Hiraeth

A Mixed-Media,

TRUTH-As-Art,

Coming-Of-Age Memoir.

It’s more than a book. It is the intersection of the times and stories, with the overlay of music, pop art and culture that defined an era. “Cyd” was born the moment I stepped foot into 1980’s New York City. This is her story.

(“Carousel” by Melanie Martinez)

Repost from @art.of.resistance • By @mkoby_

Repost from @art.of.resistance
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By @mkoby_

Repost from @thecitizenraja • For years, the one

Repost from @thecitizenraja
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For years, the ones in power were the ones telling us the story. All of the injustice, mistreatment, and systemic racism of black people has come up to the surface and it is staring us right in the face.

The police are a reflection of our society, where the oppression of black people is woven into the system at every level.

African Americans have been crying out for centuries and it seems like we are just now hearing them. But are you listening?

Your race shouldn’t determine your fate. This isn’t a situation where you can be neutral- either you can accept all of this injustice going on or you can fight against it. Normal was never working, so now it’s time for us to disrupt the norm.

Repost from @blackmarketnubian • Progeny. (Artis

Repost from @blackmarketnubian
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Progeny. (Artist @ekuaholmes)
#blackartistmatter #blackisbeautiful #blackempowerment #roxbury #amplifyblackvoices #nextgeneration #amplifyblackartists #blackfathers #georgefloyd #rayshardbrooks #ekuaholmes #roxburyrose #roxburysunflowerproject

Repost from @naptural85
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✨Happy Juneteenth! 🖤👑✨
The Juneteenth Flag was created by Ben Haith, founder of the National #Juneteenth Celebration Foundation [NJCF] and illustrator, Lisa Graf.

The White Star ⭐️ Represents Texas, the Lone Star State. Along with the freedom of Americans across all 50 states.

The Burst Outline 💥 Represents a nova, the name astronomers use for “new star.” So a new beginning for black Americans of Texas and the rest of America.

The Curved Horizon 🌅 Represents new opportunities and promise that lay ahead for Black Americans.

The Red, White, Blue 🟥⬜️🟦 Represents the American Flag. To remind those that former slaves and their descendants were and are American people.

We still have a long way to go before all of these symbols will TRULY be recognized, but today we celebrate how far we’ve come. 🙏🏾 It was 1865 that enslaved black people in Texas LAWFULLY became Americans, and 155 years later, we’re still fighting across America to SOCIALLY and LAWFULLY become human.
Check my stories for a brief history of #Juneteenth 👑🖤✨ My wish for today is that my community will all have a beautiful, peaceful, and HAPPY DAY! 💋🥰 Stay safe out there! ❤️🖤💚 #juneteenth2020 #juneteenthcelebration

Repost from @blackwomenrally • Charles R. Drew U

Repost from @blackwomenrally
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Charles R. Drew University of Medicine and Science, a private, non-profit, historically Black graduate school in Southern California, needs our support!

The first COVID-19 Testing Site to service its Black and Brown residents in South LA, is in dire need.
Their goal is to raise $500,000 in 5 days to help keep the testing site open and continue their Community Outreach efforts in South Los Angeles, a community that has experience disproportionate deaths due to infection with COVID-19.

Since April 8, 2020, they’ve tested over 28,000 people.
Positive rates although initially low are rising. This trend began prior to Memorial Day.
They’re collecting samples from 700-800 people or more a day.

Other sites are only collecting 200-400 samples per day.

They need to provide stipends to their students and independent resources to continue testing 7 days a week 5-7 hours/day.

Dr. Jimmy Hara and Dr. Sheila Young have managed the testing site nearly every day only taking a couple of days off since fighting to bring testing to our community.

They’re also fighting to keep clinician supervised oral collection testing which picks up 90% of those infected while clinician supervised nasal collection only picks up 84%. They have the lowest rate of people having to repeat the test.
Please donate and share this Urgent Call far and wide!
Go Fund Me link in bio

#supportblackowned #Blackdollarsmatter
#Isyourmoneyracist

Black women’s bodies were used to nourish and su

Black women’s bodies were used to nourish and sustain the lives of others...know the real history.
Repost from @motherthemother
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🖤PLEASE READ 💔
Repost from @allbodieshealth
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👉Trigger warning 👈
Hello White and Non-Black POC Community,

Do you know this history of breastfeeding and slavery? It’s a painful demonstration of the intersectional exploitation that Black women endure. It’s also the part of slavery that White Women lead.

In the 18th century, breastfeeding was perceived as demeaning and uncultured. White mothers tried to avoid it to maintain their stature.  Meanwhile, children enslaved women grew healthy, while many white babies were dying. And so, enslavers found another way to extract resources from enslaved women’s bodies: breastmilk.  White women timed their pregnancies with that of their Black wet nurses, forcing Black mothers to dedicate the majority of their milk to their white children, neglecting the health and nurturing of their own.  Enslaved others were often taken away from their babies for long periods of time. They tried to keep their children alive by feeding them substitutes for milk - (cow milk and dirty water) - but inevitably the death rates of enslaved babies began to rise.

Being a wet nurse created additional trauma for Black women, on top of traditional forms of slave labor.  It separated them from established kinship networks, made it difficult to bond with their children, created complex nursing relationships with white babies who would grow up to own them, they were often rejected by their husbands, especially after the death of their own child and they were at increased risk of being raped by enslaver masters and their sons.
White women managed this part of the slave trade, capitalizing on black breast milk for their own children and determining market value for Black wet nurses.  They graded Black wet nurses based on their breastfeeding skill level, whether the white children they nursed in the past ended up healthy, and whether or not their milk was “fresh.” Freshness was determined by the age of the enslaved wet nurses’ infant.  The older their infant, the less valuable their milk.  Enslaved wet nurses whose infa

Repost from @blackwomenrally • Charles R. Drew U

Repost from @blackwomenrally
•
Charles R. Drew University of Medicine and Science, a private, non-profit, historically Black graduate school in Southern California, needs our support!

The first COVID-19 Testing Site to service its Black and Brown residents in South LA, is in dire need.
Their goal is to raise $500,000 in 5 days to help keep the testing site open and continue their Community Outreach efforts in South Los Angeles, a community that has experience disproportionate deaths due to infection with COVID-19.

Since April 8, 2020, they’ve tested over 28,000 people.
Positive rates although initially low are rising. This trend began prior to Memorial Day.
They’re collecting samples from 700-800 people or more a day.

Other sites are only collecting 200-400 samples per day.

They need to provide stipends to their students and independent resources to continue testing 7 days a week 5-7 hours/day.

Dr. Jimmy Hara and Dr. Sheila Young have managed the testing site nearly every day only taking a couple of days off since fighting to bring testing to our community.

They’re also fighting to keep clinician supervised oral collection testing which picks up 90% of those infected while clinician supervised nasal collection only picks up 84%. They have the lowest rate of people having to repeat the test.
Please donate and share this Urgent Call far and wide!
Go Fund Me link in bio

#supportblackowned #Blackdollarsmatter
#Isyourmoneyracist

And just like that, my existence and my parents’

And just like that, my existence and my parents’ marriage was no longer illegal in 16 remaining states in the United States. #LovingsDay #ProjectJune12 #biracialblackbabies #USConstitution #truth #love #freedom #CydWasThere #blacklivesmatter #everydamnday

Repost from @xeanneperforms • We walked the high

Repost from @xeanneperforms
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We walked the high line on this gorgeous day and reminded people of what happened today 52 years ago!! It took the Lovings 9 years to change history~ in 1967 the Supreme Court made their love and marriage legal and everyone else too~ #lovingsday #projectjune12 #mildredloving #richardloving #thelovings
#truth #blacklivesmatter #everydamnday

June 12 1967— Richard and Mildred Lovings fight

June 12 1967— Richard and Mildred Lovings fight for their marriage overturned America’s miscegenation laws, and changed history when The Supreme Court decided unanimously in their favor. Richard later said “For the first time, I could put my arm around Mildred and publicly call her my wife.” happy #LovingsDay #USConstitution #antiracism #love #truth #CydWasThere #blacklivesmatter #everydamnday

Repost from @lornasimpson • The Moon @nytmag #n

Repost from @lornasimpson
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The Moon @nytmag
#nytmag #nyt #art #artist #blackvoices #blacklivesmatter

Repost from @lornasimpson • We have been whisper

Repost from @lornasimpson
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We have been whispering in each other’s ears for centuries LS 6.4.2020 @nymag
#nytmag #blacklivesmatter #blackvoices #artist #ancestors

Then. Now. Always. Repost from @lornasimpson •

Then. Now. Always.
Repost from @lornasimpson
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#blackvoices #blacklivesmatter #artists

I am human. I am. #artist #artistsoninstagram #wri

I am human. I am. #artist #artistsoninstagram #writer #painter #poet #sohum #iam #mixedbaby #blackwoman

Wise words. #CleoWade #justice #mywholelife #nomor

Wise words. #CleoWade #justice #mywholelife #nomoresilence #artists #poets #writers #painters #humanrightsactivist

Fuck Your Confederacy. #america #artist #mixedbaby

Fuck Your Confederacy. #america #artist #mixedbaby #blackwoman #race #women #black #blacklivesmatter #blackandwhite #blackfamily #american #fuckyourconfederacy

This powerhouse of barely 5feet in height was a co

This powerhouse of barely 5feet in height was a complicated and wise woman. She was feisty and independent to the very end. And when she left this life, she gifted me with one last morsel of wisdom, and cloak of protection that put any of the men in our family on notice that I was not to be fucked with, lest they be felled by their own swords. Like I said, powerhouse. I never got to say thank you for that—just as she designed for it to be so. #mothersday #mygrandmother #standingontheword #rp @lotusgirl_healer

I am often overwhelmed in contemplating all of the

I am often overwhelmed in contemplating all of the women who mothered...right or wrong, good or bad, giving what they could give...in order for me to arrive into the world. Clashing, criss-crossing, and symbiotic cultures, all coursing through my veins, and residing in my soul. I am thankful to each of them. #mothersday #ancestors #mothers

On this Mother’s Day, my mind drifts back to the

On this Mother’s Day, my mind drifts back to the strongest, kindest, most genuinely good human I have ever known. Every word I write, stroke I paint, take I direct, pattern I design, and child I raise with all the love I have, is rooted in the heart, soul, and living definition of love that is my Grandma Betty. I am literally living a life she dreamt of on behalf of us both. Words cannot do her justice. #MothersDay #GrandmaBetty #luckyme #rp @lotusgirl_healer

Today and forever. #prince #purplerain #princeroge

Today and forever. #prince #purplerain #princerogersnelson #dirtymind

Today and forever. #prince #purplerain #princeroge

Today and forever. #prince #purplerain #princerogersnelson #controversy

Trade in the fear for the joy of music and communi

Trade in the fear for the joy of music and community. Now!!!! @dnice #bringingthepeopletogether #corona2020

Valentines Day in words. #love #literature #author

Valentines Day in words. #love #literature #authors #writers #TheTruthAboutLove #valentinesday2020 #unknown

Valentines Day in words. #love #literature #author

Valentines Day in words. #love #literature #authors #writers #TheTruthAboutLove #valentinesday2020 #oscarwilde