white people need to stop pretending like their history doesn’t speak fucking volumes. when you have that kind of history, i’m going to believe history before i believe you. i will trust what history teaches me about your people before i believe your overtures of peace.
trust however that i understand that white people, especially in america, aren’t used to being held responsible for their past or present evil doings. to them it was “those people.” they’re not associated at all EXCEPT they’ll gladly enjoy the benefits without argument. it’s because of your gleeful desire to enjoy the benefits but not cop to how you get the benefits that to me white people are guilty first until proven innocent.
Holiday, who throughout her career called public attention to the devastating impact of white supremacy, drew the notice of the Commissioner for the Federal Bureau of Narcotics. He ordered her to stop singing the song...
…In the end, Billie Holiday’s insistence on performing “Strange Fruit” may have been responsible for her demise.
One of the primary attempts to silence her came from a man named Harry Anslinger, the first commissioner for the Federal Bureau of Narcotics, and an extreme racist, even for the 1930s. As Johann Hari details in Chasing the Scream: The First and Last Days of the War on Drugs, Anslinger claimed that narcotics made black people forget their place in the fabric of American society, and that jazz musicians were dangerous in particular, creating “Satanic” music under the influence of marijuana.
Holiday, who throughout her career called public attention to the devastating impact of white supremacy, was also a drug user. She drew Anslinger’s notice, and he ordered Holiday to cease performing the song. Holiday refused, and Anslinger ramped up his efforts to silence her.
After one of Anslinger’s men was paid to track Holiday and frame her with buying and using heroin, she spent eighteen months in prison. Upon her release in 1948, the federal government refused to renew her cabaret performer’s license, mandatory for any performer playing or singing at any club or bar serving alcohol.
This utterly undermined her career. Although Holiday was able to perform multiple sold-out Carnegie Hall performances over the next several years, she could no longer travel the nightclub circuit.
Unable to perform regularly at the venues she loved, and to stop remembering a childhood that included being raped at age ten, and working in a brothel with her mother, Holiday eventually began using heroin again. When she checked into a New York hospital in 1959, her liver was failing and cancerous. She was emaciated, and her heart and lungs were compromised. Despite her condition, she didn’t want to stay there. “They’re going to kill me. They’re going to kill me in there. Don’t let them,” she presciently told friends and family.
Indeed, Anslinger’s men, sensing a macabre opportunity, showed up at her hospital bedside, handcuffed her to the bed, took mugshots, removed giftsthat people had brought to the room—flowers, radio, record player, chocolates, magazines—and stationed two cops at the door.
Even so, as doctors began methadone treatment, Holiday began to improve, gaining some weight and improving slowly. But then Anslinger’s men prevented hospital staff from administering any further methadone. She succumbed to death within days.
The only surviving filmed version of Holiday performing the song is from the British cabaret television show, “Chelsea At Nine,” recorded February 25, 1959 and released in March of the same year, just a few months before she died. Her voice is strong and impressive; the raw emotion simply devastating.
From their infancy in the US, drug laws and enforcement have been about controlling and murdering Black people.
She burned at the stake as a witch in 1646; she rises out of the ocean unscathed in 2019. That’s the premise of Siempre Bruja, a Colombian drama coming to Netflix.
Angely Gaviria stars as Carmen, a woman who lived in Cartagena before being killed for being in love. When she is transported to our present-day, she has to become accustomed to our high-tech way of life. The trailer gives us a taste of the magic we can expect, but you can be sure that Carmen’s ascension to our time isn’t the only supernatural element in store for us.
Siempre Bruja, which also stars Verónica Orózco and Dylan Fuentes, will hit Netflix next year.
🍉
watermelon:
-cardiovascular health
-maintains bones
-significant source of vitamins
-combats free radicals
-reduces body fat
-anti inflammitory
-diuretic & kidney support
-alkaline forming
-improves sight
🍓
strawberries:
-potentially fight against cancer
-anti aging properties
-prevent heart disease, reduces risk of stroke
-helps relieve constipation
-can help with allergies & asthma
-anti depression properties
-reduces blood pressure
-regulates blood sugar
-folic acid
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pineapple:
-helps fight arthritis
-immune system support
-bone health
-vision health
-can reduce risk of macular degeneration (eye disease)
-anti inflammitory
-aids in digestion
-packed with vital nutrients
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kiwi:
-increases bone mass
-more vitamin c than an orange
-packed with vital nutrients
-aids in digestion
-helps manage blood pressure
-protects DNA from damage
-supports weight loss
-detox
-prevents heart disease
-protects against macular degeneration
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grapes:
-relax blood vessels
-prevents/slows many types of cancer
-maintains heart health
-packed with nutrients
-aids in digestion
-weight loss
-can prevent alzheimers
-improves brain function
-protects body from radiation
🍎
apples:
-build immune system
-fiber
-reduces risk of cancer
-prevents heart disease
-healthy teeth
-prevent alzheimers
-prevents larkinsons
-decreases risk of diabetes
-reduces cholesterol
-prevents gallstones
-reduces risk of hypertension
🍊
oranges:
-help maintain skin & vision
-excellent source of vitamin B & C
-fiber
-prevents stroke
-lowers blood pressure
🍌
banana:
-potassium
-energy booster
-aids in digestion
-fiber
-weight loss
-lowers blood pressure
-prevents asthma
-fights cancer
-treats diarrhea
-preserving memory
🌳
blueberries:
-protect heart
-lowers cholesterol
-packed with antioxidants
-reduce DNA damage
-maintains healthy cholesterol
-lower blood pressure
-improve brain function & memory
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mango:
-protects against several forms of cancer
-lowers cholesterol
-clears skin
-improves eye health
-alkalizes entire body
-promotes healthy sex
-improves digestion
-helps fight heat stroke
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lemon:
-contain high amounts of potassium
-lowers risk of stroke
-fights cancer
-maintains healthy complexion
-prevents asthma
-increases iron absorption
-boosts immune system
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pear:
-packed with nutrients
-great source of fiber
-treats diverticulosis (inflammation of the lining in large intestine)
-weight loss
-lowers blood pressure
-lowers cholesterol
-prevents diabetes
-promotes digestion
-detox
🍅
tomato:
-prevents cancer
-manages blood pressure
-protects heart
-maintains healthy complexion
-reduces depression
-improves vision
-improves digestive system
🍃
grapefruit:
-weight loss
-prevents stroke
-maintains blood pressure & heart health
-prevents cancer
-promotes digestion
-hydration
-maintaining healthy skin
-prevents asthma
🌿if youre taking medication, please speak with your pharmacist or doctor before trying ANY natural remedies. grapefruit, for example, can really hurt you if youre taking anti depression medication. please be cautious.🌿
**this post is speaking specifically of the fruit, not of the plant itself
Smh here is a list of black men and women killed at the hands of law enforcement in 2016, 2017, and so far in 2018. And i’m sure these are only the instances we know of, not to mention those that they injured and mistreated.
A movie about Viola Davis because her life deserves to be known
“The only picture I have of my childhood is the picture of me in kindergarten, I have this expression on my face — it’s not a smile, it’s not a frown. I swear to you, that’s the girl who wakes up in the morning and who looks around her house and her life saying, ‘I cannot believe how God has blessed me.’ “
“I would jump in trash bins with maggots looking for food, and I would steal from the corner store because I was hungry, I never had any kids come to my house because my house was a condemned building, it was boarded up, it was infested with rats. I was one of those kids who were poor and knew it.”
“I was the kind of poor where I knew right away I had less than everyone around me. We had nothing, I cannot believe my life, I just can’t, I’m so blessed. I would jump in trash bins with maggots looking for food, and I would steal from the corner store because I was hungry, I never had any kids come to my house because my house was a condemned building, it was boarded up, it was infested with rats. I was one of those kids who were poor and knew it.”
“It became a motivation as opposed to something else — the thing about poverty is that it starts affecting your mind and your spirit because people don’t see you, I chose from a very young age that I didn’t want that for my life. And it very much has helped me appreciate and value the things that are in my life now because I never had it. A yard, a house, great plumbing, a full refrigerator, things that people take for granted, I don’t.”
“I first envisioned myself as an actor after I watched Cicely Tyson in The Autobiography of Miss Jane Pittman when I was a child.”
“It wasn’t until then that I had a visual manifestation of the target I wanted to hit, It also gave me hope for the future and a different life for myself, she helped me have a very specific drive of how I was going to crawl, walk, run from that environment.”
“I became an artist, and thank God I did, because we are the only profession that celebrates what it means to live a life,”
