A Somewhat Social Network

mekka okereke :verified: 2 hours ago mastodon (AP)

Happy #BlackHistoryMonth !

I'm still not ready to talk about Black history. I still want to talk about white US history.

Q: Why do Black people see racism in everything?

A: A few years ago, European tech entrepreneur Martin Varsavsky asked some very good questions in good faith. He asked why San Francisco and Madrid were different in so many confusing and awful ways. I answered each of his questions. Please verify each and every answer with a skeptic's keen eye.

Here we go...

#BlackMastodon

#BlackHistoryMonth #BlackMastodon

Federico Mena Quintero reshared this.

69 comments - Show more

mekka okereke :verified: 1 hour ago mastodon (AP)

Q: Why are homeless people so rare in Madrid and so common in San Francisco when here GDP per capita is half?

A: Racism.

Of the homeless folk in the USA, 45% have mental health challenges and 40% are Black, even though only 13% of the pop is Black. In SF, less than 5% of the population is Black, but 37% of the homeless population is Black.

In the 80s, when Reagan killed mental health facility funding and Black homelessness exploded, no one cared. 🤷🏿‍♂️

mekka okereke :verified: 1 hour ago mastodon (AP)

But... most homeless US folk are still white? Facts. Unaffordable housing combined with a lack of social programs or safety net lead to homelessness in the US in general. Because in the US, most white people will oppose social safety nets if they believe that Black people will benefit, or if you remind them of "changing demographics." Because racism.

https://academic.oup.com/sf/advance-article-abstract/doi/10.1093/sf/soy046/5002999

Convince a racist white US citizen that "Black people receive welfare!" and they'll oppose their own benefits🙃

mekka okereke :verified: 1 hour ago mastodon (AP)

Q: Why is the murder rate 500% higher in California than Spain?

A: Racism.

Despite (and because of) racist over-policing, law enforcement in the USA is fantastically inept at catching killers that murder Black folk. Including Black folk.

Black citizens (wisely) don't call the cops. So murderers rack up astronomical body counts.

Less than 1 in 2 US murders is solved. That clearance rate is *lowest* in neighborhoods where cops brutalize innocent Black folk the most.🙂🙃

https://www.themarshallproject.org/2022/01/12/as-murders-spiked-police-solved-about-half-in-2020

mekka okereke :verified: 1 hour ago mastodon (AP)

But is this correlation or causation? It seems almost like Black folk are suggesting that police activity *causes* more murders to happen?

We can test this (and we have!) by seeing what happens if you go into a neighborhood with a lot of murders, and get police to stop brutalizing innocent Black people, and focus only on stopping murders.

Result: You can end a murder wave in a city by getting cops to focus on murders instead of being evil.

Operation Ceasefire works.

https://www.npr.org/2011/11/01/141803766/interrupting-violence-with-the-message-dont-shoot

mekka okereke :verified: 1 hour ago mastodon (AP)

Q: Why is health care free even for tourists in Spain paid for by Spanish taxpayers as a human right and so incredibly expensive and cumbersome in California? Our son fell in the bathtub and we had a $12k bill for a few stitches at Stanford ER.

A: Racism.

People hate Obama's Blackness so much, that their opinion of whether universal healthcare is good or bad depends on if you call it Obamacare.

Racist folk with terminal diseases and no insurance, will vote against free healthcare. Cuz Obama.

PeggyJoan ☮️💙🌈🐶 1 hour ago mastodon (AP)

Racists in Congress worked on impeachment the night President Obama was elected.

They voted against *anything* he supported. Anything. I don't know how he kept his equanimity, but he did that elegantly and gracefully.

I vehemently abhor them.

mekka okereke :verified: 59 minutes ago mastodon (AP)

People oppose "Affordable Care Act" more if you call it "Obamacare." 🤡

https://www.cnbc.com/2013/09/26/whats-in-a-name-lots-when-it-comes-to-obamacareaca.html

https://www.businessinsider.com/poll-obamacare-affordable-care-act-name-2017-2

Congress spent 8 years opposing Obama's plan, without any plan of their own. Their whole plan was "I hate you, and I hate your plan!"

The Affordable Care Act was Obama's big win. So they needed to destroy it. It really is that petty.

US opposing to clear public goods like affordable housing, public transportation, and affordable healthcare, is inextricably tied to racism.

Eaton 57 minutes ago hometown (AP)

One of the best/most depressing books on that irony is "Dying of Whiteness"… basically digs into the research that shows many Americans are willing to *pay more* for *worse outcomes* for *themselves* as long as nonwhites don't get *incrementally better outcomes*

mekka okereke :verified: 56 minutes ago mastodon (AP)

Q: Why are universities in Spain free and there is no student debt while in the USA there is more student debt than the GDP of Spain?

A: Surprisingly, also racism!

College in the US is too expensive, so loans.

Black kids are on average, lower income than white kids. Most college drop outs leave not due to poor grades, but for financial hardship. Poor kids very often don't graduate. 😢

Drop out without a degree, you still owe a huge debt.

mekka okereke :verified: 55 minutes ago mastodon (AP)

Even if you graduate, you have a huge debt. But... Black kids are less likely to be hired than white kids. And if hired, are given lower starting salaries.

Deck stacked against you: Deeper in debt, and harder to climb out.

Black kids owe $7.5K more than white kids at graduation. But within 3 years, black kids owe $25K more than white kids.

mekka okereke :verified: 51 minutes ago mastodon (AP)

77.7% of Black students borrow.

50% default within 12 years.

No one cares.

https://www.brookings.edu/research/black-white-disparity-in-student-loan-debt-more-than-triples-after-graduation/

Much of the $1.6 trillion debt is held by Black students. Yes, I said trillion. With a "T." And yes, I said "debt held by Black kids," who are hired less and paid less.

The unspoken part of the US student loan forgiveness "debate," is racists thinking "I am fundamentally opposed to anything that would lower the suffering of Black people or prevent the siphoning of their wealth."

mekka okereke :verified: 49 minutes ago mastodon (AP)

Q: Why are there in the USA more people in jail/parole than there are inhabitants in Madrid the third largest city in Europe?

A: This one's easy. Racism.

The US arrests and convicts a lot of people. Most folk in jail, on probation, or on parole in the USA are there for 2 reasons:

1) Non-violent drug offenses

2) Are just awaiting trial, but are too poor to make bail.

mekka okereke :verified: 48 minutes ago mastodon (AP)

For drugs, pretty much any methodology you use shows that white Americans use more drugs, more frequently, than Black Americans. It's not even close.

* Surveys
* Police blood tests per capita
* Drugs found per traffic stop
* OD fatalities per capita

https://www.huffpost.com/entry/racial-disparity-drug-use_n_3941346

mekka okereke :verified: 46 minutes ago mastodon (AP)

But Black folk are disproportionately stopped, searched, charged, and arrested, tried, and convicted for drugs.

On bail: If you are arrested while poor and Black, you may be in jail *over a year* before trial. 600K+ folk in jail today are pre-trial. 😢

You will be locked up with folks my size. You will very likely be assaulted.

Even if you are innocent... An officer will offer you a way out of your year of hell: just admit your "guilt" and get out today!

mekka okereke :verified: 41 minutes ago mastodon (AP)

You will take that deal and be on probation / parole.

Even if innocent.

Q: Why is inequality in the USA twice as high as that of Spain?

A: Racism. My thread from yesterday explained the ways in which systemic racism is designed to siphon net welath from Black people, but I don't think folks appreciate the scale.

Civil asset forfeiture alone steals more wealth than "all other forms of burglary combined."

Black median net wealth is on trajectory to be zero by 2053.🤷🏿‍♂️

https://www.theguardian.com/inequality/2017/sep/13/median-wealth-of-black-americans-will-fall-to-zero-by-2053-warns-new-report

mekka okereke :verified: 38 minutes ago mastodon (AP)

The question shouldn't be "Why do Black folk see racism in everything?"

The question should be "Why do white folk not see any of this?"

The answer to the better question is of course, that there is an information delta between "what Black folk know about racism" and "what white folk know about racism."

Racist people don't want you to know any of this stuff. Because some people, on reading this stuff, say, "Sounds bad. We should maybe change things to be less bad?"

Lilly Evans 30 minutes ago mastodon (AP)

women and misogyny are similar dynamics

nonlinear 28 minutes ago mastodon (AP)

I do have a take... As a brazilian watching american discourse.

https://elk.zone/mastodon.com.br/@nonlinear/109686017619115802

mekka okereke :verified: 27 minutes ago mastodon (AP)

I love every question that Martin Varsavsky asked, and I believe that he was asking them in good faith. If anyone views this as a "dunk" or criticism of him then they are completely missing the point.

Similarly, if anyone views this as me saying "All white people are bad!" They've also completely missed the point.

The point is that we can't resolve any of these questions without understanding the systems that they operate in. That means understanding US racism, and how we all play a part in it

mekka okereke :verified: 20 minutes ago mastodon (AP)

If I, as a Black dude, don't understand these systems (and their leverage points), even I can contribute to it and make it worse. Racism isn't "who called who the N-word."

Consider these statements that I could make:

"I value education because I'm Nigerian! Black Americans don't value education!"

"I believe in unpaid internships. Hustle and grind early in your career!"

"I would never hire someone with a criminal record!"

"Ugh! I'm not going there! That's the hood! Full of ghetto people!"

mekka okereke :verified: 11 minutes ago mastodon (AP)

The first statement makes me very sad. Black folk in the US pay *more* for their education than anyone else on planet earth. This is an objective fact. To suggest that Black folk in the US don't "value education," but somehow Nigerians, Kenyans, South Africans, Ghanaians, and Cubans do, is to ignore US racism and blame its victims. It's to ignore white US history.

Good education in Nigeria is Black history*. Cool story. Happy for you👍🏿

I want to talk about white US history.

(*Squints at UK...)

Lien Rag 10 minutes ago mastodon (AP)

TBH, the last phrase was given to me as an advice by a black militant when I asked him for contacts in the USA (and because he wouldn't have been at the time able to come with me in "the hood").

D2 10 minutes ago ActivityPub

as a white person, I cannot agree more. White people often view only overt acts of racism as racism.

Many think it is easier to ignore the systemic part, or blame it on other things in order to deflect and keep their power unwittingly, rather than see what is plain to see.

It's the same reason that white people claim they "don't see color". It's a socialized unconscious deflection.

Aenea 16 minutes ago mastodon (AP)

well, Martin Varsavsky is also know to be an entitled smart ass. Most of his ventures ended up with lots of people losing money and him getting richer. And during pandemic he criticised restrictions because he wasn't able to go to his multiple houses around the world. Please feel free to dunk on him.

Juan Luis 13 minutes ago mastodon (AP)

And yet, Martin keeps pestering us saying that he's about to leave Spain because he refuses to pay so much in taxes.

In any case, I digress. I remembered the original thread and I think your responses are brilliant. Thanks for these threads, they're pure gold.

Paul Cantrell 11 minutes ago mastodon (AP)

You are a good teacher, Mekka, and you are always teaching. Thank you for your ongoing work. Noted, appreciated, and admired.

Martin Vermeer FCD 7 minutes ago mastodon (AP)

You doing CRT and I love it

Cat C-B 7 minutes ago mastodon (AP)

I’m really appreciating your summaries. In addition to boosting your posts, I’m sharing them with my other white friends on an embarrassingly regular basis. Like you deserve a byline on all my social media lately, not just credit for the individual quotes.

Please know your words are not falling on deaf ears. And thank you.

mekka okereke :verified: reshared this.

Scott Williams 🐧 21 minutes ago mastodon (AP)

When we're taught about racism, it's often more about etiquette and not saying the n-word more than about addressing discrimination and equality. Since "racism is bad", there's basically a mental checklist of finding other ways it could possibly be interpreted before concluding racism is a factor at all. It's a collaborative defense mechanism against our shame and it keeps us from seeing what is happening right in front of us.

Mees 12 minutes ago mastodon (AP)

wow. I'm going to need to change how I look at things (again.) Thank you for this thread!

Pamela Ehn 5 minutes ago mastodon (AP)

thus DeSantis taking an axe to the public health system.

Mark Bessey 3 minutes ago mastodon (AP)

the information delta is a really good way to look at it. Most white folks aren't actively, virulently racist. They just get to benefit from a society where systems all "just happen to be" set up to benefit them, and disadvantage others. And they don't really NEED to investigate how a system like cash bail affects racial injustice, because they rarely interact with it.

Steffani Cameron 34 minutes ago mastodon (AP)

not arguing any of your facts on racism — I absolutely agree, but Spain is also socialist, and that makes a big difference.

But when you contrast the US’s racism against Spain’s socialism, yeah — huuuuge difference in lifestyle all around.

As long as Americans keep shitting on socialism, and not addressing racism, none of these problems will be solved.

Victoria 18 minutes ago mastodon (AP)

I am so sorry that this is a necessary thread but greatly appreciate your pulling it together. Thank you for your time and work.

SQLAllFather 25 minutes ago mastodon (AP)

True story: In the late 80s in rural upstate New York I went to the drive-in theater with a bunch of friends. There was enough of us we took two cars.

During the double feature we spent around four hours passing the bong back and forth between the cars, laughing and generally being rowdy young people.

The next day the loss prevention officer at the drug store where I worked asked me if I'd done anything the night before... just basic friendly break room chat.

I mentioned the drive-in, at which point he burst out laughing - "I thought that was you!" He and a STATE TROOPER friend were parked behind us, watching our very illegal frivolity. They laughed it off, and that was the end of the conversation.

Every time I see someone dismissing or downplaying white privilege, I think of this story. If I had been arrested then, my life and career prospects would have been destroyed.

See https://content.time.com/time/nation/article/0,8599,1888864,00.html for an idea of what drug laws were like in NY in the 80s.

Martin Vermeer FCD 19 minutes ago mastodon (AP)

Radley Balko has written well about this.
https://radleybalko.substack.com/feed

DemocracyMatters :verified: 18 minutes ago mastodon (AP)

Wow. Shocking and shameful.

Lien Rag 48 minutes ago mastodon (AP)

Have to disagree with you on this causation.
The real reason is "student contestation" (yes, the SDS and SNCC included).
Basically, tuition and the debt it produces is a permanent Damocles' sword over the head of any student without independant wealth who would dare to think independantly and even envision to not fall in line.

OddOpinions5 14 minutes ago mastodon (AP)

This is all old stuff
iirc, in the 2018 midterms, GOP congressional candidates campaigned on , believe it or not,
saving Ocare from the dems !!!!!!

Liebero 58 minutes ago mastodon (AP)

to be fair...it's not completely free for citizens (is that the correct word?)

But yeah, it's incredibly expansive for you in the us

ScottinSoCal 🇺🇦 🕊 🏳‍🌈 35 minutes ago mastodon (AP)

To be fair, he *is* responsible for every bad thing that's ever happened in the history of the world. So, you know...

Maciej J. Hajduk :terminal: 21 minutes ago mastodon (AP)

US social rights do not exist. I would love to go there for holidays but would never live there. Right for medical care should be you first right not to use a gun...
@PeggyJoan

@PeggyJoan ☮️💙🌈🐶

Cat C-B 14 minutes ago mastodon (AP)

No lies detected...

Mr. Thoroman 12 minutes ago mastodon (AP)

there are days I wonder if we're gonna make it as a species..

Rikibeth 11 minutes ago mastodon (AP)

but they screamed and fussed about “socialized medicine” long before Obama, so it’s not JUST him - but the idea that Black people might benefit was enough to turn people against it decades earlier

WesDym 3 minutes ago mastodon (AP)

It didn't start with Obama. I remember. It started with the pasty-white Clintons much earlier. By the 1990s, the GOP had already drafted a kind of public healthcare, but when it looked like the Clintons might get credit, they burned it and then attacked Clinton's proposal -- which was LESS ambitious. Obamacare is just a national version of Romneycare. The term itself was created by the GOP to try to discredit it, which backfired. Racism is part of this, but only a small part.

Pamela Ehn 7 minutes ago mastodon (AP)

there is a violent man in my building that the cops refuse to arrest and the DA refuses to prosecute because the NYPD and DA thinks that punching black women in the face isn’t a crime. He’s why I’m homeless now.

🏴‍☠️ParallaX🏴 55 minutes ago mastodon (AP)

Can you imagine keeping your job if you failed 50% of the time!? The clearance rates are often overlooked but are a vital data point in showing how utterly useless cops are.

Martin Vermeer FCD 51 minutes ago mastodon (AP)

Surely true, but also the easy access to firearms must play a role, enabling as they do 'hands-off' killings - which are easier to commit and harder to solve - and impulse killings, as well as turning violent but survivable quarrels deadly.
But of course the two are closely connected.

Alex 1 hour ago hometown (AP)

the bitter fruits of the Southern Strategy. Thank you for the lesson and reminder.

Rich Cassara 1 hour ago mastodon (AP)

just like how they shut down community pools in the 60s and 70s when they couldn’t segregate them anymore.

John Refior 58 minutes ago mastodon (AP)

It's true. From what I've read, white opposition to helping the poor dramatically expanded with resistance to Lyndon Johnson's Great Society programs, which were portrayed (sometimes correctly) as aimed at helping black Americans, and as wasteful and ineffective.

Best history of this I've read is Michael Cohen's "American Maelstrom"
https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/26595572-american-maelstrom
----
#book #poverty #inequality #racism #politics #USHistory

#book #poverty #inequality #racism #politics #USHistory

Douglas Kilpatrick 51 minutes ago mastodon (AP)

I think here you can also add Racism as the reason why housing is so expensive in those areas.
# R1 zoning to "preserve the character of the neighborhood"
# Tearing up (black) neighborhoods for roads for the cars required by R1 zoning, further reducing housing.
# Opposing any/all dense housing because "It'll change the character of the neighborhood
# Opposing transit for similar reasons

Patriotic Cats 41 minutes ago mastodon (AP)

demonstrated by every red state

Voron 26 minutes ago mastodon (AP)

A large number of people won’t vote for policies that they don’t see as personally benefiting themselves or those they have a “group identity bias” for.
Broader support for policies means using rhetoric that appeals to voters across many group identities

ℹ️❤️🖥 aka Compy-chan 13 minutes ago mastodon (AP)

so many instances of drained pool politics

We Can Be Gyros 13 minutes ago mastodon (AP)

yup. Go to Shirley, NY. Lee Zeldin (Jan6ther crazy Q). All white, kinda homeless, desolate land. He did nothing for them, his "hometown" for 8 years. Lots of White Homeless Veterans. It's painful to see.

We Can Be Gyros 12 minutes ago mastodon (AP)

yup. Go to Shirley, NY. Lee Zeldin (Jan6ther crazy Q). All white, kinda homeless, desolate land. He did nothing for them, his "hometown" for 8 years. Lots of White Homeless Veterans.

Pamela Ehn 9 minutes ago mastodon (AP)

this is so obvious that my half-demented, un-woke father said “we can’t have nice things out of of a fear that somewhere a black person might benefit.”

Aquarabbit 😷 1 hour ago mastodon (AP)

Madrid is also racist. As far as I remember, though, the population is fairly homogenous with few Black residents.

Daniel Wurzbacher 1 hour ago mastodon (AP)

You invariably give me a great deal to think about - even and especially when I may not be sure what questions I should be asking in the first place.

Coty Rosenblath 1 hour ago mastodon (AP)

I have answered so many of my kids’ “Why does the US…?” questions with “Racism.” I honestly wish it were more complicated.

Paul_IPv6 1 hour ago mastodon (AP)

"who do Black people see racism in everything?"

while it's not the sole reason for every ill, it's a pervasive and ever present thread. ignoring it because something else gives some cover or excuse is like the old joke:

"But other than that, Mrs Lincoln, how was the play?"

Labrador Girl 57 minutes ago mastodon (AP)

I am old enough that, when homelessness recently increased, my first thought was that the streets looked like the 80’s again. Also, having homeless people is a policy choice. When I was in my early 20’s, I moved from a place where it never snows, and people were living on the streets all over, to a place with arctic winters, and somehow they found a place inside for everyone.

Neil Federspiel 19 minutes ago mastodon (AP)

Excellent thread. Thanks for the insights.

sezduck :clubtwit: 19 minutes ago mastodon (AP)

This is such a great, informative thread. Thank you for sharing.

Sadly, racism is part of America’s DNA. And yet, many white people don’t recognize see that.

I remember when Obama was elected, one of the cable news channels reporting “is this the end of racism in America?”
*That* is the type of ignorance we’re up against.

Ringwood Unitarians Co-organis 7 minutes ago mastodon (AP)

Great thread. So easy for whites to sidle away from uncomfortable facts as we are the beneficiaries of colonialism and its systemic structural spinoffs.
Wonder how many responses you will get challenging your analysis.

Rick Lining 🕷️💙💫🇪🇺 3 minutes ago mastodon (AP)

I understand that my perception is not reality. I had an idea of spending my 50th wedding anniversary in either New York or Las Vegas. I won't because I think that I and my friends have a high risk of being killed by a random shooter or police. I'm cis white, our friends vary in skin colour and sexual orientation. They're friends. I care about them. The USA is a non-friendly holiday destination.

Dave Neary 44 seconds ago mastodon (AP)

While race certainly plays a large part in all the questions & answers, would you agree that some of your answers could replace "racism" with "poverty" - being poor and sick in America sucks, and it's an equal opportunity suckiness which disproportionately impacts Black people because of generational and structural inequity (caused by & tolerated because of racism).

Cyrus Farivar 📰🖖🏽🚴🏼🏕️ 12 minutes ago (Received 3 minutes ago) mastodon (AP)

I just got an email pitch on some company that claims to offer "the most advanced bird AI recognition technology, identifying more than 10,000 species."

Basil 3 minutes ago mastodon (AP)

ai silliness aside, I love the BirdNet app, it has been great fun to use while walking the dog.

Trickery And Misery :verified: 20 hours ago (Received 4 minutes ago) mastodon (AP)

*RECORD SCRATCH SOUND* You might be wondering how I got myself into this particular predicament, well that's actually quite a story...

The silhouette of a single cat, leaping across an absolute scrum of people, at what appears to be a raucous music venue

Federico Mena Quintero reshared this.

Matt Campbell 27 minutes ago (Received 5 minutes ago) mastodon (AP)

@federicomena I wonder if it would be worthwhile to migrate the AT-SPI client library and pyatspi to Rust, as you did for librsvg.

@Federico Mena Quintero

Federico Mena Quintero 6 minutes ago mastodon (AP)

Yes, that's my plan. Let's talk in the channel.

Peter Kalmus 1 week ago mastodon (AP)

"We haven't had any snow this year" is an increasingly common statement. It's sad how fast the fossil fuel industry is permanently changing our planet and how most people just accept it.

13 comments - Show more

Kim Possible 1 week ago mastodon (AP)

Haven't gotten snow here in years. It's kind of spooky.

Andrea Honore 1 week ago mastodon (AP)

They have well and truly propagandized us into oblivion

RichardOntario 1 week ago mastodon (AP)

What’s your response to them ? Aren’t we keyboard warrioring enough?

Marilyn Holness Lower 1 week ago mastodon (AP)

Here in Northern France we had much higher temperatures summer 2022, 34 - 38 degrees, than usual and this winter has been wet with very high wind. It snowed 2 weeks ago & normally the temperature is high enough that it's gone the next day. This time it laid frozen solid for 10 days. Yesterday it rained & today we're up to +5 degrees. Climate change is real & very scary.

Tremarctos Ornatus 1 week ago mastodon (AP)

We’ve had way too much of it, plus most of it has already melted twice only to be replaced by a new batch.

There’s winter maintenance only for fossil machines of death. Footpaths are completely ignored by the third world city of #Helsinki.

#Helsinki

Cwnidog 1 week ago mastodon (AP)

: We have had snow, but nowhere near the normal amount. maybe 8-10 inches in total.

woofmeow 1 week ago mastodon (AP)

It's common to hear boomer stories of how the snow used to be up to the telephone poles when they were young. Now it doesn't snow that often and when it does it's gone within the next few days because of the rain.

Dogzilla 7 days ago mastodon (AP)

“You can't make somebody understand something if their salary depends upon them not understanding it.”

🧙‍♂️ Julian Invictus ☕ 7 days ago hometown (AP)

well I don't think we're going to arrive at a solution through polite and Democratic means.

ClaraBlackInk 6 days ago mastodon (AP)

There are a lot of folks who genuinely don't like "weather".

I happen to have been born into a region that typically has the type of climate people flock to. Grew up near the area of the state that gets the necessary snow pack that sends water down towards the rivers.

I don't think this blindspot is driven exclusively by the fossil fuel industry as much as it is by our disconnection from our ecosystems. Which is a deeper issue of extractive philosophy in general.

QBAS81- AntiGrowthCoalition 4 days ago mastodon (AP)

When I was kid in central Poland in 1980-90s - we used to have continuous weeks of solid snow each year and freezing often well below -10C.

These days snow and strong freezing is rare.
Still getting snow sometimes but often melts after few days.

Scott Maxwell 3 days ago mastodon (AP)

we are about to set an all-time record where I live. It has never happened that we have not had measurable snow this far into the winter season.

Ville Laine 6 minutes ago mastodon (AP)

Pretty weird to get liquid rain in January, yes.

a Claes unto himself 🇸🇪🇭🇰💙💛 19 hours ago friendica (via ActivityPub)

Nine years ago today I went to the Cirkus Cirkör performance "Knitting Piece" and it was awesome and different. A whole hour or more of acrobatic explorations of ... yarn and its metaphysical properties.

This is the soundtrack.

https://farside.link/invidious/playlist?list=OLAK5uy_lYkCOS4pB_XCGwu4Kf8WmQ9UnoKQ1I59Q

https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=OLAK5uy_lYkCOS4pB_XCGwu4Kf8WmQ9UnoKQ1I59Q

Hong Kong or Sweden

2 people like this

a Claes unto himself 🇸🇪🇭🇰💙💛 19 hours ago friendica (via ActivityPub)

I bought the album then and there and I listened to it so so many times.

Now I'm listening again for the first time in years and every single track makes me go "oooh! it's this one! i love this one!".

#CircusCirkör #KnittingPeace

#CircusCirkör #KnittingPeace

2 people like this

Elizabeth Mongenel 1 hour ago mastodon (AP)

I am enjoying this.

a Claes unto himself 🇸🇪🇭🇰💙💛 likes this.

sтυx⚡ 2 hours ago mastodon (AP)

Don't be fooled by 'fake' or staged videos, especially when animals are involve. With some people going to extreme lengths for internet points, ask yourself: does this video make sense or is it too good to be true? Be cautious and make sure the animal rescue you watch is real – you don't want to be taken for a ride!

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teledyn 𓂀 2 hours ago mastodon (AP)

It's all real…

https://youtu.be/w3rQ3328Tok

ItsBurkus 2 hours ago mastodon (AP)

95% of "roadside" rescue videos are fake. Always a perfectly groomed pet just chillin, not even scared

Devine Lu Linvega 3 months ago hometown (AP)

"Nothing new needs producing and no e-waste needs processing. If your new software no longer runs on old hardware, it is worse than the old software. "

3 people reshared this

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SEPIA Open Assistant 3 months ago mastodon (AP)

what about new features that require more computing power?

Nadia/Надя/नाडिया/娜迪亚/ نادية 3 months ago mastodon (AP)

I agree with the sentiment, but maybe not the literal precise expression in those sentences.

wrack 3 months ago hometown (AP)

"Some people are born in the wrong place and spend their whole lives looking for the right one."

An old Mongol nomad adage.

अनीश reshared this.

Maša Kepic 3 months ago hometown (AP)

I've always felt like a wanderer or an outsider, even when I've been in one place. I used to think it was migrant childhood, now I think it's just my soul.

mekka okereke :verified: 1 day ago mastodon (AP)

Happy #BlackHistoryMonth !

I'm still not ready to talk about Black history. I want to talk about white US history.

Q: "Why don't Black people build any generational wealth? Newer immigrant groups seem to be doing just fine? Must be a lazy and shiftless people!"

A: Because for most of US history, white folk have *intentionally* destroyed the wealthiest Black neighborhoods in the US and stolen all the wealth.

Greenwood. Allentown. Seneca Village. Rosewood. Freedmen's town.

#BlackMastodon

#BlackHistoryMonth #BlackMastodon

173 comments - Show more

mekka okereke :verified: 1 day ago mastodon (AP)

*Creating* generational wealth is not hard for Black people. It's happened many times in US history. There have been thriving communities.

*Keeping* generational wealth has proved to be nearly impossible. Between racist pogroms, and eminent domain used to create parks, freeways, reservoirs, and shopping malls, Black folk in the US have consistently had their wealth stolen by white folks.

I still run into New Yorkers that go to Central Park every week, but have never heard of Seneca Village.

An aerial image of Central Park showing the location of Seneca village.

mekka okereke :verified: 1 day ago mastodon (AP)

We are truly in a golden age of TV shows, because now I don't sound like I'm making stuff up when I talk about Greenwood (thanks Watchmen!). But Black towns were destroyed with fire and water.

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=l3D4hSQcWbk

Imagine in the 70s stealing all wealth from white Dallas residents(oil), and in the 80s from all Manhattan residents (finance), and 2000s all Atherton, SF, and Medina residents(tech)

and then asking why white folk can't seem to build wealth, from your yacht on "Lake Menlo Park."

Photograph of black women floating in lake Lanier smiling and wearing sunglasses while making the peace sign with their hands.

mekka okereke :verified: 1 day ago mastodon (AP)

Why do white Americans learn about the dozens of wealthy Black towns that were destroyed by racism, from:
* Fictional TV shows made by HBO
* Black women comedians (Amber Ruffin)
* Random Black dudes that post on the internet 🙋🏿‍♂️

Instead of from their history text books?

Again folks will ask "Why was I not taught this in school?" And again, I will say, "You know why." Look at what DeSantis is doing. Look at what the Texas Board of Education has always done.

This is the Forbidden Knowledge(tm)! 🤫

Aimee Daigle 1 day ago mastodon (AP)

Whats the HBO show?

Todd Vierling 🏳️‍🌈∅ 1 day ago (Received 23 hours ago) mastodon (AP)

Watchmen, noted in his first post. It put a spotlight on the massacre and destruction in the Greenwood neighborhood of Tulsa Oklahoma in 1921.

A whole bunch of white people never heard of it until that show aired.

https://www.tulsahistory.org/exhibit/1921-tulsa-race-massacre/

4bz 23 hours ago mastodon (AP)

HBO's Lovecraft Country (based off the book) also covers the tusla massacre - as well as taking place during a time when Sundown Towns were common

Which this white dude didn't know what a Sundown Town was until i saw this show, then come to found out my grandma lives in what used to be one

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Todd Vierling 🏳️‍🌈∅ 23 hours ago mastodon (AP)

Yep, I forgot to mention that too. Lovecraft Country (between the fantastical scenes) depicts several real world situations for Black people in the middle of the 20th century, which still linger in prejudices today. Many friends of mine thought both shows were overly dramatizing or even making shit up until I gave them real historical references to read.

There's a former sundown town just east of Atlanta where a friend of mine lives, and to this day it's pretty lily white.

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WhiteLadySpeaksSpanish 22 hours ago mastodon (AP)

I have to give credit to my Appalachian father 50 years ago. He took me to copper hill, Tn https://www.appalachiabare.com/copperhill-a-legacy/ and a sundown town in the area.He also told me of the coal mining company stores. So company stores, racism and environmental destruction we all joined in my 10 year old mind

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verymoody1 1 day ago mastodon (AP)

I truly appreciate any opportunity to learn The Forbidden Knowledge (tm). Read about Seneca Village today thanks to you.

mekka okereke :verified: 1 day ago mastodon (AP)

For my friends with MBAs, here are some case studies / interview prep questions.

1) Try and guess the 5 wealthiest white zip codes in the US. Now imagine all of the wealth in those neighborhoods is just stolen and given to Black people. What does that do to the race wealth gap? Hint: Medina Washington alone has about the same net worth as all Black Americans combined.🤡

2) How much does Manhattan real estate *in central park* sell for per square foot? Estimate the value of just Seneca Village.

Lyle Solla-Yates 1 day ago mastodon (AP)

Manhattan is an interesting example https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Land_of_the_Blacks_(Manhattan)

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mekka okereke :verified: 1 day ago mastodon (AP)

We all admire Amsterdam for having the vision to replace car infrastructure with bike infrastructure. We see the positive uplift in small business activity, and livability. 🙂👍🏿

Now imagine doing that in reverse. Replace relatively safely walkable and bikeable infrastructure with car infrastructure. In fact, put in freeways. Demolish entire thriving wealthy neighborhoods with freeways that don't serve the neighborhood.🙃

That's what we did to Black folk. That's how we destroyed Black wealth.

Before and After newspaper clipping showing the destruction of a thriving Black neighborhood on Detroit's Hastings street.

Aerial shot of Atlanta showing before and After a freeway was installed.

Federico Mena Quintero reshared this.

mekka okereke :verified: 1 day ago mastodon (AP)

We would never even consider bulldozing the nicest homes and businesses in Beverly Hills to make it easier for Black folk who want to work in Long Beach live in the suburbs of Ventura.

We would never consider knocking down skyscrapers in Manhattan to make it easier for Black folk from Brooklyn to work on Wall Street.

But we do this to Black folk in the US *constantly*

Then when we see people living under the freeways we yell "Bootstraps! Why can't you have a nice neighborhood? Asians did it!"

mekka okereke :verified: 1 day ago mastodon (AP)

Once we accept the facts that:

* Civil Asset Forfeiture exceeds all other forms of burglary in the US (Black folk are disproportionately targeted).

* Eminent domain has stolen hundreds of billions of dollars of value. (Black neighborhoods are the most common targets).

* Wage theft is one of the largest categories of theft (Black folk are disproportionately targeted for wage theft).

* Prison labor is the only form of slavery allowed by the US constitution (Black folk are unfairly targeted).

mekka okereke :verified: 1 day ago mastodon (AP)

It should become clear why Black folk can't seem to build generational wealth in the United States.

This failure is not something intrinsic in the makeup or behavior of Black people.

This failure is baked into how Black people in the US are treated. In other words, racism.

Black folk cannot just "bootstraps" or "education is the key" or "LLC Twitter" or "Hustle, grind, put in work," their way out of this reality. We need to address the racism head on. And we can't do it alone.

Wayne Werner 1 day ago mastodon (AP)

not to mention that when Black PoC carve out communities in which they start building that wealth, my fellow Americans tend to just obliterate entire city blocks, like in Tulsa and Rosewood.

I took several "American History" classes in public schools and universities where I learned about MLK's dream.

It was outside that curriculum where I learned about Tulsa, and nearly a decade later I learned about Rosewood.

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Jeremy 1 day ago mastodon (AP)

And Wilmington, NC and I'm sure many other places. Or the less "overtly" violent urban renewal, neighbors destroying interventions in almost every city in the US in the 50s/60s. White supremacy is the defining force in this country ☹️

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KLB 1 day ago mastodon (AP)

TIL about Rosewood. https://www.cnn.com/2023/01/08/us/rosewood-massacre-florida-what-happened-reaj/index.html

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Lyle Solla-Yates 1 day ago (Received 15 hours ago) mastodon (AP)

"we can’t forget about the past regardless of how ugly it is"

Justinmwhitaker 17 hours ago (Received 15 hours ago) mastodon (AP)

but that’s the whole point of this drive by the GOP to demonize Critocal Race Theory and African American studies.

They don’t want you to know, and they don’t want to confront the past.

Wayne Werner 15 hours ago mastodon (AP)

This.

On a very personal level I used to feel in my heart of hearts that I wasn't racist (or sexist). But I used terms like "reverse racism".

I *thought* that we had solved racism after MLK marched on Washington, and sure there were pockets of backwards racists out there but it was just corner cases, right?

Until I *listened* to the experiences of Black PoC. And learned about Tulsa. And I realized that maybe I wasn't quite as good as I thought.

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Alan Twigz 1 day ago mastodon (AP)

to be fair, *no one* can do those things to lift themselves into wealth - white folks just convince ourselves we did by ignoring the systems that actually got us here

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Enema Cowboy 1 day ago ActivityPub

The "good old boy network" to which many white people owe their opportunities is rarely open to Black folk.

mekka okereke :verified: 19 hours ago mastodon (AP)

Oh, I realize I was too subtle about one aspect of white folk intentionally stealing the wealth.

Most of the time when US newspapers have talked about "Race riots," what they really meant was that there was a Black town next to a white town, and the Black town grew more prosperous than the white one. This made the white folks mad, so one day the white folk just... took a bunch of guns and walked over to the Black town and killed as many people as they could, and stole the Black folks' stuff.

Andrew (R.S Admin) reshared this.

Jeremy Kahn 19 hours ago mastodon (AP)

sometimes they drove instead of walking.

but otherwise, no notes that's 100% correct.

pandion 19 hours ago mastodon (AP)

It always amazes me how many white people hear "race riots" and just ASSUME the rioting race would be Black people. Like, wow guys. Way to come clean about your personal prejudices.

mekka okereke :verified: 19 hours ago mastodon (AP)

Some US history books will talk about the "Great migration" when about 6 million Black folk fled the South and headed to the North and West of the US.

It's often framed as "Black folk headed North and West looking for jobs." But if you talk to Black folk with relatives that left the South during this time, they'll tell you that their families were fleeing economic persecution in the South: having their money and stuff stolen through lynching, false imprisonment, straight up theft, etc.

Andrew (R.S Admin) reshared this.

rellik moo 19 hours ago mastodon (AP)

Warmth of Other Suns helped me see that.

mekka okereke :verified: 19 hours ago mastodon (AP)

Owning a valuable piece of land should ensure generational wealth. But for many Black families, it spelled doom, as a white family would want that land, and they would get it, with the help of corrupt bankers and land assessors.

https://eji.org/news/one-million-black-families-have-lost-their-farms/

I like the term "lost their farms." It makes it sound like they put it down somewhere, and simply forgot where it is.

Doug Bostrom 18 hours ago mastodon (AP)

Yeah, "lost their farms." Well spotted. Words matter, so much!

Like "pedestrian accident" when we mean to say "run over by an automobile."

KBLeecaster ✅ 18 hours ago (Received 16 hours ago) mastodon (AP)

The lawsuit from Republicans blocking Biden's attempt to help Black farmers recover somewhat after the long history of them being disadvantaged so badly is disgusting. https://www.eater.com/22813132/black-farmers-debt-relief-usda-lawsuits-miller-v-vilsack

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Moffintosh 18 hours ago (Received 16 hours ago) mastodon (AP)

> helping the petit bourgeois

Dems, as always

Frank T 18 hours ago (Received 16 hours ago) mastodon (AP)

Bruce's Beach is one of the very few that after a century finally found its way back to the family who owned it.

https://www.latimes.com/california/story/2022-07-20/ceremony-marks-official-return-of-bruces-beach

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Melody Cooper 16 hours ago mastodon (AP)

FYI Did you know that the family is now selling it back to LA County? And for much less than it’s been valued because in the fine print they are only allowed to sell it to LA County, no one else.

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mekka okereke :verified: 16 hours ago mastodon (AP)

☹️

Melody Cooper 15 hours ago mastodon (AP)

Yep. Sad. And wrong. Some say at least they’re getting their money, but they should be getting much more. LA County and the governor helped them get ownership of the beach, seemingly just so the County could get their hands on it for cheap and not even give the family what they deserved.

FinalOverdrive 18 hours ago mastodon (AP)

Imagine how much different things would have been, if after the civil war every plantation owner simply had their land expropriated and given to the people they previously enslaved. Either to hold in common or divided into parcels, or a combination. Imagine they got to keep that land. The history of the united states post civil war, would have been very different.

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Woozle Hypertwin 17 hours ago mastodon (AP)

But you see, saying "had their farms stolen from them by white elites" would be [all together now] "political" (and maybe even "divisive", the horror).

It's always okay to blame disempowered people for the abuse they experience. Apparently.

BWG 17 hours ago mastodon (AP)

Farms, car keys, they're always in the last place you look

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DrKiki 16 hours ago mastodon (AP)

I would have loved to be part of the conversation that decided that was a good title...

Max™ 16 hours ago mastodon (AP)

I vaguely remember the atlantic story popping up while I was reading about all the manmade lakes that "mysteriously" seem to be where there used to be a black town or neighborhood.

Alex Wild 15 hours ago mastodon (AP)

and still going on: https://www.nbcnews.com/news/nbcblk/black-farmers-file-lawsuit-alleging-company-sold-inferior-seeds-purpose-n890636

acm 14 hours ago mastodon (AP)

Still happens via deed fraud in poor neighborhoods here in Philadelphia. :((

Royden 13 hours ago mastodon (AP)

most black families never owned any land, it belonged to the tribe and the chief, they merely had squatters rights. Even today there are no records of ownership

Andrew Hinton 18 hours ago mastodon (AP)

that’s how I learned it too … “great migration” is such a cruel euphemism

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0xC0DEC0DE07E7 18 hours ago mastodon (AP)

sadly, we weren’t terribly better to the North and West and continued to lie, cheat, and steal from Black folk who left the South. I didn’t learn about redlining in school and I didn’t learn that the GI Bill de facto didn’t cover Black GIs from the Navy when they taught us history either.
amazon.com/Color-Law-Forgotten…

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Les Gonzalez 18 hours ago mastodon (AP)

Reading this, after today’s New York Times report on the amount of black people now picking up and RETURNING to the South as racism, gerrymandering, and civil rights are being legislatively rolled back in those states, and anti-CRT and African-American studies being banned. And that’s the loud stuff. The quiet steps are much worse.

🇺🇸MelodyKayYoung🇺🇦 14 hours ago mastodon (AP)

That is called persecution, not migration.

StatsJew 17 hours ago mastodon (AP)

the word "pogrom" really captures it better than "riot" IMO

mycorrhiza 12 hours ago hometown (AP)

I’ve always wondered this, and maybe you can shed some light on this (but this is heavy, and I don’t expect you to have all the answers here): why don’t we start calling all those “race riots” what they really were? They were pogroms.

mekka okereke :verified: 12 hours ago mastodon (AP)

Because the people writing about them are usually white, and in the US, white "historians" have been deeply uncomfortable with calling things what they really are.

Most of US history is deeply racist. We've grown accustomed to minimizing that racism, and victim blaming the Black folk that are frequently its targets.

But yes, they were pogroms.

Aroha Groves 11 hours ago mastodon (AP)

Same in Australia & no doubt other parts of the world.

Cat C-B 22 minutes ago mastodon (AP)

It seems to me that the simplest way to put a price tag on Reparations for Jim Crow and other forms of institutional racism is to simply take the wealth gap between Black families and white ones, and set that as the level to reimburse.

I don’t consider that a moral restitution, obviously, esp. for slavery. (What value has that level of stolen life? Incalculable.)

But we CAN set a price on institutional racism. And should—soon. The price isn’t going down...

Frank T 1 day ago mastodon (AP)

And redlining, both the past official practice of it and the current less common but still present version.

Aaron Innes 1 day ago ActivityPub

for your last point, that is only due to the demographics of the prison population. If the other parts of the justice system were fixed, this would even itself out automatically.

mekka okereke :verified: 1 day ago mastodon (AP)

The demographics of the prison system are specifically because the laws are intentionally designed to target Black people.

As in, politicians are on record saying, "We should make thing [x]illegal, because then it will allow us to lock up more Black people, who we can then use for prison labor."

Aaron Innes 1 day ago ActivityPub

I don't disagree at all with your first statement, but do you have a source to back up your second?

mekka okereke :verified: 23 hours ago mastodon (AP)

Longer version:
Watch the Ava Duvernay documentary 13th
https://youtu.be/krfcq5pF8u8

Shorter versions:
1. Just listen to Atwater (designer of modern GOP strategy) admit that it's just coded racism against Black people without saying the N word.

2. Read California AG lawyers arguing to keep non-violent inmates in jail, so they could be used as free firefighters. https://www.buzzfeednews.com/article/adamserwer/some-lawyers-just-want-to-see-the-world-burn

3. Kathy Hochul: end bail reform and bring back prison labor
https://www.nysfocus.com/2022/02/23/hochul-proposes-bringing-back-private-prison-labor/

Wesley Cook 22 hours ago mastodon (AP)

There's a whole book on this called *The New Jim Crow* that I read in college. It really changed my perspective on policing in America...

https://newjimcrow.com/

Andrew Hinton 1 day ago mastodon (AP)

City of Atlanta mid-20th century: “let’s intersect three of these new interstate highways downtown … nothing important there really anyway…”

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FinalOverdrive 1 day ago mastodon (AP)

As for the Asians: not all of them, and those that did arguably gave up more than they gained in return.

nerdy.nel 24 hours ago mastodon (AP)

I am reminded of the infernal Cross-Bronx Asthmaway, which continues poisoning my hometown to this day.

Source for NYC pollutant maps: https://nyccas.cityofnewyork.us/nyccas2022/report/3
Source for Bronx noise and asthma map: https://www.segregationbydesign.com/the-bronx

A set of four annual average pollutant heat maps for NYC from 2019. From top left and proceeding clockwise: Fine Particles (PM2.5) map, black carbon map, nitrogen dioxide map, and nitric oxide map. In all four maps, the Cross-Bronx Expressway stands out as a heavily-polluted corridor. Other pollution hotspots include the Long Island Expressway and Gowanus Expressway corridors, as well as the industrial areas of the South Bronx and Queens.

A collection of two maps from Segregation by Design showing noise pollution (top) and asthma prevalence (bottom) in The Bronx. The highest concentrations of noise come from The Bronx's highways. Similarly, asthma prevalence also hugs highway corridors, with the West and South Bronx especially impacted.

Panama Red 18 hours ago mastodon (AP)

Indeed. Black neighborhoods still haven't recovered from what was inflicted on them 50 years ago.

Tofu Golem 16 hours ago mastodon (AP)

And the specific Asian-Americans they point to generally came over here while certain immigration restrictions were in effect so that only those with highly marketable skills could even get into the country.

Most Laotians came here after we bombed the crap out of their country, and many of them aren't on the list of people those racist idiots are pointing to when they say those awful things to African-Americans.

If you're Asian-American, your outcome can vary by a lot.

Matthew Skelton 1 day ago mastodon (AP)

my god. I wonder how much this was actually the real drive behind the policies, or at least a significant perceived (but unarticulated) benefit for rich people. 😬

Similar things happened in the UK, such as Tiger Bay in Cardiff, Wales: https://www.historic-cornwall.org.uk/tiger-bay-a-neighborhood-of-cardiff-wales/

Panama Red 1 day ago mastodon (AP)

Yeah, the so-called "urban renewal" of the 1960s/1970s was a financial holocaust for a lot of middle-class and working-class Black neighborhoods.

Ignatz Pippin 1 day ago mastodon (AP)

Sad to say, there’s an example of that here where I live in Newton MA where the Mass Turnpike went through ca. 1963

Paul Cantrell 1 day ago mastodon (AP)

Came here to post this! Twin Cities folks, look up the history of the Rondo neighborhood in Saint Paul. They had two possible routes for I-94. One would have gone down what is now the Pierce Butler Route: mostly light industry, huge amounts of empty space. But they chose to put it right through the middle of the Rondo neighborhood — literally down the main street — to “clean up” the neighborhood. Which was the city’s major Black and Jewish community.

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raisin 24 hours ago (Received 23 hours ago) mastodon (AP)

I-35 isn't quite as bad but the original plan was to put it through a well-off white neighborhood - those people complained and there's a curve in it now so it could go through a poor black neighborhood instead.

Paul Cantrell 24 hours ago (Received 23 hours ago) mastodon (AP)

Yup. And they got a lowered speed limit and trees down the middle. (It’s officially a “parkway,” IIRC!)

There’s growing general awareness that freeways destroy neighborhoods that don’t have the power to fight. The thing I think is less well known is that destroying neighborhoods was also an explicit •selling point•. Part of the Rondo pitch was “Let’s not squander this golden opportunity to bulldoze Black people’s homes!” Both factors at play.

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Daniela Battistella 🌏🌱💦 1 day ago mastodon (AP)

Crazy how one man is allowed the power to alter an entire continent. Robert Moses has a lot to answer for.

SQLAllFather 1 day ago mastodon (AP)

Again and again and again, and when anyone works to undo the damage, there's a well-funded group fighting against them.

Here's my local instance of this story: https://www.nyclu.org/en/campaigns/i-81-story

Screen shot of the top two search results for "i-81 syracuse history" where the first highlights the whitewashed history of the interstate from a group trying to save it, and the other one is from the ACLU highlighting the racist and destructive impact of the I-81 viaduct.

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Frank T 1 day ago mastodon (AP)

Paging @notjustbikes

@Not Just Bikes

Steve Downey 24 hours ago mastodon (AP)

Robert Moses was the sort of racist that startled other racists.
Making public infrastructure at the cost of Black people was policy, as was making it inaccessible.

Yakyu Night Owl 23 hours ago mastodon (AP)

There's a special place in hell, only accessable by freeway, where Robert Moses burns for eternity.

Brian Smith 23 hours ago mastodon (AP)

This destruction has a sister highway in Oakland 980. It should be removed and the neighborhood should be restored. #environmentaljustice

#environmentaljustice

Wesley Cook 22 hours ago mastodon (AP)

As a #Atlanta resident living near I-20, seeing that before and after always hurts. My street literally dead ends into the side wall of the highway and I think about this destruction almost every day.

We need to demolish the freeway, reconnect the Atlanta street grid and build large amounts of affordable housing to begin to repair our city.

#Atlanta

Bill Pentney 20 hours ago mastodon (AP)

the east side of Buffalo, near where I grew up, was so badly wounded by this - a beautiful Olmsted-designed parkway torn out in the late 1950s when the neighborhood was no longer sufficiently white, and replaced with a freeway straight from the airport to downtown

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Alaric Aloor🐕🏎⚽️🥃 19 hours ago mastodon (AP)

💯💯💯 and all while using that absolutely disgusting term, "gentrification"

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Zinzy Waleson Geene 6 hours ago mastodon (AP)

we do all admire Amsterdam for this, but as an Amsterdammer, I can tell you that the city also very conveniently created a Black enclave on the other side of the highway, many people of which deal with terrible stigmas and disenfranchisement every day. I love your analogy, but as great as we are with bikes...

Curtis "Ovid" Poe 6 hours ago mastodon (AP)

Don't forget redlining. The US used this to ensure that black people could never accumulate wealth.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Redlining

There's also the "Tulsa Race Massacre" https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2021/05/24/us/tulsa-race-massacre.html

And the Rosewood Massacre: https://www.history.com/topics/early-20th-century-us/rosewood-massacre

The US has a long history of destroying anything "black," including the people.

ChicagoSib 5 hours ago mastodon (AP)

In #Chicago we have 4.7 CPD per 1K people; national avg is 2.4/1Kpeople. #MoreCopsOnTheStreet is not working. Chicago Mayoral candidates must propose something NEW. Invest in black/brown citizens ability to grow wealth; their homes, properties, neighborhoods.

#InvestInDemocracy #VoteForThePeople

#Chicago #MoreCopsOnTheStreet #InvestInDemocracy #VoteForThePeople

Lily Star 1 day ago mastodon (AP)

When you say that, what you really mean is Bill Gates and Jeff Bezos, who live in Medina. It's a wealthy area, but Bill and Jeff are worth much more than any of their neighbors.

mekka okereke :verified: 1 day ago mastodon (AP)

No, I meant exactly what I said. Please refrain from trying to tell me "what I really meant." And feel free to make the distinction between centi-billionaires, deca-billionaires, and basic old common billionaires, on a different thread.🙂

There are many billionaires that live in Medina. There are even more centi-millionaires, deca-millionaires, and millionaires.

I'm not dissing Medina. I'm pointing out that white wealth is concentrated in a few neighborhoods, just like Black wealth.

Lily Star 1 day ago mastodon (AP)

Muted for being a jerk instead of engaging in conversation.
A shame really because I agree with most of what you post.

mekka okereke :verified: 1 day ago mastodon (AP)

🤔Why just mute? Block or unfollow!

If you think me saying, "Please refrain from telling me what I really meant" during Black history month is being a jerk, then you're really not going to like most of what I have to say. Seriously.

Just unfollow or block me!👍🏿

Save us all some time!

If your version of conversation involves you telling people what they "really meant," but not liking it when they tell you, "No, I said what I said," then you're not going to enjoy "conversing" with me

Kim Scheinberg 1 day ago mastodon (AP)

My kid's public NYC middle school had metal detectors and cops at the doors. There were many things about it I hated.

But there was the time his class was assigned a six week project culminating in a trial over reparations using the 2014 Ta-Nehisi Coates piece as a starting reference. My kid (who could lawyer or charm his way out of any school consequences) was asked to argue against.

I sat in the back of the class the day of the trial and was never so proud to see my kid lose.

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HanFliesCasual 1 day ago mastodon (AP)

You use Texas politics as an example - but that’s a bad example because they’ve NEVER taught accurate history, ever. It’s ILLEGAL to teach the real story in Texas (literally, it’s a law. You HAVE to teach that the Alamo was a bunch of heroes.) Santa Anna was an abolitionist - they don’t teach that. The Rangers was founded to catch runaway slaves. Texas broke away from Mexico so they could keep their slaves.

GeorgeCarlinWasRight 1 day ago mastodon (AP)

Saw one here yesterday, some guy had a buddy from Georgia that had no idea why the civil war was fought, thought it was infringement of southern civil rights. There is no hope for the south.

camicalm 1 day ago mastodon (AP)

I learned about some of this history from books like "Buried in the Bitter Waters" (2006) and a PBS # documentary called "Banished: The Ethnic Cleansing of Blacks in America" (2008). The information is out there, but you're absolutely correct that it's not taught in schools and should be.

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softicecreamlesley 1 day ago mastodon (AP)

It’s very upsetting that Florida has gone down the wrong path when 30 years ago there was a government task force on the Rosewood massacre and 20 years ago it was made a Florida Heritage Landmark. I grew up in Florida and never heard about Rosewood or Ocoee. I didn’t find out about Tulsa until 10 years ago.

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Babs E. Blue 1 day ago mastodon (AP)

Most are never taught about the Wilmington Race Riot of 1898...at that time Wilmington, NC was a mecca for black professionals-- attorneys, doctors, bankers - the town paper was black owned. The newspaper office was set afire and led to blacks being chased from the city. Blacks have never recovered economic prosperity in the city.

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Trabern see also 18 USC 1001 1 day ago mastodon (AP)

We are so hungry for forbidding knowledge

Exile 1 day ago mastodon (AP)

This is SO spot on! 😡
@TheTraveler

@TheTraveler

The Richie Rich 1 day ago mastodon (AP)

@mekkaokereke

LindaNYC2VT🌊🌱🐖🐄🐓🦃🐬🐝 1 day ago mastodon (AP)

@MattFerrel Because we elect too many racists to run our government.

@Matt Ferrel

Pibble 1 day ago mastodon (AP)

I mean, I learned from my neighbors and friends from the neighborhood before the internet was even a thing...

Then I got in trouble when I brought it up in school...

Jess 1 day ago mastodon (AP)

I grew up only a few hours away from Tulsa, and I literally never heard about the Tulsa Race Massacre until one day randomly on the internet in my 20s after I'd moved out of state and already graduated college.

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anewpairofeyes 1 day ago mastodon (AP)

I was just thinking about that... like even knowing how distorted our history has been it drives the point home to be an adult and see what the adults around you were up to at a time when you didnt understand all that context.

It blows my mind that baby boomers are behind this and they were alive during segregation and I hear them say shit like how there was no such thing as racism in America anymore until Obama singlehandedly enforced it and brought it back from the dead.

Jack Graham 24 hours ago mastodon (AP)

Textbook publishers appeasing states like Texas, which is a massive market for their product, is part of the issue. Despite growing up in liberal Illinois, my history books glossed over a lot of stuff because the publisher wanted to sell that same book in the south.

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Abraxas3d 23 hours ago mastodon (AP)

as a white-presenting mixed race person, I learned about the Black communities destroyed by freeways from living through an era where it was totally normal and celebrated to "eminent domain" (a noun turned into a word) *only* non-white areas of the city for freeway development.

It was gruesomely bad.

I will never truly recover from seeing this happen. I come from a point of view that this is genocidal warfare. They leveled hundreds of homes with little to no notice.

The November Man 🇺🇲🇺🇦☸️🖖 🛰️ 22 hours ago mastodon (AP)

#truth

Dan Miller VFX 22 hours ago mastodon (AP)

Yes, I first heard of these towns from Akala https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=sEOKgjoxoto

Although I did learn about lynchings in the US at secondary here in Britain (late 80s/early 90s)

Cat Food Casserole 21 hours ago mastodon (AP)

We only got Black history for one month a year which is BS. Black history is American history.

Marty Cormack 21 hours ago mastodon (AP)

Exactly! I learned of the 1921 Tulsa race massacre for the first time in 2021. I should have learned it in school (in the 1960's).

Gregory Heller 19 hours ago ActivityPub

Listening to what DeSantis is doing to Florida's education system, especially AP African American History, it isn't hard to label it fascism. Unfortunately that is a word that most Americans don't really understand.

Chris0️⃣ 19 hours ago mastodon (AP)

I am embarrassed but feel it's important to say that I learned more black history in "Lovecraft Country" than in Canadian high school grades 8-10.

That it was cancelled taught me some more.

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Nate Barham 16 hours ago mastodon (AP)

Yup. I was planning lessons that included this sort of thing several years ago, then my state made it vaguely illegal, so now even saying the word “racism” causes people to scream “CRT INDOCTRINATION!!!”

😔

Valerie Sonh :verified_twtr: 16 hours ago mastodon (AP)

I actually used to teach US citizenship classes but only learned about Black Wall Street and the MOVE bombing from social media.

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Andrea Paul, RN 16 hours ago mastodon (AP)

Totally agree. And I'm so angry. I'm 58 & only TONIGHT did I learn about the 11/1898 Wilmington, NC Coup d'etat & the "Secret 9" (rich White men who weren't happy w/the successful Black American business owners- but of course). Innocent Black men, women & children were murdered by mobs of White people. And this & so many others like it (I'm talking in addition to slavery) have never been/are NOT discussed in school- Whites are whitewashing & erasing history. So disheartening.

Scotty Battler 🏳️‍🌈💒🐨 16 hours ago mastodon (AP)

yep. SAD.
Of course the American education system is crap in sooooo many ways.
i.e. THE WORLD 🌍 Like, anything that doesn’t involve the USA.

DopeGhoti 11 hours ago mastodon (AP)

Sadly, distressingly, disgustingly, because as one of my few good teachers once put it back in the day:

"History is a story told by rich white landowners, about rich white landowners, for the benefit of rich white landowners. Anyone saying otherwise is deluded or selling something."

I am as glad to slowly be learning how vast my ignorance is as I am horrified at what I have been ignorant of.

Dark Sheep Arts 8 hours ago mastodon (AP)

Sadly, even as a white historian in Britain, the answer to the question of "Why was I not taught about this example of terrible racism/colonialist atrocity/deliberate cultural genocide/[insert awfulness here]" at school is to cough politely and gesture at the whole structure of how power is maintained in our civilisation*.

(* I'm British, so doing that is actually a fairly blistering condemnation.)

Miragee 2 hours ago mastodon (AP)

Not only did I not learn about that Black History, I didn’t learn about the Japanese Internment! A co-worker, who was much more Politically-minded, told me. I was 25!😭 The fact that information about successful Black communities destroyed by White racists has been held from citizens for decades is a tragedy!

Don Cooley 2 hours ago mastodon (AP)

I was in high school in the '60s, during some of the worst of the desegregation confrontations- fire hoses, dogs, clubs - & atrocities like church bombings, freedom rider murders. I don't recall specific lessons, but I definitely was aware of a 1920's "race riot" in my town & the general history of jim crow. I knew that current events were against a backdrop of 100 yrs of atrocity. Maybe current events forced it to light. Now the perps deny history, paint everything as "Antifa"

David Megginson 13 minutes ago mastodon (AP)

In Canada, we're taught about the Underground Railroad, but not that enslavement was legal here too until 1833 and that (unlike in the U.S.) the British government reimbursed enslavers in the colonies for their so-called "lost property" after Abolition.

Paul Carpenter 👾 1 day ago mastodon (AP)

My daughter had a rowing competition on Lake Lanier and in researching the area we came across the history of it and the event went from "oh this will be fun!" to "well this is deeply uncomfortable." History does matter.

Martin Vermeer FCD 1 day ago mastodon (AP)

PSA: Greenwood = the Tulsa pogrom. So much to keep track of.

Fuzzbizz 1 day ago mastodon (AP)

I might learn more from your mastodon account than any other. Thank you

bhaugen 1 day ago mastodon (AP)

Thanks for history lesson. I was a New Yorker for 5 years during the height of anti-VietNam-war protests, including protests in Central Park, and had never heard of Seneca Village.

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FoxNewsisKillingUs 1 day ago mastodon (AP)

Have you read/listened to Clint Smith’s “How the Word is Passed”?

The audible version is wonderful. It’s a beautiful book. I’m always interested in black and Native American history in the US- and this book was so well done.

Felipe 1 day ago ActivityPub

Pra quem, como eu, não conhecia isso: https://www.megacurioso.com.br/estilo-de-vida/118266-seneca-village-a-historia-oculta-da-construcao-do-central-park.htm e https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Seneca_Village

Gray Rabbit 🐰 :toad: 1 day ago mastodon (AP)

@EmilyK I only learned about Seneca Village a year or two ago (in my 60s).

@EmilyK

rc_ha_tc 1 day ago mastodon (AP)

Learn about this piece of #AmericanHistory today folks! Unfortunately it keeps being repeated in different forms…

#AmericanHistory

Maplemavin 1 day ago mastodon (AP)

I thought Seneca village was upstate, but I'm a native vermonter.

Tom Morris 1 day ago mastodon (AP)

White folks even screw over each other. The water company in north Jersey used eminent domain to seize property. Later the company decided it had too much land but instead of giving the land back to its original owners they sold it for a huge windfall.

Mr. Completely 23 hours ago mastodon (AP)

any guesses as to who lived in the thriving, successful community of Albina in North Portland? Shown here getting split and decimated by highway construction. Memorial Coliseum was also constructed on part of this neighborhood. This is still playing out today of course

an aerial photo showing a residential neighborhood split by massive highway construction

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Mr. Completely 23 hours ago mastodon (AP)

since this is getting some boosts, here is a locally made documentary on the Civil Rights struggle in PDX with extensive coverage of the "urban renewal" destruction of Black neighborhoods

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KmseZfiyn2k

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Luke Kanies 20 hours ago (Received 19 hours ago) mastodon (AP)

even more striking, Portland’s identity is heavily built around stopping a highway… through a white neighborhood.

No mention of I5’s destruction of Albina, but lots of pride for stopping the Mt Hood freeway.

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OnTheFarm 23 hours ago mastodon (AP)

Also, farming.

Ray McCarthy 22 hours ago mastodon (AP)

Elephant in the Room: Almost the enitre USA stolen from Natives. Alaska bought from Russia, who had no ownership right, bits cheated or taken from Mexico or French, who had taken it from natives. Most Black people forced to go to Americas, not a choice.

R. J. Gumby 1 day ago mastodon (AP)

#Kinloch
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kinloch,_Missouri

#Kinloch

Annalee 1 day ago mastodon (AP)

this is a thing I wonder about when some stale crust of wonderbread is complaining about not having a white history month. Cause like first of all we have twelve but also... A lot of Black History Month is actually an abbreviated history of white supremacist fuckery?

Queen of New York 1 day ago mastodon (AP)

It still makes me so angry that I didn’t learn about the Tulsa Massacre until many years and miles away from the suburb I went from K-4 grades in.

Josh (he/his) 1 day ago mastodon (AP)

thanks for posting. 1619 was such a large scale project. I wish we had a solid repository and research fund for local history.

Jacob Christian Munch-Andersen 1 day ago mastodon (AP)

It is not just US education. In Denmark we basically learned that black people had to sit in the back of the bus, and that there were stores that wouldn't serve black people. Not good things, but seemingly far from the worst parts either.

Scijones 1 day ago mastodon (AP)

your thread here has more useful knowledge than my entire NC grade school education.

Chip 1 day ago mastodon (AP)

Great thread. Another factor is that our immigration policy since 1965 has favored people who come here with wealth or advanced degrees or both. It creates the impression that other minoritized groups have built more wealth here than they have, and then that gets used against Black people.

Adam Cook 1 day ago mastodon (AP)

Black Bottom in #Detroit as well.

Completely destroyed.

Only recently (and far too late) has Detroit realized the damage that the I-375 freeway caused.

I-375 is scheduled to be removed soon.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Black_Bottom,_Detroit

#Detroit

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n8chz ⒶⒺ 1 day ago mastodon (AP)

Baby steps. I-375 is like one mile of freeway. Hopefully there will be more baby steps.

Adam Cook 1 day ago mastodon (AP)

Hopefully.

I like this longer-term plan for #Detroit quite a bit, for what it is worth (by https://twitter.com/paultheurbanist)...

https://detroitography.com/2022/10/28/a-bolder-vision-of-highway-removal-for-detroit/

#Detroit

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Maggie Maybe 1 day ago mastodon (AP)

and this is why I believe today’s government owes Black people reparations. Sure, none of us had slaves, but I would bet our parents participated in red lining. Which prevented the building of generational wealth, among a whole bunch of other disgusting things that we have done to Black people in this country within the past 50 years.

MLevie 1 day ago mastodon (AP)

I always appreciate random Black folks on the internet educating me. Thank you for the thread.

Rob Ricci 1 day ago mastodon (AP)

For others reading this thread that want to learn more and like to get their history in podcast form, may I recommend the excellent Dreams of Black Wall Street podcast by Nia Clark: https://www.dreamsofblackwallstreet.com/

She's gone through three seasons of deep dives into specific times and places where Black wealth was created, and then deliberately destroyed.

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Tofu Golem 1 day ago mastodon (AP)

Worse, they point at Asian-American communities as they say this (I'm half Asian).

How well an Asian family does depends largely on when they came and where they came from.

At certain times, ONLY professionals with marketable skills were allowed in the country, so of course they are doing better, but this causes people to overlook poverty-stricken corners of the Asian-American community where people struggle to keep their heads above water.

KristFist 1 day ago mastodon (AP)

https://www.bloomberg.com/news/features/2021-03-10/america-s-tax-code-leaves-black-people-behind-dorothy-brown

Griff Ferrell msky stop 1 day ago calckey (AP)

let's not forget about Elaine Arkansas in September 1919

Black sharecroppers trying to form a union were massacred

Hundreds were killed

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Stephan Bitter 1 day ago mastodon (AP)

thank you very much for these very informative and important threads!

John W Sheldon :d6: 1 day ago mastodon (AP)

generational Black wealth in Pittsburgh was destroyed by first cutting off the Hill District from downtown and the Strip by removing the railcars and funicular in favor of a roadway that connected downtown to a mostly white suburb (with limited access to the Hill, where most folks hadn't needed cars), then by using eminent domain to seize the devalued land and build a sports venue there. 100 years of Black wealth & history destroyed in a decade, and now the arena is a parking lot.

Laukidh :ablobcool: :donor: 1 day ago mastodon (AP)

I’m sure you’ve seen this, but Los Angeles just agreed to pay $20M for seizing Bruce’s Beach. The land was returned to them last year. https://news.yahoo.com/bruces-beach-los-angeles-pay-015319357.html

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Gina Catena MS, NP, CNM 1 day ago mastodon (AP)

Amen! 🙏🏽

Stu 1 day ago mastodon (AP)

I just wanted to let you know that, as someone who immigrated to the US about 15 years ago, I've found your threads here incredibly insightful. I've learned so much and am grateful for everything you take the time to share.

togdon 1 day ago mastodon (AP)

In Portland Oregon we have the double whammy of the flooding of Vanport followed by the destruction about a decade later of the Albina neighborhood for the I-5 and Emanuel Hospital expansions. I initially learned about them via guerrilla street art which also touched on the extensive redlining that happened in Portland. My kids, thankfully, learned about both in school, but not to the extent that they should.

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Martin Vermeer FCD 24 hours ago mastodon (AP)

Allentown, hmm <sound of Google Search ratcheting> *this* Allentown?
https://cpb-us-w2.wpmucdn.com/wordpress.lehigh.edu/dist/d/1788/files/2020/05/WilbertoSicard_CitywithLimits_HonorsThesisHistory.pdf

Extra_Special_Carbon 23 hours ago mastodon (AP)

Also San Juan Hill (You may notice a theme if you follow my musical exploration.)

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/San_Juan_Hill,_Manhattan

WesDym 23 hours ago mastodon (AP)

Don't forget redlining, which went on even in places like New England, and STILL goes on, even though it's illegal.

Mwalimu57 1 day ago (Received 23 hours ago) mastodon (AP)

This considers just the urban impact of racism; a huge transfer of billions of black rural land wealth was effected by the discrimination of the Dept. of Agriculture's farm lending program, and outright land theft.

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Peter Butler 23 hours ago mastodon (AP)

Add San Francisco’s Fillmore district to that list. It was known as the “Harlem of the West” in the 1950s and was totally destroyed, businesses and houses stolen under pretense of “redevelopment.”

Many Black owners had to move to Hunter’s Point to find anything affordable.

See James Baldwin’s 1963 document “Take This Hammer” for much more:

https://diva.sfsu.edu/collections/sfbatv/bundles/216518

Anne Ominous 23 hours ago mastodon (AP)

i felt that i was aware of at least a few of the ways white people have directly torn down black community. after doing more reading on the subject, especially the work of Isabel Wilkerson, i realized how little i had known.

it's truly disgraceful that most white ppl in our country are now fighting a battle to try to keep this crucial information about our history hidden.

Frankc1450 22 hours ago mastodon (AP)

thank you for posting this. I'm sure the same thing happened in Chicago.

dougrogers 21 hours ago mastodon (AP)

@Yup_Its_Holly If I may… the same happened to Native Americans. Pushing them into reservations and stripping the right to own the property and resources. Same thing. So less - and I am not apologizing for white people - a problem of white people, but more a problem of Capitalism and objectification of others.

@Holly🍁:failtusk:

mekka okereke :verified: 20 hours ago mastodon (AP)

Big facts.

Adam Korengold 18 hours ago mastodon (AP)

Yup. The US army literally bombed Black Wall Street into the Stone Age. #antiracism

#antiracism

Lien Rag 18 hours ago mastodon (AP)

@Khrys
Tu as vu ce thread (pour ton 'presso) ?
Il est bien écrit et très riche en informations généralement peu connues (je connaissais le massacre de Tulsa et deux-trois autres exemples, mais l'accumulation est impressionnante).

@Khrys

Beandog9 18 hours ago mastodon (AP)

thank you for this thread.

Stella Campbell 18 hours ago mastodon (AP)

I was amazed that I had not heard of what happened in Tulsa earlier

JoD 17 hours ago mastodon (AP)

Overtown in Miami.

Joe 16 hours ago mastodon (AP)

Yes, and in many places it was illegal for a Black person to buy a house. The house I lived in from age 11 until I moved away from home had language in the title deed forbidding the sale of the house to a Black person, and such language was common. The Fair Housing Act of 1968 made those kinds of clauses invalid, but right up until 1968 those terms were binding, and a lot of my fellow white people have no idea.

mekka okereke :verified: 16 hours ago mastodon (AP)

Even better, a lot of Black homeowners own houses where the deed says that it's illegal to sell the house to a non-white person. 🤡

If you bought your house before *checks notes* 2022, there's a good chance that there's a clause in your deed saying that it's illegal to sell the house to non-white people. But it's "OK" because another law says "let's ignore that part!"

mekka okereke :verified: 16 hours ago mastodon (AP)

And there's a whole genre of YouTube videos that is "Black couple gets home appraised for low-ball offer, pretends to be white, gets real appraisal."

Marin county:
https://youtu.be/cySli8JxpaM

Baltimore:
https://youtu.be/03GEKcgMPVY

Indianapolis:
https://youtu.be/TUXuDC9AVO4

Jacksonville:
https://youtu.be/w3LEwTihdyw

Seattle:
https://youtu.be/tn027sxa8x4

Cincinnati:
https://youtu.be/lz8TBXLua-k

Etc, etc.

🙂: home ownership builds wealth.

But...

☹️: racism steals wealth from black homeowners.

Cynder 16 hours ago mastodon (AP)

I was a young boy when my grandparents explained to me about the events of Greenwood. It shook me to my core and haunts me to this day to believe the community of people I knew and trusted would/could behave so savagely towards fellow neighbors. Fellow humans. I have hope for a brighter, much more inclusive future but have to admit, things look bleak right now and that saddens me because I don't know what to do to make it better except to stand strongly against racism.

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Prairie_Sprite 12 hours ago mastodon (AP)

I don't understand this ugliness in all it's bloodiness written in ignorance to suppress.

Well I do, but it' beyond comprehension

My dad as we were to go to his friends stopped the car on edge of road and likely because I would sit still at a young 13 explained racism ato me. 3/4 of an hour later he said he expected me to know the difference and not be a racist. More so that everyone to be treated equal.
Rambling here
Know I care and I am sorry

generika 4 hours ago hometown (AP)

Content warning: Inter-Generational wealth

Cory Doctorow's linkblog 3 hours ago mastodon (AP)

#ChatGPT as #ConMan:

"People love ChatGPT. People have confidence in it.

"They want to use it for everything—legal work, medical advice, term papers, or even writing Substack columns. "

* give people what they ask for

* don’t worry whether it’s true or not—ethical scruples aren’t part of your job

* If you get caught in a lie, serve up another lie

* always act sure of yourself— your confidence seals the deal

https://tedgioia.substack.com/p/introducing-the-slickest-con-artist

(h/t @kottke)

#ChatGPT #ConMan @kottke.org

3 comments - Show more

Rob Hirschfeld 2 hours ago mastodon (AP)

explains why that AI has broken through when others have not - it's a confidence play

Alice :verified: 14 minutes ago mastodon (AP)

I had 6 eggs. I broke 2, I fried 2, I ate 2. How many are left?

Given the progression implied from broken to eaten, I'd say four remain. But zero is plausible as well, and it could be argued that two isn't out of the question either. The logic went downhill from there though.

Cory Doctorow's linkblog 3 hours ago mastodon (AP)

"#Amazon has long wanted to become not indispensable, but unavoidable. The key difference there is that a company is indispensable through quality of service and affordability; a company is unavoidable simply by being in the way"

-@ddayen

https://prospect.org/power/amazon-business-endgame-jassy/

#Amazon @David Dayen

5 comments - Show more

@nf3xn 1 hour ago mastodon (AP)

it is not possible to use the internet, no matter how hard you try, without paying amazon something, somehow.

Maggie Maybe 14 minutes ago mastodon (AP)

They bought up ALL the prescription strength Azelastine 0.15% before it went OTC so I had to order it from them if I wanted medicare to cover it. I was so sad, I didn’t want to use his pharmacy but it’s the only allergy medication that works for me.

internetarchive 21 minutes ago mastodon (AP)

JOB ALERT: Controlled Digital Lending Program Manager with Boston Library Consortium to lead the consortial implementation of CDL for interlibrary loan.
12 month grant-funded position, annual salary of $65k-75k with benefits.
Details: https://blc.org/page/were-hiring

A-wai :debian: 22 minutes ago mastodon (AP)

For once I didn't use #Phosh's "ticket box" plugin but https://github.com/pablo-s/passes and it worked great!

@fosdem here I come 😀

#MobileLinux #Linux #Librem5 #Mobile #LinuxOnMobile

#Phosh #MobileLinux #Linux #Librem5 #Mobile #LinuxOnMobile #Phosh's @FOSDEM

Dylan Van Assche 15 minutes ago mastodon (AP)

Oh that looks like a nice passes app!