In other words, y’all are about to F**k Around and Find Out.
Commentary by Black Kos Editor Denise Oliver-Velez
I’m glad to be back commenting here in Black Kos, after our winter hiatus. Sorry, I feel the need to rant after the last few weeks of mostly holding my feelings in.
After celebrating Martin Luther King Day, and moving towards Black History Month in February, and watching the never ending hypocrisy of our home grown supposed “MAGA Christians” who talk out of both sides of their necks, quoting their bibles while supporting Convict for Life, rapist, racist Dump, I have to admit that though our Black folks, who remain at the bottom of the hierarchy along side of Native Americans, (and have been there for 400 years — more or less) will continue to suffer, I am going to tighten my seat belt and soldier on.
At age 77, (will be 78 this year) I’m one of those “old people” in the Party, who ageists here love to dismiss.
Along with my brethren and sistren — I’ll be watching all y’all who couldn’t bring yourselves to cast a vote for sanity see what you actually voted for and wind up paying a harsh price. That includes all those purists who didn’t vote as well. Y’all can go to hell in a handbasket.
That also includes all the folks who have claimed to be Democrats who are spending the bulk of their time post election attacking the Democratic Party, Kamala Harris, Joe Biden, the Congressional Black Caucus …for the fact that “we” lost this last election.
The resurrection of a slew of Bernie Sanders diaries around here — reviving past pie wars, is yet another symptom of the problem we will have getting people to focus on the upcoming election cycle, which we need to keep our eyes and energies focused on.
Meanwhile, climate change, birthright citizenship, health care, women’s and LGBTQ rights, housing, immigration/deportation, and a host of other major domestic issues are lost in the sauce of “the DEMS have abandoned the working class” hysteria that forgets that we Black folks are by and large workers. I’ve seen folks pushing the “we need to go back to organizing the working class (read white) and union members (meaning white ones) when Black folks are a larger unionized group. See Bureau of Labor Statistics
Selected Characteristics of Union Members
In 2023, the unionization rate for women was little changed over the year at 9.5 percent, while the rate for men was unchanged at 10.5 percent. Both the number of women, at 6.6 million, and the number of men, at 7.8 million, who were union members changed little over the year. (See table 1.)
Among the major race and ethnicity groups, Black workers continued to have a higher union membership rate in 2023 (11.8 percent) than White workers (9.8 percent), Asian workers (7.8 percent), and Hispanic workers (9.0 percent).
The idea of a white guy in a hard hat being the representative of “union workers” who are being ignored by Democrats is false. The largest unions in the U.S. are The National Education Association (NEA), Service Employees International Union (SEIU), and the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees (AFSCME).
We’ve done our Black job to the best of our ability — in the face of voter suppression, gerrymandering, and billionaire funding of pseudo-Black groups like ADOS and FBA.
Seems like any time we point out the sanity of the majority of Black voters, someone pops up to inform us that oh my — there were “blacks” (as they keep referring to us) who *gasp* voted for Dump. Yes. So what else is new. We aren’t a monolith. Never have been. We ARE the most dedicated voting block that has tried to save not just us — but everyone.
I’m pissed at folks who throw terms around like “oligarch supporters” and “conserva-Dems” when referring to us. I’m with Brother Chris when he asks “Who is “we”?
I’ve posted this multiple times here to remind folks of past Black voting history and party affiliation— especially since I grew up with grandparents who were Republicans (they would not be were they alive today)
For those of you who are unaware of the disinformation campaigns targeting Black folks — here’s a recent tweet re ADOS and FBA, who I’ve written about in the past.
With all the bullshit — we have still persisted.
Sorry to come back in rant mode.One ray of light: I’m glad Leonard Peltier is going home.
x
Biden commutes Leonard Peltier's life sentence, finally enabling his freedom after 49 years of unjust imprisonment, amid his failing health
www.amnestyusa.org/press-releas...
Commutation reported by AP, CBS, NBC, PBS, USA Today, The Hill, Huff Post & confirmed by indigenous rights defenders in US
[image or embed]
— Camilo Pérez-Bustillo (@cperezbustillo.bsky.social) January 20, 2025 at 12:44 PM
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News round up by dopper0189, Black Kos Managing Editor
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If you ever needed a visual representation of America’s gleeful commitment to historical amnesia, look no further than Donald J. Trump—birther-in-chief, professional race-baiter and lifelong bigot—being sworn in as the nation’s 47th President on Martin Luther King Jr. Day.
You couldn’t script a more grotesque spectacle if you tried.
It’s like throwing a birthday party for Malcolm X at a Cracker Barrel. Hosting a police appreciation gala in honor of Fred Hampton. Giving Strom Thurmond the keynote at a Shirley Chisholm tribute. Holding a Jeff Bezos-sponsored union-busting workshop to honor A. Philip Randolph. Unveiling a statue of Ronald Reagan at the site of the Montgomery Bus Boycott. Erecting a Confederate monument in honor of Ida B. Wells and celebrating Juneteenth with a Marjorie Taylor Greene cookout.
It’s such a tacky slap-in-the-face absurdity that would make a wax figure of Frederick Douglass side-eye in disgust.
Lest we forget, Trump is the man who rode birtherism to the White House; who was sued by the Justice Department for racist housing discrimination; took out a full-page ad calling for the execution of the exonerated Central Park Five; who called white supremacists “very fine people;” “who told four Black congresswomen to “go back” to where they came from despite all being U.S. citizens.
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As Donald Trump takes the oath of office and is sworn in for a second time as president of the United States, the nation is also observing the federal holiday that honors Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.’s contributions to the nation and the world. The civil rights leader transformed America’s consciousness and was an architect of a movement that dismantled U.S. laws sanctioning racial segregation and oppression.
On MLK Day, civil rights leaders are reflecting on the day’s ironic juxtaposition to the inauguration of Donald Trump, whose leadership and moral character they say contradict that of Dr. King, who was assassinated in 1968.
The Rev. Al Sharpton, who is leading an MLK Day rally at the historic Metropolitan AME Church in Washington, D.C., told theGrio, “We’re going to take an oath to keep Dr. King’s dream alive, with what Donald Trump has represented in terms of his supporting states’ rights, on voting rights, him declaring war on DEI, his bigoted statements.”
The civil rights leader added, “It’s to bury Dr. King’s dream.”
Sharpton said keeping King’s true dream alive, which included social and economic justice for Black Americans, and all Americans, must be fought for “no matter who’s in the White House.” He continued, “We’ve lost an election, but we’ve not lost our minds.”
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Tsitsi Dangarembga’s Nervous Conditions, a novel about growing up in colonial Zimbabwe, is one of the most important works of 20th-century African literature and features on university curricula across the UK. British students can order a used copy for less than £3.
But there is one place readers struggle to find it: Harare, the capital of Zimbabwe and Dangeremba’s home town, even though it is published in paperback across the border in South Africa. “It’s very, very difficult to find my books anywhere in Zimbabwe,” says Dangarembga.
African literature is thriving, and its impact on the global literature scene continues to grow. In 2021, African authors scooped the Nobel prize for literature, the Booker prize and the Camões prize for literature, the Portuguese-speaking world’s highest literary award. The New York Times hailed it as “the year for African literature”.
This year the release of Chimamanda Ngozie Adiche’s first novel in 10 years is a hotly anticipated publishing event; many more authors from the continent continue to win recognition in Europe and America, from Zambian writer Mubanga Kalimamukwento to Nigerian Damilare Kuku.
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Congressional leaders had pushed for Biden to pardon Garvey, with supporters arguing that Garvey's conviction was politically motivated and an effort to silence the increasingly popular leader who spoke of racial pride. The Grio: President Biden posthumously pardons Black nationalist Marcus Garvey
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President Joe Biden on Sunday posthumously pardoned Black nationalist Marcus Garvey, who influenced Malcolm X and other civil rights leaders and was convicted of mail fraud in the 1920s. Also receiving pardons were a top Virginia lawmaker and advocates for immigrant rights, criminal justice reform and gun violence prevention.
Congressional leaders had pushed for Biden to pardon Garvey, with supporters arguing that Garvey’s conviction was politically motivated and an effort to silence the increasingly popular leader who spoke of racial pride. After Garvey was convicted, he was deported to Jamaica, where he was born. He died in 1940.
Issuing preemptive pardons — for actual or imagined offenses by Trump’s critics that could be investigated or prosecuted by the incoming administration — would stretch the powers of the presidency in untested ways.
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Voices & Soul
“… white-eyed occupiers selling cheap fear to the ignorant and terror-struck non-readers or thinkers who miraculously know it all as they claim ownership of stolen peoples, lands, ideas, music, money, dance, technology, and climate denial: as fires ravish much of the international commons… “
- Haki R. Madhubuti
“Claiming Language, Claiming Art V”
by Justice Putnam, Black Kos Editor
Question: Who is your audience? What are you here for?
Answer: Tribal Alliances, Heart-felt Convictions, Passionate Reason, Random Abandon, Sustainable Civility and a kiss, to comfort the sad and the mad Ones, the Ones roaming the International section of the American Supermarket at night, or roaming the neglected streets looking for an angry malaprop to sink their teeth into, the Ones who seek without seeking and learn as much as they teach, the Ones who embrace and kiss and embrace again, the Ones who sing the song of the city and the ballads of the forest, the Ones who chant the rhythm of the sea and hum the melody of the desert, the Ones who sing the prayer of Her name and Her name is the World. Yes, those are the Ones. -- JP
furious
in the destructive weather of orange hurricanes, tornadoes, avalanches, and white-eyed occupiers selling cheap fear to the ignorant and terror-struck non-readers or thinkers who miraculously know it all as they claim ownership of stolen peoples, lands, ideas, music, money, dance, technology, and climate denial: as fires ravish much of the international commons. it is time for colors, cleansing rain, memphis blues, mississippi greens, mind molding Black jazz, and measurable yeses, to learning first, quiet moments of introspection, meditation, knowledge acquisition, and livable habits prior to chasing the easy. the next line giveaways and missed melodies of poets and their poems. they who made words into life teaching, sharing, dancing indigenous vernaculars laboring for gladness and diverse tomorrows on the far side. they who transmit the lingua franca of earned accomplishments that benefit babies, children, mothers, and often fathers who are not lost in crude masculinity, trapped in solitary confinement of state prisons or dead minds that focus too regularly on get-it-for-nothing lifestyles and know-nothingness. where are the creative fighters with fists, locution, and mission? where are the top writers, team creators, word finders, clear-tongued poets?
flowers
world over and under, whether in denmark, ghana, china, or local backyards of rocks, glass, and no hope. within apartments hidden in detroit’s blackbottom, chicago’s and new york’s projects, and the forgotten red clay of alabama. all where flowers will grow with little water, sun, or helping hands. body-sweet sweat of workers battling climate damage and overtime without extra pay from big box stores & for-profit colleges unable to educate while student debt eclipses 1.5 trillion dollars. forcing memory, Black recall, sharing, teaching, never forgetting the wonderfully engaged wordsmiths and legendary artists often soloists of Black and tan images in short and long lines that save and give lives. this is the role call:
gwendolyn brooks, robert hayden, claude mckay,
lucille clifton, amiri baraka, margaret danner,
langston hughes, mari evans, dudley randall, léopold sédar senghor,
sterling a. brown, etheridge knight, carolyn m. rodgers,
norman jordan, julia fields, larry neal, melvin b. tolson,
nina simone, keorapetse kgositsile, oscar brown jr.,
and all missing poetic Black voices who often left us
without notice, notation, or preachers calling their names.
all resounding, creative, and turbulent voices of Black soup, rice milk with opened minds to consumption of raw vegetables aided by the detox salons, from diverse poets who can read in their sleep to awaken fresh to spot falsehood before early light. they all come home. presence. warrior poets, the most liberated artists in the world navigating the language of touch, love, and cayenne to the body. wellness. they, the brilliant penetrators of bogus thought, now supply us with peaches, mangoes, pure water, yellow-skinned watermelons, and critical sun screaming for the next generation of poets.
- Haki R. Madhubuti
“Claiming Language, Claiming Art V”
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WELCOME TO THE TUESDAY PORCH
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