alixee

mpenzi | growing na vijiji, in spaces between turtle island na (pan) Afrika… | with S.P.A.C!

[Adelle Onyango @ADELLEO]

There is a deep empathy you're gifted after an intimate meeting with grief. You learn that you are expansive enough to hold heavy, contradictory feelings, at the same time, even when those you disagree with or dislike encounter grief. Grief humbles, humanizes and expands you.

[🇭🇹 @__pjdmusic]

“Voodoo is ancient African tradition. We use ‘voodoo’ in the drums or whatever, the cadences and call-out to our ancestors and that in itself will invoke spirits. And music has the power to do that, to evoke emotions, evoke spirit.” — D’ Angelo

[Gillian Branstetter @GBBranstetter]

Miss Major Griffin-Gracy passed away today at age 78. She was a veteran of the Stonewall rebellion and a long time organizer for the safety and dignity of trans people, sex workers, and the incarcerated. She came from the same generation and milieu as Marsha and Sylvia.

[Okong' Okuna @XivTroy]

What does this mean? To mourn with dignity? Whose dignity? Yours or ours? Have you seen the Legio Maria dance? Have you seen the names we use to describe our lovers?:

"Chunya" is MY HEART.

My wife is "Min Oda", which translates to the MOTHER OF MY HOUSE.

"Jaber" is THE PRETTY ONE.

"Rambanya" is THE ONE WITH THE GAP BETWEEN HER TEETH.

A lover was never just a lover, God never just God, and DEATH NEVER JUST DEATH.

Luo is a robust culture and it is reflected in its practices and language. And this robustness will be executed in life, love, worship, and death. More so, in the death of its icons, because that is when the spirits are at their optimal. If your spirits lead you to eat ngumu and call it a day, do just that. Don't bother us with this bland dignity. We know our culture. We know what is expected of us. And that we will do- WITHOUT APOLOGY!

This culture does not exist to appease many presidents and their suits. It existed long before them and will outlive them all. Those who matter are here. And we matter most because we exist in the culture.

You go mourn with dignity kwenu. When that day comes, you can tell us how to mourn. If all it takes is a groan and a few nose blows, we will groan with you. Or -at worst - ignore, if our spirits forbid the underwhelming theatre. We will not tell you your ngumus are too stale - or your tea too thin - if that is all it takes to escort your loved one into the next world. Each according to their capacity. Each according to the weight of its dead.

We do not mourn for the visitors. We mourn our dead. Those who wish to join are welcome, but their presence is not compelled. And will certainly not be missed.

We carry leaves to waft the evil spirits away. We wail to lament the injustice of death. In rolling, we are not trying to scare you. It is a protest of this dark cloud that has befallen us. Don't be so afraid: it is just a dirge.

[Nyar Owuor @AdhiamboKE]

Ndalo ma chon. (Not too long ago)...

[Stella Nyanzi @drstellanyanzi]

Rest well, Baba @RailaOdinga . You taught our generation about legacy building. Rest Baba!

[5hahem @shaTIRED]

i’m not seeing enough queer people mourning miss major, she’s one of few trans elders and literally helped to liberate queer people. she’s a whole stonewall vet, i’m a need to hear some more noise

[captain CHARISMA 🇰🇪 @luhyaheat]

For a lot of us Raila has been Kenyan politics. We have not lived a life without him in Kenyan politics. Tomorrow for many of us will be the first day we do.
The most consequential politician in Kenyan history has now died.

[phillys black marxist ☭ @Forever_noir_]

We just gonna pretend we don’t see Israel violating the ceasefire?

[Iskra Books @iskrabooks]

“Imperialism often occurs in more subtle forms—a loan, food aid, blackmail. We are fighting this system that allows a handful of men on Earth to rule all of humanity.”

Today we remember the great Thomas Sankara who was lost on this day in 1987.

[Laila Al-Arian @LailaAlarian]

Reports from northern Gaza are absolutely horrifying, including of field executions and the deaths of 2 patients in intensive care after the Indonesian hospital lost power. The media blackout of Israel’s siege of Jabalia and the ongoing killing of Palestinian civilians persists.

[Fady Joudah @FadyJoudah]

Your arm fell off, pick it up
and hit your enemy with it,
there is no way out.

And I fell next to you
so pick me up and slam your foe
with me, for you are now free,
free, and free

Darwish 1983

[gazasunbirds @gazasunbirds]

A love letter to Gaza ❤️

Alaa's voice notes inspired this love letter to a Gaza that will never die.

[Philip Proudfoot @PhilipProudfoot]

A majority in the General Assembly can, at any point, use resolution 377(V)—Uniting for Peace – to circumvent the Security Council and recommend the deployment of a UN Emergency Force to disarm Israel and stop genocide. There is a responsibility to protect and prevent crimes against humanity.

Send a coalition of forces under a UN umbrella. Call the US bluff. Let them fire on UN-mandated Turkish, Pakistani, Egyptian, & Jordanian troops, etc. I wager they won't. It will call their bluff, and Israel will be forced to stop.

[Margaret Kimberley @freedomrideblog]

Cuba’s electrical grid collapsed. Food and medicine spoiled. Surgeries cancelled. Biden followed Trump and lists Cuba as a terrorist nation. Financial transactions impossible. They even killed Cuba’s tourist industry. War without firing a shot.

[KeepEyesOnSudan @tootahalata]

ppl think it’s so normal/par for the course for africans to experience constant terror and instability. that’s why you cannot possibly fathom that we are actively being terrorised by non-european colonial powers and have been for decades.

[Kenji 🌸 delivering flowers every day 🌸 🐦 @gontanokoneroku]

Aster 😊

#Photography #Flowers #Aster

[Friendly Neighborhood Comrade @SpiritofLenin]

The Black Panther Party was founded on this day in 1966 by Bobby Seale and Huey P. Newton.

Pictured here is co-founder of the party Huey P. Newton, with Palestinian resistance fighters outside a refugee camp in Lebanon in 1980.

Black & Palestinian liberation is intertwined.