A movie about the true story of the man in the iconic portrait of “WhippedPeter”, a runaway slave who manages to find his way through the swamps of Louisiana, on a tortuous journey to escape plantation owners that nearly killed him.
EmancipationMovie #BlackMovieSunday
Two photographers/abolitionists arrange Peter’s posture as he sits in a chair. They ask him to turn his scourged back toward the lens, to move his face to the side.
Peter asks, “Why are you doing this?” The photographer reverently responds: “So the world might know what slavery truly looks like.” In a film about the universally historic impact of the image known as “Whipped Peter,” the conversation is historic. And still over 150 years later, we’re still suffering from the horrors of slavery in this country, no one can deny.
Brittney Griner arrived in the U.S. early Friday, landing at Kelly Field in San Antonio, Texas.
The WNBA star, who was arrested on February 17th, 2022, and held in Russian prisons on drug charges (she was found to have less than 1 gram of cannabis oil in her luggage) was released Thursday in a one-for-one-prisoner swap for notorious international arms dealer Viktor Bout, bringing an end to an ordeal that sparked intense high-level negotiations between the two governments, Washington DC, and Moscow, Russia. to bring her home.
Griner, a 32-year-old star center for the WNBA’s Phoenix Mercury, was detained at a Russian airport in February and later pleaded guilty to charges stemming from the discovery of cannabis-derived oil cartridges in her luggage. Griner said she didn’t mean to bring the cartridges with her when she traveled to the country to play in a Russian basketball league during the WNBA offseason.
CBS News learned last Thursday that the Griner-for-Bout swap was in the offing but agreed to a White House request to hold the reporting because officials expressed grave concern about the fragility of the then-emerging deal.
Roger Carstens, the special presidential envoy for hostage affairs, tweeted, “So happy to have Brittney back on U.S. soil. Welcome home BG!”
Did you know South Phoenix had a Farmers Market? You Do Now!
Two Yeezy sources say West’s plan for his own small “universe” has been in the works for years, describing it as a self-sustained enterprise that would have its own branded products and services.
In the midst of all the chaosfrom West’s past month, his team filed a slew of trademark applications that would allow West to create his own mini-community — or as West intends to call it, the “Yecosystem.”
West’s plan for his own small “universe” has been in the works for years, two Yeezy sources confirm to Rolling Stone. The sources describe it as a self-sustained enterprise that would have its own branded homes, retail stores that sell Yecosystem-branded food items and beverages. The plan is serious, with arrangements to launch the first campus as early as next month, one source says. Eventually, West hopes to establish these mini-communities across the country, the source says.
West’s vision is on par with Steve Jobs, Elon Musk and Jeff Bezos, another source says, adding that West is adamant on creating something equally as world-changing. “He’s trying to do shit that people couldn’t even conceive of and he’s trying to make it happen,” they explain. “He comes from a good place. It’s definitely his goal that everything that people touch that’s his is a good thing and has a good impact on the world.”
KANYE WEST MIGHT have plans as ambitious as running for president.
In the midst of all the chaosfrom West’s past month, his team filed a slew of trademark applications that would allow West to create his own mini-community — or as West intends to call it, the “Yecosystem.”
West’s plan for his own small “universe” has been in the works for years, two Yeezy sources confirm to Rolling Stone. The sources describe it as a self-sustained enterprise that would have its own branded homes, retail stores that sell Yecosystem-branded food items and beverages. The plan is serious, with arrangements to launch the first campus as early as next month, one source says. Eventually, West hopes to establish these mini-communities across the country, the source says.
West’s vision is on par with Steve Jobs, Elon Musk and Jeff Bezos, another source says, adding that West is adamant on creating something equally as world-changing. “He’s trying to do shit that people couldn’t even conceive of and he’s trying to make it happen,” they explain. “He comes from a good place. It’s definitely his goal that everything that people touch that’s his is a good thing and has a good impact on the world.”
Instead, West said he wanted to build his own company and purchase his own factories, boasting that his new private school, Donda Academy, would “focus on bringing the American economy back, starting with our children.” “We are focusing on engineering for our species — what’s the thing we need the most? Food. [We are] engineering food,” he told CNBC, adding that Donda Academy students would also be learning automotive, software and shelter engineering.
Days after his CNBC appearance, West’s company Mascotte Holdings filed numerous trademark applications that create the framework of a mini-community, trademark attorney Josh Gerben tells Rolling Stone.
“The way these series of trademark applications were filed would very much be how you would file trademark applications to protect this type of idea of building this type of community out,” Gerben explains.
The trademark applications cover branding and typical products, such as clothing items and retail goods. But in a first for West, the CEO of Mascotte, these new filings include a range of beverages; pre-made alcoholic drinks and liquors; raw fruits and vegetables; snacks, candy, and other processed foods.
The filings indicate that West plans to create a variety of services under the Yecosystem umbrella, such as consulting services for nutrition, beauty, interior design and a public relations firm. Yecosystem has filings that would establish a production arm for movie, television, and radio programs, as well as an online media site that features “information on a recording artist in the fields of beauty, fashion, modeling, acting, music, [and] the arts.” The Yecosystem also hopes to create its own “residential buildings and houses.”
There’s also a philanthropic arm associated with the filings, indicating charitable services that include biological cloning, reproductive healthcare, children’s education and supporting members of the United States military.
West’s vision is borne out of a sincere desire to make the world a better place, one Yeezy source explains, such as creating new technology like his Stem Player and offering a new approach to education with Donda Academy. “There’s a saying that he would say, which is like, ‘Yeezy makes life easy,’ they say. “I think his ideal vision is, ‘Let me use where I’ve come from and what I’ve achieved to spread good in the world.’”
In 1988, President Ronald Reagan sought to “right a grave wrong” by signing legislation that apologized for the government’s forced relocation of 120,000 Japanese-Americans during World War II and established a $1.25 billion trust fund to pay reparations to those who were forced into internment camps and to their families.
However, the United States has never apologized for the nation’s treatment of enslaved people and their descendants. What do you think? Do you think that the descendants of enslaved people are owed anything for the wrongs of slavery?
When James Forman, a civil rights pioneer who later served briefly as the Black Panther Party’s foreign minister, demanded $500 million in reparations in his 1969 Black Manifesto, he grounded his argument in an indisputable fact: Unpaid slave labor helped build the American economy, creating vast wealth that African-Americans were barred from sharing.
The manifesto called for white Christian churches and Jewish synagogues to pay for projects like a black university and a Southern land bank. “We have helped to build the most industrial country in the world,” it declared, at the same time that “racist white America has exploited our resources, our minds, our bodies, our labor.”
Other civil rights leaders, such as Bayard Rustin, were not in agreement. Mr. Rustin said, “If my great-grandfather picked cotton for 50 years, then he may deserve some money, but he’s dead and gone and nobody owes me anything.”
Many people argue that while slavery happened in the past, its legacy still continues today:
The question of reparations, however, extends far beyond the roughly four million people who were enslaved when the Civil War started, as Ta-Nehisi Coates explained in an influential essay published in The Atlantic in 2014. Legalized discrimination and state-sanctioned brutality, murder, dispossession and disenfranchisement continued long after the war ended. That history profoundly handicapped black Americans’ ability to create and accumulate wealth as well as to gain access to jobs, housing, education and health care.
For every dollar a typical white household holds, a black one has 10 cents. It is this cumulative effect that justifies the payment of reparations to descendants of slaves long dead, supporters say.
The article raises the question: How much money would recipients of reparations get? Economists, including William A. Darity Jr., an economist at Duke University and a leading scholar on reparations, have looked to other models to calculate possible answers:
Compensation programs can take many forms. In the United States, after a congressional study, people of Japanese descent who were forced into internment camps during World War II received $20,000 in 1988 and a formal apology.
Since 1952, Germany has paid more than $70 billion in reparations through various programs, primarily to Jewish victims of the Nazi regime, and continues to deliver hundreds of millions of dollars each year. Payments vary from a lump sum distributed to individuals to a monthly pension based on years working in a slave labor camp. Money is also given to organizations to cover home care for older survivors or for grants. A small portion goes for research, education and documentation.
A reparations program in the United States could likewise adopt a single method or several at once. Families could get a one-time check, receive vouchers for medical insurance or college, or have access to a trust fund to finance a business or a home. Mr. Darity argues that “for both substantive and symbolic reasons, some important component must be direct payment to eligible recipients.”
Other scholars have emphasized different features. Roy L. Brooks, a law professor at the University of San Diego and the author of “Atonement and Forgiveness: A New Model for Black Reparations,” has reservations about what he calls the “settlement model,” a legalistic approach that looks backward to compensate victims for demonstrable financial losses. He prefers what he calls the “atonement model,” emphasizing longer-term investments in education, housing and businesses that build up wealth.
Students, read the entire article, then tell us:
Do you think that the United States owes the descendants of enslaved people an apology for slavery? If yes, what do you think an effective apology would look or sound like? Do you think that things like monuments, statues or memorials could be forms of apology?
The article cites investments in education, housing and business as other models for reparations. What do you think about these approaches?
Students at Georgetown University have voted to increase their tuition by $27.20 each semester to “benefit descendants of the 272 enslaved Africans that the Jesuits who ran the school sold nearly two centuries ago to secure its financial future.” What do you think about this action on behalf of Georgetown students? Do you think the fee effectively addresses the university’s ties to slavery? If you were a student at Georgetown, would you have supported this decision? Do you think that other schools, colleges or institutions should follow Georgetown University’s example and investigate their ties to slavery?
Do you think descendants of enslaved people are owed reparations, in a similar way that the United States gave reparations to Japanese-Americans? Or the ways that Germany has given money and services for Holocaust survivors? Do you think there is a thoughtful and fair way to do this, or has too much time passed since slavery was abolished to make reparations practically feasible or appropriate?
Profoundly sad movie 😢 But what must be received, is that this was the beginning of the #CivilRights movement for our country. Not even 90 days later did Rosa Parks refuse to give up her seat! 🙅🏽♀️
Like @mamietillmobleymemorial knows, our children’s blood need not be in vain. This movie teaches valuable lessons of tragedy, and strategy. ✍🏽 #LettheWorldSee #TillMovie
Special Thank you to the #EmmettTill Family for their blessings, and participation.
Ames Family Rejects Apologies of City of Phoenix Mayor, and Police Chief.
Monday, June 17th, 2019
FAMILY BRUTALIZED AND VIOLATED BY PHOENIX POLICE TO HOLD PRESS CONFERENCE TODAY AT 11:00AM OUTSIDE OF THE MAIN ENTRANCE TO PHOENIX CITY HALL IN RESPONSE TO MAYOR AND POLICE CHIEF’S “MEANINGLESS SHAM APOLOGY AND CONTINUED LACK OF SUBSTANTIVE ACTION” TO FIRE AND DISCIPLINE ALL OFFICERS INVOLVED IN ATTACK THAT OUTRAGED MILLIONS.
“YOU WILL NOT INSULT US,” SAYS KATT MCKINNEY OF BLACK WOMEN OF FAITH.
NEW ALLEGATIONS OF ABUSE RELATED TO THE VIOLENT ENCOUNTER WILL BE REVEALED, AS THE MOTHER INVOLVED RECOUNTS HER BODY SEARCH BY MALE OFFICER AND HIS FAILURE TO CALL FOR OR WAIT FOR A FEMALE OFFICER.
THE FAMILY, THEIR LAWYERS, AND SPOKESMEN WILL ALSO DETAIL THE LIES AND SLANDEROUS DEMONIZATIONS THAT POLICE ATTEMPTED TO PASS OFF AS FACTS TO THE MEDIA IN THE NOW WIDELY CRITICIZED POLICE REPORT.
MEMBERS OF THE COMMUNITY WILL ALSO OUTLINE PLANS FOR A PROTEST OF THE MAYOR AND POLICE CHIEF’S PLANNED TUESDAY MEETING AND WEDNESDAY’S COUNCIL MEETING. FURY BUILDS.
MASS MARCH BEING PLANNED FOR THURSDAY TO DEMAND OFFICERS INVOLVED IN AMES-HARPER FAMILY ASSAULT BE FIRED IMMEDIATELY…
Phoenix, AZ – As the City of Phoenix continues to reel from national outrage over two damning videos that captured police officers assaulting and abusing an innocent Black Family over an alleged theft of a dollar-store doll, the community is mobilizing for mass action intended to pressure elected officials to take action, including the firing of the officers involved. Outrage grows.
At 11:00AM TODAY, Dravon Ames and his fiancé Iesha Harper will join the Rev. Jarrett Maupin, Katt Mckinney of Black Women of Faith, their lawyers, and community members outside of the main entrance of Phoenix’ City Hall to respond to what the family and the public are describing as, “The meaningless sham apologies and continued lack of substantive action” of the Mayor and Police Chief with respect to their failures to properly discipline, terminate, and reform a citizen abuse-prone police force.
The group will debunk and denounce the police report of this incident. Glaring omissions and altered facts that contradict video tape will be outlined and condemned. Ames and Harper will also speak about failed attempts by police to destroy and assassinate their character.
The family and their representatives will also share, for the first time, Iesha’s gut-wrenching account of her body search by a male police officer who refused to call or wait for a female officer to conduct it. Ms. Harper was not guilty of committing any crime and the officer has not been fired.
Members of the community will also outline protest plans for THURSDAY of THIS WEEK, intended to increase pressure on city leaders to fire all of the officers involved in this incident and adopt the 12 POINT PLAN residents submitted to police. The department has FAILED to implement the community recommendations for policy and procedural reforms for more than half a decade. Community members say the police department is hostile to civil rights and guilty of collusion to violate the Constitutional rights of people of color.
The press conference will also detail plans for protests at the planned TUESDAY meeting organized by the Mayor to try and mislead and manipulate the community with, “More lies and false promises that mean absolutely nothing.”
“There are a lot of new facts, new abuse allegations, and new attacks on this family to unpack,” says Rev. Maupin, “The Family continues to be victimized by Phoenix Police but that will not deter them from their quest for justice and reform. The officers involved must be fired and policies and procedures must be strengthened. There will be a change. We must demand it.”
Come out to support the families and victims of the City of Phoenix Policing Crisis, and speak along with them to City Council Members on why this problem in our community must be addressed.
This is a National, International and Humanitarian Crisis that we must SPEAK ON!
#PolicingCrisis
#PHXPOLICINGCRISIS
#NationalPolicingCrisis
#12PointPlan
More Info:
1. Request to Speak
The public may request to address the Council regarding an agenda item by submitting a yellow “Request to Speak” card at the meeting, or may submit a white card to state their support or opposition to an item for the record without speaking. Individuals wishing to speak or submit their position on an item should arrive and submit a card by the beginning of the meeting, before action is taken on the item.
2. Citizen Comments
Citizen Comments are heard for up to 30 minutes (unless extended by the Chair) before adjournment or recess of the formal meeting provided a quorum of the Council is present. Additional time for Citizen Comments may be allowed at the discretion of the presiding officer. ANY member of the public may address the Council to comment on issues of interest or concern to them. Citizen Comments will be televised as part of the formal meeting. Members of the public will be given a maximum of three minutes each to address the Council. In compliance with the Arizona Open Meeting Law, the City Council cannot discuss or take formal action on any matter raised during Citizen Comments.
3. Accommodations
An assistive listening system is available in the City Council Chambers to assist individuals who are deaf or hard of hearing. Headset units for this system are available at the front table in the Council Chambers. In addition, with 72 hours advance notification, the City Clerk’s Office will provide sign language interpreting services.
Join us as the COMMUNITY marches and rallies against racism and police brutality after NEW EVIDENCE has come forward proving the Phoenix Police Department is riddled with racist police! (See Latest News Articles Below)
NOW WE HAVE IRREFUTABLE, UNDENIABLE, OUTRAGEOUS PROOF OF ACTIVE RACISTS WITHIN THE PHOENIX POLICE DEPARTMENT!
It is time to shut down the city! SHUT IT DOWN!
Come and show your support for the families and victims of police racism and brutality!
Stand side by side with the families of Michelle Cusseaux, Jacob Harris, Edward Brown, and others as they lead the community on a march and rally through downtown and at police headquarters!
Show up, show out, shut down the streets as we demand the officers involved in this blatant racist and culture of discrimination be FIRED!
We will gather at 620 W. Washington Street (Phx PD HQ) at 7:00pm on THIS FRIDAY! (June 7th)
We will no longer tolerate the abuse, racism, hostility, prejudice, bigotry, and physical / verbal violence openly practiced on our community by Phoenix Police officers!
JOIN THE COMMUNITY and make your voices heard! BRING SIGNS, BRING FRIENDS, BRING YOUR LOUD VOICES AND DEMANDS FOR JUSTICE AND ACCOUNTABILITY as we take bold action to demand the badges of racists!
DETAILS:
Join the families of police brutality and racism victims as we stand up to the EXPOSED culture of racism and violence against BLACK AND LATINO residents within the Phoenix PD!
7:00PM FRIDAY (June 7th)
Outside of
Phoenix Police Headquarters
620 W. Washington Street
Phoenix, AZ 85003
BE PRESENT FOR THE MARCH AND RALLY!
SHOW UP, STAND UP, SPEAK UP!
As we mobilize the masses and shut down the streets of downtown to DEMAND that racist police be immediately FIRED!
A US prisoner who once faced execution has been cleared of doing anything wrong after spending 39 years of his life in prison! Ricky Jackson from Ohio spent almost four decades in captivity until a key witness at his trial admitted this year that he had lied as a boy. (WOW!!!!)
Ricky Jackson
He was jailed alongside two other men over the 1975 murder of a Cleveland, Ohio man called Harold Franks. There was no other evidence linking the prisoner to the murder. Mr Jackson is said to have cried in court as all charges were dropped against him. He is the longest-held US president to be completely exonerated, according to legal group the Ohio Innocence Project.
“The state is conceding the obvious,” Cuyahoga County Prosecutor Timothy McGinty said, as charges were dropped against Mr Jackson. He is expected to be freed on Friday November 21st, 2014.
The men jailed alongside Mr Jackson have also asked for a retrial, though their petitions have not yet received a response. Authorities were said to be within 20 days of starting the execution of the men until Ohio ruled the death penalty unconstitutional. Execution has since been reinstated as a punishment in the state, with those found guilty suffering a lethal injection.
SUPERHUMAN – being above the human :divine: exceeding normal human power, size, or capability : having such power, size, or capability magical, miraculous, phenomenal, preternatural,supernatural, supernormal, transcendent, transcendental, uncanny, unearthly.
In the first test– researchers Kelly Marie Hoffman and Sophie Trawalter, of the University of Virginia, and Adam Waytz, of Northwestern University, performed Implicit Association Tests. White participants were asked to associate certain words to images of a person. It was found that white people were more likely to link words commonly associated with the supernatural, (ghost, paranormal, spirit, wizard, supernatural, magic, mystical), to pictures of black people, and more likely to link “human words,” (person, individual, humanity, people, civilian, mankind, citizen), to pictures of white people, New York Magazine reported. These results remained consistent, even as researchers varied the experiments in order to rule out the possibility of bias.
In the second test — to account for the possibility that the bias in test one occurred in part because of White-Human associations as opposed to Black-Superhuman associations — the researchers used categorization tasks, again asking participants to quickly associate a word with an image, this time with more groupings, (Black/Human, Black/Superhuman, Black/Subhuman, White/Human, White/Superhuman, White/Subhuman), and asking participants to quickly sort words as belonging to a category based on the image of a face flashed on the screen. They found the same bias present as in study one.
The third test — was a bit more specific. In it, the participants were shown images of both a white person and a black person and were asked to choose which person they believed possessed a series of supernatural abilities. The questions included:
1. Which person is more likely to have superhuman skin that is thick enough that it can withstand the pain of burning hot coals?
2. Which person is more capable of using their supernatural powers to suppress hunger and thirst? 3. Which person is more capable of using supernatural powers to read a person’s mind by touching the person’s head? 4. Which person is more capable of surviving a fall from an airplane without breaking a bone through the use of supernatural powers? 5. Which personal has supernatural quickness that makes them capable of running faster than a fighter jet? 6. Which person has supernatural strength that makes them capable of lifting up a tank?
White people chose an image of a black person an overwhelming 63.5 % of the time for everything except for the abilities to survive a plane crash and read minds.
The final study — “specifically shows superhumanization of blacks predicts denial of pain to Black versus White targets.” The results suggest superhumanization of black individuals may contribute to the undertreatment of pain for black patients because they’re viewed as being able to endure more. (Which supports earlier research from the same authors that showed nurses of any race see black patients as less sensitive to pain than white patients.)
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The authors assert superhumanization may also explain white tolerance for police brutality against black people. The authors of the study suggest that “perhaps people assume that blacks possess extra (superhuman) strength that enables them to endure violence more easily than other humans.” The authors say their results “might also explain why people consider Black juveniles to be more ‘adult’ than White juveniles when judging culpability.”
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How is this bias reflected in American culture? Sportscasters discussing fast-twitch muscle fiber, stereotypes about genitalia, and phrases like “black don’t crack” are common.
The Boston Globe pointed out a Los Angeles Times op-ed from 2007 calling out the elevation of Barack Obama as a savior figure by some who had outsized expectations of his ability to single-handedly effect change.
The paper cites Director Spike Lee’s famous criticism of the way black characters are portrayed in Hollywood films like The Green Mile or The Legend of Bagger Vance: “These films all have these magical, mystical Negroes who show up as some sort of spirit or angel, but only to benefit the white characters.”
The phenomenon has received virtually no empirical attention thus far, according to the authors, though the studies “demonstrate this phenomenon at an explicit level,” showing that “whites preferentially attribute superhuman capacities to blacks versus whites.”
And while imbuing a group of people with superhuman abilities might seem like a complimentary thing on the surface, the study contends this bias leads to dehumanization on the personal and political level.
This lady has saved most of humanity from being annihilated by uncureable diseases…
Henrietta Lacks
(August 1, 1920 – October 4th, 1951)
Henrietta Lacks is the source of the immortal cell named “Hela”. Lacks, was an impoverished black woman who died on October 4, 1951 of cervical cancer at just 31 years old. During her cancer treatment, a doctor at Johns Hopkins took a sample of her tumor without her knowledge or consent and sent it over to a colleague of his, Dr. George Gey, who had been trying for 20 years, unsuccessfully, to grow human tissues from cultures. A lab assistant there, Mary Kubicek, discovered that Henrietta’s cells, unlike normal human cells, could live and replicate outside the body.
Her cells, (a very significant contribution to the world), have been essential in many of the great scientific discoveries of our time: curing polio; gene mapping; learning how cells work; developing drugs to treat cancer, herpes, leukemia, influenza, hemophilia, Parkinson’s disease, AIDS … and the list goes on and on (and on). If it deals with the human body and has been studied by scientists, odds are those scientists needed and used Lacks’ cells somewhere along the way. HeLa cells were even sent up to space on an unmanned satellite to determine whether or not human tissue could survive in zero gravity.
Go to just about any cell culture lab in the world and you’ll find billions of HeLa cells stored there. In contrast to normal human cells, which will die after a few replications, Lacks’ cells can live and replicate just fine outside of the human body (which is also unique among humans). Give her cells the nutrients they need to survive, and they will apparently live and replicate along forever, almost 60 years and counting since the first culture was taken. They can be frozen for literally decades and, when thawed, they’ll go right on replicating.
Before her cells were discovered and widely cultured, it was nearly impossible for scientists to reliably experiment on human cells and get meaningful results. Cell cultures that scientists were studying would weaken and die very quickly outside the human body. Lacks’ cells gave scientists, for the first time, a “standard” that they could use to test things on. HeLa cells can survive being shipped in the mail just fine, so scientists across the globe can use the same standard to test against.
Lacks died of uremic poisoning, in the segregated hospital ward for blacks, about 8 months after being diagnosed with cervical cancer, never knowing that her cells would become one of the most vital tools in modern medicine and would spawn a multi-billion dollar industry. She was survived by her husband and five children; the family lived in poverty for most of their lives, and didn’t find out about the fate of Lacks’ incredible cells until years later.
Watch more about the Life and trials on Henrietta Lacks here:
According to Statistics, many Black men suffer from Post Traumatic Syndrome, which lands them in prison due to violent crimes.
When committing these crimes, an emotional stage of fly or flight sets in. A series of thoughts of rage overtakes them and they become victims of an innocent turned passionate yet angry crime.
The problem lies here…when men do something of this nature they are usually diagnosed as psycho or sociopaths, and receive the needed treatment and rehab in medical facilities. Most Black men are never properly assessed, evaluated, or treated and suffer from more than life sentences where they will have to continue to fight to live, never finding peace or content with themselves or crimes committed towards others.
This gives basis to believe that many Black men criminally charged, should have records reviewed for proper assessment and diagnosis, to ensure they have been properly assessed and treated for mental illness they have no control or responsibility over.
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