Stand For what?!
You want me to stand for a song that continues to remind me of all the harms that have done me wrong?
Stand for what?!
For your Army that none of our sons truly belong
Stand for what?
The 100 years it took them to convince Congress to become the anthem after 40 failed attempts
Stand for what?
Your forefathers who really just Pimps.
Stand for What?
A song about War, not freedom
That’s how you want to lead them
Brainwash your people? that’s how you want to treat em
Slavemasters whips to Cops night sticks, that’s how you continue to beat em.
Stand for what
the beginning of Slavery in 1619
Or the end of those Black Marines of 1814
That’s really what the lyrics are about
They may have taken the word slave out
but they forget to remove the slave connotations from their brains and they mouth The mentality to make America Greater than your imagination is how you pout
Hating because we burned down their White House
Gave proof through the night, that its light out
For the old elitist white man thinking
Drunk off they ass with power at baseball games singing and drinking
Why an American in England cried in the rain next to a statue of Abraham Lincoln
Lily Seville posted this story on Facebook August 18 and made it publicly available so it can be shared.
I haven’t told any stories from England since I got home but it seems like maybe we could all use a good story about a civil war statue, a good story about an American President, and a good story about the power of the common people against the rich and powerful, so I’m going to start with this one. It’s probably for the best that you’re reading this here because I haven’t managed to tell this story in person without crying.
Update from a Standing Rock volunteer after #45 orders attack on the camp
This is an update from a Standing Rock volunteer. It’s not pleasant.
Friends,
I have returned from Standing Rock with my mind blown, my heart broken and my spirit troubled with foreboding of a deepening tragedy. Volunteering as a legal observer with the Water Protector Legal Collective I witnessed several confrontations between Water Protectors (WP) and law enforcement: national guard, sheriffs and private security (LE).
Obama’s entire White House website, including data and Español/Spanish now live at the Obama Library site
Creation of this resource is another huge reason to thank President Obama: as of 23 January 2017, the incoming administration has already removed both climate change data and all Spanish language information. Pres. Obama’s team tells why he created the archive and what you’ll find there:
Trevor Noah talks about his book on growing up in apartheid South Africa and inviting Tomi Lahren to The Daily Show
Trevor Noah speaks on The Breakfast Club about his autobiographical book on growing up knowing his birth – as a biracial child – was a crime in apartheid South Africa … a place where his mother had to dress as his nanny in order to be able to walk down the street with him.
Noah shares his questions and opinions on Donald Trump and speaks about his decision to invite Tomi Lahren to be his guest on The Daily Show. One reason for doing it was to have the chance to be heard by her audience, who otherwise would never learn anything about him.
Trump Day 1: hate-based attacks, pussy-grabbing, threats – documented on reporter Shaun King’s Twitter feed
We all need to read @ShaunKing's Twitter feed starting yesterday. Prepare yourself first. He's documenting "#Trump Day 1" hate. Horrifying.
— Brent Toderian (@BrentToderian) November 10, 2016
"Almost all white people except for educated white women chose Donald Trump in droves &that's a problem"- @ShaunKing pic.twitter.com/1GajQn8WLV
An important essay by an honored student on the hypocrisies of inclusion in higher ed
Sung Yim wrote an essay to Columbia University after essays the Korean poet was asked to submit as a student representative of Columbia College Chicago’s Nonfiction writing department were twice rejected and the last essay, cut down to almost nothing to eliminate any controversial bits. The author writes about the author’s own work:
It’s important to keep in mind that my work has always been scathingly political. That is, I would think, part of why the writing faculty nominated my work. It’s also important to keep in mind that they were soliciting short work of a long-form artist. I was clipping and revising each piece I was submitting to them, which took hours of free labor.
Exposé: government assistance thief known in the 1970s as “Welfare Queen” was a white career criminal
Ronald Reagan loved to tell stories. When he ran for president in 1976, many of Reagan’s anecdotes converged on a single point: The welfare state is broken, and I’m the man to fix it. On the trail, the Republican candidate told a tale about a fancy public housing complex with a gym and a swimming pool. There was also someone in California, he’d explain incredulously, who supported herself with food stamps while learning the art of witchcraft. And in stump speech after stump speech, Reagan regaled his supporters with the story of an Illinois woman whose feats of deception were too amazing to be believed.
Dude’s viral post: yes, I am racist – but I’m not evil, I’m just primed for change
In an essay gone viral that reminds me a lot of Peggy McIntosh’s legendary ownership statement about white privilege, Jeff Cook explains that racism was incorporated into the Wheaties he eat for breakfast every day in white suburban America. But, he says, this involuntary programming makes him not evil, but definitely ready for change.
It’s a great essay, full of keen insights into both the writer’s mind and the society in which we live. Well worth the read. Here’s an excerpt:
Teacher helps students come to terms with the police murder of a classmate’s father
Crutcher was shot after his car stalled in the road and arriving police decided to brutalize and kill him, instead of offer him assistance. The white, woman police officer who murdered Mr. Crutcher has been charged with manslaughter.
Hundreds of Asian Americans create Google Doc letter in 1 day to tell their families about the relevance of #BlackLivesMatter
In fact, let’s draft letters in our native languages to our parents and our communities. Get it passed around WhatsApp, WeChat, LINE, etc.
President, Press and Governor speak out: police brutality must be condemned and controlled

– John Donne, Devotions upon Emergent Occasions Meditation XVII
This week saw the police murder father of five children Alton Sterling in Baton Rouge, Louisiana not long before school lunch supervisor and student mentor Philando Castile was murdered by a policeman near St. Paul, Minnesota.
New York Times writer Michael Eric Dyson offers a sizzling condemnation of white people for failing to hold brutal police accountable for killing people of color. Because ultimately, they don’t want to see that their greed for privilege has created and supports the social environment in which it is OK for this to happen. What a read: