A product of my environment

I am just a woman on a journey... searching for truth. I take what I see, hear, and feel and I recycle it. "Great Principles, great ideals know no nationality... The whole world is my providence until Africa is free." - Marcus Garvey

[blackness-by-your-side]

Sister Souljah

White people should learn it.

[coutois]

[baltimorebred]

what strain was in the jar? how moist was it?

I'm so late!!! It was loud in the jar. Personally, I felt like it was dried out a little too much but it burned good!

[victim-of-convenience]

Of all the things I’ll spend my life trying to forget you will be my favorite The first awkward steps of Spring like a song you’ve heard often enough to hum along but not stop in your tracks Would that daisy chains could suture the cracks the cold leaves behind

I couldn’t tell you the last thing he said but I could paint you every color of sunset on the lake that day an upside down world swallowing fire And what we’ll fall asleep tonight wishing upon gods and constellations for is essentially the same desire: a moment that won’t scream a face that won’t sink beneath the masses swimming upstream and a smile that asks nothing more than to be returned

And if you see me again someday walking slower under the weight of everything I’ve learned but wearing the same old coat remind me to check the pockets for some other winter’s change

[baltimorebred]

Dope... #DropsMic #ExitsStage

[baltimorebred]

[baltimorebred]

Doesn't matter what side your on when the whole fucking system is corrupt.

[pseudoskull-moved-to-girlwolves]

[lavendersucculents]

This is an incomplete list of innocent unarmed black persons who were murdered by police officers.

2014: Vonderrick Myers (St. Louis, MO) 2014: Victor White III (Iberia Parish, LA) 2014: Dante Parker (San Bernardino County, CA) 2014: Ezell Ford (Los Angeles, CA) 2014: Michael Brown (Ferguson, MO) 2014: Tyree Woodson (Baltimore, MD) 2014: John Crawford III (Beavercreek, OH) 2014: Eric Garner (New York, NY) 2014: Yvette Smith (Bastrop, TX) 2014: Jordan Baker (Houston, TX) 2013: Barrington Williams (New York, NY) 2013: Carlos Alcis (New York, NY) 2013: Deion Fludd (New York, NY) 2013: Jonathan Ferrell (Bradfield Farms, NC) 2013: Kimani Gray (New York, NY) 2013: Kyam Livingstone (New York, NY) 2013: Larry Eugene Jackson, Jr. (Austin, TX) 2013: Miriam Carey (Washington, DC) 2012: Chavis Carter (Jonesboro, AR) 2012: Dante Price (Dayton, OH) 2012: Duane Brown (New York, NY) 2012: Ervin Jefferson (Atlanta, GA) 2012: Jersey Green (Aurora, IL) 2012: Johnnnie Kamahi Warren (Dotham, AL) 2012: Justin Slipp (New Orleans, LA) 2012: Kendrec McDade (Pasadena, CA) 2012: Malissa Williams (Cleveland, OH) 2012: Nehemiah Dillard (Gainesville, FL) 2012: Ramarley Graham (New York, NY) 2012: Raymond Allen (Galveston, TX) 2012: Rekia Boyd (Chicago, IL) 2012: Reynaldo Cuevas (New York, NY) 2012: Robert Dumas Jr (Cleveland, OH) 2012: Sgt. Manuel Loggins Jr (Orange County, CA) 2012: Shantel Davis (New York, NY) 2012: Sharmel Edwards (Las Vegas, NV) 2012: Shereese Francis (New York, NY) 2012: Tamon Robinson (New York, NY) 2012: Timothy Russell (Cleveland, OH) 2012: Wendell Allen (New Orleans, LA) 2011: Alonzo Ashley (Denver, CO) 2011: Jimmell Cannon (Chicago, IL) 2011: Kenneth Chamberlain (White Plains, NY) 2011: Kenneth Harding (San Francisco, CA) 2011: Raheim Brown (Oakland, CA) 2011: Reginald Doucet (Los Angeles, CA) 2010: Aaron Campbell (Portland, OR) 2010: Aiyana Jones (Detroit, MI) 2010: Danroy Henry (Thornwood, NY) 2010: Derrick Jones (Oakland, CA) 2010: Steven Eugene Washington (Los Angeles, CA) 2009: Kiwane Carrington (Champaign, IL) 2009: Oscar Grant (Oakland, CA) 2009: Shem Walker (New York, NY) 2009: Victor Steen (Pensacola, FL) 2008: Tarika Wilson (Lima, OH) 2007: DeAunta Terrel Farrow (West Memphis, AR) 2006: Sean Bell (New York, NY) 2005: Henry Glover (New Orleans, LA) 2005: James Brisette (New Orleans, LA) 2005: Ronald Madison (New Orleans, LA) 2004: Timothy Stansbury (New York, NY) 2003: Alberta Spruill (New York, NY) 2003: Orlando Barlow (Las Vegas, NV) 2003: Ousmane Zongo (New York, NY) 2001: Timothy Thomas (Cincinnati, OH) 2000: Earl Murray (Dellwood, MO) 2000: Malcolm Ferguson (New York, NY) 2000: Patrick Dorismond (New York, NY) 2000: Prince Jones (Fairfax County, VA) 2000: Ronald Beasley (Dellwood, MO) 1999: Amadou Diallo (New York, NY) 1994: Nicholas Heyward Jr. (New York, NY) 1992: Malice Green (Detroit, MI) 1985: Edmund Perry (New York, NY) 1984: Eleanor Bumpurs (New York, NY) 1983: Michael Stewart (New York, NY) 1981: Ron Settles (Signal Hill, CA) 1979: Eula Love (Los Angeles, CA) 1969: Mark Clark (Chicago, IL) 1969: Fred Hampton (Chicago, IL) 1964: James Powell (New York, NY)

This list was copied from http://abagond.wordpress.com/2014/08/26/a-list-of-unarmed-blacks-killed-by-police/

Written by Julian Abagond.

[baltimorebred]

I don't ever want to here it's not about race when we can develop a list so long and only incorporate 6% of the known unarmed killing of Black men. I can not blame any brother or sister for burning the fucking flag and I tell my daughter not to say the "Pledge of Alligance" as we are not your allies, we are target practice!

[cartoonpolitics]

[blackfemmejeanvaljean]

my white protesters please remember that you’re rarely at the same risk we are when you stand up for what is right

[frumpyboyjuicebar-deactivated20]

I’m not gonna stop reblogging these reminders

[land-of-propaganda]

3 years in Rikers Island, 2 in solitary confinement, this high school student, NEVER CHARGED, gets released

16-year-old high school sophomore Kalief Browder, of the Bronx, spent nearly three years locked up at the Rikers Jail after he says he was falsely accused of stealing a backpack.  Amazingly, Browder never pleaded guilty, actually refused to plead guilty and requested a trial, even when pressured, but was never convicted and was only offered plea deals while the trial was repeatedly delayed.

Near the end of his time in jail, the judge “offered” to sentence him to time served if a guilty plea was entered, and warned him he could face 15 years in prison if convicted, but Browder still refused to accept the deal.  The only reason Browder was finally released was because his case was dismissed, but the damage had been done.

Browder, a high school student, spent an unbelievable 800 days, or over 2 years, in solitary confinement, which is a common juvenile imprisonment practice that the New York Department of Corrections has now banned after several investigations.

How does a teen end up in jail for 3 years, of which 2 years was spent in solitary confinement, and never be charged with a crime?

Browder’s case highlights several broken mechanisms in the New York legal system that feeds itself to civil liberty abuses on our youth.

The 6th amendment gives us a right to a speedy trial, but in New York they have a “Ready Rule”.  The “Ready Rule” allows the courts to postpone trial dates by offering continuances. The system may give a continuance for 1 week, but logistically it may be 1 month before the trial actually comes to fruition and the still not convicted civilian only gets “credit” for the 1 week, not the actual time they have served.  In Browder’s case, he was given an absolutely ridiculous number of continuances initiated by the prosecution which left him locked up because he could not afford the $3000 bail.

Browder was a high school student and juveniles are supposed to continue their education while behind bars .. except for juveniles that are in solitary confinement.  Guards would place juveniles in solitary and the schooling would stop relinquishing any educational support.

While in solitary, Browder says that guards would routinely refuse to give him his meals.  Hunger is a common complaint by teens that are locked up because of the 12-hour stretch between dinner and breakfast.  Guards would use starve tactics at their discretion for punishment or their own personal enjoyment.  Browder says the worst of his starvations lasted for 4 meals in a row, meaning he was denied breakfast, lunch, dinner and another breakfast.

As it stands, the courts place people in these situations and it is human nature for some to strike a plea deal just to get out of jail.  But Browder did not play into their game and take a plea deal, but maintained his innocence and requested a trial which came at a snail’s pace. This leads one to believe that the courts use this a planned tactic or procedure to play on human nature all in the name of getting convictions.

The issues of using a Public Defender have long been recorded across the country.  In New York, court appointed lawyers make $75 a case.  In order to make money, that PD has to take on huge caseloads which leads to other problems.  Browder, although locked up for nearly three years in Rikers, where his PD was located everyday, never once was visited by his PD or had anyone to advocate his case for him.  This shows a reckless disregard which leads to a vicious cycle of apathy that often leads innocent people to copping pleas or getting longer sentences.

Read more here

[thefitrasta]

Justin Lynch beating Michael Phelps record at just 16

[thotstothinkabout-deactivated20]

SPREAD THIS LIKE FIRE

[baltimorebred]

The original people do everything better!!!

[redphilistine-deactivated201501]

Another flag burns.#shawshooting

[howtobeafuckinglady]

WHAT A TIME TO BE ALIVE

[baltimorebred]

I love the idea that my people are waking up!!!

[mroverstanding]

"The Ivory Bangle Woman", so called because of the jewelry she was buried with, was seemingly one of the wealthiest women in Eboracum, or Roman York (UK). Archaeologists have recently proved that she was African.

[wakeupslaves]

White people are new to the earth new to wealth new to power and do not want to admit that black people taught them everything they know about living outside of the cold climate caves

[black-culture]

Organization for Black Struggle (OBS)

http://obs-onthemove.org

Missourians Organization for Reform and Empowerment (MORE)

https://secure.piryx.com/donate/mS25KFCe/MORE/mikebrown

Millennial Activists United(MAU)

[email protected]

Lost Voices

http://www.thelostvoices.org

…

[untouchmyhair]

[earthlydreams-deactivated201709]

This is so cool! But what country are they from? “Africa” is really vague.

[nonhoration]

Their names are Duro-Aina Adebola, Akindele Abiola, Faleke Oluwatoyin, and Bello Eniola and they’re from Lagos, Nigeria. There’s a neat video about them here.

[dontdierobb]

#when will people start giving names to young non-white scientists??#bc that shit is getting old

[jaythenerdkid]

boost the fuck out of this, and make sure you include their goddamn names and country of origin.

[baltimorebred]

What a poem about the world we have inherited... this video moved me.

[liveaceo]

Be as proud of your race today as our fathers were in days of yore. We have beautiful history, and we shall create another in the future that will astonish the world. (Marcus Garvey)

Marcus Garvey, The Philosophy and Opinions of Marcus Garvey (via aceoglobal)

Pride... not prejudice!