Windspeaks

bakethatlinguist: blackrockandrollmusic: Curtis Mayfield -...

Sat, 18 May 2013 22:07:32 -0700

bakethatlinguist:

blackrockandrollmusic:

Curtis Mayfield - Move On Up

I LOVE THIS SONG SO MUCH! It just makes me feel good.

loveyourchaos: Touch the Sky /// Kanye West

Sat, 18 May 2013 21:39:03 -0700

loveyourchaos:

Touch the Sky /// Kanye West

"The thing about cultural appropriation is that the appropriator does not have to face the same..."

Sat, 18 May 2013 14:07:20 -0700

“The thing about cultural appropriation is that the appropriator does not have to face the same consequences that we do for practicing our culture or faith. For them, it is an accessory that can be taken on or off at will, while for us, it is a way of life. …in a society where immigrants and communities of color are marginalized at every level, we can’t pretend that power relations do not exist when we have this conversation about appropriation. Sharing and exchanging cultural and spiritual practices is great, but it gets more complicated when we’re not all on equal footing. It gets more complicated when meaningful things are taken, commodified, and exploited for a profit, with little respect shown to the community they were taken from.”

- Turbans on the Runway: What does it mean for Sikhs? by Sonny Singh Brooklynwala (via 5ft1)

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Sat, 18 May 2013 13:39:20 -0700

"A good deed never goes unpunished."

Sat, 18 May 2013 13:10:50 -0700

“A good deed never goes unpunished.”

- Gore Vidal (via ughpsh)

'There have been some very notable SNL alums who were people of color—original cast member Garrett Morris, and then later Eddie Murphy, Chris Rock, Maya Rudolph, Tracy Morgan, as well as longtime cast members like Tim Meadows—but America's most prominent comedy institution has remained very, very white...in a 2011 interview...Rock discussed how being the only black cast member on SNL prompted him to bounce to In Living Color. He said that his friend Wanda Sykes was hired to do a sketch comedy show, and he warned her: "Wanda, all they're going to want you to do is things involving race and impressions of famous black people.")'

Sat, 18 May 2013 12:42:49 -0700

'There have been some very notable SNL alums who were people of color—original cast member Garrett Morris, and then later Eddie Murphy, Chris Rock, Maya Rudolph, Tracy Morgan, as well as longtime cast members like Tim Meadows—but America's most prominent comedy institution has remained very, very white...in a 2011 interview...Rock discussed how being the only black cast member on SNL prompted him to bounce to In Living Color. He said that his friend Wanda Sykes was hired to do a sketch comedy show, and he warned her: "Wanda, all they're going to want you to do is things involving race and impressions of famous black people.")'

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Wed, 15 May 2013 23:32:08 -0700

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Mon, 13 May 2013 23:03:46 -0700

"Be like the flower  who even gives its fragrance  to the hand that crushes it"

Mon, 13 May 2013 22:35:44 -0700

“Be like the flower 
who even gives its fragrance
 to the hand that crushes it”

- Imam Ali (via godmoves)

I don’t know if I want to keep being this flower.

(via penguinettelove)

some flowers have thorns, too.

(via nezua)

…..but see flowers don’t ‘give’ their fragrance, though. They passively posses fragrance as a quality of their being for complicated evolutionary reasons involving convoluted but wildly effective reproductive strategies with insects. Flowers are fragrant because they’re genitals. They don’t have a choice in the matter, which means that they don’t magnanimously and sweetly consent to be lovely even while being abused. They’re organs of a larger organism that has a vested interest in preserving its life cycle. This advice makes as much sense as telling hair to remain springy and moisturized even to the scissors that cut it.
(via moniquill)

weformlikevoltron: Atmos x New Balance 996 “face off 3” fire.

Mon, 13 May 2013 22:07:15 -0700

weformlikevoltron:

Atmos x New Balance 996 “face off 3”

fire.

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Mon, 13 May 2013 21:39:15 -0700

thepeoplesrecord: The troubling viral trend of the “hilarious”...

Wed, 08 May 2013 21:39:12 -0700

thepeoplesrecord:

The troubling viral trend of the “hilarious” Black poor person
May 7, 2013

Charles Ramsey, the man who helped rescue three Cleveland women presumed dead after going missing a decade ago, has become an instant Internet meme. It’s hardly surprising—the interviews he gave yesterday provide plenty of fodder for a viral video, including memorable soundbites (“I was eatin’ my McDonald’s”) and lots of enthusiastic gestures. But as Miles Klee and Connor Simpson have noted, Ramsey’s heroism is quickly being overshadowed by the public’s desire to laugh at and autotune his story, and that’s a shame. Ramsey has become the latest in a fairly recent trend of “hilarious” black neighbors, unwitting Internet celebrities whose appeal seems rooted in a “colorful” style that is always immediately recognizable as poor or working-class.

Before Ramsey, there was Antoine Dodson, who saved his younger sister from an intruder, only to wind up famous for his flamboyant recounting of the story to a reporter. Since Dodson’s rise to fame, there have been others: Sweet Brown, a woman who barely escaped her apartment complex during a fire last year, and Michelle Clarke, who couldn’t fathom the hailstorm that rained down in her hometown of Houston, and in turn became “the next Sweet Brown.”

Granted, the buzzworthy tactic of reporters interviewing the most loquacious witnesses to a crime or other event is nothing new, and YouTube has countless examples of people of all ethnicities saying ridiculous things. One woman, for instance, saw fit to casually mention her breasts while discussing a local accident, while another man described a car crash with theatrical flair. Earlier this year, a “hatchet-wielding hitchhiker” named Kai matched Dodson’s fame with his astonishing account of rescuing a woman from a racist attacker. But none of those people have been subjected to quite the same level of derisive memeification as Brown, Clark, and now, perhaps, Ramsey—the inescapable echoes of “Hide yo’ kids, hide yo’ wife!” and “Kabooyaw,” the tens of millions of YouTube hits and cameos in other viral videos, even commercials.

It’s difficult to watch these videos and not sense that their popularity has something to do with a persistent, if unconscious, desire to see black people perform. Even before the genuinely heroic Ramsey came along, some viewers had expressed concern that the laughter directed at people like Sweet Brown plays into the most basic stereotyping of blacks as simple-minded ramblers living in the “ghetto,” socially out of step with the rest of educated America. Black or white, seeing Clark and Dodson merely as funny instances of random poor people talking nonsense is disrespectful at best. And shushing away the question of race seems like wishful thinking.

Ramsey is particularly striking in this regard, since, for a moment at least, he put the issue of race front and center himself. Describing the rescue of Amanda Berry and her fellow captives, he says, “I knew something was wrong when a little pretty white girl ran into a black man’s arms. Something is wrong here. Dead giveaway!”

The candid statement seems to catch the reporter off guard; he ends the interview shortly afterward. And it’s notable that among the many memorable things Ramsey said on camera, this one has gotten less meme-attention than most. Those who are simply having fun with the footage of Ramsey might pause for a second to actually listen to the man. He clearly knows a thing or two about the way racism prevents us from seeing each other as people.

Source

Now that you know this is a thing, please stop sharing these memes. Poor Black people speaking candidly about various serious incidents isn’t a hilarious joke.

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Wed, 08 May 2013 21:10:45 -0700

Diversity and the Political Right - NYTimes.com

Wed, 08 May 2013 20:44:42 -0700

Diversity and the Political Right - NYTimes.com

"I do not beg you to stay because I am begging god that you do not leave."

Wed, 08 May 2013 19:17:49 -0700

“I do not beg you to stay
because I am begging god
that you do not leave.”

- Warsan Shire (via larmoyante)

sulitati: La Cosecha (2011)

Tue, 07 May 2013 13:31:20 -0700

sulitati:

La Cosecha (2011)

nevver: Happy May Day

Wed, 01 May 2013 00:56:45 -0700

nevver:

Happy May Day

thextheorist: chune

Wed, 01 May 2013 00:28:43 -0700

thextheorist:

chune

whoarei: Blu - Soul Provider (Whoarei Remix) beatsbeatsbeats

Mon, 29 Apr 2013 23:03:36 -0700

whoarei:

Blu - Soul Provider (Whoarei Remix)

beatsbeatsbeats

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Sat, 27 Apr 2013 18:21:24 -0700

Windspeaks

bakethatlinguist: blackrockandrollmusic: Curtis Mayfield -...

loveyourchaos: Touch the Sky /// Kanye West

"The thing about cultural appropriation is that the appropriator does not have to face the same..."

Photo

"A good deed never goes unpunished."

Photo

Photo

"Be like the flower who even gives its fragrance to the hand that crushes it"

weformlikevoltron: Atmos x New Balance 996 “face off 3” fire.

Photo

thepeoplesrecord: The troubling viral trend of the “hilarious”...

Audio

Diversity and the Political Right - NYTimes.com

"I do not beg you to stay because I am begging god that you do not leave."

sulitati: La Cosecha (2011)

nevver: Happy May Day

thextheorist: chune

whoarei: Blu - Soul Provider (Whoarei Remix) beatsbeatsbeats

Photo

"Be like the flower  who even gives its fragrance  to the hand that crushes it"