teded:

This is the Bop. The Bop is a type of social dance. Dance is a language, and social dance is an expression that emerges from a community. A social dance isn’t choreographed by any one person. It can’t be traced to any one moment. Each dance has steps that everyone can agree on, but it’s about the individual and their creative identity Because of that, social dances bubble up, they change, and they spread like wildfire. They are as old as our remembered history.

In African-American social dances, we see over 200 years of how African and African-American traditions influenced our history. The present always contains the past. And the past shapes who we are and who we will be.

Now, social dance is about community and connection; if you knew the steps, it meant you belonged to a group. But what if it becomes a worldwide craze? Enter the Twist.

It’s no surprise that the Twist can be traced back to the 19th century, brought to America from the Congo during slavery. But in the late ‘50s, right before the Civil Rights Movement, the Twist is popularized by Chubby Checker and Dick Clark. Suddenly, everybody’s doing the Twist: white teenagers, kids in Latin America, making its way into songs and movies. Through social dance, the boundaries between groups become blurred.

The story continues in the 1980s and ‘90s. Along with the emergence of hip-hop, African-American social dance took on even more visibility, borrowing from its long past, shaping culture and being shaped by it. Today, these dances continue to evolve, grow and spread.

Why do we dance? To move, to let loose, to express.

Why do we dance together? To heal, to remember, to say: “We speak a common language. We exist and we are free.”

From the TED-Ed Lesson The history of African-American social dance - Camille A. Brown

Camille A. Brown is a choreographer fusing dance and social commentary to explore race, sexuality and femininity.

Title Design by Kozmonot Animation Studio 

(via blackcontemporaryart)

kowabungadoodles:

This is a post of activism you can do every day, after the marches and behind the front lines. This is an incomplete list and I’d welcome people adding more, adding links, adding thoughts. 

if you aren’t sure how you can help, if you’re in a difficult situation and have to hide your true feelings, if you don’t have a lot of money, mobility or personal power: you can still fight. 

Boost other voices. 
Look for folk with a perspective outside your own sphere, listen to what they have to say. Let yourself be educated, don’t reply; you don’t have to agree with everything they say but keep an open mind and let them talk. Share what they have to say rather than chiming in or repeating their words as your own. Also because people are awesome and hilarious and thought-provoking and you’re missing out.
Follow some new blogs, twitters and youtube channels today.

Try not to share bad information. Fact check posts! if people provide no sources, ask for them. A quick google search or even just checking the comments will often show someone has already disproved it. If you find sources to back it up, add the sources to the post. (How to Fact Check the Internet.)

Check and challenge micro-aggressions, especially ones against other people. Learn to spot them, learn to challenge them, make it a habit. You’re probably guilty of a few yourself. (http://www.microaggressions.com/, 21 Racial Microaggressions Buzzfeed)

Try to find local groups, charities etc working in your area.
Sign up to their newsletters. Track what’s happening locally so if they need people for an event, for a march, for fundraising or just to signal boost a post, you’ll be ready. 

Support other activists.
Even if you can’t go to a protest, can’t get time off work, can’t afford to travel, aren’t in good health - you may be able to help someone else get there.
There are groups springing up in some cities who will put together teams to help mind kids, cook meals, even clean so that people who wouldn’t normally be able to can take time for protests and meetings. This goes double for local elections! During the last election people started offering car pools to help get folk to the polls. 

Support Minority Businesses.
This is a small choice to make every day. You were going to buy that cup of coffee anyway, but who are you buying it from?
Do you buy that ‘tribal’ top from Urban Outfitters (who outright steal designs and never pay a cent) or do you hunt around a bit and find Native-owned stores online (Whose work is better made and downright gorgeous?). Do you buy that ultra expensive bark soap from the department store or go find the same thing or better at half the price from a black-owned skincare line? 
You can actually shop indie, shop local, get something nicer, support people AND save money.
(A year of shopping only at black businesses.)

Use your privilege to help people without it.
If you see someone being harassed, go and talk to that person like they’re a friend. Ignore the harasser. Offer to accompany them to a safe place.
(What to do, an Illustrated Guide.)
There’s a lot of examples where your presence alone could de-escalate a situation; a woman being harassed in a bar, trans folk needing to use a public bathroom that doesn’t match their identity.
 
Film the police. 
USA: Your rights, More on your rights.
UK: Your rights.

Keep yourself informed. 
Try to find and follow reliable sources, look for information, look for discussion. Question everything you read. The world is not simple and anyone wrapping up a difficult question into a few simple answers usually has an agenda. Keep an open mind about your own biases and be ready to learn. Be prepared to be wrong about some things. Its ok to make mistakes, but admit to them and learn from them. 
http://everydayfeminism.com/

If you want to do more, a meeting, a panel, a group, a march, a fundraiser, if you want write a column about a situation or group, write a book about a situation or group, there’s one thing you have to do: Actually talk to the people you’re writing about/ fundraising for/ advocating for/ talking about. Find out what they need, what the problems are and what they’d like you to do to help. Keep them in the loop about what you’re doing. Involve them.
There are even Sensitivity Reading services available to writers. 

This is a basic starter kit to activism, for those of you who want to do better and aren’t sure how. All of these you can do every day, should be striving to do every day, to make your community a little nicer, a little more tolerant. 

Places to start with your Activism

just-shower-thoughts:

If you drive off in a stolen Tesla, it becomes an Edison