"Years ago, anthropologist Margaret Mead was asked by a student what she considered to be the first sign of civilization in a culture. The student expected Mead to talk about fishhooks or clay pots or grinding stones.
But no. Mead said that the first sign of civilization in an ancient culture was a femur (thighbone) that had been broken and then healed. Mead explained that in the animal kingdom, if you break your leg, you die. You cannot run from danger, get to the river for a drink or hunt for food. You are meat for prowling beasts. No animal survives a broken leg long enough for the bone to heal.
A broken femur that has healed is evidence that someone has taken time to stay with the one who fell, has bound up the wound, has carried the person to safety and has tended the person through recovery. Helping someone else through difficulty is where civilization starts, Mead said."
We are at our best when we serve others. Be civilized.
current mindscape:
pork chops
Today in Labor History June 26, 1975: FBI provoked a shootout with members of the American Indian Movement (AIM) at Oglala, South Dakota. The deadly firefight left two FBI agents and Lakota activist Joe Stuntz dead. Two AIM leaders were prosecuted for the FBI deaths and found innocent. A third AIM activist, Leonard Peltier was later framed by undercover FBI agents who were conducting counterintelligence on the reservation. During the trial, some of the government’s own witnesses testified that Peltier wasn’t even present at the scene of the killings and the judge disallowed some of the same evidence that helped acquit his comrades in the earlier trial. In 2017, President Obama denied Peltier's application for clemency. He is still in prison and his health has been deteriorating. There is a petition to get him transferred from prison to Mayo clinic in Minnesota. On June 7, 2022, The UN Human Rights Council's Working Group on Arbitrary Detention found that Peltier’s imprisonment violates the UN’s Universal Declaration of Human Rights.
#WorkingClass #LaborHistory #LeonardPeltier #fbi #obama #AmericanIndianMovement #indegenous #prison #racism
Just a small reminder... cuz that's it.
#blackmastodon #blacktwitter #blackfedi #racism #ally #community
coming in an EXTREMELY close second in the world of all-time summer jams is Mega Ran's "Splash Woman"
aphex twin's "Windowlicker" is the ultimate summer jam. fucking fight me, tourists
rage: very yes
i have done something tonight for which i can never forgive myself.
i attended a meeting of the library board because of, well, this: https://www.kmov.com/2023/05/27/st-charles-co-public-libraries-decline-change-policy-after-controversy-over-male-employee-dressing-female/ this has blown up huge. the person making the accusation made an announcement she was going to show up at the board meeting tonight and rallied her KKKaren followers. this being a red town in a red state, i was expecting a low turnout from our side--it was about 60/40. and the opportunity was given for all concerned to have three minutes' time for public comment.
for every loathsome, hateful, bileful, ignorant, slur-filled tirades i had to sit through from the anti-trans brigade, there were equally many meek, mealy-mouthed messages of how lovely the library is and how much the people here love it and why can't we all get along from the boomer libs in the audience. it was sickening.
i had written a message for the library board. but in a moment of doubt i chose not to submit a comment form, deciding to stand and hold a sign instead.
i could have had that crowd riled up. i could have had them out of their seats and ready to fucking ROCK. i could have made the chistofascists squirm. i could have called out that fucking busybody for what her bullshit is--a nakedly brazen attempt to wedge herself into the library system and start banning, then burning books--but i didn't. i let down my end, and i let myself down.
never again will i rob myself of the opportunity to speak out when it's given. i don't care if it makes me look like a lunatic or a radical or a criminal. i am so angry with myself tonight for squandering this chance, i swear it's a mistake i will not make twice.
because Judgment Day's not coming soon enough.
TMKF (THIS MACHINE KILLS FASCISTS) 9000
owner of driveinsaturday.org
head projectionist for Drive-in Saturday, the internet's premier movie-riffing organization ("Joel who?")
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