Beautiful, Rare Video Footage From the 1920s of All Black Towns

Photo From Video Footage Below

These towns and their self-reliant middle class and affluent residents are documented by the home movies of Reverend S. S. Jones, an itinerant minister and businessman.

Stunning and inspiring! Most of us know about Black Wall Wall Street; but there were many towns across America where Black people thrived. Whites didn’t like that, of course, and as we saw with Black Wall Street, these jealous sick freaks stole by demolishing, because they couldn’t handle not being best. It’s hard to be best when they always had others enslaved doing the work for them. But this is a happy post so!

the video footage by clicking here. I can’t embed it sadly. Article associated posted below.

Part three of a four-part series from the film archive of the Smithsonian National Museum of African American History and Culture

By the 1920s, Oklahoma was home to some 50 African-American towns, in addition to a large and prosperous black community living in the city of Tulsa. These towns and their self-reliant middle class and affluent residents are documented by the home movies of Reverend S. S. Jones, an itinerant minister and businessman. Known and respected by the citizens of the towns whose lives he captured on film, Rev. Jones’s work offers revealing glimpses of these communities as a haven for African Americans who very often faced discrimination elsewhere in America.

The subjects are everyday life: a family on the front porch of their bungalow, shop workers at a storefront, farmers plowing their fields, children playing on seesaws in a schoolyard. Much of the material documents the economic life of the towns, from business districts filled with prosperous merchants to the homes of successful professionals, with an abundant countryside beyond.

As Rhea Combs, curator of film and photography for the Smithsonian’s National Museum of African American History and Culture, points out in her commentary, here we even find a married couple who were oil barons, proof of the extraordinary progress made in the relatively short time since the end of slavery.

The fashions and hairstyles, automobiles and horses, and even such details as a man manually pumping gasoline at a filling station make the films a fascinating record of the lives of Americans, and African Americans in particular, in the early 20th century.

Newark, NJ, ICE LockUp’s Exposed: Once Again! ANOTHER CRITICAL WATCHDOG REPORT: ROTTEN FOOD, DECAYING MATTRESSES

Why in hell do we have people in any positions of power who are abusing, in any shape or form, fellow humans, sexually harassing them, making them sleep in decaying beds…and then sarcastically playing it off as if it isn’t an issue… HOW DO THEY SLEEP AT NIGHT!?

And how do those of you who turn the other way live with your selfish souls?

This is more than I humane… and if you are one of these jerks who can’t even stand against what’s wrong but complain about those who DO speak out; it is you that is the fool and should be ashamed. I sure as hell am not and by being silent you only aid cruelty.

What is more, someone came talking to someone near me about a woman complaining about her food quality. He played some YouTube video they’d made into a joke of her, I didn’t fully understand what in hell they were on about…

Now I do. If I’d been more up to date then I’d have torn into their sick souls for truth and knowledge I will always inflict; I don’t care when or who you are… please share!

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A Newark, New Jersey immigrant detention center has been feeding detainees moldy, spoiled and foul-smelling food—an abuse that’s led detainees to file scores of grievances and to report symptoms of food poisoning, according to a report released Friday by the Department of Homeland Security’s Inspector General.

The center, which can house more than 900 men, is run by the Essex County Department of Corrections, under an agreement with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, or ICE. DHS inspectors conducted a surprise visit last July and found multiple health-and-safety violations of detainee rights and ICE standards. The inspector general’s report noted that the Essex County Correctional Facility also failed to disclose to ICE, as required, incidents involving fights among detainees and hospitalization of detainees for mental illness.

A detainee also found a loaded gun belonging to a guard in a bathroom, the inspector general’s report said.  Center staff admitted to inspectors that they told the detainee who found the gun “not to discuss the matter with anyone,” according to inspectors.

In the report, inspectors noted that detainees filed about 200 grievances about food quality during the first six months of 2018.

“For dinner, we were served meatballs that smelled like fecal matter,” one detainee wrote.

“The food that we received has been complete garbage,” another wrote. He also wrote: “I have a stomach infection because of it and the nurse herself told me it was caused by the food.”

Inspectors observed “expired and moldy bread” in a refrigerator, despite requirements that staff toss it out.  “The food handling in general was so substandard that ICE and facility leadership had the kitchen manager replaced during our inspection,” inspectors reported.

ICE asserted that after seeing a draft of the report its officials “immediately initiated a follow-up review process” at the Essex facility. ICE and Essex detention officials could not be reached for comment.

ButWNYC radio in New York reported that ICE, in a statement,

said that conditions inside Essex had improved and that ICE was “committed to continually enhancing” detention operations to promote “a safe and secure environment.”

The inspector general additionally detailed how inspectors last July found showers at Essex covered with mold. Staff had placed trash cans under holes in ceilings to collect rain leaking in; two leaks were in detainee rooms right over their beds.

When inspectors asked guards about decaying mattresses they observed, the report says,

guards said they “wait for detainees to complain” before staff put in a request that mattresses be replaced.  😡😡

The Newark immigration detention center isn’t the first facility where DHS inspectors have found neglect and substandard conditions.

In October, a DHS inspector general report found violations at the Adelanto detention center in California that included inappropriate handcuffing and shackling of detainees and medical neglect, as theCenter for Public Integrity reported.

A dentist employed at Adelanto, which is operated by the private GEO Group, Inc., told inspectors that detainees could use strings from their socks to floss their teeth if dental floss was not available to them.

Inspectors also found evidence that a disabled detainee in a wheelchair was placed into “segregation,” or isolation, for nine days, during which time he was unable to sleep in a bed or brush his teeth.

In January, another DHS inspector general reportaccused ICE of issuing only two penalties against contractors holding immigrant detainees despite finding 14,000 violations of detainee rights and ICE standards. The violations were found at 106 contract detention centers from 2015 to 2018. Violations included contractors’ failure to report alleged sexual assaults to ICE. Last September, the Center reported on private-prison companies’ history, and allegations of abuses that include medical neglect.

In Honor of Malcolm X & An Ongoing Fight for Human Rights in America- video

Today in 1965 we lost a legendary man, body and soul, a true revolutionist whom fought for the bettering of humanity and against racist white hate crimes against the Black community without apology-as it should be; as we should all be. I’ve placed the video above for a reason; while countless speeches made by Malcolm X are sadly still true to today and how things are, in this video he poses the question I wonder every single day with growing frustration at my own lack of understanding as to the WHY others, in great numbers, aren’t asking what Malcolm so brilliantly asks, frames and explains in the video I’m about to post and urge you with all I am to watch.

What is happening in America must not be taken before an American court. Just as police should not be taken before their fellow police officers or other law enforcement and/or court/legal systems where they are known personally.

We see where doing both of those things gets us, and common sense should suggest that would happen anyway. So where do we go? As Malcolm X says we should instead take the issue of VIOLATION OF HUMAN RIGHTS (not CIVIL but HUMAN RIGHTS) to a system larger; the UN, for example; nothing will ever change. And he has been proven right by time… So what are we waiting for? It is only 9 minutes and some spare seconds of your time: listen to what he says, honor him with at least that much, on the anniversary of his death, I ask you. Listen and think about what he says both for him then but also, look at how perfect that speech is to be given in America today, 2017. Video follows.

The best way

My Feelings on Thanksgiving…

For those curious about my thoughts on Thanksgiving and the current on-goings regarding the Native’s and the land the government greedily is trying to snatch back once they realized it wasn’t worthless… Growing up, I’ve always said that Thanksgiving was my “fuck the world” day and that every day otherwise I was grateful.

In this video below, my friend and big brother spells it out beautifully and far better than I ever could in the following. Listen and question what you believe… Question what society has taught…

And no, I still won’t be celebrating Thanksgiving.

Hope- Feeding the Homeless Like They Aren’t Homeless… Check it Out

“And this is how the world could be;
And this is how the world SHOULD be…”-Tupac Shakur

Sad something so obvious is amazing and wonderful… In the following tweet I link a video that shows what this CEO is doing to help homeless people eat, work and LEARN via vocational programs. They go out of their way to help give work experience and other aid to the homeless… Additionally,….The food is healthy food, served like you’d be served anywhere…

I love that quote… How true…. Additionally, there are no trays, no lines, none of what the regular soup kitchens tend to be like. More people with money should be reaching out like this… Everything does come down to money, and that’s a problem. – Video follows in link ->

so long as we have #homeless, this is how #soupkitchens should be run- with #respect, #humanity #kindness #CARE https://t.co/9TncWJH8qp

— Miss Makaveli (@Lady_Makaveli71) June 29, 2016

Watch the video by clicking the link above to see how the homeless are treated; fed and given a chance at this ‘soup kitchen’; they are treated like anyone else going out to eat…Exactly like the human beings they are. THE CEO HOPES TO EXPAND AND OPEN 5 MORE BY 2018. That is a real, respectable and good soul… Where are the rest?

What is wrong with this world; how can anyone be so cold as to turn down the simple act of giving and receiving respect, dignity, care and concern for fellow souls?

This life shouldn’t be about money. Yes, we need it, sadly. But making it all about the money, all about your ‘status’ or what you have…you are truly lost and need to do some soul searching, I’d say.

For those interested, here is a link to the above for more information and other resources -> click HERE.

 

A Powerful Poem by Paul Laurence Dunbar

I was reading through Paul Laurence Dunbar’s poetry book and wanted to post a poem from him. Finally I decided on this one, though it’s very tragic and very heartbreaking, it also is sadly true. He is a poet that needs be remember more often, and this poem is so powerful because of the content; the content of the poem should make one cry. It did me.

The content is heartbreaking and though now a days there are new methods doing the same tragic thing to innocent men and women…

Truth hurts. And so below is the poem that hit me so hard tonight… It is called ‘The Haunted Oak’ by Mr. Paul Laurence Dunbar: Never Forget!!!

The Haunted Oak

Pray why are you so bare, so bare,
Oh, bough of the old oak-tree;
And why, when I go through the
shade you throw,
Runs a shudder over me?

My leaves were green as the best,
I trow,
And sap ran free in my veins,
But I saw in the moonlight dim and weird
A guiltless victim’s pain.

I bent me down to hear his sigh;
I shook with his gurgling moan,
And I trembled sore when they
rode away,
And left him here alone.

They’d charged him with the old,
old crime,
And set him fast in jail;
Oh why does the dog howl all night long,
And why does the night wind wail?

He prayed his prayer and he swore
his oath,
And he raised his hand to the sky;
But the beat of hoofs smote on his
ear,
And the stead tread drew nigh.

Who is it rides by night, by night,
Over the moonlit road?
And what is the spur that keeps
the pace,
What is the galling goad?

And now they beat at the prison door,
“Ho, keeper, do not stay!
We are friends of him whom you
hold within,
And we fain would take him
away

“From those who ride fast on our
heels
With mind to do him wrong;
They have no care for his innocence,
And the rope they bear is long.”

They have fooled the jailer with
lying words,
They have fooled the man with
lies;
The bolts unbar, the locks are
drawn,
And the great door open flies.

Now they have taken him from the jail,
And hard and fast they ride,
And the leader laughs low down
in his throat,
As they halt my trunk beside.

Oh, the judge he wore a mask of black,
And the doctor one of white,
And the minister, with his oldest
son,
Was curiously bedight.

Oh, foolish man, why weep you
now?
‘T is but a little space,
And the time will come when these
shall dread
The mem’ry of your face.

I feel the rope against my bark,
And the weight of him in my grain,
I feel in the throe of his final woe
The touch of my own last pain.

And never more shall leaves come
forth
On a bough that bears the ban;
I am burned with dread, I am
dried and dead,
From the curse of a guiltless man.

And ever the judge rides by, rides by
And goes to hunt the deer,
And ever another rides his soul,In the guise of a mortal fear.

And ever the man he rides me
hard,
And never a night stays he;
For I feel his curse as a haunted
bough,
On the trunk of a haunted tree.

Never Forget Geronimo Pratt …

May your soul be blessed and your next journey beautiful and blessed as well… Thank you for all you did and stood for, for showing us what a real solider is…. Blessed be…. 😢 sad to remember that he has passed away, especially after all the #undeserved time in #prison -his conviction overturned… He should still be with us. #geronimopratt #geronimo #lastmanstanding great #book re: a wonderful man. #blackpanthers #bpp #fromtheheart #rbg souljah #salute

A photo posted by Miss Makaveli (@lady_makaveli71) on Jun 13, 2016 at 9:35pm PDT

 

It’s hard to say or admit. It re-enforces the notion that this is up to us now, all those of the original Black Panther Party and Black Liberation Army,  etc, it’s now on this generation and we gotta make it count because nothing’s getting better… There is so much I could and should say, but I feel speechless as lame as that seems…I’ll find a way to write something more fitting and more honorable for Geronimo Pratt one day I’ll find the right words… For now, all my mind and heart can conjure is a deep sadness for his lost life.

May your soul be blessed, Geronimo Pratt…And may your souls next journey be full of blessings, love and gratitude….As we are thankful for that which you gave us during your time on earth…. Blessed be, dear soul…

 

 

 

 

Police Targeting Black America; Impact

I wrote this on my phone as I was reading… I hope it makes sense, and I have a feeling this book though it is full of questions I myself cannot answer, I have a feeling it will be sparking many more posts similar to this. It starts with,

“Are you scared?
Where do you as a Black American feel safe?
Where do you feel threatened?
Why are we still afraid?
Haven’t we been afraid long enough?”

This is just the beginning of an amazing book and already the questions posed I feel are vital to knowing oneself and to ending the evilness of white supremacy. I am honored to be reading this, and I want to utilize this books questions with the precious children I work with, whom I know are afraid… Perhaps in digging deeper into their fears and showing them reasons also to be proud and brave, it will counter some of the racist cruelty that has been forced into their innocent minds?

I fear doing this however and this is my biggest problem… It breaks my heart to hear my friends/family tell me they are afraid anytime they see a cop, I understand WHY I just hate that this is reality. So when little children tell me the same thing, it breaks my heart that much more, it also makes me angry. White people whom say there is no racism from cops and that it’s directed at them and they are ignored (load of bs) simply are upset because they want to be the center of attention now and always, in ever matter.

But if any of those sort read this, I ask, how many white people ESPECIALLY white children do you know who that are afraid upon seeing an officer or knowing one could be around? I have yet to meet a white kid that is afraid and I’m talking 3 years old and up. So no; there is nothing they are “wrong” they are doing to provoke violent and too often fatal responded by police, which is a reply I see too often and I don’t know why as it is beyond logic or any other form of credibility.

In fact, a few years ago I asked one white child in my group what he wanted to be when he grew up.

“A cop!” He replied after a couple of seconds. I was a bit taken off guard because that’s the last job I expected, so I asked him why. This is word by EXCITED word what he said:

“So I can shoot people!”

That was his answer. He was barely 5 years old. What does that answer say about white cops and the American police department in general? What does the difference in his response vs the Black children’s response to police say? Never have I had a Black child give me that response.

That isn’t to say I’ve never had Black children that didn’t want to be a cop; in fact in one of my first cases a 15 year old wanted to be a cop. He suffered from mental illness, and during one of his episodes his mom called the cops, thinking of how he respected them I am sure. Even though he was hurting no one but himself with a knife to his face when they arrived, they took his life. (See video on this post).

I know my writings are depressing; they are real, though, and instead of letting it make you sad or feel hopeless rise against that and feel anger! Don’t let depression take hold; sadly that’s not a luxury available that I see. It is sad and I wish I didn’t have this page but I do because if I don’t speak what I know then in just as guilty as them.

Back to the response these children gave me, years apart the white never knew anyone in my current group of course. Both of these innocent souls have been tarnished by police racism, bigotry and brutality. The white child thinking it’s not only “cool” but ACCEPTABLE to kill; while the Black children are afraid of hearing that answer because a part of childhood has been stolen.

How many times I’ve heard someone say one of the following or something all too similar makes me sick to my soul:

“That could have been my father,” or “my son,” “my brother,” “my nephew,” “my husband,” or that could have been “me”…

I’ve not had anyone other this non-white children and adults confide this horrific fact, and it’s a fact I grew up hearing my friends/family talk about and it enraged me as it does now because I don’t have to worry; and that is not right! If the people I am with have to worry, so should I! Until non-whites have the right to not worry, then no one should have the right that white and light skin people do.

Book 1 Must Reading, ‘Without Sanctuary’ My Thoughts

I’ve decided I’m going to start randomly suggesting books I’ve read or am reading that I think others may be interested in or books, like this one, which I feel should be mandatory reading. As horrific as this book is, this book is real, and not only do these souls need to be remembered and respected, we also need to acknowledge that this never stopped; sadly…. To this day, I am sad to say, it still goes on just in a new way. And then white people have the audacity to say others are savages?? What a joke!
To add me on goodreads, click here.

Without Sanctuary: Lynching Photography in America by James Allen

My rating: 5 of 5 stars

This is one of the hardest books I’ve ever read. It’s hard giving it 5 stars, but that is simply because of what we see happened…the book itself, to have compiled all of this, is a must read. While there are amazing things within the African & Black community to focus on, of course this also needs to be focused on not only by non-whites, but if anything, especially by non-whites in hopes they will open their eyes and understand, even a little bit, of the WHY. I have light skin, it doesn’t matter that I’m Spanish, because I look white. It does shame me, and I don’t want white privilege….Yet there are too many whom flaunt their white privilege while denying it. I don’t see how anyone can do that or deny it after reading this book; after seeing what is still going on today, just in a new way.

View all my reviews

Mutulu Shakur, You Are Welcome HERE!

Dr. Mutulu Shakur is not only someone I admire as a respected revolutionary, only wanting what is rightfully owed, but as time went by and I continued to volunteer, he became a dear friend…and blessing me with a link to Tupac Shakur, his step son and the man Tupac looked to as a mentor. He is the most brilliant, kind-hearted, generous and loving soul you’ll ever meet… He took me in as a volunteer on big projects when I was young because he knew I needed a father figure; a role model. I am beyond thankful for the blessing of knowing him.

However, because he is an intelligent and well-educated (meaning, in truth) Black man the government in America doesn’t want him free. Why would they? I hope anyone reading this knows who Dr. Mutulu Shakur is, if not, please take time to learn.

Since I’ve known him, over a decade now, and far before that, the parole board has been screwing him and other political prisoners around- denying them parolee for no reason, keeping them incarcerated for no crimes committed while the violent KKK not only walk our streets, but are members of our government in America.

Please watch this short clip of a documentary; check out his website and spread the word…. This is the least we can do for a man who fought for nothing but equality, peace and love only to be damned by those who are afraid of his brilliance and strength; his role as a strong, Black male. He may become a role model, after all, and the government do not want that.

If you think I am a one prone to conspiracies, think again. I have official documentation to prove all I say and am in the middle of working on that among other.