It may seem like the country is in a horrifying tailspin after last week's sickening displays of police brutality with the killings of Alton Sterling (July 5) in Baton Rogue, Philando Castile (July 6) in Minnesota, and the sniper-style massacre of Dallas police officers at an otherwise peaceful anti-police brutality protest (July 7). The shootings left five police officers dead, and injured seven more as well as two civilians, according to HuffingtonPost.com.
Even worse, the heavily-armed and violent police response to otherwise peaceful demonstrations across the America, particularly in Baton Rogue where Sterling was killed, echoes Ferguson’s disastrous protests following Michael Brown's murder in 2014. Well-known and beloved Black Lives Matter activist DeRay McKesson was one of over 100 people arrested in Baton Rogue late Sunday night after documenting police provocation.
BLM supporters across the country flooded the Baton Rouge Police Department with calls in effort to get McKesson and others released. He was eventually freed on Sunday afternoon.
As we all try to process how such injustices are happening in America, Black Twitter has managed to find joy in every victory, and celebrated DeRay’s release with the #DerayHasBeenReleasedParty hashtag. It was filled with brilliant humor, carefree joy and the ever-present wokeness. It even caught the eye of Queen Sugar and Selma director, Ava DuVernay.
Here are the some of the highlights of the #DerayHasBeenReleasedParty hashtag:
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On Tuesday, we reached another significant milestone in the the infuriating, soul-crushing, “is this shit really happening in 2016?” hellscape that is the current presidential election: Hillary Rodham Clinton is now the official Democratic nominee.
It is the first time in our nation's 240-year history a woman has been the official nominee of a major party in a presidential election. Some are celebrating. Others are burning pants suit effigies. The rest are rapt with an overwhelming sense of meh. While HRC is nowhere near the dumpster fire-levels of suckage that is Donald Trump’s platform of racism, sexism, homophobia, and general sliminess, she’s lightyears away from a dream presidential candidate, especially if you reveled in the "Yes We Can" optimism of President Obama's previous elections. At this point, I’d sooner vote for Francis J. Underwood. But these are the cards we’ve been dealt, and the least crappy hand has to be played. So how do outraged Americans cope? By venting on social media, of course! Twitter user Mad Black Thot capitalized on her democratic depression by creating the hashtag #GirlIGuessImWithHer, and Black Twitter took it from there. The inventive hashtag quickly exploded into a hilarious and bleak catharsis on our collective political purgatory and being forced to back the less diabolical candidate. Here are the best #GirlIGuessImWithHer tweets:
If you ever wondered what happened to The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air’s original Aunt Viv, “blactress” Janet Hubert took to Facebook on Monday mostly to respond to Jada Pinkett- Smith’s announcement that she is boycotting this year’s Academy Awards, but also to shed even more light on her mysterious disappearance from the popular ‘90s sitcom.
Let’s start from the beginning, shall we? Early Monday, Jada—Will Smith’s wife—announced that her and her husband were boycotting the Oscars after Will failed to be nominated for his work in the NFL drama “Concussion” Last week's Oscar nominations all but shut out actors, writers and directors of color from the main categories, despite several strong contenders (Creed, Straight Outta Compton, Beasts Of No Nation etc.) that garnered resounding praise from both critics and fans. More on that here. “Maybe it is time that we pull back our resources and we put them back into our communities, into our programs, and we make programs for ourselves that acknowledge us in ways that we see fit, that are just as good as the so-called 'mainstream' ones,” Jada proposed in the video. “Begging for acknowledgement…diminishes dignity and diminishes power. We are a dignified people and we are powerful. Let’s not forget it.” No word if the Smith family millions will be funding such efforts. Janet Hubert—who since being fired from The Fresh Prince in 1993 has done gotten mostly guest-starring roles on sitcoms save for extended runs on soap operas—posted an immediate and response in an instantly-viral Facebook video of her own. And she read Jada for filth with an effortlessness that probably has all Real Housewives taking notes.
On Monday, Pottermore.com announced the cast of the upcoming Harry Potter play, "Cursed Child," and Hermione Granger, the wizarding world's most overachieving witch, will be portrayed by a black actress Noma Dumezweni. Actors Jamie Parker and Paul Thornley will play Harry and Ron, respectively.
Though author J.K. Rowling didn't dispute the universally known white Hermione during the creation of the book covers or casting of the movies, she took to Twitter to defend the decision: "Canon: brown eyes, frizzy hair and very clever. White skin was never specified. Rowling loves black Hermione." "Cursed Child" is based on an original story written by Rowling, and will debut on the London stage in June 2016. Still high from NBC's stunning production of "The Wiz Live!" and the staggering "Star Wars: The Force Awakens" opening, Black Twitter eased on down Diagon Alley, and re-cast the entire series with black actors using the #BlackHarryPotter hashtag. The results are brilliant enough to pray for a race-bent production in the future. It all begins with two young lovers... |
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