#blackamericans — Public Fediverse posts

Book Review: Stepmotherland by Darrel Alejandro Holnes

Around the World for a Good Book selection for: Panama

Author: Darrel Alejandro Holnes
Title: Stepmotherland: Poems
Publication Info: Notre Dame, IN : University of Notre Dame Press, [2022]
Summary/Review:

This collection of contemporary poetry touches on identity, particularly in Holnes’ experience as a Panamanian, an immigrant to the United States, a Black man, and a gay man.  Poems address political issues directly such as the 1989 US invasion of Panama, but also sensuality ranging from food to sex.  Poems also reflect on other works of art such as Michelangelo’s Pietà, Sleep by Kehinde Wiley,  Arroz Con Pollo by Jean-Michel Basquiat, as well as inspiration from the likes of Shakira, Naomi Campbell, and Rihanna.

Rating: ****

““The struggle means to me… not just that we would get the boot off our necks, but that we would destroy the boot.

If you want to say that the endpoint of our dream, of our struggle is to simply get us into positions of power, to integrate us into the machine and not to change the machine, then don't talk about Fannie Lou Hamer. Don't talk about Martin Luther King.” - Ta-Nehisi Coates

#CivilRightsMovement #BlackAmericans #MartinLutherKing

the Druski parody about #Blackbritish actors taking jobs away from #BlackAmericans. He deflects saying that his success allowed him to bring many African Americans on board; but a Black American with the same success would have done the same. He also judges those

(2/5)

Osaka and Townsend’s Dinner for Black Players at French Open Caused ‘Bit of a Stir’ on Social Media

By Andre…
#dining #cooking #diet #food #DinnerTonight #Frenchdinner #africanamerican #AfricanAmericans #blackamericans #blackcommunity #BlackPeople #community #dinner #francais #france #French #news #SanDiegoVoiceandViewpoint #UnitedStates #VoiceandViewpoint
https://www.diningandcooking.com/2669504/osaka-and-townsends-dinner-for-black-players-at-french-open-caused-bit-of-a-stir-on-social-media-3/

#USA , #Israel & #Argentina United in #UN To Defend #Slavery against being voted a ‘Crime Against Humanity’

US Ambassador in #UnitedNations staunchly denounced measure and defended President Drumpf who he said "has done more for #BlackAmericans than any other president”

https://www.nytimes.com/2026/03/25/world/africa/un-slave-trade-vote-us-ghana-israel.html #MyCountryTisOfThee

"I can't breathe" is a #slogan of the #BlackLivesMatter movement in the United States. The phrase originates from the #lastWords of #EricGarner, who was killed in 2014 after being put in a #chokehold by a #NewYorkCityPolice officer. A number of other #BlackAmericans, such as #JavierAmbler, #ManuelEllis, #ElijahMcClain, and #GeorgeFloyd, have said the same phrase prior to dying during similar #lawenforcement encounters. According to a 2020 report by #TheNewYorkTimes.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IRZWiqBHYaY

A court ruling could shrink Black representation in Congress – NPR

Politics

A Supreme Court ruling could bring historic drop in Black representation in Congress

January 8, 2026, 5:00 AM ET

By Hansi Lo Wang

The United States could be headed toward the largest-ever decline in representation by Black members of Congress, depending on how the Supreme Court rules in a closely watched redistricting case about the Voting Rights Act.

For decades, the landmark law that came out of the Civil Rights Movement has protected the collective voting power of racial minorities when political maps are redrawn. Its provisions have also boosted the number of seats in the House of Representatives filled by Black lawmakers.

That’s largely because in many Southern states — where voting is often polarized between a Republican-supporting white majority and a Democratic-supporting Black minority — political mapmakers have drawn a certain kind of district to get in line with the Voting Rights Act’s Section 2 provisions. In these districts, racial-minority voters make up a population large enough to have a realistic opportunity of electing their preferred candidates.

But at an October hearing last year for the redistricting case about Louisiana’s congressional map, the Supreme Court’s conservative majority appeared inclined to issue this year another in a series of decisions that have weakened the Voting Rights Act — this time its Section 2 protections in redistricting.

Continue/Read Original Article Here: A court ruling could shrink Black representation in Congress : NPR

"I can't breathe" is a #slogan of the #BlackLivesMatter movement in the United States. The phrase originates from the #lastWords of #EricGarner, who was killed in 2014 after being put in a #chokehold by a #NewYorkCityPolice officer. A number of other #BlackAmericans, such as #JavierAmbler, #ManuelEllis, #ElijahMcClain, and #GeorgeFloyd, have said the same phrase prior to dying during similar #lawenforcement encounters. According to a 2020 report by #TheNewYorkTimes.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C9rrlPkd3VQ

#blackwriters #blacktivists #blackgay #blackhomosexuals #blackmen #blackamericans #blackLGBTQ #blackmastodon

You can certainly ask for (not demand) #BlackAmericans to support your causes. But let me be clear: Given American #history, we OWE you nothing. We're NOT in debt to u. We're NOT your sword and shield. We're not your battering ram. We're not your horses, mules or oxen. We're also NOT obligated to support the mass importation of illegal labor for the ruling class.🤷🏿‍♀️ #immigration #migrants #LosAngeles #protest

60% of Black Americans view socialism appealing

https://truthout.org/articles/socialism-is-gaining-popularity-poll-shows/

#usa #socialism #AfricanAmerican #black #blackamerica #africanamericans #blackamericans

“Service provided a twofold bargain for the country & the individual.

“But #military service is a profound sacrifice. And when that sacrifice is met with hostility, erasure or contempt from political leaders at the highest levels, we must pause & reassess.

“Is it still worth it?

“Right now, as I watch what is happening, my answer is, sadly, no.”

#BlackAmericans #Trump #Hegseth #USpol #hate #discrimination #bigotry #racism #WhiteSupremacy

“Service to your country for many #BlackAmericans is also seen as an entrée into #Middleclass. Whether you only served one enlistment or made it a career, having #military service on one’s résumé or job application was seen as a plus for African Americans whose work ethic & experience were always seemingly in question. The military also provided training & job experience that—especially in the 1950s, ’60s & ’70s—Black Americans were not able to easily obtain in the civilian world.
#Trump #racism

“Why should they risk their lives for a nation unwilling to defend them against #racism—or even acknowledge their service in its own historical record?

“My experience is that #BlackAmericans who serve are built different. We don’t scare easily. We lead from the front. We serve because we believe in something larger than ourselves. Many of us would — & have — give our lives for this country.

#Trump #military #USpol #hate #bigotry #discrimination #WhiteSupremacy

“#DEI initiatives were designed to complement—not replace—meritocracy. They aim to ensure that all #ServiceMembers are evaluated fairly & have equal access to opportunities, thereby strengthening the #military as a whole.

“So I ask again: Why should young #BlackAmericans serve under a govt & military leadership that doesn’t respect their presence, their contributions or their history?

#Trump #military #USpol #hate #discrimination #bigotry #racism #WhiteSupremacy

“The #Pentagon has erased countless #photos, #videos & articles about these units from its websites — although quickly restoring some, like the #TuskegeeAirmen, in response to an outcry.

“This isn’t a side issue — it’s a direct assault on #truth & #legacy. It’s a denial of the sacrifices of generations of #BlackAmericans who fought & died for a country that did not always return the favor.

#Trump #military #USpol #hate #discrimination #bigotry #racism #WhiteSupremacy

“But as I look at today’s political environment — at President Donald #Trump, his allies & #Defense Secy #PeteHegseth — I’m forced to ask a question I never thought I’d have to pose: Should young #BlackAmericans serve in a #military led by people who seem openly hostile to them & the legacy of those who came before them?”

#USpol #hate #discrimination #bigotry #racism #WhiteSupremacy

#GiftArticle

Uncle Sam’s new message to young #BlackAmericans: I don’t want you

Opinion by Phillip E. Thompson, a fmr judge advocate in the Marine Corps & lawyer in Virginia.

“I am a proud Marine #veteran w/deep ties to #military service. My wife served in the #AirForce, my father fought with the #Marines in WWII, & my grandfather served in the #Army in WWI.

#USpol #hate #discrimination #bigotry #racism #WhiteSupremacy
https://wapo.st/3Hd4MZq

Surrender, White People! by D. L. Hughley, 2020

Surrender, white people! After 400 years of white supremacy in America, a reckoning is here. Here are the terms of peace–and they are unconditional. Hope you brought a sense of humor, because this is gonna sting.

@bookstodon
#books
#nonfiction
#America
#BlackAmericans
#WhiteSupremacy

Spartacus released in 1960

The token Black actor Woody Strode is later scripted as a man willing to die rather than

(1/3)

#film #blackactors #blackmen #blackamericans #WoodyStrode #blackathletes #blackwrestlers #blackfootballplayers #blackfirsts #CharlesLaughton #PeterUstinov #blackmastodon

#RESIST! #NAACP Sues #DepartmentOfEducation Over #DEI Rollbacks: Here's What To Know

The nation's oldest #CivilRights group says the Trump administration’s rollback of diversity and inclusion programs is unconstitutional and disproportionately harms #BlackStudents.

April 19, 2025

"The NAACP is suing the U.S. Department of Education over recent efforts to eliminate diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) programs in schools. In a federal complaint filed in Washington, D.C., the organization alleges that the Department of Education’s recent directives are unconstitutional and discriminatory—particularly for Black students.

"The complaint faults the administration for targeting programs that offer '#truthful, #inclusive curricula,' as well as policies that expand access to selective educational opportunities for #BlackAmericans and foster belonging while addressing #racism in schools.

"The NAACP argues that the Department’s recent actions 'advance a misinterpretation' of federal civil rights laws and Supreme Court precedent—actions that, according to the group, violate its members’ rights to equal protection and to be free from viewpoint discrimination under the #USConstitution.

"NAACP President Derrick Johnson criticized the move, stating that the administration is 'effectively sanctioning' the very discrimination that U.S. civil rights laws were designed to prevent

" 'The Department of Education, tasked with a responsibility to protect the civil rights of all children, has instead claimed #SystemicRacism doesn’t exist — effectively sanctioning the very discrimination that our civil rights laws were designed to prevent while children of color consistently attend #segregated, chronically underfunded schools where they receive less educational opportunities and more discipline,' said Johnson."

Read more:
https://www.essence.com/news/naacp-sues-department-of-education-over-dei/?utm_source=firefox-newtab-en-us

#BlackLivesMatter #USPol #Resistance #TrumpIsARacist #CharacteristicsOfFascism

@kingjeanty1989

I SAID WHAT I SAID

#blackchildren #blackpeople #blackamericans #blackvitims #whitebullies #metcalf #karmeloanthony #the78percent #blackmastodon

#DemocracyNow: “#BlackAmericans Are Not Surprised”: #ChristinaGreer on #Trump’s Attacks on #Students, #DEI & #History

Story April 08, 2025

"'There has been a systemic erasure of #BlackHistory.' Professor Christina Greer discusses the Trump administration’s crackdown on free speech and efforts to whitewash American history. The erasure of the history of racism and resistance is not only intellectually dishonest, says Greer, but will also cause the U.S. economic and social harm. 'We can’t move forward as a nation collectively … if we don’t understand our collective past,' she says."

Listen / watch / read transcript:
https://www.democracynow.org/2025/4/8/trump_immigrants_black_americans
#BlackLivesMatter #BLM #ViewerSupportedNews #TrumpIsABully #TrumpIsARacist #USPol

What Is A #PollTax? Definition and Examples

By Robert Longley, July 27, 2022

Excerpt: "In the United States, the origin of the poll tax—and the controversy surrounding it—is associated with the agrarian unrest of the 1880s and 1890s, which culminated in the rise of the Populist Party in the Western and the Southern states. The Populists, representing low-income farmers, gave Democrats in these areas the only serious competition that they had experienced since the end of Reconstruction. The competition led both parties to see the need to attract Black citizens back into politics and to compete for their vote. As the Democrats defeated the Populists, they amended their state constitutions or drafted new ones to include various discriminatory disfranchising devices. When the payment of the poll tax was made a prerequisite to voting, impoverished #BlackPeople and often #PoorWhitePeople, unable to afford the tax, were denied the #RightToVote.

"During the post-Civil War Reconstruction Era in the United States, the former states of the Confederacy repurposed the poll tax explicitly to prevent formerly enslaved #BlackAmericans from voting. Although the #14thAmendment and #15thAmendment [s] gave Black men full #citizenship and #VotingRights, the power to determine what constituted a qualified voter was left to the states. Beginning with Mississippi in 1890, #SouthernStates quickly exploited this legal loophole. At its 1890 constitutional convention, Mississippi imposed a $2.00 poll tax and early registration as a requirement for voting. This had catastrophic results for the Black electorate. Whereas approximately 87,000 Black citizens registered to vote in 1869, representing almost 97% of the eligible voting-age population, fewer than 9,000 of them registered to vote after the state’s new constitution took effect in 1892.

"Between 1890 and 1902, all eleven former #Confederate states imposed some form of a poll tax to deter Black Americans from voting. The tax, which ranged from $1 to $2, was prohibitively expensive for most Black sharecroppers, who earned their wages in crops, not currency. Beyond the cost, voter registration and tax payment offices were usually located in public spaces designed to intimidate potential voters, like courthouses and police stations.

"The southern states also enacted #JimCrowLaws intended to reinforce #RacialSegregation and restrict Black voting rights. Along with the poll tax, most of these states also imposed literacy tests, which required potential voters to read and interpret in writing sections of the state constitution. So-called 'grandfather clauses' allowed a person to vote without paying the poll tax or passing the literacy test if their father or grandfather had voted before the abolition of slavery in 1865; a stipulation that automatically precluded all formerly enslaved persons. Together, the grandfather clause and the literacy tests effectively restored voting rights to poorer White voters who could not pay the poll tax, while further suppressing the Black vote.

"Poll taxes of varying stipulations lingered in Southern states well into the 20th century. While some states abolished the tax in the years after World War I, others retained it. Ratified in 1964, the #24thAmendment to the #USConstitution declared the tax unconstitutional in federal elections.

"Specifically, the 24th Amendment states:

'The right of citizens of the United States to vote in any primary or other election for President or Vice President, for electors for President or Vice President, or for Senator or Representative in Congress, shall not be denied or abridged by the United States or any state by reason of failure to pay any poll tax or other tax.'

"President Lyndon B. Johnson called the amendment a 'triumph of liberty over restriction.' 'It is a verification of people's rights, which are rooted so deeply in the mainstream of this nation's history,' he said.

"The #VotingRightsAct of 1965 created significant changes in the voting status of Black Americans throughout the South. The law prohibited the states from using literacy tests and other methods of excluding Black Americans from voting. Before this, only an estimated twenty-three percent of voting-age Black citizens were registered nationally, but by 1969 the number had jumped to sixty-one percent.

"In 1966 the U.S. Supreme Court went beyond the Twenty-fourth Amendment by ruling in the case of Harper v. Virginia Board of Elections that under the equal protection clause of the Fourteenth Amendment, states could not levy a poll tax as a prerequisite for voting in state and local elections. In two months in the spring of 1966, federal courts declared poll tax laws unconstitutional in the last four states that still had them, starting with Texas on February 9. Similar decisions soon followed in Alabama and Virginia. Mississippi's $2.00 poll tax (about $18 today) was the last to fall, declared unconstitutional on April 8, 1966."

https://www.thoughtco.com/poll-tax-definition-and-examples-5443130
#VoterDisenfranchisement #USPol #USHistory #TwentyFourthAmendment #FourteenthAmendment #FifteenthAmendment #VoterRights #LiteracyTests #USElections #VoterSuppression #BlackAmericans

…The order is the latest move by the #Trump admin to quash recognition of #BlackAmericans’ contributions to the nation & to gloss over the legal, political, social & economic obstacles they have faced.

Trump’s approach is “a literal attack on #BlackAmerica itself,”Ibram X. Kendi, race historian & bestselling author, said. “The #BlackSmithsonian, as it is affectionately called, is indeed one of the heartbeats of Black America…&…also one of the heartbeats”of the nation at large.

#AmericanHistory

#CivilRights advocates, #historians & #Black political leaders sharply rebuked #Trump on Friday for his order, entitled “Restoring Truth & Sanity to American History.” They argued that his #ExecutiveOrder targeting the #Smithsonian Institution is his admin’s latest move to downplay how #race, #racism & #BlackAmericans themselves have shaped the nation’s story.

#whitewashing #censorship #WhiteSupremacy #USpol #AmericanHistory #slavery #JimCrow #segregation #RacialViolence

The Order released in 2024 pushes the narrative of white people dismantling a white supremacist group.

Would it have even been made without Blackkklansman 2018 https://www.imdb.com/title/tt7349662 ?

It seeks to whitewash the reality of Black People opposing nazis as they have for the last 400 years and most recently in Ohio [ https://mastodon.social/@audubonballroon/113987589457091971 ] which is nothing new.

#blackpeople #blackamericans #whitepeople #blackmastodon #film #blackfilm #blackactors #johndavidwashington #denzelwashington

Gerald Sombright came up through kitchens where white European chefs were presented as the paradigm, but no one looked like him. See, Sombright is Black. “In 1999 when I was 19, I started my kitchen career working prep and washing dishes. I didn't know a brunoise from a baseball, yet I was intrigued.” Sombright would go on to become the first Black man in America to earn a Michelin star. He writes about his rise for @foodandwine, and how he wants more Black men to follow his tracks.

https://flip.it/fjwkCh

#Culture #BlackAmericans #Food #Foodstodon #Dining