Jason Guthartz

👀

What better moment in history to have rabid Islamophobes throughout Democratic Party leadership 🤬
#NoWarOnIran #RemoveTrumpNOW
#FreePalestine #AbolishZionism #DismantleWhiteness

#NoWarOnIran
#RemoveTrumpNOW
#DismantleWhiteness

Don't forget the joys 🥰

Brenda & the Big Dudes, "Weekend Special" (1983)
www.youtube.com/watch?v=VjQD...

The US bombing of a desalination plant could be the most catastrophically consequential action so far.

I really hope Iran does not respond in the same way.

bsky.app/profile/sanh...

Judge rules Kari Lake unlawfully ran U.S. media agency, voiding layoffs Sweeping layoffs at Voice of America made by Trump appointee Kari Lake were declared void by a federal judge, who said she served unlawfully.

BREAKING:

A federal judge in Washington just ruled that Kari Lake has unlawfully served as chief executive of the U.S. Agency for Global Media — which oversees Voice of America — and nullified many actions she has taken in the role, including mass layoffs of staff.

This is an astounding and irresponsible and obvious lie by the Commander in Chief. This feels like another unthinkable red line crossed.

#NoWarOnIran
#RemoveTrumpNOW
#DismantleWhiteness

The catastrophic impact to local health where the air is poisoned, as well as to our global ecosystem as they literally set the planet on fire and fill the atmosphere with pollutants

North Tehran’s Aqdasiyeh oil depot is ablaze tonight after it was targeted by multiple US-Israeli airstrikes. Apocalyptic scenes filmed by Iranians driving on the nearby highway. Local reporters saying firefighters can’t put it out. This depot is critical energy infrastructure for Iran.

Footage filmed from a Tehran high-rise shows fires burning on the horizon and smoke rising from several locations on Saturday night.

The escalating US-Israel wars on Muslims are genocidal crusades.
#NoWarOnIran #RemoveTrumpNOW
#AbolishZionism #DismantleWhiteness
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Never underestimate the violence & cruelty of whiteness.
#AbolishICE #DefundPolice
#AbolishPrisons #DismantleWhiteness

#ImpeachRFK
#RemoveRFK
#DismantleWhiteness
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They're pushing "AI solutions" to everything because they know it helps accelerate their fascist agenda.
#RemoveTrumpNOW #ResistAI
#AbolishRacialCapitalism #DismantleWhiteness
bsky.app/profile/rest...

also #MissingFromStreaming

Never underestimate the violence & cruelty of whiteness.

Cover to DREAD (1993, Epic/Sony Records, Japan)

Been a minute since I've spun this gem:

Living Colour, DREAD (1993)

Maher is an Islamophobe of the highest order. The fact that he has not been run out of town is a measure of how unseriously Islamophobia is treated in this country.

re: polio
bsky.app/profile/bett...

The U.S. committed a blatant and desperate crime by attacking a freshwater desalination plant on Qeshm Island. Water supply in 30 villages has been impacted. Attacking Iran's infrastructure is a dangerous move with grave consequences. The U.S. set this precedent, not Iran.

Attacking access to water is definitionally genocidal.

#HandsOffCuba
#RemoveTrumpNOW
#DismantleWhiteness
bsky.app/profile/nkal...

His choice of covers took on a whole new dimension after reading Graham Lock raise the question of whether Sunny's cover of the Mary Poppins tune "Let's Go Fly a Kite" was a response to historical prohibitions on Black people flying kites (e.g., Black Codes of the District of Columbia, 1848).

My second example is more tentative . The song ' Let's Go Fly a Kite ' was featured sometimes in the Walt Disney tributes that became a regular part of Arkestra concerts in the late 1980s / early 1990s . It struck me as a slightly odd choice and when I saw the band perform it live in 1990 , it seemed odder still , as they mimed their kite - flying while strutting across the stage with the same kind of exaggerated delight that marked their performance of Irving Berlin's ' Slumming on Park Avenue . In that song , it was clear that the Arkestra's intention was to interpolate a racial dimension into Berlin's satirical take on class relationships ; but I had no idea what they were up to on ' Let's Go Fly a Kite ! Then , just a few months ago , I think I found the answer . In July of last year , I was looking through a copy of the New Statesman when I came across an article by Andrew Stephen about slavery in Washington , D.C. A highlighted extract from The Black Codes of the District of Columbia , published in 1848 , caught my eye : CHAPTER XCVIII PUNISHMENT OF SLAVES FOR FLYING KITES If any slave shall fly any kite or kites , within the limits of this corporation , on conviction of the same before the mayor , and being found unable to pay a fine , for every such offence , not exceeding two dollars ... such offender may be punished by whipping at the discretion of the mayor .

I did wonder momentarily if Sun Ra would have been aware of such a prohibition , but we know he was a voracious reader and a keen student of black history , so it certainly seemed possible . Confirmation came later courtesy of Jason Guthartz and Jonathan Piper , who uncovered a reference to such a prohibition in Time magazine . In July 1967 , Time ran a story about ' Thurgood Marshall's appearance before the Senate , prior to his appointment as an Associate Justice of the Supreme Court : during questioning , Marshall had cited the prohibition on flying kites as an example of the Black Codes . I think it's reasonable to assume that Sun Ra would either have read the Time report himself or at least heard about it , since Marshall's appointment and Senate appearance had been a major news story at the time , and was keenly followed by many African Americans . In fact , the real question here is not , did Sun Ra know about this ? -it's why didn't I know about it ? Why did no - one make that link ? How come we know so little about certain aspects of the past ? Andrew Stephen's article , for instance , begins with his shocked discovery that a dark , mysterious cavity , too tiny for him to stand up in and located beneath the basement of his Washington home , had once served as living quarters for the household slaves . ( Note , as with the prohibition against kite flying , the denial of space . ) " There are other worlds , " Sun Ra sang , " they have not told you of , that wish to speak to you . " These other voices , other blues , other histories , are speaking to us through his music . I can't prove that Sun Ra had the Black Codes in mind when he chose to perform ' Let's Go Fly a Kite , but it fits with his interest in African American history and it fits too with his acute , often deadpan , sense of humour . He would surely have relished the chance to poke fun at the truly insane and petty racist bureaucracy that had

constricted black life in the 19th century - and continued to do so in the 20th , not least in his hometown of Birmingham , which in 1930 had , for example , passed an ordinance that prohibited blacks and whites from meeting together to play dominoes or checkers , I assume to protect the myth of white supremacy from the threat of a black victory at checkers ! ( " It's not too good to be supreme , " Ra told me in 1983. Then he added with a chuckle , " But it's nice to be superior . " ) So , no , it seems Sun Ra was not a charlatan or a nutcase at all ; he just knew a lot more about black culture and black history than his critics did . This , I suggest , is where ( on earth ) he was coming from . As Ralph Ellison once remarked to his critics , " If you would tell me who I am , at least take the trouble to discover what I have been " Ra was fond of saying , " History is only his story . You haven't heard my story yet . " That " my story " was , I think , less mystery than alternative history , a black history , to which Ra constantly alluded - onstage , on record , in person . If we still haven't heard his " my story " yet , it's because we didn't take the trouble to discover whose story he was really telling . Now that we know we were wrong , we should take Ra's advice and face the music . It's time to listen to his cosmos song .

Here's the relevant portion of Graham Lock's article in that collection, "Right Place, Wrong Planet [Chicago Talk Remix]" (with rough OCR in alt text):

Traveling the Spaceways: Sun-Ra - The Astro Black and Other Solar Myths Edited by John Corbett, Anthony Elms and Terri Kapsalis. Chicago: WhiteWalls. 2010 https://halfletterpress.com/traveling-the-spaceways-sun-ra-the-astro-black-and-other-solar-myths/

Sellers on Amazon for the book "Traveling the Spaceways: Sun-Ra - The Astro Black and Other Solar Myths", with prices ranging from $1,976 to $3,516.

WTF???

#AbolishICE
#DefundPolice
#DismantleWhiteness

I listened to this in full and, yeah, not surprisingly it's as bad as trans folks are saying.

Openly excuses treating trans care as expendable to appease a fascist federal government.

Put not your faith in politicians, y'all. Any of them. Ever

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ICE Denies Wrongdoing In Death Of Man In California Immigration Facility "ICE can deny wrongdoing, but the reality remains the same: Alberto Gutierrez Reyes died while in their custody," Los Angeles City Councilmember Eunisses Hernandez told HuffPost.

My latest for @huffpost.com: ICE Denies Wrongdoing In Death Of Man In California Immigration Facility

"ICE can deny wrongdoing, but the reality remains the same: Alberto Gutierrez Reyes died while in their custody," LA Councilmember Eunisses Hernandez told HuffPost.
www.huffpost.com/entry/ice-de...