1. 26 Nov



    If there were no black people here in this country, it would have been Balkanized. The immigrants would have torn each other’s throats out, as they have done everywhere else. But in becoming an American, from Europe, what one has in common with that other immigrant is contempt for me—it’s nothing else but color. Wherever they were from, they would stand together. They could all say, “I am not that.” So in that sense, becoming an American is based on an attitude: an exclusion of me. It wasn’t negative to them—it was unifying. When they got off the boat, the second word they learned was “nigger.” Ask them—I grew up with them. I remember in the fifth grade a smart little boy who had just arrived and didn’t speak any English. He sat next to me. I read well, and I taught him to read just by doing it. I remember the moment he found out that I was black—a nigger. It took him six months; he was told. And that’s the moment when he belonged, that was his entrance.Every immigrant knew he would not come at the very bottom. He had to come above at least one group—and that was us.
    — Toni Morrison in The Pain of Being Black (via queerblackandproud)

    (via alostbird)

     

  2. 16 Nov



    Outside of Hollywood: Film and Filmmakers of Africa and the African Diaspora

    neoafrican:

    I have so much to say about Hollywood’s lack of respect for Black people and culture but that is for another day. My main focus is to support filmmakers, writers, producers, and directors across the world who are pushing to portray us realistically and respectfully.  I urge my followers to support directors who with a mission outside of capital gain.

    Here are a few projects/films that I have been supporting actively and I urge you to do the same and add on to the list. 

    Though just a short list of projects that I can think of off the top of my head, there are so many people in film working to showcase the breadth and depth of Blackness. 

    The arts have been and will always be essential in fighting centuries of prejudice towards people of color. The arts has always come with a significant amount of agency in the fight against white supremacy, patriarchy, and all other forms of malice that hope to suppress the will and power of African and African descendant people. Through film, we are able to tell our own stories, revise history that has excluded the narratives of those of darker skin tones, and give voice to the experiences, cultures, and histories of our people. 

    I will make sure to push more and more information about cinema from Africa and the African Diaspora. Shadow and Act  is a wonderful resource that provides information on up and coming films, television shows, documentaries, and all other forms of visual media made for and by Black people. 

    (via numinousnegrita)

     

  3. 13 Nov


    numinousnegrita: searchingforknowledge: fyeahblackhistory: Can some supply the identity of the person in this image, name of the artist and date of the painting. Thank you. BOOST Because there are still reblogs floating around without credit:The Adoration of the Magi by Maarten de Vos. Painting is from 1599.This is a Black king wearing a Roman emperor’s garb (black cuirass, white mantle).more info/analysis here

    numinousnegrita:

    searchingforknowledge:

    fyeahblackhistory:

    Can some supply the identity of the person in this image, name of the artist and date of the painting. Thank you.

    BOOST

    Because there are still reblogs floating around without credit:
    The Adoration of the Magi by Maarten de Vos. Painting is from 1599.
    This is a Black king wearing a Roman emperor’s garb (black cuirass, white mantle).
    more info/analysis here

    (Source: fruityloopsforbreakfast)

     

  4. 2 Sep



    reportin' live from somewhere sexy.: Apparently, white people get real mad when you say "dear white people"

    theblackcrusader:

    elledy:

    So I’m gonna get real specific for these coddled asses. When I vent about white people, I’m talking about DAILY fucking doses of:

    1. White tumblr users who mock and bitch about “SJ bloggers” at every fucking turn. Oh, we’re just a bunch of keyboard warriors who don’t do anything in…

    This is a prime example of someone who has isolated characteristics of individuals in a race, blown them to extremities, and then proceeded to generalize the entire race as a people who exercise these poor qualities.  If the tables were turned on our people — which they often are — and society only isolated us as gang-banging, drug-abusing rapists and murderers, we’d all be up in arms.  

    All of your points are valid to each specific person who exudes these tendencies, but the display of this argument comes off as prejudice and if a White person so much as defended themselves against this, “privilege” would be THROWN in their face.

    As a Black man, I try to give voice to those White’s who are slandered for what their ancestors did.  My adoptive parents are White and have done everything in their power to ensure my equality in every day life and have never once thrown their privilege in my face nor has our family.  I’ve experienced the culture of both worlds, so please don’t say “we hate whiteness” when that “WE” does not include everyone. 

    Again, your points are valid, but your generalization and vehemence has just made you into a prejudice person as well.

    This is a prime example of the behavior of a white-identifying POC

    1. vehemence doesn’t make one prejudiced. Prejudice does.
    2. Where in this piece did elledy generalize? All points made were quite specific and elledy specifically addressed anyone who felt that they were being targeted just because they were white.The only person who needs to be defensive is someone whose behavior is problematic; and then they shouldn’t spend their time on being defensive, they should rectify their problematic thought processes and the resulting behavior.
    3. Who said “we” included everyone or even every POC? Not elledy. The “we” here is specifically referring to people who say “we hate whiteness” If you haven’t claimed that you have no reason to think that elledy was speaking for you.
    4. You don’t hate this racialized system of oppression?

    Please reread this post before coming to the defense of those who need none.

    (via madamfortressmommie)

     

  5. 14 Mar



    high.for.this.: "I am proud to be white."

    dank-potion:

    Anyone who says this is trying to antagonize black pride .. or they’re truly racist.

    Black pride comes from resistance. Black pride comes from survival. We as a people have endured and are currently enduring rape, torture, racism, inferiority complexes, colonialism, segregation, a biased judicial…

    (Source: maarnayeri)

     

  6. 13 Jan


    (via blackpeopleproblems)

     

  7. 22 Dec


    Basically, when I was a teenager every once in awhile my friends and I would play this game called Scare the White People when we were in a public place like the mall. This game consisted of nothing illegal or outrageous. In fact, all we had to do was stand in a group, smile, laugh together and not even loudly, then see how many people (usually white) started walking past us faster or giving us the side-eye or see how long it took a mall cop to move closer and closer to the group. How many mothers would snatch the hand of their child and race to Baby Gap all the while checking to make sure we weren’t following her. The hilarity of the fact that all it takes to scare many white people is a group of young black and sometimes Hispanic teenagers enjoying themselves at a place known to be frequented by teenagers looking for enjoyment usually fed into the act until it wasn’t an act anymore. I mean, the choice really was to laugh at the situation or think too much about and maybe cry. Especially when we could see that generally people were much more comfortable around white or Asian teenagers and that they could act in much more socially unacceptable ways before the group around them felt threatened. So, when I hear things about 1st graders being handcuffed at school or police shooting unarmed 13-years-olds and killing people over bus fare or police being willing to punch women in the face and shooting black men in their own front lawns, I don’t know why I am surprised. I already know that many (not all, but way too many and more than enough) are simply afraid. Of what, I have no idea. Actually I do, but that’s a  much longer post than this one and whole ‘nother can worms.

    Basically, when I was a teenager every once in awhile my friends and I would play this game called Scare the White People when we were in a public place like the mall.

    This game consisted of nothing illegal or outrageous. In fact, all we had to do was stand in a group, smile, laugh together and not even loudly, then see how many people (usually white) started walking past us faster or giving us the side-eye or see how long it took a mall cop to move closer and closer to the group. How many mothers would snatch the hand of their child and race to Baby Gap all the while checking to make sure we weren’t following her.

    The hilarity of the fact that all it takes to scare many white people is a group of young black and sometimes Hispanic teenagers enjoying themselves at a place known to be frequented by teenagers looking for enjoyment usually fed into the act until it wasn’t an act anymore. I mean, the choice really was to laugh at the situation or think too much about and maybe cry. Especially when we could see that generally people were much more comfortable around white or Asian teenagers and that they could act in much more socially unacceptable ways before the group around them felt threatened.

    So, when I hear things about 1st graders being handcuffed at school or police shooting unarmed 13-years-olds and killing people over bus fare or police being willing to punch women in the face and shooting black men in their own front lawns, I don’t know why I am surprised. I already know that many (not all, but way too many and more than enough) are simply afraid. Of what, I have no idea.

    Actually I do, but that’s a  much longer post than this one and whole ‘nother can worms.

    (Source: )

     

  8. 22 Dec



    “Whenever people of color bring up the issue of racism in their lives we seem to want to say, “Oh, you’re hypersensitive, you’re seeing things, you have a chip on your shoulder,” and I really think, and I hope that we can see this kind of dismissiveness for the racism that it is because what that amounts to is saying, “You black people are so irrational, so illogical, so unintelligent that you can’t even be trusted to interpret your own lives so let me, in my whiteness, interpret it for you.”

    (via tabularasae)

     

  9. 10 Oct


    black-culture: Throughout the Americas resistance to slavery and the plantation system took the form of runaway slave communities called maroons, quilombos or mocambos. In the United States, at least 50 maroons existed between 1672 and 1864. In the late 1600s large amounts of African slaves fled the British American colonies to Spanish Florida to establish maroons. Establishing an alliance with Seminole Indians, by 1822 it was estimated the maroons of Florida had a population over 800. However, the existence of free and armed black communities was a major concern to American slaveholders. An effort to relocate the Seminole Indians(and possible re-enslavement of Blacks) led to rebellion. The Black Seminole rebellion in Florida evolved into a maroon war that inspired the country’s largest slave rebellion. Eugene Genovese claims the “most impressive slave revolts in the hemisphere proceeded in alliance with maroons or took place in periods in which maroon activity was directly undermining the slave regime or inspiring the slaves by example.” Over 400 slaves rebelled on plantations and fled to join the Seminoles in their pursuit of freedom from US opression.

    black-culture:

    Throughout the Americas resistance to slavery and the plantation system took the form of runaway slave communities called maroons, quilombos or mocambos. In the United States, at least 50 maroons existed between 1672 and 1864. In the late 1600s large amounts of African slaves fled the British American colonies to Spanish Florida to establish maroons. Establishing an alliance with Seminole Indians, by 1822 it was estimated the maroons of Florida had a population over 800. However, the existence of free and armed black communities was a major concern to American slaveholders. An effort to relocate the Seminole Indians(and possible re-enslavement of Blacks) led to rebellion. The Black Seminole rebellion in Florida evolved into a maroon war that inspired the country’s largest slave rebellion. Eugene Genovese claims the “most impressive slave revolts in the hemisphere proceeded in alliance with maroons or took place in periods in which maroon activity was directly undermining the slave regime or inspiring the slaves by example.” Over 400 slaves rebelled on plantations and fled to join the Seminoles in their pursuit of freedom from US opression.

     

  10. 5 Oct


    mszizi:

    Sabrina & Jason - Jumping the Broom

    Shelia & Troy - Why Did I Get Married 2

    Eva & Ray - Deliver Us From Eva

    Stella & Winston - How Stella Got Her Groove Back

    Darius & Nina - Love Jones

    Erin & Rashad - ATL

    Quincy & Monica - Love & Basketball

    Leslie & Scott - Just Wright

    Derwin & Melanie (The Game)

    Whitley & Dwayne (A Different World)