jay z and barack didn’t change my block
it don’t change how we’re seen on tv’s mainstream
god forbid you rock a kufi
you must be on the extreme side of things…
that islamic garment might get you a brand
savage killer in a jungle v. murder in the sand
-bambu, like us
exact change album
“i once heard chuck d say that voting is like brushing your teeth in the morning. it’s a necessary thing but it’s only the first thing you do to get the day started, it doesn’t mean you did a full day’s work.” jay smooth
1 year ago • 0 notes“The argument that we can ignore the collective cultural definition of Thanksgiving and create our own meaning in private has always struck me as odd. This commitment to Thanksgiving puts these left/radical critics in the position of internalizing one of the central messages promoted by the ideologues of capitalism — that individual behavior in private is more important than collective action in public. The claim that through private action we can create our own reality is one of the key tenets of a predatory corporate capitalism that naturalizes unjust hierarchy, a part of the overall project of discouraging political struggle and encouraging us to retreat into a private realm where life is defined by consumption.”
1 year ago • 0 notesa reminder to myself
read at last Spring’s Civil Liberties and Public Policy (CLPP)’s Repro Rights conference at Hampshire College:
i am here to offer up evidence
that we are a complicated, beautiful people
and that the way we move our bodies
communicate
find our way
and interact
with each other
is purely poetic.
i am here
because far too long we’ve been wished dead
the number of us who’ve been harvested, abused,
smothered and starved
left gasping for air
forced into the corners of the classrooms,
sheltered workshops
and institutions
is proof of this.
i am here to fight
assimilation
collectively
and privately
because we must continue loving ourselves
and each other
if we are to live in this world.
i am here to remind myself
that to struggle
is to grow
and am not alone in this journey
for truth, love,
and community
i am here
i am here
i am here
