Godmuva J
Happy Bey Day, everybody. Take a moment and appreciate this photo in Vogue taken by Tyler Mitchell, a 23 year old Black photographer. He’s the youngest photographer to E V E R shoot for Vogue and the FIRST African American photographer to shoot for them in 125 years. Dope. || @tylersphotos
https://www.instagram.com/p/BnTuWbinBmx/?utm_source=ig_tumblr_share&igshid=169niebvovf23
What do you do when white supremacy is tryna turn up in ya city? You show up and show out witcha niggas. I can’t even put into words how much i love my #BYP100 fam. We had folks come from NYC, Durham, and Chicago to show support. Outside of my role in this organization, I’m still just a DC nigga through and through and my heart is filled with so much love and appreciation for each and every person who came through for us. Gentrification got our numbers down but we still here. Chocolate City ain’t going nowhere. ✊🏽 (at Lafayette Square)
https://www.instagram.com/p/BmdqiMnH1Lx/?utm_source=ig_tumblr_share&igshid=1rafo5qv9cesa
✊🏼✊🏽✊🏾✊🏿 (at Washington, District of Columbia)
“Life is tragic simply because the earth turns and the sun inexorably rises and sets, and one day, for each of us, the sun will go down for the last, last time. Perhaps the whole root of our trouble, the human trouble, is that we will sacrifice all the beauty of our lives, will imprison ourselves in totems, taboos, crosses, blood sacrifices, steeples, mosques, races, armies, flags, nations, in order to deny the fact of death, the only fact we have. It seems to me that one ought to rejoice in the fact of death–ought to decide, indeed, to earn one’s death by confronting with passion the conundrum of life. One is responsible for life: It is the small beacon in that terrifying darkness from which we come and to which we shall return.” — James Baldwin, The Fire Next Time || Happy 94th birthday!
https://www.instagram.com/p/Bl_0NQDBLc7/?utm_source=ig_tumblr_share&igshid=gnhdh9du9l4f
Two years. It’s been two years since #KorrynGaines was shot and killed by police in her own home with her son by her side in Randallstown, MD— a smooth 33 miles from my own home. Korryn was a mother, a daughter, a sister, a cousin, a friend, an associate, and a freedom fighter. Her son was shot with her and survived with the understanding of what his mother was put on this earth to do and why she was taken out. Korryn was a cop watcher and an agitator. She put in the work that many are UNWILLING to do. She didn’t just talk the talk, but she walked the walk and created action, challenges, and opportunities to grow. She was blamed for her own death. She did the things that many uplift Malcolm, Huey, Bobby, Fred, and Big Man for doing but as a woman, so she was labeled angry, irresponsible, irrational, bitter, and unsavory. Korryn deserved better than that and still does. Sis, we still out here for you. You got this. We got this. #SayHerName (at Randallstown, Maryland)
https://www.instagram.com/p/Bl9V9RPHCWe/?utm_source=ig_tumblr_share&igshid=138rdmupf2juj
#NiaWilson #Justice4Nia #SayHerName
LL Cool J - Kehinde Wiley || The very first time i ever really remember seeing Black art in a museum was right at the Portrait Gallery on a field trip. Duke Ellington School of the Arts. It was a inter-department trip for Literary and Visual Arts and i remember strolling the museum with my very first boyfriend. It was actually a hip hop and graffiti exhibit and there was so much space for Kehinde Wiley. My memory is trash but i will never forget his work. Almost exactly ten years ago and this portrait of LL Cool J is the main one i remember. That’s dope as hell. 2008 to 2018. Can’t nobody tell me Black art doesn’t matter. (at National Portrait Gallery, Smithsonian Institution)
This past week has been so hard. From being in Chicago and finding out one of my classmates passed away and then a police shooting happening at the same time i got the call less than five minutes away, I’m tired. I got back to DC on Sunday. Monday night, #MakiyahWilson was shot and killed in Clay Terrace over in NE DC while she was enjoying a nice summer night. She was 10. Hearing her mother’s voice on the news this morning is ringing in my head. Later on today, i learned about #TaylorHayes. Two weeks ago, she was shot in the backseat of a car in SW Baltimore. She was 7. Makiyah and Taylor has so much ahead of them. An hour a part on the beltway and brought together by gun violence. And what gets me is that Taylor’s cousin who was driving the car was arrested and held with no bail instead being given the space necessary to process this loss of life with family. I’m spiritually, mentally, and physically exhausted. Taylor and Makiyah should be enjoying the last drops of summer right now. Whole lives cut short by senseless gun violence. Rest easy, Makiyah and Taylor. We won’t forget. (at Washington, District of Columbia)
Assata Olugbala Shakur was born today. My abolitionist auntie. My reason for being an organizer. Shawty wrote her life and inspired me. I was 14 when i learned about this amazing individual. This past Saturday in Chicago, I was on my way to get an Assata quote tattoo on my fore arm when me and some folks were called in for a direct action. A Black man was shot and killed in South Shore right where i had been talking to community members. I’m so thankful for my BYP100 family for moving so quickly and eternally thankful for Assata to speak to me through her autobiography 11 years ago. It is absolutely our duty to fight for our freedom and we will win. Happy Assata Day y’all! || “In the Spirit of God / In the Spirit of the Ancestors / In the Spirit of the Black Panthers / In the Spirit of Assata Shakur / We make this movement towards freedom / For all those who have been oppressed, and all those in the struggle.”— Common, “A Song for Assata” (2000)
Five year anniversary! Thank you to @byp100 for being my political home and allowing me the time, space, and love i needed to grow as an organizer and as a person. I am grateful for the DC chapter for letting me do this work in my own hometown. Had i packed in advance, i woulda brought my flag like the true DC nigga i am. Thank you Chicago for giving birth to our organization and showing me what y’all about. DC and Chicago culture ain’t too different. (And yes, i had a debate about Mumbo sauce vs. mild sauce in Harold’s Chicken.) (at Chicago, Illinois)
Happy 16th birthday, Tamir. Every time I see your face, I see my brother at age 12. You had so much light in your eyes and they took that away from you, your mom, your sister, and the world. Your smile reminds me so much of my brother’s smile and I can’t even begin to imagine the level of pain your sister is in watching you slip away. Rest easy, baby boy. We’re still fighting for you. || (Photo shared on FB by his momma Samaria Rice— “Today is Tamir’s official birthday and I just want to say happy birthday baby mommy miss you and love you happy Sweet 16 .
Thank you everyone for helping me honor and celebrate to Tamir’s birthday. It was at the Cleveland Museum of Art on the 14th of June.”) (at Cleveland, Ohio)
