If you've watched "Judas & the Black Messiah," and wonder what happened to the white organizations and the Black gangs he united, or how it relates to today,
I've written about them a few times:
A thread (just links, really).
First, to understand how these so-called "gangs" were even created, you have to go back to 1919.
And the last letter in this edition of the Clapback Mailbag is the story of a bunch of white people who broke into the FBI headquarters and found a mysterious set of blueprints to a Chicago apartment:
I've seen SO MANY ppl use the shutdown as an opportunity to demonize people who receive SNAP benefits, WIC and any kind of government assistance.
Here's the thing:
I agree with those people.
We need to end the WHITE welfare state
BECAUSE welfare works.
A thread:
The original welfare program began when the government decided to help the lazy, uneducated Jamestown colonists who didn't want to work. In exchange for bringing carpenters, farmers & indentured servants who knew how do stuff, colonizers received 50 free acres in "headrights" or "patents."
Virginia even recorded names of the migrant workers. On Apr 19, 1638, George Menefie received 3,000 acres for 60 "servants." But there's only 37 names.
What happened?
He received 1,150 acres, an area about the size of Harlem, for 23 unnamed "negroes..."
I’m sure you think I’m gonna mention Jean Baptiste Point du Sable, the Black fur trader who is known as the first non-indigenous resident of Chicago.
But du Sable was not enslaved when he moved to the mouth of the Chicago river in 1790.
So who TF was buying furs?
Well, remember all that was French territory. In 1719 French entrepreneur Philippe François Renault hopped in a boat in the South of France, stopped in Haiti to purchase 200-500 humans beings & headed to “Upper Louisiana”
By 1760, 900 ppl were enslaved in “Illinois Country”
By now, it has become apparent that this man is much dumber than people initially thought, but here is why this specific act of ignorance is so common.
"Slavery was standard practice throughout earth..."
Let's start here.
While MOST societies (not all) had forms of involuntary subjugation, people who don't know things use their ignorance and privilege to flatten the idea of slavery.
I always found it funny that ppl who say "slavery existed in every society," also LOVE to differentiate between indentured servants and enslaved people.
Whitewashing the uncomfortable parts of the past doesn't just affect Black stories. For example, you can't fully appreciate how a peanut farmer from Plains, GA became a beloved president unless you know TRUE Black History.
The unwhitewashed history of Jimmy Carter:
A thread.
Jimmy Carter was a simple peanut farmer who grew up in Plains, GA when the deep South was defined by racism. His family taught him not to see color. Instead of asking for handouts, they focused on God, education and...
OK, none of that happened.
First of all, to understand where Jimmy Carter comes from, you have to go back a few generations. Because you probably already know a few of his cousins.
In fact, he might not even be the most famous person in his family. But I'll let you decide.
There's a very interesting connection between Mark Zuckerberg's right-wing turn and the guy who might be the most powerful person in American media. I haven't seen it mentioned anywhere, so...
A thread.
First of all, let's be clear. Mark Zuckerberg's didn't just announce changes to Meta's content moderation policy. He didn't even announce that Meta's content policy will change.
He announced that his company is willing to help kill people.
How?
First of all, replacing fact-checking with community notes doesn't just mean misinformation and hate will spread, it means people will die because of it.
For instance , Facebook removed MILLIONS of posts containing COVID misinformation.