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Black Kos: MVP Harris joins Bluesky (Come join a block party for her nasty naysayers) [1]
['This Content Is Not Subject To Review Daily Kos Staff Prior To Publication.']
Date: 2025-04-08
My block finger has been very busy today.
Commentary by Black Kos Editor Denise Oliver Velez
There was an interesting opinion piece in The New York Times, (gift link) yesterday from political scientist Dr. Christina Greer. She addressed how many of us Black folks are feeling these days:
Black people have seen this America before. We have endured throughout history’s progress and regress, watching the arc of justice bend with the changing winds. Until we reckon with our fellow citizens’ capacity — even hunger — for injustice, we will fail to meet, understand and survive this political moment. What I mean by that is the ability of some Americans (historically, almost all of them white, though increasingly there are multiethnic fellow travelers in MAGA these days) to burn this country to the ground before they share it with those deemed other and unworthy. I also mean how long it takes for almost everyone else to wake up to the danger these people pose not only to Black people but, yes, to everyone else, too. Again, Black people are not surprised. Far too many well-meaning white Americans have been what I like to call ally ostriches, believing in progress while burying their heads in the sand when discussions around the past become uncomfortable. Or newer Americans, perhaps the children of immigrants of recent decades, who don’t see what business it is of theirs what violence slave owners or Jim Crow enforcers visited on their fellow citizens or the legacy of it. And now some of them are seeing people who look like them summarily deported. How did this happen? Every day I hear, spoken by these ostriches but also, increasingly, by those who blithely voted for Mr. Trump, thinking he didn’t intend to actually do those things he said he would do, or who just couldn’t bring themselves to vote for a Black woman or who feel some version of disbelief. As if the America of chattel slavery, of Native American expulsion and attempted extermination, of reckless imperial expansion, of Jim Crow, of internment camps was echoed by authoritarian regimes across the globe in the past. I find myself reminding those who are surprised by this moment that my still very spry mother attended legally mandated segregated schools her entire life. The past has somehow turned into prologue, and the head-scratching of many tells me there is a fundamental lack of understanding of this country and what Americans are capable of. No, dear ostriches, not all Americans. But enough and often enough. And in the midst of this fear and real threats to democracy, most Black people are not only not surprised but also tired out by explaining why all of this is not surprising. (And yes, I am aware there are a few Black ostriches, too.) That is why many of the 92 percent of Black women who have been the keepers of the Democratic Party and democracy writ large have been resoundingly silent. Why did no one listen to us?
Dr. Greer asks an important question here, and frankly, my answer is that for the vast majority of my fellow citizens, deaf ears don’t listen to Black voices. If they did we wouldn’t still be living in a country controlled by systemic racism for 400 years.
This rant today (and yes I’m in rant mode) is directed at a group of mostly white folks who fled TwitX to go to the “progressive non-Muskated safe haven” of Bluesky. It has been touted as a space where folks could avoid right wing trolls and bots and the flood of depredations from MAGAs.
(FYI, I haven’t left TwitX, since Bluesky doesn’t have accounts from most of the Black /Caribbean/African sources I use in my writing, and the large part of Black Twitter still remains there. I do post and read and repost on Bluesky daily)
Many of the non MAGA mostly white folks on Bluesky, who describe themselves as progressives, have been people who have been writing “Where’s Kamala?” screeds, to accompany “Where’s Obama?” ones since The Orange Furor’s election. Frankly, a lot of us, (particularly Black women) aren’t buying it. We done tole you, Kamala done tole you, and y’all couldn’t elect the Black lady and now folks are going to have to deal with FAFO.
Former POTUS Obama did open a Bluesky account, and the most recent arrival was MVP Harris. While she was greeted warmly by many Skyer’s, a contingent of account holders went on immediate attack. This morning I posted:
x Glad to see MVP Harris posting here. Not happy to see the people who contributed to her loss, so-called left and right spewing racist sexist filth in some of the comments and quotes. Come join the #BlockParty #Khive
[image or embed] — Denise Oliver-Velez (@deniseoliver-velez.bsky.social) April 8, 2025 at 4:13 AM
I’m not just talking about bot/troll/MAGA accounts that need blocking — that goes without saying. Many of the vile comments I’m seeing are from folks who claim to be “progressives,” or “activists” many of whom have a singular issue agenda, and frankly were quite willing to throw us all under the bus in pursuit of hyping their pet issue, for which we are now all going to suffer. Some of these folks passionately advocated staying home and not voting (while spreading anti-Demcratic Party vitriol)...often repeating their bullshit mantra that there is zero difference between Democrats and Republicans. Others voted for Steinism.
Here are some samples from posts/posters I blocked this morning. I’m not screenshotting them, simply including their text:
You know that bit in Dune where the guy has a cyanide capsule in his teeth and he tries to take this other guy with him by breathing the gas on him? Might be worth a try, Kamala. ~~~ Not for this corporate shill. Why are people still supporting her after what she caused and hid away from until she smelled money? ~~~ fuck off and go away you abandoned everyone you spineless coward ~~~ Go fuck Trump girl ! ~~~ haha you should be tried at the hague you genocidal c*nt (my asterisk) ~~~ "the power of self care" means jacking off right? ~~~ I am a democrat but she is a blue tie wearing republican and people need to wake up and smell her BS.
I’ve said this before, but will repeat it. I don’t call myself a “progressive” because for me that indicates people who are making progress forward, and I don’t see it coming from folks willing to throw me and mine under the bus. I’m a pragmatic radical. Radical because I’ve been one all my life and have receipts to prove it, which sadly include the deaths by cop of many of my closest friends and comrades, or life in prison. I’ve been hunted, busted, almost killed, JEdgarHoovered, RedSquaded, Interpoled for my entire teen-aged and adult life. Pragmatic cause I can and have worked in coalition with a broad group of Black folks, and allies who may not have my history.
I can no longer hit the streets due to health issues, but I have to admit sitting here blocking asshats who have called me, and mine “corporate shill” or “oligarchist” (and worse) when they are barely wet behind the ears, but can type cool slurs from the safety of their keyboards has put me in a better mood.
So, asking those of you who are on Bluesky, who don’t support this bullshit, to come join the Block Party, and leave a warm welcome for MVP.
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News round up by dopper0189, Black Kos Managing Editor
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Removing books from library shelves is no longer just a story of objections from a local community or an individual parent, the American Library Association says. In its new State of American Libraries Report released Monday, the ALA found more than 70% of attempted bans of a given title or titles come from organized groups and elected officials, and just 16% originated with a parent. The most commonly criticized books, including Maia Kobabe’s “Gender Queer” and the late Toni Morrison’s “The Bluest Eye,” can be found on such websites as www.ratedbooks.org and through lists compiled by Moms for Liberty and other conservative activists. “We can trace many of the challenges to lists of books that have been distributed by Moms for Liberty and other groups,” said Deborah Caldwell-Stone, who directs the association’s Office for Intellectual Freedom. As part of its annual report, the ALA unveiled its list of the 10 most “challenged books” of 2024, starting with George M. Johnson’s “All Boys Aren’t Blue,” and also featuring “Gender Queer,” “The Bluest Eye,” Stephen Chbosky’s “The Perks of Being a Wallflower” and John Green’s “Looking for Alaska.”
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In a letter to the federal Education Department, New York state officials said they do not believe the federal agency has the authority to make such demands. The Grio: NY public schools tell Trump administration they won’t comply with DEI order
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New York state officials have told the Trump administration that they will not comply with its demands to end diversity, equity and inclusion practices in public schools, despite the administration’s threats to terminate federal education funding. Daniel Morton-Bentley, counsel and deputy commissioner of the state Department of Education, said in a letter dated Friday to the federal Education Department that state officials do not believe the federal agency has the authority to make such demands. “We understand that the current administration seeks to censor anything it deems ‘diversity, equity & inclusion,’” he wrote. “But there are no federal or State laws prohibiting the principles of DEI.” Morton-Bentley also wrote state officials were “unaware” of any authority the federal Department of Education has to demand that states agree with its interpretation of court decisions or to terminate funding without a formal administrative process.
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The US is revoking the visas of all South Sudanese passport-holders and will stop any more of its citizens entering the country.
The Department of State said South Sudan was “taking advantage of the United States” by failing to comply with US efforts to return people to the east African country, adding that the measures would come into effect immediately.
“Every country must accept the return of its citizens in a timely manner when another country, including the United States, seeks to remove them,” it said.
Christopher Landau, the deputy secretary of state, said the dispute related to one alleged South Sudanese national and claimed efforts to engage diplomatically with the South Sudanese government had been rebuffed.
“All visa appointments are cancelled, no new visas will be issued, no existing visas will be effective, and hence NO ONE from South Sudan will be entering the United States on a visa until this matter is resolved,” he said in a social media post.
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Voices & Soul
“… Two played dead/ All women except two men/ Shot while praying/ And being black (and trusting)… “
- Cheryl Clarke
Emanuel Nine: Their Influence Was Wide"
by Justice Putnam, Black Kos Editor
I never really was intimidated by the death threats over the years, the midnight bomb threats phoned in, the crosses burned our lawn when were kids in the San Gabriel Valley of Southern California. When I got a little older, I was just big enough, just seemingly dangerous enough that any drunk bigot drunk enough to get a little brave would be held back by others in their group, or warded off by regulars who knew me. Or thought they did. It was easy to be cavalier about it when I was young and beautiful. When I could be a bouncer and just pick someone up and run them into the nearest wall like they were a blocking sled, to shut down any argument or altercation.
But I’m not picking up anyone, anymore. I’m not running anywhere, not even for a few steps. I might be able to throat punch someone if they let me. But I’m still not backing down. Even though I was informed by friends and family of yet another credible threat lobbed my way, I refuse to let “them” erase our collective memory, I refuse to let them erase the history and accomplishments of our fathers, our grandfathers, our mothers, grandmothers, our brothers and sisters, our aunts and uncles, our neighbors, or our teachers, and I refuse to let them get away with it.
I was enamored with the Edward G Robinson character in Soylent Green. He was a “Book” the police used for their investigations, one of the few who still had tangible volumes of the written word from the time before the great cataclysm that upended society. I was equally enamored with an episode from the old black and white Outer Limits, a tale about a nuke survivor in the far future and the last library on Earth. I always wondered what it would be like. I’m not wondering anymore.
I have a fairly large library and I know how to hide it if need be. So that the names of those sacrificed are not forgotten, that the success and failures of our time on this luminous sphere remain illuminated and so that the record of this experiment in humanity for our neighbors might not perish from the face of the Earth.
Mother Emanuel African Methodist Episcopal Church Nine Senior pastor state senator Name meaning “merciful” Church eldress, oldest to be shot Great grandnephew tries to shield her First and youngest shot College administrator and pastor Doctor her last name not a title Sunday school teacher Track coach and pastor Librarian Church sexton Seventy-four-year-old pastor Two played dead All women except two men Shot while praying And being black (and trusting). Say their names: Sharonda Coleman-Singleton, forty-five Susie Jackson, eighty-seven Myra Thompson, fifty-nine Daniel Simmons, seventy-four Ethel Lance, seventy Cynthia Hurd, fifty-four DePayne Middleton Doctor, forty-nine Clementa Pinckney, forty-one Tywanza Sanders, twenty-six In one of the oldest black churches (older than the Confederate flag) Denmark Vesey cofounder Two hundred and three years old Mother Emanuel African Methodist Episcopal Church Nine Remember Birmingham Sunday? This horror unfolded on a Wednesday. Mother Emmanuel African Methodist Episcopal Church Nine Say their names
- Cheryl Clarke
Emanuel Nine: Their Influence Was Wide"
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