Keepin' It Basic All Day, Every Day.

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[bakuyonce]

🚨ATTN NEVADA VOTERS🚨

THE FOLLOWING LINKS ARE TO CHECK YOUR MAIL IN BALLOT:

TO CHECK ONLINE:

https://nevada.ballottrax.net/voter/

BallotTrax

COUNTY CLERK NUMBERS TO CHECK AND CALL FOR MAIL IN BALLOT STATUS:

https://www.nvsos.gov/sos/elections/voters/county-clerk-contact-information

[channelxblue]

For those who don't know, the Nigerian government have basically waged war on civilians in response to their protest to #EndSARS which is police brutality

This shit isn't acceptable anywhere else and it sure as hell won't be acceptable in Nigeria

Fuck the president for killing peaceful protesters and just know Nigerians are fed the fuck up and absolutely no good will come to this man for his crimes against humanity

#EndSARS #prayfornigeria🇳🇬

[mostlysignssomeportents]

Homeschool to prison pipeline

Hey guess what?

We have a homeschool-to-prison pipeline now.

https://www.propublica.org/article/a-teenager-didnt-do-her-online-schoolwork-so-a-judge-sent-her-to-juvenile-detention

Grace is a 15-year-old with ADHD and a long history of behavioral difficulties who ended up on probation after a fight with her mom led to the confiscation of her phone and her briefly stealing a classmate’s phone.

Grace is now in a juvenile facility where her life is at risk from covid because one of her probation conditions was to do her homework, and when her school in Oakland County Michigan went online only, she struggled to complete her distance education homework.

As a result, Judge Mary Ellen Brennan ignored the Michigan governor’s orders to minimize the incarceration of children and ordered Grace imprisoned…for not doing her homework.

The Propublica story on Grace and her single mother Charisse - written by Jodi S Cohen - is a heartbreaker and a half. It paints a picture of a kid whose need for extra educational attention was met by a stern and uncaring system, from caseworker to judge.

Judge Brennan does not come off well in this story. She ordered Grace to appear in person in court - the only case of the day with that requirement - and then refused a continuance when Grace’s lawyer said he would NOT come to court and risk his life to argue her case.

Brennan’s sentence was handed down after Grace’s caseworker Michelle Giroux admitted that she did not know the details of Grace’s learning disabilities and had not familiarized herself with the legally mandated supports for them that Grace had not recieved.

Brennan called Grace a “threat to the community” for missing her homework, denied Grace’s pleas for more time to adjust to homeschooling, and had her taken out of the courtroom in handcuffs.

It goes without saying that, like the majority of Michigan teens sentenced to youth detention in defiance of the governor’s orders, Grace is Black. Black children in Michigan are four times likelier to be imprisoned than their white peers.

Grace has not been permitted to see her mother, except by videoconference. Her mother’s attempts to bring her clothes and toys have been rebuffed by the facility, because of petty rules like those stipulating that underwear must be briefs, or that jeans can’t be “too tight.”

When Grace is brought out for videoconference status meetings with the court, the child is handcuffed and put in ankle shackles. She makes heartbreaking pleas to be returned to her mother. The judge has ordered her held until at least Sept 8.

For missing her homework.

[gowns]

Action: call Judge Mary Ellen Brennan at  248-701-3183 or 248-858-0355 and ask her to reverse her sentence and send Grace back home

[proud-homosexual-woman-deactiva]

this would never never never happen to a white person

[rosalie-alice-esme]

I encourage everyone to read the whole article but just want to draw attention to two particularly outrageous parts:

‘She had told her special education teacher that she needed one-on-one help and began receiving daily tutoring the day after the probation violation was filed. 

Giroux filed the violation of probation before confirming whether Grace was meeting her academic requirements. She emailed Grace’s teacher three days later, asking, “Is there a certain percentage of a class she is supposed to be completing a day/week?”

Grace’s teacher, Katherine Tarpeh, responded in an email to Giroux that the teenager was “not out of alignment with most of my other students.”

“Let me be clear that this is no one’s fault because we did not see this unprecedented global pandemic coming,” she wrote. Grace, she wrote, “has a strong desire to do well.” She “is trying to get to the other side of a steep learning curve mountain and we have a plan for her to get there.”’

and when she was placed in detention:

‘The local school district provided packets of material but no classes. She said that she has not yet worked with a teacher in person or online, and that she meets less regularly with a therapist at Children’s Village than she did at home.’

There’s a change.org petition here: https://www.change.org/p/oakland-county-family-court-division-and-judge-mary-ellen-brennan-stop-the-school-to-prison-pipeline-grace-should-not-be-incarcerated

The petition also lists these emails to contact the judge and the school district if you’re unable to phone or get through:

Email Judge Mary Ellen Brennan’s clerks:

[email protected] [email protected]

Email the Communication Director for Birmingham Public Schools, Anne Cron:

[email protected]

If you want to bring this to the attention of the BPS Board of Education:

[email protected]

[email protected]

[email protected]

[email protected]

[email protected]

[email protected]

[email protected]

[the-cremation-of-sam-mcgee]

please sign the petition and send an email to those above, this is so fucked up

[firebettercallnct]

petitions to sign. it only takes a minute.

Ahmaud Arbery

on february 23rd 2020, ahmaud arbery, an unarmed, 25-year-old black man, was shot to death while jogging in a neighborhood outside brunswick, georgia, after being pursued by two white men in a pickup truck. neither of his pursuers, a father and son named gregory and travis mcmichael, were arrested or charged with a crime until may, even though gregory admitted to police that travis was responsible for the shooting. 

Emerald Black

on june 7th, 2019, emerald black a pregnant, black woman, and her fiance were pulled over by police officers after coming from a doctors appointment. the reason for being pulled over was for bad registration tags. the officers spoke to ms. black’s fiance while she stayed in the car. the officers began to order her out of the car. ms. black was clearly pregnant and she had let them know  that she had just gotten back from a doctors appointment where she was also informed that she was at a high risk for a miscarriage. despite this, the officers yanked ms. black, still in her hospital clothes, and threw her to the ground. they taunted her, piled on top of her, and stomped on her stomach causing her to miscarry. the stomp had also left a shoe mark. because of the abhorrent attacks done by the police, ms. black suffered not only physical, but emotional injuries. she lost her unborn child. 

Julius Jones

julius jones was 19-years-old, he was convicted of a murder he says he did not commit. Julius has lived on death row for almost 20 years, and is held in solitary confinement for 23 hours a day. he is allowed one hour of sunlight a day, and three showers a week. at the time of the crime for which he was convicted, julius was a 19-year-old student athlete with a promising future, attending the university of oklahoma on an academic scholarship.  eyewitnesses place mr. jones at his parents’ home at the time of the murder, miles away from the crime scene. 

Chrystul Kizer

chrystul kizer is an incarcerated trafficking survivor who is being charged with life in prison for acting in self-defense against her trafficker. 

Regis Korchinski-Paquet

regis korchinski-paquet was murdered by toronto police. a call was made for a domestic incident and toronto police officers were present on the 24th floor in a high park apartment building to “observe” 29-year old, regis. shortly after, she allegedly fell off the balcony. 

James Scurlock

on may 30, 2020 james scurlock, 22 years old, was shot by jacob gardner, while protesting for justice and equality in omaha, ne. no charges are being filed because “there was consensus among law enforcement that gardner’s actions were justified”. the citizens of omaha, are demanding the grand jury needs to decide if charges will be filed, not don kleine or his office.

Tony McDade

tony mcdade was a transgender black man who got killed by police in tallahassee.

João Pedro

14-year-old joāo pedro was killed by the rio de janeiro police. joāo was shot at his home and his body was taken by the rio de janeiro police. his family waited 17 hours until receiving news of his whereabouts. they finally found his dead body at a medical examiner’s office. the family counted 72 bullet marks on the walls of the house. cops say joāo died in a shootout started by criminals. neighbors say that is a lie.

Tamir Rice

more than a year after police shot and killed 12-year-old tamir rice as he played in a park with a toy gun, a grand jury declined to charge the officers who opened fire on tamir in less than 2 seconds of arriving to the scene.

George Floyd

george floyd was murdered by a minneapolis police officer. george was handcuffed and restrained and being completely cooperative when this all went down. the officer put his knee on george’s neck choking him for minutes on minutes while george screamed that he could not breathe. bystanders beg for the police officer to take his knee off george’s neck, but the officer didn’t listen and continued to choke him. not that it would matter at all, but george was not even wanted for a violent crime. 

Willie Simmons

in 1982, army veteran willie simmons, was prosecuted under alabama’s habitual offender law. mr. simmons he had three prior convictions, one of which was for grand larceny. he told reporter beth shellbure the other two were for receiving stolen property. at the time mr. simmons had become addicted to drugs while stationed overseas. he was convicted of 1st-degree robbery and sentenced to life without parole for stealing $9. 

Darrius Stewart

darrius stewart, an unarmed 19-year-old, was gunned down by a white cop in a case of mistaken identity. 

Breonna Taylor

breonna was asleep at home when a rogue task-force of the louisville police broke down her door in the middle of the night and murdered her. they were attempting an illegal drug raid in the wrong neighborhood for a suspect that they’d already arrested earlier that day. the police officers have yet to be arrested or charged.

Zinedine Karabo Gioia

on her 21st birthday, july 21st 2018, she was date raped by brendan rundle in gaborone, botswana. nothing was done. forensic evidence went missing, she was told that because she was drugged and had no clear story that it was unlikely he would be charged. 

Slave Market House in Center of Downtown Fayetteville NC

the market house as it is known is in the middle of downtown fayetteville. it has a troubled past in the african american community. though it is admired by the city and used as a trophy for the city’s “business of the year” award, the history of this building and area is lynching and selling of african american slaves. the city of fayetteville has known that most african americans in the city wish for it to be taken down and replaced with something more positive about african american history. the market house building is a reminder of slavery and fuels white supremacy. it should be replaced with a beautiful landmark funded by an annual city or state grant and remain a historic site. 

Get rid of Rubber Bullets

rubber bullets can be extremely lethal. they may cause bone fractures, injuries to internal organs, or even death. it’s been proven that rubber and plastic bullets are too dangerous for crowd control.

Shukri Abdi

a 12-year-old girl was drowned in the river irwell in greater manchester. police had suggested shukri drowned after going into the water to "cool off" – despite the fact she couldn’t swim and her family reported that she was terrified of water. a group of children were with her at the river in the period before she died and one of them was reported to be laughing as it watched the girl drown.

petition for a bullying investigation regarding shukri abdi’s school

[shutyourmoustache]

“My name is Brianna Meeks, and I have an offbeat but clear-headed dream. It has been on my mind since the death of my beloved grandfather in 2007. After thirteen years of wishing, I have the chance to make it come true.

My grandparents were named Arthur and Annie Stone, and they were the children of sharecroppers. They too were sharecroppers until the 1960s, when they were able to purchase their farm outright. They raised three daughters there, including my mama.

When Papa died, Nanny could not run the farm on her own, and my mom and her sisters made the choice to sell it. I was 17 at the time, and the longing for that farmhouse with the dark green shutters has stayed on my shoulders all these years since.

Simply put: I am going to try to buy it back. Miraculously, the current owner is looking to sell it.

This is the one chance I’ll ever have to do this.

For me, the story begins in 1995, the first of countless times I remember piling in the car with my siblings and parents, driving the three and a half hours from Atlanta, GA, to Nanny and Papa’s house in Petersburg, TN. This farmhouse was where we spent countless happy Thanksgivings, Christmases, and summer holidays.

But for Arthur and Annie stone, the story starts 150 years before that. To the period just after the American Civil War called Reconstruction.

Quick history lesson if you need one: Agriculture was the economic force of the Southern United States, and the enslavement of people descended from stolen Africans kept the economy afloat. After the enslaved became freedmen, General Sherman proposed that the land seized from former Confederates should be divided among the freedmen, as repayment for their treatment.

This is commonly referred to as Forty Acres and a Mule, and it was a promise that wasn’t kept. Instead, the land was returned to the former Confederates who previously owned it.

The land needed to be worked. And there was an entire population -- only recently considered citizens in their own right -- who needed work and food and security. Enter: sharecropping.

Sharecropping was an exploitative model. It worked like this: a tenant would live on and work a portion of a landowner’s plantation, farm, or land. In exchange, that tenant kept a (usually small) portion of the crop come harvest time. Sharecroppers had very little agency. They didn’t own their own equipment, they were forced to accept the prices the landowners were willing to pay, and if they stuck up for themselves they risked their livelihood and family home.

In the last years of her life, Nanny told me that she had taken to being pen pals with the son of the landowner she sharecropped for. He apologized for the ways he and his family had wronged my grandparents. It is no small feat that these people -- my people -- born not even 60 years after the dissolution of slavery, broke the mold of their families and somehow overcame admitted wrongdoing. That feels like another miracle.

If all I ever accomplished in my life was buying back my grandparents’ farm and restoring it to something they would be proud of, that would be enough. I want to live a life where my siblings and our children can go back there for holidays. I want my mama to spend more Thanksgivings or Christmases there in her life.

So I am asking you to please help me get my ancestral home back. I would appreciate anything you can contribute. And if you are not in a position to donate, all I ask is that you share the link to this campaign with everyone you can think of.

Nanny and Papa spent their entire lives in the picturesque state of Tennessee; living through the roaring twenties, the great depression, Jim Crow, the Civil Rights movement, and so much more.

Their lives make up the history of that land. It’s now on me to determine the future of it.”

HELP BRIANNA MEEKS BUY BACK AND RENOVATE HER ANCESTRAL FARM!!!

[shutyourmoustache]

KEEP GOING!!!!!!!!!

[goawfma]

there is no reason good enough to arrest a 6 year old, this is purely racist

[fandom-star]

WHAT THE FUCK

WHAT KIND OF THREAT DO YOU EVEN MANIFEST THAT SIX YEAR OLD CHILD HAS TO YOU TO EXCUSE THIS???

THIS IS FUCKING DISGUSTING AND PEOPLE ARE FUCKING MONSTERS FOR DOING THIS/IGNORING THIS/EXCUSING THIS

[ovenroastedtwerkey]

Imagine being such a punkass little bitch that you arrest a kindergartener for throwing little baby hands.

[blackboyjoy]

Highly recommend this book for those concerned about the treatment of Black girls in educational institutions.

Try searching for it on Bookshop.org and help support local bookshops instead of buying from Amazon. Even better if you can find a Black owned bookshop online and buy direct from them.

ADDITIONALLY: Contact your local school board and ask if the public school contracts with local police departments for their school resource officers (SROs). Demand that they terminate their contract and redirect resources plan a better way to serve their students. Minneapolis public school board did this last week.

[deadaccount2000]

Big Warning

If you see a police car or a cop with a speaker looking thing on it, FUCKING RUN. It's known as an LRAD (Long Range Acoustic Device), a device that, when activated, can permanently damage your hearing and cause serious harm. If you're too close, you'll be left in a lot of pain and squirming on the ground permanently deaf. Ear plugs do not work. Unless you have one of those shooting range headphones, you do not stand a chance against them. Again, if you see them pull up, RUN. This is what they look like.

Stay safe.

[aarianas]

Today, Breonna Taylor would have turned 27. In honor of her, please consider donating to the gofundme her family has set up, and help those in her community who are fighting for her by donating to Louisville Community Bail Fund . Also, please sign petitions: including the petition set up by the Action PAC (it is aiming for 1 million signatures), the petition that’s been going around social media (it is aiming for 4.5 million signatures), the MoveOn petition (it is aiming for 600,000 signatures), and the ColorofChange petition (it has reached it’s goal of 750,000 signatures, but you can still sign). All of these petitions urge the Kentucky government to hire a special prosecutor to investigate the three police officers responsible for her death, to investigate the Louisville police department, to ensure the LMPD pays her family, and to get Congress to discuss the constitutionality of no-knock warrants. Additionally, visit the website set up by the political committee her family contacted, where you can make calls to key officials.

I got this from a Google Doc but I think it’s hard to access because of how many people who has requested it but here is the tweet with the links to every petition you need to sign (not just ones concerning Breonna) and other place to donate. There are templates provided on that document to help you write an email or make a call to certain officials. I provided links to their emails/websites, in case that’s easier to make use of than making phone calls.

Louisville Metro PD : [phone]

Twitter

Louisville Mayor Office: [phone]

Twitter

Governor Beshear’s Office: [phone]

District Attorney Tom Wine: [phone]

Attorney General Daniel Cameron: [phone]

Senator Rand Paul: [phone] / [phone]

Representative John Yarmuth: [phone]

Kentucky Senators General Hotline: [phone]

Also consider looking at these:

Ways To Help

Black Lives Will Always Matter

BLM Links

With the FBI opening the case again, let’s ensure that the 3 officers involved in the murder  face jail time, and that the demands in these petitions are met.

[givemearmstopraywith]

caitlin doughty, mortician and founder of the good death movement, is offering financial help and funding a scholarship for black mortuary students. if you’re a black mortuary student in need of financial help, email your venmo to [email protected]

[dnd-apothecary]

Caitlin ALSO STRONGLY SUPPORTS LGBTQIA+ RIGHTS, INCLUDING RIGHTS OF TRANS PEOPLE AFTER THEY DIE, which is a super important thing!! 

[gelopanda]

“One could say then, as a general rule, that white misunderstanding, misrepresentation, evasion, and self-deception on matters related to race are among the most pervasive mental phenomena of the past few hundred years, a cognitive and moral economy physically required for conquest, colonization, and enslavement. And these phenomena are in no way accidental but prescribed by the terms of the Racial Contract, which requires a certain schedule of structured blindnesses and opacities in order to establish and maintain white polity.”

— Charles W. Mills The Racial Contract p. 19.

[probablyasocialecologist]

[whitepeopletwitter]

[lifeafterpsychiatry]

Can we please stop associating being a good person with how much you're willing to suffer in silence for other people? You can be a kind person and still say "no, I don't have the time/energy to help you with that." You can be a kind person and still say "this makes me uncomfortable, please stop." You can be a kind person and still say "I disagree and here's why." You can be kind and still say "I'm not okay with this." Being kind is about treating people with kindness and respect, not about being the human equivalent of a doormat!

[huecycles]

windows aesthetic pearls | part 1

[whitepeopletwitter]

[funovels]

Interesting reads related to coronavirus:

Doctor Shows Why You Shouldn’t Wear Gloves to Store

FDA Approves 15 Minute Coronavirus Test

Man With Coronavirus Tells Eye Opening Story of What He’s Been Through

Fit and Healthy Man Hit by Coronavirus Sends Important Message to the World

20,000 Chinese Tourists Stuck at Packed Attraction After It Reopens

The Absolute Weirdest Activities People Have Done While in Lockdown

North Korea Claims It Has No Cases of Coronavirus

Netflix Party Extension Lets You Chat and Watch With Friends During Coronavirus Lockdown

The U.S. Now Has the Most Confirmed Coronavirus Cases in the World

Woman With Cancer Says She’s Been Hit With $34,927 Bill for Coronavirus Treatment

Dad Creates Special Suit to Protect Baby Against Coronavirus

10 Million Americans Lost Their Jobs in Two Weeks Because of Coronavirus

Lambs Spotted Playing on Children’s Roundabout During Lockdown

Lady Gaga Raises $35 Million for the World Health Organization

[visibilityofcolor]

Interracial Sapphic relationship and the emphasis on white fragility.

One of the many reasons I found myself anticipating Carole and Tuesday was because of the possibility of their being a sapphic relationship between the two main

This is a look on interracial wlw relationships and how white women are typically portrayed as innocent, feminine, and shy while the black women (or woc in general) in the relationship is portrayed as tom boyish, bold, loud, wild, etc, and in those relationships, black women only exist to cater to their white partner’s needs. This article focuses mainly on Carole and Tuesday’s relationship but also, it looks at Yorkie and Kelly’s relationship from San Junipero, and how it was unfair to Kelly! 

If you like this article, please give it a <3 (heart at the bottom of the article), on wix. You don’t need a wix account to do so!  

Also, please share the article. If you have a twitter or facebook, please share it from the links on the bottom, that would be very helpful! 

And as usual, if you like my work and are able to, please consider donating to me, it helps a lot!