B L A C K B A L L E D LIFE

Audio

Fri, 17 May 2013 05:17:09 -0700

(via Ron Finley: A guerilla gardener in South Central LA)

Thu, 16 May 2013 21:13:40 -0700

(via Ron Finley: A guerilla gardener in South Central LA)

Video

Thu, 16 May 2013 19:42:14 -0700

Video

Thu, 16 May 2013 09:46:05 -0700

Video

Thu, 16 May 2013 09:42:00 -0700

i-am-royalty: my baby sister summertime is here

Thu, 16 May 2013 09:38:50 -0700

i-am-royalty:

my baby sister

summertime is here

living in a paradox

Thu, 16 May 2013 09:25:12 -0700

living in a paradox

fuckyeablackart: by David Wilson

Thu, 16 May 2013 08:53:35 -0700

fuckyeablackart:

by David Wilson

sugarkat: TRIGGER WARNINGS for basically everything...

Thu, 16 May 2013 08:51:28 -0700

sugarkat:

TRIGGER WARNINGS for basically everything horrible.

rachelnotfound:

controversial-tabloid-story:

jchelseaw:

lauriejuspeczyk:

221becquerel:

queenaglaia:

uncalmly:

silentknightley:

rookieoftheday:

Do you understand how scary this picture is

god forbid a real person do real person things he wasnt just a robot who killed people jesus fucking christ

uh yeah its not like he killed and tortured six million jews or anything

Hold on just a tick. Listen, I’m Jewish, so I’m perfectly capable of understanding that what he did was just…..well, there are no words for it. But let’s not round it up to simply Jews that got killed. It was six million people that died in those camps, not just Jews. Did you know that homosexuals were sent there, too? Yeah, I’m sure you did. They had to wear special little symbols on their clothes. Do you know what it was? It was a pink triangle.

It was six million PEOPLE.

But you let that roll over in your mind for a while and you are going to forever see this man as a monster, but that’s not what he was. He was someone who thought he was truly doing something right for his nation, no matter how shitty he was doing it. Believe me when I say that I don’t like him. I really don’t. My grandfather’s brothers died in those camps, and my grandfather escaped to Spain, then to Mexico. He was lucky.

This is not a monster holding hands with a little girl.

This is Adolf Hitler, a man, holding hands with a little girl.

Yeah. It’s fucking scary. It really is. Do you know why?

It’s because you’re seeing that he wasn’t, in fact, a monster. You’re seeing in this picture that he was a man. He was a man, and that’s really the saddest part of it all.

As a History major who specializes in the history of early modern Europe, I’ve studied a lot of dictators in detail, not just Hitler. The number one mistake anyone could ever make in history is making the assumption that only inhuman monsters are capable of doing terrible things.

Stop dehumanizing Hitler just so you can reassure yourself that “normal” humans aren’t capable of doing bad things. Hitler liked children and dogs, he was a vegetarian and he cried like a little boy when his mother died. I’m not saying he was a good, innocent person, but when you stop attributing human characteristics to historical figures like Hitler, it’s how you overlook people just like him in real life, and it’s how people like him end up back in power.

That’s the real truth: Human Beings are scarier than any ‘monsters’ out there because we’re all born blank slates and BECOME our legacy.

This is the best post I’ve seen in a while.

bolded by me. important stuff.

Only monsters owned slaves.

No, people did. There are possibly people reading this who are descended from those people who owned other people.

It was a monstrous thing done by people to people.

Only monsters rape.

No, actually, people rape. There are possible people reading this who have raped. It’s scary, but it’s true, statistically speaking.

Rape is a monstrous thing done by people to people.

Only monsters committed the Rape of Nanjing. Only monsters participated in the systematic slaughter of millions and millions of Jews and Romani and homosexuals and political dissidents. Only monsters forced the Cherokee to march the Trail of Tears.

No, actually, people did all of all of those monstrous things. People with families and friends. People with homes and loved ones and hopes and dreams. People did these unspeakable things, and went home and kissed babies, some of them still smelling of the death and fear of other people.

Human beings do unspeakably monstrous things to human beings and animals and the world around them. They are not monsters, those who did and do these things, they are people.

People are terrifying. People are horrifying. People act monstrously.

People shoved other people into ovens.

People turned the skin of other people into lamps.

People turned people into things they owned.

People beat people until their faces were unrecognizable.

People cut out people’s tongues. Cut off their feet. Cut off their hands.

People raped people and sold the resulting children.

People walked into homes and slaughtered everyone they saw.

People practiced horrific medical experiments on other people.

People sterilized men and women and children without their knowledge or consent because of the color of their skin.

People kidnap people and beat them and torture them and rape them.

People rape children.

People sell daughters and wives and neighbors into sexual slavery.

People slaughter a classroom full of children.

People slaughter a theater full of people.

People torture people.

People kill people.

People treat people like garbage, like shit, like they matter less than anything you can think of, like they aren’t people like they are.

This is the lesson of history. The lesson told in every story covered and not covered by the news.

People behave like monsters but there are no monsters, only people.

However, people make music and paint and dance. People build beautiful things. People sing. People smile and laugh. People reach out with kindness to people they know and to people half a world away. People help. People weep for the pain of those far away or long ago. People care. People give. People love.

Human beings are both of these things. Human beings are the demon and the angel. This is why human beings are so terrifying and beautiful.

…

And why I prefer cats.

frank-e-go-boom: thatprivateskoolnigga: ‘dorable.. ahh, it’s...

Thu, 16 May 2013 08:32:19 -0700

frank-e-go-boom:

thatprivateskoolnigga:

‘dorable..

ahh, it’s you again

Photo

Thu, 16 May 2013 08:31:15 -0700

thedailytunerx: Artist: Mobb Deep Song: Cradle To The...

Thu, 16 May 2013 08:27:15 -0700

thedailytunerx:

Artist: Mobb Deep

Song: Cradle To The Grave

Album: The Infamous

Label: Green Streets Entertainment, 1995

Photo

Thu, 16 May 2013 08:26:55 -0700

blackmanonthemoon: i love this LMAO hate the sin but not the...

Wed, 15 May 2013 09:46:13 -0700

blackmanonthemoon:

i love this LMAO

hate the sin but not the sinner

I think the image is intended to be considered as a part of the...

Wed, 15 May 2013 09:45:00 -0700

I think the image is intended to be considered as a part of the artists work— and I agree that it doesn’t really match up because there seems to be two distinct KellyRowland(s) that appear here in an interesting way. one could say that she’s being vulnerable and baring her soul on the album (see lyrics of the track itself), but another could say there are so many different ways to be naked— so why did she chose this one? does a superficial nakedness on the cover contradict a soul baring nakedness within the lyrics? I would say it can, and it seems to me like it may do just that here. but this is a line that women, particularly black women, negotiate in art and entertainment all the time— I don’t pretend to know the way, I just have to say I don’t think this is it— not for Kelly.

I think it’s an apt question to ask of an artist— what does your art mean? does kelly rowland’s really owe it to us to explain herself? that’s debatable, but i think the answer is a lot closer to no than yes. her artwork is her explanation of herself, and we could ask her for more than that— but i don’t believe she should be obligated to oblige. moreover, I certainly would not agree that such a question would be irrelevant to a larger conversation about Kelly’s work— above and beyond just this one track.

as consumers of art, we absolutely have to ask this question— or just be passive sponges for whatever an artist might want to put out there— right, wrong or indifferent. i think kelly’s work is important enough to be engaged with and the conversations should be robust and offer her critique she can use to better herself as an artist.

I always thought she was a much more interesting pop culture figure than Beyonce. I knew Ms. Kelly had a story but it would remain to be seen if she was ready to tell it, and whether or not we were ready to hear it— hear Kelly herself over all the static. Notice how someone can always be out there in front of you but still gives you none of themselves— the cover puts Kelly out in front of us in a way that makes us wonder if this nakedness is supposed to substitute for something more substantial, and we have every reason to expect more of her because she is kelly rowlands and she has it within her to wow us. this image is, to me, underwhelming in the worst way because it doesn’t fit the music— so we have to ask, what is it supposed to do, kelly?

abolitionista: Last week’s episode of Law and Order: SVU is based on Chris Dorner and is full of...

Wed, 15 May 2013 09:44:52 -0700

abolitionista:

Last week’s episode of Law and Order: SVU is based on Chris Dorner and is full of lies, twisted logic, and SHIT! Screw NBC and Hollywood!

haven’t seen it yet. but now i definitely won’t

sonofbaldwin: thepeoplesrecord: TW: Police brutality - Judge...

Wed, 15 May 2013 09:43:51 -0700

sonofbaldwin:

thepeoplesrecord:

TW: Police brutality - Judge tosses indictment in Ramarley Graham case, says grand jury was misled
May 15, 2013

A judge has thrown out the indictment against an NYPD officer charged in the fatal shooting of an unarmed 18-year-old in his Bronx home last year, but said prosecutors can present the case again, NBC 4 New York has learned.

Officer Richard Haste, 31, had been indicted on manslaughter charges in the February 2012 shooting death of Ramarley Graham and faced up to 25 years in prison.

On Wednesday, a judge dismissed the indictment on a technicality, siding with defense lawyers who had argued prosecutors gave flawed instructions to the grand jury that indicted Haste.

The Bronx district attorney’s office couldn’t immediately be reached for comment.

Graham’s family left the courtroom after the judge’s decision, cursing and calling the officer a “murderer.”

Graham was shot to death in the bathroom of his home on East 229th Street after police chased him inside.

Security video showed Graham entering his home, and police running after him. Police at the time said officers witnessed a drug deal and pursued Graham, believing he had a gun.

They went in and found him in the second-floor bathroom, and shot him in the chest. He died shortly afterward.

Police said later that Graham was not found with a gun.

Source

“This is an outrageous miscarriage of justice and an insult to the family and supporters of Ramarley Graham. We demand that a new Grand Jury is convened immediately and that the case is re-presented.” - Rev. Al Sharpton

Pictured: Ramarley’s parents, Franclot Graham & Constance Malcolm

Slow genocide is STILL genocide. Perhaps it’s even more brilliant and insidious because of its patience.

knowledgeequalsblackpower: kronosinasuit: Kerry Washington...

Wed, 15 May 2013 09:35:00 -0700

knowledgeequalsblackpower:

kronosinasuit:

Kerry Washington being amazing as always.

Understand colorblinders out there. Please get it.

"I can write the saddest poem of all tonight. I loved her, and sometimes she loved me too."

Wed, 15 May 2013 00:07:12 -0700

“I can write the saddest poem of all tonight. I loved her, and sometimes she loved me too.”

- Pablo Neruda (via buddhacoffee)

"Black women all over the world should re-unite and re-examine the way history has portrayed us."

Tue, 14 May 2013 22:12:03 -0700

“Black women all over the world should re-unite and re-examine the way history has portrayed us.”

- Buchi Emecheta (via neoafrican)