Freedom of Speech and Censorship Part 2

One of the most famous men in Jamaican culture , via Rastafarianism

Marcus Mosiah Garvey

.......................................................................................................................

My old friends , from Santa Cruz...

I brought pounds of *sacrament* from Arizona ,
and was a member of their Church / Temple in '81

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

Yes, his poems are a work of art; it is what I refer to as sheer poetry in motion.. have a great evening as well

SweetKittyCat5 said:Yes, his poems are a work of art; it is what I refer to as sheer poetry in motion.. have a great evening as well

I'm looking forward to studying him!

Here's a wonderful one honoring Angelou by PoetsRevenge.  

She is my 'favorite' poetess...she was a profound woman not only with the creativity of her meaning poems but her activism as well. I did not want to leave you out there alone

Still I Rise

You may write me down in history
With your bitter, twisted lies,
You may tread me in the very dirt
But still, like dust, I'll rise.

Does my sassiness upset you?
Why are you beset with gloom?
'Cause I walk like I've got oil wells
Pumping in my living room.

Just like moons and like suns,
With the certainty of tides,
Just like hopes springing high,
Still I'll rise.

Did you want to see me broken?
Bowed head and lowered eyes?
Shoulders falling down like teardrops.
Weakened by my soulful cries.

Does my haughtiness offend you?
Don't you take it awful hard
'Cause I laugh like I've got gold mines
Diggin' in my own back yard.

You may shoot me with your words,
You may cut me with your eyes,
You may kill me with your hatefulness,
But still, like air, I'll rise.

Does my sexiness upset you?
Does it come as a surprise
That I dance like I've got diamonds
At the meeting of my thighs?

Out of the huts of history's shame
I rise
Up from a past that's rooted in pain
I rise
I'm a black ocean, leaping and wide,
Welling and swelling I bear in the tide.
Leaving behind nights of terror and fear
I rise
Into a daybreak that's wondrously clear
I rise
Bringing the gifts that my ancestors gave,
I am the dream and the hope of the slave.
I rise
I rise
I rise.

Maya Angelou

Valeriyabeyond said:
I want to hear from people of  every color on questions such as
Do you laugh at racist jokes?

Define racist jokes. Also describe the threat from such jokes first, please.

Valeriyabeyond said: Do you follow the belief  that Mexicans are lazy?

What??? Is that actually a belief?

Valeriyabeyond said: If you see a Muslim in an elevator how does it make you feel?

Nothing. Like a bear who is so far from people when he meets them he has no reason to feel fear or rage. I just am interested.

Valeriyabeyond said: When you see an unkept white child with an unkept black child which color do you judge which color do you make excuses for ?

Umm... my children keep running through blackberries and smearing all things in “art” - chopping hairs without permission...  they get attached to ratty clothes and practically have to be bribed to brush their hair and teeth.

I’ve never seen a “black” child look that unkempt... let alone any other child as crazy -savage as my own. So - I wouldn’t blink. But they are sweet and mega-talented.

I’d probably assume that’s what was going on.

Valeriyabeyond said: These simple , seemingly stupid questions we need to ask ourselves
In  order to filter out our racist tendencies
So we can begin to heal
Most think they are not racist
Answer a few blind random questions
they will see how messed up this country is

Well. Yeah. I’m pretty messed up, lol.

Hey, ho!

Muzzles for whites-only.

https://reason.com/2020/06/18/oregon-county-imposes-race-based-mask-requirements/

But blacks are more at risk?

SweetKittyCat5 said:She is my 'favorite' poetess...she was a profound woman not only with the creativity of her meaning poems but her activism as well. I did not want to leave you out there alone

Still I Rise

You may write me down in history
With your bitter, twisted lies,
You may tread me in the very dirt
But still, like dust, I'll rise.

Does my sassiness upset you?
Why are you beset with gloom?
'Cause I walk like I've got oil wells
Pumping in my living room.

Just like moons and like suns,
With the certainty of tides,
Just like hopes springing high,
Still I'll rise.

Did you want to see me broken?
Bowed head and lowered eyes?
Shoulders falling down like teardrops.
Weakened by my soulful cries.

Does my haughtiness offend you?
Don't you take it awful hard
'Cause I laugh like I've got gold mines
Diggin' in my own back yard.

You may shoot me with your words,
You may cut me with your eyes,
You may kill me with your hatefulness,
But still, like air, I'll rise.

Does my sexiness upset you?
Does it come as a surprise
That I dance like I've got diamonds
At the meeting of my thighs?

Out of the huts of history's shame
I rise
Up from a past that's rooted in pain
I rise
I'm a black ocean, leaping and wide,
Welling and swelling I bear in the tide.
Leaving behind nights of terror and fear
I rise
Into a daybreak that's wondrously clear
I rise
Bringing the gifts that my ancestors gave,
I am the dream and the hope of the slave.
I rise
I rise
I rise.

Maya Angelou




This is one of my favorites, I love how her poems are relatable to everyone, they seem to tap into the human condition and infuse a hopefulness, while she also stayed true to her roots in her writing.  She had so much wisdom.  I have been reading alot of her quotes on goodreads.

https://www.goodreads.com/author/quotes/3503.Maya_Angelou?page=5

EdibleWords said:

Well. Yeah. I’m pretty messed up, lol.

Thank you for reading and answering these questions
As ridiculous as they sound, the way someone answers tells alot.
These are questions we can ask ourselves
Our gut reaction upon answering will tell you if you have racial tendencies or planted racial thoughts
These questions are not meant to be answered by anyone pu licly because we may not be able to open ourselves up enough to experience that gut reaction
The maternal side of my family is from Mexico my mother was the first generation in America it was customary due to my bigoted mother to see Mexicans as lazy
It was pounded into my head but I dont feel that way nor do I believe it.
Society and the media have taught us to be aware of Muslims
I don't feel that way
I have laughed at racist jokes when I was in Junior High School 1970's
It was a time when Sanford and Son Barney Miller and Archie Bunker were #1 on TV
I don't entertain the thought any longer
I don't feel that way nor do I believe in it
No I will not give an example of a racist jokes that would be moving us in a direction that is unnecessary .
To admit that you feel that you are pretty messed up is a good thing
We all need to recognize what needs to change in ourselves in order for change to happen within our nation

Valeriyabeyond said:

I want to hear from people of  every color on questions such as....


Valeriyabeyond said:

These questions are not meant to be answered by anyone pu licly because we may not be able to open ourselves up enough to experience that gut reaction

To admit that you feel that you are pretty messed up is a good thing

Playfully spoken in my case. I mean I’m nobody to talk about anybody. I’m not fancier than anybody. It’s all up from where I stand.


We all need to recognize what needs to change in ourselves in order for change to happen within our nation

True, that.

But I don’t understand your communication.

EdibleWords said:

True, that.

But I don’t understand your communication.

Maybe I'm not being clear,  I apologize for that, but it is simple it is so easy it sounds unnecessary but without admitting  to ourselves who we are,
we are not going to grow

Asking ourselves these seemingly juvenile questions we are prompting a reaction within ourselves.
I don't want to corner anyone or confront anyone to open themselves up publicly
I want people to face what they don't want to face, within themselves
WHITE FRAGILITY is an amazing example of how people deny how they really feel
They deny, deny, deny, when they have to look inward


On a larger scale if we stop and look at society,  and the ways  we are programmed to think, we will see more than color or race
We will see the poor, the weak,  the disabled, the elderly,
Purposely  set apart categorized not for the sake of justification but to fit them  into a box where they will eventually receive priviledge or injustice

It's the next campaign promise
Someone is always trying to step up another rung on the ladder
They will use the people to promote their cause
Program us,  exploit a group they are focused on then they ride the wave
Purposely creating a divide  

To stop that programming within ourselves we have stopped that biased seed to grow  

We are responsible for what we produce
If we are blindly ingesting beliefs from the "world" from society
If we continue to behave as sponges with politicians and media instead of developing a filter then actually gaining some wisdom from our knowledge then the protests are for nothing

I can tell you this

I'm white-ish, that's to say I have a permanent tan cos Greek

Haven't got an ounce of guilt, because I treat everyone the same. always have. if you've guilt fair enough sort it out whatever way you can,  don't go projecting it onto me, don't assume I have the same guilt

I grew up in an environment where people fucked over people. an environment where police aimed semi-automatic weapons and shot people for nothing. men, women, children. army opened fire on the civil rights march (before my time) protestants loyal to the Queen burned Catholics out of their home unhindered by the justice system

police brutality isn't a new thing to me. people hating people is nothing new, I've been at the wrong side of serious beating on more than one occasion

I see privilege, I see politicians vote down down minimum wage rise then vote themselves a rise, I see people living on the streets. I see average citizens have to make a choice between food or medicine. I marched for gay rights, marched for their equality. marched for women's right to choose, marched against the governments plans to sell off our water

marched for catholics rights, dodged plastic bullets, took a beating, threw a couple of molotovs


I look at America, have seen the way the justice system eats black people, the way the police shoot them down. I have many friends there, many african american friends, they're doing a lot better than I am, fair fucks to them

I really hope they can force the police to cop the fk on. looks like its touch and go between the grassroots and the deep state.


yes, black lives matter. fuck yeah, people are people. everyone is equal.

I see people in the US finally waking up, finally looking into their history.  but dont preach to me though, way I see it you're newcomers into this game and I most likely know more about your shit than you do


not to offend anyone, #BLM is a first world problem. for the most  part the community is intergarated into the system right the way to the top echelons. they're not walking out of their jobs in droves which is unfortunate so it would appear they are comfortable enough in their part of the system -i see that as a big problem-


they're not sitting down to breakfast with the family and being destroyed by an American tomahawk missile launched hundreds of miles away

Palistine, Lybia, Yemen, Iraq, Afganistan, Syria

that's a problem, funny enough they're not white, and theres hardly any mention of them except for Palistine. not a mention of them anywhere in the around a 100 pages of this sibject because let's face they don't matter

they dont matter to the white people or the black people flying the drones or launching missiles, so their black lives dont matter

reality is,  at the moment African American lives matter, which is a bit mad to me because they've always mattered. didnt need marches, or placards,  or riots

I lived in london at the back end of signs like this in shops:

no dogs

no blacks

no Irish

I've been in Glasgow (Scotland) for a football match. both Scottish teams, supporters either had Irish flags or brittish flags and by jaysus they wanted to kick seven shades of shit into each other and often did


personally I think the movement #BLM lost as soon as the whole hashtag war started some years ago. rather than own all the hashtags and march together, they fight over them. even here on the site there's contempt


again, I'm 100% behind the people's struggle. know exactly why they're on the streets. and hope they have some lasting sucsess.

best of luck in your endeavors.


("you" is no one specific )

Thank you for that eloquent post, Craic.

Selfishly, this thread is more focused on happenings in the United States because of the response to George Floyd's  murder prompting the current atmosphere of protests.

lepperochan said:they're not sitting down to breakfast with the family and being destroyed by an American tomahawk missile launched hundreds of miles away

Palistine, Lybia, Yemen, Iraq, Afganistan, Syria

that's a problem, funny enough they're not white, and theres hardly any mention of them except for Palistine. not a mention of them anywhere in the around a 100 pages of this sibject because let's face they don't matter

they dont matter to the white people or the black people flying the drones or launching missiles, so their black lives dont matter

reality is,  at the moment African American lives matter, which is a bit mad to me because they've always mattered. didnt need marches, or placards,  or riots

Perhaps we will eventually get around to addressing systematic racism and oppression in other countries.  The last thread went very swiftly - given it was cluttered up with a lot of personal attacks, self promotion, bids for attention, and bickering.

And on the very first page of this thread, bigotry against Muslims was somewhat addressed, so there's at least a starting point for that which can be capitalized on. While Muslim isn't a skin color, judgements in the United States at least were and are leveled against them involving such.

Discussion is slowed down tremendously when simple concepts such as "defund police" have to be addressed, given posters from outside the U.S. ( as well as inside ) have wild interpretations about what that actually means.

I think, like everything else once there's one side another opposing side pops up to fuck things up. it's always been the way. people need something to fight they fight everything and everyone bar the fkn system


I think defund the police: take their military equipment off them, the tanks, the weapons and the training.

fund proper police training. apparently at the moment you need more training to be a hairdresser than  to be a cop. no wonder they're off their heads with aggression


fund community centres: proper rehab, counselling, medical ,psychiatric  etc

lepperochan said:I think, like everything else once there's one side another opposing side pops up to fuck things up. it's always been the way. people need something to fight they fight everything and everyone bar the fkn system


I think defund the police: take their military equipment off them, the tanks, the weapons and the training

fund proper police training. apparently at the moment you need more training to be a hairdresser than  to be a cop. no wonder they're off their heads with aggression


fund community centres: proper rehab, counselling, medical ,psychiatric  etc




You would be correct in your interpretation in regards to redirecting funds.

As for the aggression problem, it is mostly due to racism, which needs to be weeded out during the hiring process through more rigorous mental evaluations.

Racism is a result of fear, which is where the agression comes into play.

PoetsRevenge said:

This is one of my favorites, I love how her poems are relatable to everyone, they seem to tap into the human condition and infuse a hopefulness, while she also stayed true to her roots in her writing.  She had so much wisdom.  I have been reading alot of her quotes on goodreads.

https://www.goodreads.com/author/quotes/3503.Maya_Angelou?page=5

Thank you for the link, PR. And glad to see a fresh face in this ongoing conversation!