izuba:

THE FORGOTTEN - Example Of An African Middle-Class

Images from Africa in the Western media show mostly terrible misery, war, hunger and poverty. According to UN figures more than ninety percent of all Africans live neither in war nor crisis-areas and the economic growth of some African countries is among the largest in the world. 

Kenya‘s economic growth is annually between five and six percent which is three times higher than the growth in Germany. This is above all to the credit of the middle class, which is probably the most crucial potential for the development of the country. Nevertheless you hardly notice anything about the lives of African middle class people. Hahn + Hartung traveled to the capital city of Kenya, Nairobi to meet and create a portray of people belonging to the middle class.

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gbg-g:

thewhitemankilledthetruth:

almondskeyes:

almondskeyes:

“White Teachers VS ‘Innercity’ Students: Deception in Media Portrayal”

So I spent many hours making this video for an education class……

Basically, I analyzed several “white savior teacher movies” and gave some insight on what this does for audiences

I made this last night and it’s kinda long but I think it’s important you know?

bless this post

This is a whole lotta truth. I’m just gonna add, another detrimental aspect of this narrative is that it affects how teachers and prospective teachers view themselves in a classroom. The public school teaching force is overwhelmingly made out of middle class white people, primarily white women, when the student body is nothing of the sort, so the narrative ends up being played out by teachers who think it could really work this way, and when they fail, b/c this shit is structural, it leads to a lot of blaming of the students. I’m just gonna drop links to a book here 

http://readabookson.tumblr.com/post/31681971350

The book is Black Students, Middle Class Teachers and he spends a couple chapters talking about this gap between the teacher’s world and the students. Though he does lean a bit heavy on the religion for me.

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nok-ind:

The Yoruba Orisha Part 1 (Part 2)

An Orisha (also spelled Orisa or Orixa) is a spirit or deity that reflects one of the manifestations of Olodumare (God) in the Yoruba religious system. (Olodumare is also known by various other names includ
ing Olorun, Eledumare, Eleda and 

Olofin-Orun). This religion has found its way throughout the world and is now expressed in practices as varied as Candomblé, Lucumí/Santería, Shango in Trinidad, Anago and Oyotunji, as well as in some aspects of Umbanda, Winti, Obeah, Vodun and a host of others.

These varieties or spiritual lineages are practiced throughout areas of Nigeria, the Republic of Benin, Togo, Brazil, Cuba, Dominican Republic, Guyana, Haiti, Jamaica, Puerto Rico, Suriname, Trinidad and Tobago, the United States, Uruguay and Venezuela among others. As interest in Yoruba religion system grows, Orisha communities and lineages can be found in parts of Europe and Asia as well. While estimates may vary, some scholars believe that there could be more than 150 million adherents of this spiritual tradition worldwide.

(Please note many Orisha have male/female personifications)

Click here for a Brief understanding. 

Courtesy: James C. Lewis (http://www.noire3000studios.com/)

Do not remove the original comments.

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real essay writing!
thefrogman:

Endless Origami [website | twitter]

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afrochronicles:

black panthers talk about natural hair

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timelightbox:

Nov. 28, 2012. Cairo, Egypt. A protester finds cover behind a destroyed vehicle at the scene of clashes with Egyptian police near Tahrir Square. (Photo: Moises Saman—Magnum for TIME)

Throughout 2012, TIME’s unparalleled photojournalists were there. At a time when so much hangs in the balance, bearing witness can be the most essential act — and that’s what we do. Here’s the best of our commissioned photojournalism from 2012. See more on LightBox.

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dynamicafrica:

“I’m from South Sudan, originally born there and lived there half of my life. And then I came to the USA when I was fourteen years old. We came as refugees—there was a war going on in my country—and first we lived in Egypt, and later we got sponsored by Catholic Charities to come to Newark [New Jersey]. We moved to San Diego, where we had family, and then I came to New York in 2006 to model. I learned a lot about myself [modeling]… And now with DJ-ing, it’s been great; I just love music. When I used to have a get-together with my friends, I was always the first to put my playlists on and everybody liked them. I was like, ‘You know what, I might as well try it out and see how it’s going to go.’ After that, I just fell in love with it; I’m addicted right now. [Laughs] I’m also doing a lot with my charity, Southern Sudan Initiatives, which my cousin [Dut Leek Deng, a Lost Boy] and I started. It focuses on education, healthcare, and clean water in Africa. The main thing we’re working on right now is raising money to drill water wells in some of the villages because there isn’t any clean water. Our main goal is to bring self-sufficiency into our country.

I love New York, I love the diversity. It feels nice that people appreciate my color or think it’s beautiful. At first, I wasn’t used to it, since growing up I was teased a lot for having darker skin, even by other black kids. So I just thought it was weird [to be called beautiful], but now it actually help me appreciate myself even better. I see my skin as a blessing, and there’s nothing wrong with it, nothing to be ashamed about, you know? It also makes me want to speak to more Africans or black people because some of them are stuck in the mentality that dark skin is ugly or it’s not good… So, I think it’s good that I’m out there with my dark skin letting myself be out there and letting people see it’s beautiful.

I’m from Sudan, so we’re pretty natural with our beauty stuff—that’s how I grew up. We drink a lot of water, and use a lot of natural products. Since we tend to have dry skin, we like to use a lot of cocoa butter type of stuff. We’re not big makeup people.

Read more from the South Sudanese DJ as she shares beauty and make up advice.

My background? Um… It’s a white wall!

destroyer:

so sassy

thegoddamazon:

ethiopienne:

this frohawk STILL slays me.

How do you do this style? I MUST KNOW

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Junot Diaz, Same Trip, Different Ships By Milca Esdaille (via howtobeterrell)

Where is the .gif with a fully applauding audience?

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“…we’re unwilling to define ourselves merely as Black.”

THAT is the problem right there.  That ‘merely’, like it’s just So. Awful. to be black, so there’s the need to identify as everything BUT black, but still want to claim blackness when it’s convenient.

(via locsgirl)

This is not at all about being considered “merely” Black, and while I understand how that word choice could be a problem if misinterpreted, “merely” in this context is relating to the fact that he identifies with an ethnic/national/cultural identity AS WELL AS a racial one that IS BLACK, but via DOMINICAN BLACKNESS. Everybody’s Black-orientation isn’t from an American perspective. This isn’t about devaluing African-American blackness, it’s about having HIS blackness, the blackness that’s generated from HIS historical/cultural experiences, the genesis of blackness from HIS country - be respected and acknowledged. That being Dominican, his blackness is also combined with the importance of his language and bonding with other Latinos via that language and for that to be questioned or for somebody to not understand that or want him to not engage in that is flat out ridiculous … And why should he have to? Because Blacks in the US no matter your ethnic background, you’re supposed to speak English to make other folk comfortable? I hope people don’t miss the point of this quote …

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(via lati-negros)

The mad scramble for Africa

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unpossibly:

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