posted June 10, 2020 #
Brooklyn artist
Adrian Brandon has been working on this "Stolen" series since February of 2019 but it has been finding a much wider audience lately due to its poignant subject matter. The concept of the series is simple - Brandon draws a portrait of a individual who had their life taken by the police and then spends 1 minute for every year of life they lived coloring in the piece.
His own words say it best:
Tamir Rice was 12 when he was murdered, so I colored his portrait for 12 minutes. As a person of color, I know that my future can be stolen from me if I’m driving with a broken taillight, or playing my music too loud, or reaching for my phone at the wrong time. So for each of these portraits I played with the harsh relationship between time and death. I want the viewer to see how much empty space is left in these lives, stories that will never be told, space that can never be filled. This emptiness represents holes in their families and our community, who will be forever stuck with the question, “who were they becoming?”
Go follow
@ayy.bee on Instagram or
@itsayybee on Twitter for more.
There's plenty more from this series to see in those feeds, as well as a lot of other illustrations done in a myriad of styles. I recommend carving some actual quality time out of your day to pore over all of it.
posted June 9, 2020 #
What if the President is right and Antifa is breeding 75-year-old super soldiers who fall over on command?
posted June 9, 2020 #
this is the Divorced Guy pride flag https://t.co/BQLFoYdIfu
posted June 9, 2020 #
you wanna know why you’re all so phonically satisfied by the line “suck my dick and choke on it I yield my time fuck you!” ???? it’s cuz it’s basically shakespeare y’all. it feels like a heartbeat - literally it’s how you speak when your body is guiding you https://t.co/h2Zw3oF5aO
posted June 9, 2020 #
Scott!! What music of mine were you a fan of that DIDN’T contain “political BS”? I need to know so I can delete it from the catalog. https://t.co/AMpmjx6540
posted June 7, 2020 #
BREAKING: Minneapolis City Council members announce their intent to disband the city's police department. "It's clear that our existing system of policing and public safety isn’t working. Our efforts at incremental reform have failed.” #GeorgeFloyd https://t.co/DjOCTbTy6p
posted June 7, 2020 #
I've always enjoyed the musical insights that
Brandon Spencer has brought to the table. He generally has a much deeper insight into just about any genre music than I ever will and that is no better experienced than during his
weekly radio show on
WXNA.
The latest episode is a "focus on black voices in literature and music" and it's a damn good listen. Tuning in to a radio show isn't going to make an impactful change that we need to see but understanding and recognizing the influence of black culture (particularly in opposition to its oppression) is a handy mental tool.
Artwork by the always wonderful
Jeremy Okai.
posted June 5, 2020 #
The above image has nothing to do with anything but it lieu of a Friday Videos post, I thought you might find it entertaining.
Frankly, finding and compiling amusing videos is not just something my brain is geared for at the moment. You can not look at any form of social media without being confronted with absolutely abhorrent examples of police brutality. For people of color, it isn't the least bit surprising. For me, it's sickening.
I stand with the Black Lives Matter movement. I stand with the protests. I even stand with the rioting. While I am certainly not in favor of anyone getting hurt, I don't believe anyone was willing to pay attention without a bit of revolution. There are plenty of historical examples conducted by white people to back that up. I certainly stand with
defunding the police as well.
But I'm not trying to pat myself on the back or tell you all what a good person I am for aligning with this. We all should be. It should be devastating to learn that someone is not. I'm trying to listen, to learn and to alter my own behaviors to uplift those marginalized voices where I can.
If you have not; please consider becoming an
ACLU member. I know clicking that "recurring donation" button is hard but they are doing fantastic work. Give to your local
Black Lives Matter chapter. Contribute to
Bail Funds. Find
any organization that needs your money and help them accomplish their cause.
Then consider that Just The Beginning. That's how I'm approaching this and I hope you do, too.
posted June 5, 2020 #
Happy to announce today marks the first official release from
Black Bra, the new band by Forget Cassettes Beth Cameron. The first single is entitled "I Was a Young Girl" and is available to listen to exclusively on Bandcamp
here.
The self-titled album is also
available for pre-order.
Asking people to buy records during a time of massive unemployment is not great. Asking people to listen to your new song during a time when global protests are finally showing how the frustration and fear of marginalized voices feels like a frivolous dichotomy. I am not ignorant to these facts.
I stand with the Black Lives Matter movement. I stand with the protests. I stand with working to defund police across the nation. I have a lot of education and work to do but I am on board, 100%. I know Black Bra feels the same way.
Not to bury the lede, but the proceeds from this new album will go to
Southerners On New Ground (SONG), "a regional Queer Liberation organization made up of Black people, people of color, immigrants, working-class and rural and small-town LGBTQ people committed to building freedom movements."
Contributing money is not enough to make the holistic change needed for our nation but funding for organizations like SONG is essential to enabling their mission. We know this isn't the end solution but it is, hopefully, a step in the right direction.
posted June 4, 2020 #
America doesn't need to diagnose the problem again. The nation has studied its racism on a loop for decades. It knows exactly what it needs to fix.
My latest: https://t.co/coR4EGFSSS
posted June 4, 2020 #
Psst. That awful video in which a white person is getting their skull cracked by a cop? That happens to black people ALL THE TIME. Doesn't usually make the news. That visceral rage you feel? The need to jump in, stop it, do something? Imagine feeling like that your whole life.
posted June 4, 2020 #
The Washington Monument just now, y’all... https://t.co/69axiSpeto
posted June 4, 2020 #
I’m no public health policy expert, but “I am amazed at the job I am doing” is not the sort of thing said by a person who routinely does excellent work https://t.co/BkXlBRFrOI
posted May 31, 2020 #
now THAT's how you frame this
https://t.co/F2xTVeaWEE
posted May 31, 2020 #
Thousands peacefully kneeling in DC remembering George Floyd chanting, “Stop Killing Black People.”
Why isn’t this video viral? Why is the media only interested in talking about isolated acts of vandalism & theft?
We’re here & We ain’t leaving. https://t.co/pJCsBbKisr
posted May 29, 2020 #
A headline https://t.co/gRsZX3rgKS
posted May 29, 2020 #
My heart hurts and I’m afraid and angry and I feel helpless. But what I keep thinking is this: things are probably going to get a lot worse before they get better. Take care of yourself, give what you can, and support this necessary uprising against state violence.
posted May 29, 2020 #
I keep thinking about
this tweet. All day, every day. I feel this, a lot. Hopefully others understand but it really stresses me out!
In other news, I suggest you
join this mailing list if you want an early treat for your ears.
Managed to squeeze in a bunch of graphic design this week and it was a welcome change from writing documents and putting out fires. Give it a try sometime!
On to the distractions!
posted May 28, 2020 #
As my father explained during his lifetime, a riot is the language of the unheard.
posted May 28, 2020 #
"Everybody in America who had a beef had already rioted, but the fairies were not supposed to riot. And nobody else had ever won.
No other group had ever forced the cops to retreat before, so the anger was just enormous." -- a witness at Stonewall https://t.co/0sC3ZwXzDJ
