business. They're our athletes in the Olympics and they're our soldiers in the military.

And there's someone else, Recy Taylor, a name I know and I think you should know, too. In 1944, Recy Taylor was a young wife and mother walking home from a church service she'd attended in Abbeville, Alabama, when she was abducted by six armed white men, raped, and left blindfolded by the side of the road coming home from church. They threatened to kill her if she ever told anyone, but her story was reported to the NAACP where a young worker by the name of Rosa Parks became the lead investigator on her case and together they sought justice. But justice wasn't an option in the era of Jim Crow. The men who tried to destroy her were never persecuted. Recy Taylor died ten days ago, just shy of her 98th birthday. She lived as we all have lived, too many years in a culture broken by brutally powerful men. For too long, women have not been heard or believed if they dare speak the truth to the power of those men. But their time is up. Their time is up.

Their time is up. And I just hope—I just hope that Recy Taylor died knowing that her truth, like the truth of so many other women who were tormented in those years, and even now tormented, goes marching on. It was somewhere in Rosa Parks' heart almost 11 years later, when she made the decision to stay seated on that bus in Montgomery, and it's here with every woman who chooses to say, "Me too." And every man—every man who chooses to listen.

In my career, what I've always tried my best to do, whether on television or through film, is to say something about how men and women really behave. To say how we experience shame, how we love and how we rage, how we fail, how we retreat, persevere, and how we overcome. I've interviewed and portrayed people who've withstood some of the ugliest things life can throw at you, but the one quality all of them seem to share is an ability to maintain hope for a brighter morning, even during our darkest nights. So I want all the girls watching here, now, to know that a new day is on the horizon! And when that new day finally dawns, it will be because of a lot of magnificent women, many of whom are right here in this room tonight, and some pretty phenomenal men, fighting hard to make sure that they become the leaders who take us to the time when nobody ever has to say 'Me too' again."

http://www.harpersbazaar.com/culture/film-tv/a14551183/oprah-winfrey-golden-globes-speech-transcript/

OPRAH WINFREY ON AUTHENTIC POWER AND THE SCHOOL SHE BUILT FOR GIRLS

feeling rebloggy

"Oprah Winfrey, recognized for her charity work with the Oprah Winfrey Leadership Academy Foundation, was the only one to receive a standing ovation at Variety’s Power of Women luncheon presented by Lifetime."

From 2015

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The Muting Of R Kelly

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     Amid renewed attention on the R&B singer and his sexual misconduct allegations, many radio workers are opting to #MuteRKelly. “You have to feel some type of culpability or feel complicit in some way,” said one DJ, “especially if you work in radio.”




     After watching Lifetime’s Surviving R. Kelly documentary, Jerold Jackson, a radio program director in Lafayette, Louisiana, was angry.
     “To see the faces of those people, to hear that every single person was saying the same exact thing ... it was describing an MO of how he operates,” Jackson told BuzzFeed News. “That’s pimp-like quality and that’s the last thing we need.”
     Jackson suddenly felt compelled to pull down a plaque on his wall that he said he’d received from R. Kelly himself at a National Black Programmers Coalition years before, “thanking” him for playing the singer’s music. Jackson’s radio stations, KRRQ 95.5 and KNEK 104.3, no longer play the singer’s music.
    Jackson’s stations are not alone. 
    After decades of giving the musician airtime, many urban, R&B, and even pop stations across the US now seem to be slowly abandoning Kelly, as they find it increasingly difficult to turn a blind eye to the severity of the claims against him in the #MeToo era. BuzzFeed News spoke with almost a dozen radio workers across the country about how they’re handling the renewed focus on the singer’s scandals, revealing that the coordinated campaign by activists to #MuteRKelly may indeed be breaking through where it counts: the gatekeepers of the music industry...

Read More: https://www.buzzfeednews.com/article/michaelblackmon/r-kelly-radio-mute?

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MARTIN LUTHER KING AND CORETTA SCOTT KING HOME ADDED TO MLK NATIONAL PARK

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Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. and Coretta Scott King’s family home in Atlanta, Georgia is now part of the Martin Luther King Jr. National Historical Park.

feeling rebloggy

 
     "African American history is U.S. history, and the family home of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. and Mrs. Coretta Scott King is a touchstone for us all to better understand our shared heritage,” 

     National Park Foundation president Will Shafroth said in a press release. "The acquisition of both Dr. King’s birth home and the family home he shared with Coretta Scott King and their children advances the National Park Foundation’s commitment to telling a more comprehensive American story through national parks. With greater access to Dr. King’s life and legacy, we can learn more about this country’s past and how his work continues to echo through time."

     Located on Sunset Avenue in an Atlanta neighborhood called Vine City

https://www.becauseofthemwecan.com/blogs/culture/dr-martin-luther-king-jr-and-coretta-scott-kings-family-home-is-now-part-of-mlk-national-historical-park?fbclid=IwAR1wew34nHsEd-AJIOL9kHJZdGodlkBQSdP0ZMYz-xm6LkMsaKEFWOKcYhk

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LOVING THE WORLD BY LOVING SELF: MOVING ON TO A MORE EXTRAORDINARY LOVE

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TERRY CREWS EXPECTED SUPPORT FROM BLACK MEN AFTER REVEALING SEXUAL ASSAULT

"During an interview on Bravo’s Watch What Happens Live earlier this week, the actor, who claims he was groped by Hollywood agent Adam Venit in the presence of his wife, shared that Black women showed up for him the most. Venit denies the allegation.

 “I have to say this: the people that surprised me the most were Black women,” said Crews. “Black men did not want any part of it.”
     “All my support came from Black women, straight up. And that’s kind of wild. It shocked me. It shocked my family,” he told the show’s host, Andy Cohen."

Source: https://www.essence.com/celebrity/terry-crews-black-women-supported-him-after-sexual-assault/ 

* * * * *
Well, this isn't shocking to me. I suspect this is not shocking to most black feminists either. And it probably shouldn't be shocking to any feminist of any color because...

Toxic Masculinity says, "A man is never supposed to be weak. A man is never supposed to be a victim. And a man is especially never supposed to be a victim of a crime that lowly women are victims of -- not when you're a big strong alpha-male." 

And America is a Toxic Masculinity soaked culture, and that includes Black American Culture.

When a man has an unchallenged Toxic Masculinity World View, he's going to feel afraid and ashamed of the very thought that their own masculinity might crumble if he is sexually harassed or assaulted like a woman. Men have been trained from birth to be afraid of being female-like, which is why little boys call one another "sissy" and "p*ssy" when they are growing up. 

And men who are ashamed and afraid of their masculinity crumbling are not going to help other men who have openly admitted to being sexually harassed or assaulted when to do so is akin to acknowledging that this other man is no longer "a real man."

Toxic masculinity doesn't just hurt women, it hurts men. It hurts men first and deepest. And to be more specific, Toxic Masculinity is why men, especially black men, have unacknowledged problems with emotional stress and suicide. And risks associated with isolation and suicide are further exacerbated when black men cannot have one another's backs if the other man is hurt or crying-- due to Toxic Masculinity. 

So no, I'm not shocked at all that black men didn't have Terry Crews back. 

Crews has declared himself a feminist, which is probably strike one with the Ashy-s and Hoteps. That's part of the reason he's getting so little support from black men.

But I know deep in bone marrow that the declaration that he is a feminist is simultaneously a declaration that Crews is sure that his masculinity comes from inside him and not circumstances. And Terry Crews being a feminist is one of the major reasons why he is the only(?) high profile black man brave enough to say he'd been sexually assaulted.

Crews' bravery is a service to little black boys everywhere. 

Like Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie's book title says, "We Should All Be Feminists" It's a short read. Go out buy it for the men in your life, today. 

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Family of Kalief Browder Awarded $3.3 Million From New York

I don't know if you've forgotten his name. But he was unjustly accused of stealing a back pack. As I recall there was a bad eyewitness I D. Because his family was poor, he couldn't afford bail* for 3 years... after he refused to take a plea for something he didn't do.

*only 12% of defendants could afford bail at the time.

So young he was assaulted and beaten by other prisoners and prison guards both, while at Rikers. Authorities wound up keeping away from the general prison population (but not the guards, as I recall) via putting him solitary confinement -- which crushes people psychologically. And the didn't do it for a week or so at a time, which is bad enough. They kept him there for best part of 2 years.

Browder killed himself shortly after being released. One year plus one day later, after having discoered her son's hanging body his mother Venida Browder was also dead (of a broken heart).

Kalief Browder's story is one of the saddest prison stories you'll ever hear.
Read More: https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/family-kalief-browder-young-man-who-killed-himself-after-jail-n962466? The original story is within the link below: https://blackchickrocked.blogspot.com/2018/05/kalief-browder-regarding-poverty-prison.html

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ANGELA DAVIS ON OUR WEAKEST LINKS

WHITE WOMENAll you have to do is look at every single one supporting the GOP (Grand Ole Party) Take an especially hard look at the ones sitting behind Brett Kavanaugh during his confirmation hearing for the Supreme Court.

They support white male supremacy because they can marry into it's power.

Married white women have the secondary status assigned to them by their husbands. And the unmarried ones are too foolish to realize they don't have the same level of status as white men or married white women -- which is likely why a percentage of single white women like to call the police on black folks for stupid stuff -- so they can prove to themselves their whiteness is worth just as much as the next white person. 

At the very least, calling white cops on black people proves that they, as single white women, have higher status than black people. And this is very valuable to some white people. It must be. They've been seeking confirmation of white skin status for centuries. 

For example: Poor white people fought for slave owning whites for the very same reason -- to prove white skin status-- despite the fact that they were kinda fighting to slit their own throats. 

I mean, but for fighting to hold on to some kind of superiority, how hard is it to figure out that fighting for somebody else's right to have free labor is not good for you as a laborer or a farmer in competition?

BLACK MEN

This explains why so many black men (and the pick-me-s that follow them over any cliff) had a hard time seeing Killmonger as a villain in BLACK PANTHER.  Killmonger wasn't wrong on the facts. But he was dead wrong on the solution, which was rise up and take the white man's place as top oppressor.

A large percentage of non-feminist variety black men as well as the ashy-s and the hoteps, all of them want to replace the white man as top dog. 

And, lately, what that has meant is that they want the right to rape and pillage their own women....same as white men do; 

This is exactly what many black men mean to communicate to black women every single time we say #MuteRKelly and they respond by throwing some white man out in front of Kelly by saying something like, "What about Harvey Weinstein?"

And you know Kelly is being defended when they throw Weinstein's name out precisely because it's so lazy a choice. With all the white men who have skated on sex crimes, the black women and black men talking about "What about Weinstein?" have conveniently forgotten that this man has already lost his business and is being ground up (hopefully) by the justice system as we speak. 

Other than losing his record deal with SONY-RCA, R. Kelly is just walking around embarrassed -- instead of having a real chance at real prison time.

THE BLACK WOMEN 
WHO DEFEND BLACK MEN AT ANY COST

Actually, I'd make a correction to Angela's quote if I could. I'd say the weakest links in overcoming oppression in this country are white women, black men, and also black women who defend black men at any cost. 
Maybe Angela Davis would change this quote if she could too, especially now that she's seen the reaction to the SURVIVING R KELLY documentary. Black response to that television series has shown just how little black girls are seen --through the prisms of black patriarchy* and internalized-racism-- as over-sexed and lacking innocence by our own people, including black women.

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THE LIFE OF BESSIE COLEMAN

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        Bessie Coleman was born January 26, 1893, in Atlanta, Texas, one of thirteen children...    Just a few years later, December 1903, the Wright Brothers made the first sustained flight in a heavier-than-air vehicle at Kitty Hawk. Poet Paul Lawrence Dunbar was their friend and classmate. Their flight was to be a pivotal event in Coleman's life.      Because she was born with a drive to better herself, Coleman was an avid reader. Her mother ensured that the Coleman children made good use of the traveling library that came through two or three times a year.      Perhaps one of the books that inspired Coleman was “The Wonderful Wizard of Oz”, written in 1900 by Frank Baum. 

     ...In the summer of 1919, Chicago was pounded by the worst race riot in history.

     A black youth on a homemade raft drifted into an area of Lake Michigan used by whites. He fell into the water and drowned after being stoned by the whites. That same night, Chicago became the Wild West with black and whites fighting in the streets with guns and knives. It carried into the next day, when a gang of whites drug blacks off the streetcar and beat them.

      It took four days and the National Guard to restore order to the Chicago. Although Coleman and her family were unscathed, around her, there were 38 dead, 537 injured and over 1,000 people homeless. 

     Like Dorothy in Oz, Coleman had traveled the “yellow brick road” - a road that was full of conflict and difficulties. She established herself in Chicago, learned a trade, found a place to live, witnessed her brothers go to war overseas and then survived a race riot. Yet, she was unwavering in her quest to move forward, and she was firm about fighting against what she believed were the evils of racism, sexism, poverty, and ignorance.

     When pilots began to make headlines and pictures of WWI airplanes appeared regularly in magazines, Bessie toyed with the idea of flying as a way out for her and others like her. But when her brother John teasingly told her; “You n***er women ain’t never goin’ to fly, Not like those women I saw in France ” - she smiled at him and said; “That’s it - You just called it for me. 

     The captive audience at the barbershop witnessed that moment in time when Bessie Coleman decided to learn to fly. 

     So Coleman applied to almost every American flying school, but was quickly turned down. There were, of course, two reasons why Coleman couldn't find anyone to teach her to fly. Her brown skin was an obvious reason and her sex was another. The doors to the open skies over America were closed to young Bessie Coleman. But France was so different...

          It is important to note that the “Tulsa Race Riot” took place on June 1, 1921. 

     According to Bieke Gils, “this incident greatly affected and shaped African American’s perceptions of aviation.” After an unresolved lynching incident, six white pilots dropped bombs on the wealthy black Greenwood district of Tulsa, setting fire to the town and killing 75 Tulsans, two-thirds of whom were black.
    It was the first time in history that airplanes were used to attack an American community and this community was black. Marcus Garvey encouraged African Americans to become involved in aviation and to secure as many airplanes as possible in anticipation of a catastrophic race war. And most black newspapers promoted aviation in an effort to dispel stereotypes about African Americans being less intelligent, incompetent and lazy. Bessie Coleman was doing what everyone was talking about.

     After seven months of stringent training, and two weeks after the Tulsa Race Riot, Coleman was declared to be a qualified aviator on June 15, 1921, when she received her international pilot’s license No. 18.310. She was the first American of any race or gender to be directly awarded credential’s to pilot an airplane license from the Federation Aeronitique Internationale in France. To receive this license, she had to demonstrate high skill sets comprised of life-saving maneuvers including turning off the engine before touching down...     Bessie Coleman’s flight exhibitions were successful because she appealed to both black and white audiences. White audiences saw her as an attractive, petite uniqueness - a tiny beautiful woman piloting an airplane. Black audiences took pride in her courage as she symbolized hope that the African American community could participate in the skies [and she flat refused to perform in front where blacks were not allowed to enter] 

* * * * *

HOLLYWOOD 

     ...[It] was announced that she had agreed to star in a film “Shadow and Sunshine” to be produced by an African American-owned film company - Seminole. However, she failed to show up for the filming because she felt it degraded her race. She had gladly accepted the role hoping it would help advance her career and provide her with money to establish her own flying school. But when she learned the first scene required her to wear tattered clothes, with a walking stick and a pack on her back, she refused to proceed.

     ...Doris Rich, in her book on Bessie, said "as an aviator she was a threat to whites who cherished their racial superiority, and as a woman pilot she threatened the ego of black males."      Queen Bess - Daredevil Aviatrix was a true champion of her race.      She refused to appear in any air show that did not allow blacks to attend. Her motto was "No Uncle Tom stuff for me." She was determined to bolster black pride and refused to promote the stereotypical, derogatory image most whites had of blacks.

* * * * * 

      She especially appealed to African American women to take in interest in aviation and she began to lecture more with her 2,000 feet of film of her performances in Europe and the US. Besides, lectures brought in more income that would bring her closer to her dream of a flight school. But she never charged any admission to students - she knew that they were her inspiration to become future pilots...

http://www.bessiecoleman.org/bio-bessie-coleman.php  (No Link: Not A Secure Site)

     [Queen Bess wound up going to Europe more than once to hone her skills when she was not allowed into schools in the United States due to being black and/or female. ] In 1925, she moved to Houston and performed throughout the South, drawing multicultural crowds. She had nearly reached her goal of opening a school, when on April 30, 1926, she went up for a practice flight for a May Day celebration in Jacksonville, Fla. About 10 minutes into the flight, the Curtiss Jenny biplane, piloted by her mechanic and publicity agent, William Will, went into a nosedive and flipped.

https://insider.si.edu/2018/02/bessie-coleman-first-black-aviator/

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STACEY ABRAMS CHOICE: RUN FOR GOVERNOR OR SENATE

      Democrats are doing a full-court press to draft Stacey Abrams into Georgia’s 2020 Senate race, a move that would put in play a state that hasn’t gone blue in two decades and could reshape the party’s path to retaking the Senate majority.

     The problem is that Abrams still has hopes of becoming governor — it’s where she could have the most direct impact on issues like voting rights — and isn’t sold on the Senate. But the pressure on her to run in 2020, capitalizing on her rise to national prominence last year and her continued popularity in Georgia despite losing the 2018 governor’s race, is only growing...

~POLITICO.COM

READ MORE: https://www.politico.com/story/2019/01/24/stacey-abrams-georgia-senate-2020-1121843

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HOW TO SPEND A DAY IN BLACK-OWNED AMSTERDAM

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     History and modernity collide in Amsterdam, a city that boldly embraces its past while it builds an even more progressive future. Known for the red-light district, 165 gorgeous canals within the city, parks, and landmarks like the Anne Frank House and the Van Gogh Museum, the capital of the Netherlands offers a unique experience that can’t fully (by law) be captured in pictures and videos.      

Visitors travel to Amsterdam from around the world to have a good time, but the city also has a rich black heritage that often gets overlooked. The Dutch Kingdom was prominent in the transatlantic slave trade, and as a result, the Netherlands has a vast black history that can be unearthed if you know where to look...

Stay at a black-owned, women-only hostel  

https://www.hostelle.com/ 

Step back in time during a black history tour of Amsterdam 

Let Surinamese-American Jennifer Tosch be your guide...with Black Heritage Tours. 

Get “coffee” at African Blackstar Coffeeshop 

Have breakfast at Water & Brood 

Visit the National Slavery Monument 

Late Surinamese artist Erwin de Vries created the Slavery Monument located in Oosterpark, which was unveiled in 2002 commemorating the July 1863 abolishment of slavery in Holland, Suriname, and the Dutch Antilles... 

Go to an event at the Black Archives  

The Black Archives is home to more than 3,000 books which all focus on race, colonization, feminism, and the legacy of Black Dutch writers and scientists. The venue hosts several exhibitions, film screenings, conversations, and community events every month, so if you want to learn about the Black Dutch experience of the past and present in great detail, a trip to the Black Archives is a must.

~TRAVEL NOIRE 

READ MORE: https://travelnoire.com/black-owned-amsterdam-netherlands/

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INBRED WHITE RACIST FLORIDA POLITICIAN FORCED TO RESIGN OVER KATRINA VICTIM COSTUME

I'm just kidding about the inbred part. 

Or maybe not. Look at that face, especially from the mouth down, and tell me there's not 70% chance I'm right?

Apparently photos surfaced of him dressed up as a half-dead black woman, in drag, complete with black face. He was supposed to be a Katrina Victim. I can't wait to hear how he's not a racist. I'm assuming there's been too much outrage to throw out the "Why do we all have to be so politically correct" card. 

"It's unfortunate. I think he's done a lot of good work," [Trump Aficionado, "Don't Monkey This Up" Racist Governor DeSantis] said, adding that he accepted the resignation because "I don't want to get mired into kind of side controversies, and so I felt it was best to just accept the resignation and move on."

DeSantis also said he thinks Ertel regrets what happened 14-15 years ago, "but at the same time I want people to be able to lead and not have these things swirling around them."

The photo was taken in 2005, eight months after Ertel was appointed Seminole County supervisor of elections and two months after Hurricane Katrina devastated New Orleans.

https://www.theadvocate.com/gambit/new_orleans/news/article_efd23b02-2013-11e9-8122-3be6d49d8326.html?

I'm also thinking my blog title that has both "Florida" and "Inbred White Racist" may be a little redundant. 

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I Don't Know How We're Going to Make It Through This Campaign Season Y'all

feeling rebloggy

     In one corner, you have people who are absolutely enthused by the fact that a black woman is throwing her hat into the biggest ring possible, Shirley Chisholm-style. The fact that she’s a graduate of Howard University and a member of a Divine Nine organization (Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority, Inc.) gives folks like me an extra feeling of kinship. She’s been in the same type of spaces I’ve been in, which enables me to be willing to hear her out on stances she’s taken that are absolutely problematic.
     In the opposite corner are people who couldn’t care less about where she’s from or who she did what with. Her record in California—especially as a prosecutor (as my boy Jason says, “her job was specifically to put black men in jail”)—rightly conjures the notion that your skinfolks ain’t your kinfolks (absolutely true, more on this at another time). For that reason, niggas are out and trying to get other folks out on her.
     Then you have motherfuckers tossing birtherism into the fold. Good god.
     On a personal level, as I’ve said, I’m willing to give her the space to address any and all concerns folks may have about her political past. I’ve read more than enough to know I don’t agree with many of her stances on criminal justice, but I can’t imagine she doesn’t know this either. I will assume she’s smart enough to have considered how to address those issues, either positively or negatively, in a fashion to mobilize whomever she deems her base. Maybe it isn’t me, but I don’t know that yet...

~VerySmartBrothas 

Read More: https://verysmartbrothas.theroot.com/i-dont-know-how-were-going-to-make-it-through-this-camp-1831965272?

GRIEF by YANNIS DAVY GUIBINGA

feeling rebloggy

Every human life is marked by different events that has a permanent impact on the way we see and think about the world. Among many of these universal human experiences, losing a loved one remains one of the most painful and uncomfortable one to live through.

"The Grief" is a body of work illustrating in an abstract way the emotional journey on which a woman is taken after a loss. By going through seven consecutive stages, grief takes the protagonist through a journey that is simultaneously unpleasant, tumultuous and sometimes frustrating. By using the color black as a way to illustrate the evolution of the grief on the protagonist's body, I tried to interpret this Universal experience in a unique way, striving for a more complex and nuance representation of grief. This series of photos also aims to highlight the fact that grief is not something that is static, but rather something that constantly changes and evolves as time goes by.

Dig into The Grief below, and keep up w Instagram and via his website.

~Okay Africa

Source: https://www.okayafrica.com/yannis-davy-guibinga-photo-series-on-grief/?rebelltitem=10#rebelltitem10