Updated: Jun 29, 2020
Quote of the Week: “Melanin, melanin, my drip is skin deep, like Ooh, motherland, motherland, motherland, motherland drip on me” from Beyoncé on Black Parade
Here are the top stories of the week:
1. Coronavirus: STAY AT HOME
The virus is affecting Black & low-income communities the hardest. Period.
States reopening among rising infection levels are now regretting their decisions to do so (@Florida).
Please stay your Black ass home. We need all of us ready when the police declare a full-fledge war against us.
2. Beyonce’s “Black Parade” and Jessie Reyez’s “Intruders”
Released in the final hours of Juneteenth, Beyonce did that with this banger. "Black Parade" benefits BeyGOOD's Black Business Impact Fund, administered by the National Urban League, to support Black-owned small businesses in need. Although contemporary capitalism was never designed for us and was largely reformed to profit off the Black dollar, survival is key as we work towards a revolutionary future that works for All of us. Perhaps it's time we seriously consider alternative forms of community and government systems (i.e. SOCIALISM). In the meantime, the song is streaming on all platforms and every stream makes Spotify/Tidal/Apple Music pay Black businesses, so we ain’t mad. As she shouts out the ancestors, protestors, Malcolm X, and the motherland, we agree the song is a bop. If you gonna participate in the entertainment industry anyway, check it out and stream, y’all.
“Intruders” by indigenous Colombiana raised in Canada Jessie Reyez released a video on Juneteenth. The description reads: “Jessie’s streaming revenue for INTRUDERS will be donated to Colin Kaepernick’s Know Your Rights Organization for the remainder of 2020. https://www.knowyourrightscamp.com” The video represents an alternative history to the struggle natives had with the conquistadors. Check that out as well.
3. Say His Name: Elijah McClain
The 23 year old man was walking home after picking up an iced tea for a his sister. Police responded to call and on their body cams you can hear Elijah saying "I am an introvert, please respect the boundaries I am speaking," while the officers wrestle him to the ground. After going into cardiac arrest under police custody, he was pronounced brain dead 3 days later in a hospital.I am hurting for his death and please read the story here on Colorlines.
4. Noname & J Cole Made Music Together?
J. Cole released a song called Snow on Tha Bluff that appears to be a song about him responding to recent tweets of a “conscious woman” who he believes is criticizing him and other black people for not being “woke” enough and setting themselves free from capitalism. J. Cole states from reading her tweets he assumes she’s talking about him and then criticizes the unnamed woman for her privilege and “holier than thou” and “queen” tone and asks her to come down and teach him and people she thinks are below her.
Most people immediately when hearing the song, I connected dots and claimed the woman with the “queen tone” was Chicago based rapper, activist, and book club organizer Noname.
J. Cole received backlash for the song, but only double-downed on his verses and said, “I haven’t done a lot of reading and I don’t feel well equipped as a leader in these times. But I do a lot of thinking. And I appreciate her and others like her because they challenge my beliefs and I feel that in these times that’s important.”
Why does it seem that black men can see they don’t have to explain shit to white people, but don’t believe that when it applies to black women having to teach black men about black women oppression and general black liberation?
NoName released a song called Song 33 that is 90 seconds of Noname stating how ludicrous it is that all that is going on in the world and J. Cole has the audacity to think and write about her. Noname has since apologized for the release of the song and says she shouldn’t have let her ego distract her from the task of liberation at hand. Black women have to apologize for defending their honor and art. Fix it y'all.
5. Boogaloo Bois (white opportunist in BLM movement)
The boogaloo movement started as a racist meme and social nod to racial violence. The militia group is made up of a majority of white libertarians, anti-government conspiracies, and active/inactive military members. It’s a loose network of believers who now have rebranded that they are a color-blind people vs. government organization.
There have been 7 arrests of men with connections to the Boogaloo movement since the uprising of Black Lives Matter protests since the killing of George Floyd. The charges for arrest range from possession of a device, inciting violence, and online threats of assault and killing of police officers.
We bring this up to just say that Boogaloo Bois are present at rallies not in support of defending black lives but to live out their fantasy of starting a race war. Boogaloo Bois group chats are using George Floyd's image to call for the start of their revolution and it has nothing to do with Black liberation. That white people specifically, are opportunistic as always and riding on the backs of Black people to achieve their violent goals. The Boogaloo Bois goal is to violently overthrow the United States government. What does this mean for Black people? Protests against police are not peaceful, but what do we do with white opportunists?
6. Breonna Taylor’s justice update
There has been a mass gathering, demonstration, and protest in honor of Breonna Taylor in Louisville Kentucky for the last 3 weeks. Brett Hankinson has been fired, but no conviction or arrest. Would prison reform Hankinson? (Thoughts on prison abolition?) No firing, no charges, no arrests for Jonathan Mattingly and Myles Cosgrove.
Attorney General Daniel Cameron of Kentucky declared this week that an investigation of this magnitude required patience and he would not put a timetable or provide an end date for the investigation. At a press conference on June 18th, he declined to give any details or take questions in a brief informational press conference. It has now been over 3 months (over 100 days) since the death of Breonna Taylor who was murdered in her own home. She was an EMT, an essential worker, working to keep citizens safe.
Her mother has gone on record that the Louisville Metro Police Department insinuated to her that Taylor’s boyfriend killed her before she was informed of the truth and police report.