Now I could let these dream killers kill my self esteem or use my arrogance as the steam to power my dreams.
— Ono (@_onvme) June 7, 2020
A black female neuroscientist.
Shot by: @Txmmy4k pic.twitter.com/KAa7zApnSn
Saturday, June 13, 2020
More Black Girl Magic!
American Apartheid
An excerpt from Salon -
American apartheid: This country still treats too many of its black citizens like slaves
What happened to George Floyd has a long history. Until we face that history honestly, we'll never escape it
By LUCIAN K. TRUSCOTT IV
Imagine that you are a black citizen of this country. Every day, you wake up in your house or your apartment, and you must wonder, is this the day? Is this the day I'm going to be jogging down a neighborhood street, like Ahmaud Arbery, and be killed by armed civilians? Is this the day I'm going to be arrested outside a convenience store, like George Floyd, and be strangled to death? Is this the day I'm going to be stopped in my car by a policeman for failure to signal a lane change, like Sandra Bland, and be arrested and jailed and end up dead? Is this the day I'm going to be birdwatching in the park, like Christian Cooper, and have a passerby call the police and report me? Is this the day I'm going to be stopped for a broken brake light, like Walter Scott, and shot five times in the back and killed? Is this the day I'm going to walk up to the door of my apartment building and be confronted by four policemen and when I reach for my wallet, be shot 19 times, like Amadou Diallo? Is this the day I will be snatched off the street by three white supremacists and dragged with a chain behind a truck for three miles until I die, like James Byrd Jr. in Texas?
How would you like to be afraid every single day of your life that something terrible will happen to you, just because you are black?
https://www.salon.com/2020/06/13/american-apartheid-this-country-still-treats-too-many-of-its-black-citizens-like-slaves/
The NFL - Will They Do The Right Thing?
An excerpt from the Undefeated -
For the NFL, issues have to outweigh the optics this time around
This is an ideal time for America’s sport to lead the conversation
BY J.A. ADANDE
The reason the NFL keeps winding up in the middle of the police brutality debate is because both professional football and violence are woven into America. You could actually make a case that professional football is so quintessentially American specifically because it is so violent. The nexus of football and violence also reminds us of the limits historically placed on African Americans, that their prominence rarely accompanies power, that for all the attention given to black players in the NFL and their outspokenness about police brutality, they were unable to do much about it on their own. It is a dynamic as old as America itself.
As a way to quantify the prominence, consider this: Black players scored 80% of the touchdowns in the NFL last season. Not to diminish the importance of blocking, tackling, special teams play, film study, playcalling or any of the other components of winning football games, but ultimately what matters to us are touchdowns. Black people, in overwhelming numbers, produce the thing we care about the most in the sport we care about the most.
“Touchdowns equal happiness,” John Madden once said as the cameras showed jubilant fans reacting to a touchdown. The equation is unbalanced. For all of the happiness produced by black players, there should be an expectation to not only pay their salaries but to pay attention to their concerns, hopes and fears. That didn’t happen in 2016 when then-San Francisco 49ers quarterback Colin Kaepernick started a wave of players kneeling during the national anthem to protest inequality and injustice.
https://theundefeated.com/features/for-the-nfl-issues-have-to-outweigh-the-optics-this-time-around/
Ravens
Ravens united.
— Baltimore Ravens (@Ravens) June 12, 2020
Black Lives Matter. pic.twitter.com/3KAl3dFSrQ
Wednesday, June 10, 2020
Simply Living is Dangerous for Us
From the Washinton Post -
I can’t breathe
By Sergio Peçanha
I can’t breathe.
I can get killed by police at a Walmart.
John Crawford III, Beavercreek, Ohio
Or when I’m playing at a park.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2020/06/05/ever-growing-list-what-black-people-cannot-do-without-risking-their-lives/?arc404=true
Good For Business? What's the Message?
This is a horrific graphic to have put up on air.
— Yashar Ali 🐘 (@yashar) June 5, 2020
My god. pic.twitter.com/HoDof1AN9l
Somebody's Baby
ok baby names dot com go off pic.twitter.com/4jkDQHKsDP
— bij (@bijanstephen) June 9, 2020
When It's Too Much to Bear, Bake Some Cookies
From Delish -
Cookie Recipes
https://www.delish.com/cooking/g1956/best-cookies/
Friday, June 5, 2020
For All the Mothers
June 15, 2020
https://time.com/5847667/story-behind-george-floyd-time-cover/
https://time.com/5847487/i-cannot-sell-you-this-painting-artist-titus-kaphar-on-his-george-floyd-time- cover/
Where is Kaep's Apology?
Everything is meaningless and falls on deaf ears until there is a formal apology to Colin Kaepernick.
We, the NFL, condemn racism and the systematic oppression of Black People. We, the NFL, admit we were wrong for not listening to NFL players earlier and encourage all to speak out and peacefully protest. We, the NFL, believe Black Lives Matter. #InspireChange pic.twitter.com/ENWQP8A0sv
— NFL (@NFL) June 5, 2020
The History of Lynchings
An excerpt from the NY Times -
Art That Confronts and Challenges Racism: Start Here
Our writers suggest works that illuminate and tackle issues of police brutality, social injustice and racial inequity.
By Melena Ryzik, Wesley Morris, Mekado Murphy, Reggie Ugwu, Pierre-Antoine Louis, Salamishah Tillet and Siddhartha Mitter
The National Memorial for Peace and Justice,
the Alabama museum dedicated to the history of lynching.
Credit...Robert Rausch for The New York Times
Artists and thinkers have already shown us how: Bryan Stevenson, the crusading lawyer and founder of the Equal Justice Initiative, has a memoir, and a movie based on it, “Just Mercy,” that is attracting a new audience, alongside the National Memorial for Peace and Justice, the Alabama museum dedicated to the history of lynching, which embodies his life’s work. The filmmaker Ava DuVernay made the documentary “13th,” about the roots of mass incarceration, and has long been boosting independent black voices with her distribution company Array. Here, writers recommend other works that illuminate and confront racism, tracing a path, thorny as it may be, forward. MELENA RYZIK
https://www.nytimes.com/2020/06/04/arts/racism-writings-books-movies.html?searchResultPosition=1
Mayor of DC Painted the Street - Love her!
#BlackLivesMatter pic.twitter.com/OQg6977n5r
— Muriel Bowser #StayHomeDC (@MurielBowser) June 5, 2020
From Rolling Stone -
Street in Front of White House Officially Renamed ‘Black Lives Matter Plaza’
“Black Lives Matter” also painted on the street leading up to the president’s residence
By BRENNA EHRLICH
https://www.rollingstone.com/culture/culture-news/black-lives-matter-plaza-1010752/
What We Have To Do
@skoodupcam Jus some unwritten rules my mom makes me follow as a young black man ##fyp ##blacklivesmatter
♬ original sound - marcappalott
Sunday, May 31, 2020
Police Have a License to Kill Provided by the Supreme Court
An excerpt from USA Today -
Police act like laws don't apply to them because of 'qualified immunity.' They're right.
There's a legal obstacle that's nearly impossible to overcome when police officers and government officials violate our constitutional and civil rights.
By Patrick Jaicomo and Anya Bidwell
On Monday, May 25, Minneapolis police killed George Floyd. While two officers pinned the handcuffed Floyd on a city street, another fended off would-be intervenors, as a fourth knelt on Floyd’s neck until — and well after — he lost consciousness.
But when Floyd’s family goes to court to hold the officers liable for their actions, a judge in Minnesota may very well dismiss their claims. Not because the officers didn’t do anything wrong, but because there isn’t a case from the Eighth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals or the Supreme Court specifically holding that it is unconstitutional for police to kneel on the neck of a handcuffed man for eight minutes until he loses consciousness and then dies.
And such a specific case is what Floyd’s family must provide to overcome a legal doctrine called “qualified immunity” that shields police and all other government officials from accountability for their illegal and unconstitutional acts.
The Supreme Court created qualified immunity in 1982. With that novel invention, the court granted all government officials immunity for violating constitutional and civil rights unless the victims of those violations can show that the rights were “clearly established.”
https://www.usatoday.com/story/opinion/2020/05/30/police-george-floyd-qualified-immunity-supreme-court-column/5283349002/
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