A friend recently shared a Bukowski quote; a deeply resonant, cynical piece of writing that took me back to a time when I had lost all hope, a time when I believed that my participation was merely enabling and validating a system of oppression that I was powerless to resist. Bukowski was a comfort then because he gave voice to my despair. Cynicism is valid, disillusionment inevitable, especially given the white-washed history and politics we are taught from birth. But I’ve since learned that we must not let cynicism trap us in despair.

As Mariame Kaba reminds us, “hope is a discipline.” We must practice and cultivate our faith in each other so that we can build and sustain communities, networks, and institutions grounded in collective care and liberation. These days, my belief in *us* is what keeps me going. I have witnessed the power of collective action, the miracles born of mutual aid, the inspiring solutions that arise from minds that dare to dream. To build a better world, together, requires a dedication to hope that eclipses the cynicism that calls us to despair. Holding on to hope means holding on to one another, refusing to believe that all is lost, insisting that we all deserve the rights, resources, dignity, and justice of a world grounded in sustainability and care.

My heart is heavy these days for all the reasons, but it is lightened by the hope I work to rekindle each day, a practice for which I am incredibly grateful. Today, my hope is centered on our ability to look past cynicism, beyond despair, to the solutions embodied in our collective imagination and boldest dreams. We remain in this, together, may love and solidarity prevail.

she’s never seen the sea

sunlight imprinted on her father’s skin

waves crashing

and his feet smiled tattooed under boyish grin

snapping pictures

with closing eyelids

her father’s face

flush on recollection

the same waves that had clenched like an angry jaw as his mother pushed him forward like a train car

watch his neighbor drown

tears streaming

eyes connecting

screams muffled

as inhalation suffocated lungs

muscles weary

skin pruning

he was barely a boy

knowing he’d never return

his neighbor

an older man born in Akka

looked dapper at dinner parties

looked helpless that day

his body revolting against death

a pool intent on swallowing him

so many stroking to get on boats departing

who’d have known this gulf would have been their deathbed

she has been beaten

ID checked

body thrown to the ground

fist and feet pummeled

tender flesh

shoulder broken

heart too many times

tear gas inscribed on her lungs

she wrote back on her breath that the canister’s defeat is near

these fields are ours

she said to me

before the Europeans and Brooklynites

before the swimming pools

army jeeps

and barbed wires

before the talks

road maps

and Swiss cheese plants

before declarations rewrote history

those hills met footprints and that can’t be erased

like village massacres can’t be erased

like broken bones policies can’t be erased

like the screams ringing in her father’s ears can’t be erased

we are the boat returning to dock

we are the footprints on the northern trail

we are the iron coloring the soil

we cannot be erased

- Remi Kanazi

art: We Shall Return” by Abu Shtayyah

disquietcomics:

by Kiel Murray (2019)

houseboundcentipede:

I’m kinda meh about roof gardens/ grass roofs bc they can accumulate a lot of weight and collapse/ cause leaks

But living walls? Mighty sexy

They provide natural insulation, which not only keeps the heat in during cold days, but keeps the heat out during hot ones. It’s better planned and maintained than vines (depending on the plant ofc).

Flooding in urban areas can be reduced since the roots and the growing medium will hold in moisture. Air can be purified, and heat can be reduced because of evaporation.

I just love living walls

nevver:

Extinction Rebellion, Jamie Hewlett

wilwheaton:

https://twitter.com/melissaftw/status/1179077973762166784?s=21

it-started-over-drarry:

Happy Indigenous People Day!

Never forget that the current USA was built on the bones of the Native Americans. Never forget how their land was robbed and taken from them. Never let their identity and heritage be erased. The US was their home before it was anyone else’s.

Never forget that Christopher Columbus was no hero.

femestella:

what SHOULD be happening today

yesstrongwomen:

Across the United States, there are 556 federally recognized American Indian and Alaska Native nations. Each one has it’s own unique history and culture. American education has not bothered to tell us that Native people lived in peace and effectively governed themselves before the Europeans came along. American education has not informed us that Native Americans have been slighted ever since, not even being recognized as citizens (despite the fact that they were here first) until the 20th century. 

But we don’t have to push these facts aside. We can stop celebrating a man that began a genocide and a terrible theft of land and culture, and start celebrating Indigenous Peoples for their rich history and their equal contributions to society.

To all Indigenous Peoples out there: we’re glad you’re here!

We will stand with you in your continued battle to be recognized as legitimate human beings instead of the stereotypes perpetuated by Columbus and those that came after him.

FIXED IT:

1) Did you vote for Donald Trump despite his pandering to white nationalists, dog whistle tactics, and blatant xenophobia? If yes, you are complicit

2) Do you think the right to seek asylum should be severely restricted? If yes, you are complicit

3) Do you think that Serena Williams’ doesn’t deserve dignity and respect? Do you equate arguing with an umpire with “vile antics”? If yes, you are complicit and hyperbolic

4) Do you cite black-on-white, black-on-black, white-on-black, and white-on-white murder stats in order to obfuscate the gross injustice of police brutality and murder that is disproportionality visited on black communities? If yes, you are complicit and committing a straw man fallacy

5) Do you think that identity politics should be reserved for white, cis-het men? Do you actively engage in identity politics as such? If yes, you are complicit and a hypocrite

6) Do you reject the wisdom of indigenous people because it is “unscientific?” Do you use unfamiliar terms to intimidate your audience and curtail criticism? If yes, you are complicit and unwilling to engage in open dialogue

7) Do you call transgender women men? If yes, you are complicit

8) Do you think that climate change is not a viable cause of global terrorism? If yes, you are entitled to your opinion but it makes you seem surprisingly ignorant of geopolitics and the socio-economics of scarcity

9) Do you intentionally misgender people? If yes, you are complicit

Undermining efforts to dismantle structural oppression is a mechanism of racist and patriarchal ideologies

krxs10:

MENTALLY ILL WOMAN TASED TO DEATH WHILE SHACKELED, BEATEN, AND HANDCUFFED

Natasha Mckenna, a mentally ill woman who died after a stun gun was used on her at the Fairfax County jail in February, was restrained with handcuffs behind her back, leg shackles and a mask when a sheriff’s deputy tasered her four times, incident reports obtained by The Washington Post show.

Six members of the Sheriff’s Emergency Response Team, dressed in white full-body biohazard suits and gas masks, arrived and placed a wildly struggling 130-pound McKenna into full restraints, their reports state. But when McKenna wouldn’t bend her knees so she could be placed into a wheeled restraint chair, a lieutenant delivered four 50,000-volt shocks from the Taser, enabling the other deputies to strap her into the chair. 

Minutes later, she stopped breathing. Days later, she died.

The truth is, though, that police have been covering up the real details on Natasha’s death for months. And, even after all of this, police are not quite clear on why Natasha McKenna was even jailed in the first place. On the day she was arrested, she had actually called the police herself to report being assaulted and appeared to be struggling mightily with mental illness before she bounced around between hospitals and jails for days.

Nothing has happened to the officers yet.

Source / Source / Source 

#StayWoke

dialecticalmadness:

El Cajon, CA
2016
Justice for Alfred Olango

actjustly:

9/28/16 - 6:45 PM

Protests have erupted in El Cajon, CA after the police murdered Alfred Olango on Tuesday. According to early reports, Olango’s sister called 911 for help because he had been suffering seizures. Instead of administering medical assistance, the police shot and killed Alfred Olango within one minute of arriving on the scene. Other reports said Olango was seen by drivers wandering aimlessly through traffic. None have said he was violent or threatening to anyone. He needed medical attention. Witnesses said that Olango had his hands up and that their cell phones were confiscated after he was shot. 

In anticipation for the protests, excessive amounts of riot police have been deployed on the streets of El Cajon. 

Story

Picture credit

micdotcom:

Watch: Jesse Williams is done with these excuses

fullpraxisnow:

“It’s as if these police responding to protests of Tuesday’s shooting death of Keith Scott are carrying with them a lighted banner that declares what black Americans already know: they are not in service. Not for us.”

– This photo from Charlotte tells you all you need to know about policing in America | Ijeoma Oluo