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Will drop spoken word at two extremely different, beautiful events in the next week and a half. If you're in the Chi or gorgeous upstate New York, and enjoy being rhythmically shouted at about Black-girl lust and society's ills, dig 'em. ○ 9.30: Tha Room For HuEmans, 7558 S. South Chicago Ave., @thahuemans ○ 10.9: New York Harvest Fest; Arts Tent; New Echo Lake Resort; Afton, NY P.S. Slide one is when I performed in front of thousands in Dublin city centre for the national broadcaster, @explorerte, backed by @rteconcertorchestra. Would also be a very different gig if included in this spate. 😋🎙🌐 (at Syllables) https://www.instagram.com/p/CUbNEhSMT1V/?utm_medium=tumblr

Needed a vacation. Now I'm in L.A. (at Santa Monica, California) https://www.instagram.com/p/CLh5cERnh_k/?igshid=1ganl7khh9ggx

📺 Forthcoming history, passion, and purpose. Regram from @museumofeveryone: COMING SOON Amanda Nyoni will be speaking to writer and activist Clara Rose Thornton about Douglass Week, a week of events around Ireland that commemorate Frederick Douglass’s journey and visit to Ireland in the 19th century. In the autumn of 1845, a young and charismatic African-American abolitionist sailed from America to Ireland for a four-month lecture tour of the island. Frederick Douglass had been born into slavery but escaped bondage on a plantation in Maryland by fleeing to the North, where he became a prominent anti-slavery activist. Douglass lectured to large and enthusiastic audiences, met with Daniel O’Connell, and reflected upon the devastating effects of the famine then beginning to sweep the nation. #DouglassWeek programming highlights the experience of Douglass and other abolitionists and explores issues like identity, migration and race in contemporary Ireland. It emphasizes the continued importance of remembering slavery and the intertwined struggle for independence and liberation in Ireland and the US. Clara Rose Thornton is an award-winning essayist, multiple slam poetry champion, culture journalist, educator, and activist from Chicago. In the six countries in which she has lived, she has given speeches of sociopolitical import in a multitude of governmental and historical venues, performed thunderous spoken word poetry both musical and a cappella, and has worked with organizations and individuals to manifest several progressive firsts, including the inaugural Black History Month Ireland in 2014. While living in Ireland for six years, she won the Dublin Slam Poetry Championship three years in a row. She was a frequent RTE radio and television broadcaster, and wrote for the The Irish Independent and Irish Times. Now repatriated to her home city, where she focuses on education and the Black Lives Matter movement, Clara Rose maintains close ties with Ireland through artistic and sociopolitical work. https://www.instagram.com/p/CLKTSQ3n62C/?igshid=95bdafj0hvss

#douglassweek

February 20 is Frederick Douglass' birthday! Who out here of my peoples knew that the origin of Black History Month was called Negro History Week, founded by Carter G. Woodson in 1926, timed to straddle the birthdays of Douglass and Abraham Lincoln on February 12, signatory of the Emancipation Proclamation? (The Emancipation Proclamation existed purely as a Civil War political move, to destabilize the South in hopes that freed Blacks would join the ranks of the Union army. It wasn't about the government loving-up black people. Yet, heyyyy -- I am certainly enjoying my 'freedom.' 🛫🏞🏕🍒) #DouglassWeek in Ireland is in full swing, through Valentine's Day!! Tomorrow (Friday the 12th) I'm honored to perform, live, my commission for a new work exploring themes arising from Douglass' celebrated four months spent in Ireland in 1845. Expect history all twisted up with identity, emotion, and hope. You know how I do. 🔜 Free ticket link in bio to Poetry Evening: Frederick Douglass - Past, Present and Future. 2 p.m. CST / 3 p.m. EST / 8 p.m. GMT. Plus, please check out the link for all the other fabulous events! It warms my heart to no end that something like this is happening in Éire. Progress, friends. ✊🏿✊🏽✊🏼🇮🇪 (at Zoomland) https://www.instagram.com/p/CLKtkFrHyqX/?igshid=q74c50pkek56

#douglassweek

My incredible comrade Shane Curtin and I worked hard to get plaques erected on historical sites in Limerick and Cork, commemorating Frederick Douglass' time spent in Ireland. Douglass stirred abolitionist fervor across the country, unearthing empathy from downtrodden Catholics under famine-era British rule. Douglass was feted, crates of his autobiography sold out at every tour stop, and there was fainting during his rousing speeches. We organized event series, made radio appearances, and petitioned local governments. Whispers happened here and there, yet no cigar. Now, years later, Ireland has a #DOUGLASSWEEK!!! I can't even contain myself. Between February 8-14 there are 29 digital and livestreamed events. Twenty-nine!! For Douglass Week, I've been commissioned to create an original piece on the topic, which I am excited to share. On Friday, February 12 at 2 p.m. CST / 3 p.m. EST / 8 p.m. GMT, catch me as part of Poetry Evening: Frederick Douglass: Past, Present and Future. Links in bio. ⚖ (at Liberation) https://www.instagram.com/p/CK22T5Enfi1/?igshid=1euq8dj624waj

#douglassweek

Clipping here and there from the multitude of screenshots sent via every DM inbox and in e-mail, from around the world, from among the several hundred viewers who booked in for our event this week. The incredibly warm words, the empathy poured out, the declarations of feeling more educated and heartwarmed as a result of hearing us parse issues around various incarnations of Black-Irish female identity. My four marvelous guests expressing such via poetry, as well. The transatlantic event, The Fire Gilders, was one of the most innovative and illuminating in which I've had the honor of taking part. Digitally or in the flesh. A genius combination: Celebrating #BrigidsDay, or #Imbolc, the ancient Gaelic festival marking the traditional beginning of spring, rebirth, and the sheer power of the feminine; colliding with the onset of #BlackHistoryMonth in the United States. The theme played out so perfectly within every word spoken, every historical fact relayed, every personal experience shared. Thank you. ☘✊🏿✊🏽✊🏻 (at Zoomland) https://www.instagram.com/p/CK2r5V6HhMs/?igshid=14voip53pqani

#brigidsday #imbolc #blackhistorymonth

I don't want to begin your day with such a vicious hell-slap. Yet for those who don't know, a whistleblower revealed mass, forced, shoddily performed hysterectomies at an ICE detention center. These spaces should now be legally defined as concentration camps. An attempt at systematic genocidal control and gender-based torture. Look up the centuries of medical apartheid suffered by black and indigenous women. Also look up the term "epigenetics" -- I am experiencing this news deeply in my spiritual and hereditary bones. All current societies are sick. Is Earth one of the purgatories of the universe? Is it a hell we endure as part of karmic cycles? My spiritual body within feels utterly separate from this place. #AbolishICE (at Georgia) https://www.instagram.com/p/CFKOb8pHstC/?igshid=u7vcw9d60z69

#abolishice

Today I realized Labor Day is Monday AND WE ARE SAVORING THE LAST MAJOR SUMMER WEEKEND of this earthshaking crackpot of a year, AM I RIGHT? If you're feeling this hippie "Barbarella" vibe, FILL THE COOLER WITH ROSÉ/WHITE CLAW/SPARKLING APPLE JUICE, PUT ON A MASK, AND CANOODLE WITH SOME ROCKS. (at Some Beach, Somewhere) https://www.instagram.com/p/CEszc5TnO6D/?igshid=1aq303cqzbwwq

Well, humans, it begins. 😷👩🏾‍🏫👩🏽‍🎓👨🏽‍🎓 My Catholic school opted for a hybrid, opt-in model: 100 students onsite, 100 students learning remotely. Half the day I will teach remotely from my classroom; and the other half, teach small numbers from behind desk shields. All I know is I will give 350% of myself to ensure my nation's children are not left bereft of confidence nor academic mastery this year, despite the surreality ahead. Particularly for the working-class, BIPOC, ELL population I serve, who do not possess the same access to resources as some in our society. I feel more passionate than ever about education. I do not know if we will have to close after a while, like many other schools that opted for in-person. I know that I missed my kiddos so much it physically hurt. (at West Humboldt Park) https://www.instagram.com/p/CEj7ZltHgW-/?igshid=1fftfesy417tb

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#JacobBlake is paralyzed from the waist down. Regram from @shaunking: In #Kenosha, protestors burned down the ENTIRE Department of Corrections compound. And spray painted the question “Are you listening yet?” on what remains. [📷 by Vi Nguyen] #BlackLivesMatter #DefundPolice #AbolishPolice (at Kenosha) https://www.instagram.com/p/CEVZQWKnwOV/?igshid=o5isu6ew5lri

#jacobblake #kenosha #blacklivesmatter #defundpolice #abolishpolice

Humans, this now occurs every weekend in #Chicago, at multiple locations across Fridays to Mondays, sometimes simultaneously. It is simply no longer placed under a national news spotlight. As a result, ununiformed federal agent and police instigation of violence and physical control is increasing. They are trying to beat and exhaust the fervor out of us. What they don't understand is that it is not possible. #CPAC #DefundCPD #DefundPolice #AbolishICE #ChicagoProtests #BLM #LoriLighfoot #FundCommunities (at Downtown Chicago) https://www.instagram.com/p/CECqe5snQ08/?igshid=as51y6ydz0c6

#chicago #cpac #defundcpd #defundpolice #abolishice #chicagoprotests #blm #lorilighfoot #fundcommunities

Happy Friday, dreamers and doers! I am currently remotely facilitating the InkBlot Complex Public Speaking Workshop, which I designed this year as a series of 8-10 sessions focusing on: 🔵 Topic Preparation 🔵 Research 🔵 Ethics - What is Your Goal? 🔵 Knowledge - Sharpen the Saw 🔵 Written Synthesis - Performative Paper-Writing 🔵 Pinpointing and Honing a Personal Delivery Style 🔵 Confidence 🔵 Elocution The workshop currently runs for teens, via Skype or Zoom. The confidence and articulation skills these teenagers are building, and how they are gaining understanding of themselves and their capabilities in preparation for high school and college is incredible! As with all InkBlot Complex workshops, it is fully malleable for any age group, demographic, and schedule parameters. Please don't hesitate to get in touch if you would like to add a deep-seated, personable, and effective public speaking bootcamp for yourself, your online group, festival program, or individual child. Hourly rates are very reasonable. 🗣📣 (at Quarantine Zone) https://www.instagram.com/p/CCwlkChHnZU/?igshid=1ua9ltpircq2e

HAPPY #JUNETEENTH, all you beautiful people!!! We have come so far. We are utterly unstoppable. We innovate and create light where there was none, wherever we roam. True freedom cometh. 🎆🎇✨ (at South Side, Chicago) https://www.instagram.com/p/CBo85jen1ao/?igshid=1fywk2qoovz3c

#juneteenth

Two and a half years after slaves were "freed" via a political wartime move on the part of Abraham Lincoln, on January 1, 1863, vast majorities of slave-owners had not INFORMED slaves they were free. Millions of black Americans continued to toil relentlessly, die, be murdered and raped, bought and sold, and children stolen, on plantations across the South for another two and a half years. Union troops had to advance onto a working plantation in Galveston, Texas, to formally announce the end of the Civil War and enforce the end of slavery in the United States. This was on June 19, 1865. This the origin of the Juneteenth holiday. It has been celebrated by black Americans since 1865. Due to the current uprising, many companies, for the first time, have announced Juneteenth as a holiday and given employees the day off. The #MillionManMarch is happening in #Chicago today. Downtown. 11 a.m. ✊🏿 (at State Street (Chicago)) https://www.instagram.com/p/CBnoudOAV8J/?igshid=kqdjfcxgueol

#millionmanmarch #chicago

I'm processing what I saw, experienced, and felt yesterday in Chicago. More soon. #blacklivesmatter (at Downtown Chicago) https://www.instagram.com/p/CA3G-ieAj0V/?igshid=o12vz4qli7b2

#blacklivesmatter

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Regram from @shaunking: 🔥ANNOUNCEMENT🔥⁣ ⁣ This Friday, May 8th, would’ve been Ahmaud Arbery’s 26th birthday. He was born on Mother’s Day in 1994 and we are choosing to honor him and his dear mother Wanda in a special way ALL WEEKEND LONG starting on Friday all through Monday with socially distant runs in his honor. As long as the white supremacists who murdered Ahmaud are free, we cannot let up. ⁣ ⁣ 1. Register now @ RunWithMaud.com or click the link in my bio. ⁣ ⁣ 2. Be safe with friends and family and stay socially distant. ⁣ ⁣ 3. Wear a white t-shirt in honor of Maud, as his family called him. This is what he was wearing on his last run. ⁣ ⁣ 4. RUN, if you are able. Cry if you need to. This is an act of protest. ⁣ ⁣ 5. Post videos across social media of your run and tag #RunWithMaud or #iRunWithMaud. ⁣ ⁣ 6. Sign the super-petition and encourage everybody to join you at RunWithMaud.com. It then emails decision makers all over the country. ⁣ ⁣ 7. Call 770.800.0689 between 9am-5pm EST and encourage everybody to join you. I will be on the line talking you through each call and connecting you to different offices. https://www.instagram.com/p/B_6UGsTnH-U/?igshid=1sxv9emn741td

#runwithmaud #irunwithmaud

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