The surviving family and friends of the dead are constantly accosted by aesthetically pleasing merchandised images of the people violently abducted from their lives. In the hands of social media, and opportunists, this tradition becomes another installment of a Ford-assembly line-like process of transforming a murdered Black person into a ubiquitous trademarked symbol of social justice. . . .
Pop Culture
Who is Carnival for?
I cannot help but to think about those who still must suffer the financial burden of being priced out of these two days of freedom by elite Trinbagonians, white tourists, and American and European celebrities of all racial and ethnic backgrounds. Sometimes I think about what Carnival would or could look like if it was returned to the everyday people, the ones who could really use two days of freedom. . . .
Class Struggle at AfroTech
Does gentrification hit differently when it’s a Nupe that pushes you out of your neighborhood? Or do the Somali teenagers dodging hellfire missiles after they’ve been declared terrorists for falling into the wrong gender and age brackets in the wrong country at the wrong time feel the #BlackGirlMagic when the dev-ops engineer that keeps the Pentagon’s drone infrastructure humming on AWS is an African woman? Put another way – are African people who are able to find professional and material success within the genocidal global system of capitalism individual examples of what we as a people should aspire to? Do . . .
Ellen, Amber and Reclaiming Forgiveness
By: Danielle Butler In response to mounting criticism over being seen at a Dallas Cowboys game sitting alongside former President George W. Bush, daytime talk show juggernaut Ellen DeGeneres defended her friendship with Bush in a 4 minute monologue on her show directed at the wave of disapproval expressed on Twitter. Staring earnestly into the camera, DeGeneres asserted “Here’s the thing. I’m friends with George Bush” she said, “In fact I’m friends with a lot of people who don’t share the same beliefs that I have.” After citing an example of her being able to befriend people who wear fur, . . .