“Knowing that they were losing “valuable product” due to their slaves’ propensity to swim, slave owners began taking drastic steps to protect their property. One of these steps was to instill a fear of the water by dunking disobedient slaves in water until they nearly drowned and by creating fear through stories of creatures living in the water. Thus it didn’t take long to excise or destroy the West African swimming tradition from African- American culture. The Jim Crow laws that were enacted after The Civil War prohibited blacks from the popular seaside resorts in places like Atlantic City, N.J. and Revere Beach, Mass. And by the 20th Century, as the swimming pool began to gain in popularity in the United States, the color line prohibited blacks from enjoying this pleasant recreational skill.
In addition, self-segregation also played a role in limiting those of African ancestry from getting in the water. I remember my Aunt saying to stay away from the pool because, “black folk don’t swim.””
Next time you hear someone ask questions like, “Why don’t black people swim?” Or “Why are so many black people afraid of dogs?” And, “Why are there do so many black people live in poverty?”…..let ‘em know that those aren’t coincidences. These things didn’t just happen naturally, all on their own. There’s a reason for it, and you don’t have to be an historian to know they’re all interconnected through slavery, endemic racism and persistently racist cultural norms.
How To Tell If Your Cat Is Trying To Kill You? I’ve Been Finding Thumb Tacks In My Shoes Lately And I Couldn’t Figure Out Which Cat Was Doing It. Needless To Say, The Door To My Office Will Be Remaining Closed From Now On
When I die i want to be buried in the middle of nowhere in a spring loaded casket filled with confetti, so some future archeologist has one hell of a day at work.
I really liked this segment. I mean, for John Oliver, it's gentle and loving, less about making parents feel bad for not know who to trust, and more about providing information.
Finally, there's a John Oliver video about vaccines that you can share with all those relatives whose Facebook status updates make you worried for their children.
Thought of day. Much easier to have these when I’m not locked into a low mood tho. Gotta love them cycles and sudden organic inversions in energy and functioning. Very bipolar-affirming. Today I’m fine again
My toddler accidentally hit me in the face yesterday; the most bullshit part of Superman’s origin story is that he didn’t accidentally kill the Kents when he was three.
someone created a random generator that creates randomized inspirational quotes overlaid on random images in a soothing fashion and each and every image is comic gold
it’s pretty much the best thing ever and here are some of my favorites so far
so good
I’m getting this one made into a motivational poster for my home office
by Aimée Lutkin on The Slot, shared by Julianne Escobedo Shepherd to Jezebel
It’s weird, but it seems like someone associated with Donald Trump may not be entirely on the up-and-up when it comes to his finances. Trump’s lawyer, Jay Sekulow, sworn to uphold the law, appears to be some sort of conniving shyster who uses nonprofits to fill his own family’s coffers. Can you believe?
OK, so the Republicans may lose their change to get rid of legislature that is currently much more popular than anyone in their crappy little club. So... why has McConnell been walking around with that shitty little smile since the Senate started playing with it? Is he just lay the whole thing at Ryan's feet, metaphorically beheading him like some sort of Fucklord Highlander? Because I could have SWORn that that was the smile of a man whose delighted to be tossing cancer kids out onto the hospital's curbs, and who might round out the day by eating those kid's puppies for lunch. In front of them.
Hours after a CBO report concluded the Senate health care bill would kick 22 million people off of insurance, defections among the party caucus in the Senate may doom the bill from ever reaching a vote.
Vox policy reporter Dylann Scott tweeted on Monday evening he had heard that senators such as Rand Paul, Dean Heller and Susan Collins were all opposed to a motion to start debate on the bill as proposed.
According to Politico, Sen. Ron Johnson has also “signaled” opposition to the procedural vote, while other senators including Shelley Moore Capito and Marco Rubio were “undecided.” Read more(6/27/17)
After the CBO report, several Democratic Senators and Congresspeople took to Twitter to deride the Republican health care plan.
On Monday, the American Medical Association also announced it strongly opposed the Senate’s health care proposal.
Additionally, the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops announced in a statement shared to Twitter that the Senate bill was “unacceptable.” Read more (6/27/17)
Keep calling. Keep showing up at the capitol. Keep protesting. Keep the pressure on, because literally millions of people’s lives depend on it.
I hate hate HATE all those 2edgy 4me theories about kids shows. Like Angelica dreaming up the rugrats, or the ed, edd, and eddy children being ghosts, or literally anything that takes a lighthearted and fun kids show and has to turn it into some tragic take of rape or murder or misinformed mental illness.
So you know what? From now on I’m gonna do the exact opposite. Every cool grim-dark show is now because of a bunch of children. To get us started:
Game of Thrones: A middle-school DnD campaign with the most angry, vindictive DM who has promised to kill everyone’s player characters (and their family) by the end.
The Walking Dead is actually a bunch of kids playing zombie apocalypse in their neighborhood and every time someone “dies,” it’s because their parents called them home for supper.
Breaking Bad is actually just a fanfic the students in Mr. White’s class write about him because no one has any idea what he does with his free time and the running jokes about it got wildly out of hand.
These are all officially my headcanons for the actual shows now
someone should get these kids to write for television
I mean, seriously. Since when is my humanity located in my knee?
Cyberpunk Author: In this dystopian future, people are willing replace their living body parts with machines, sacrificing their HUMANITY for the power granted by TECHNOLOGY. When we can no longer tell where man ends and machine begins, have we not truly lost-
Me: Wait, so people can use cybernetics technology to change their bodies according to their wishes, compensating for disabilities or reshaping their forms to better fit their identity?
Cyberpunk Author: Yes, but can we really afford to abandon our natural-
Me: (already wearing seven pairs of mirrorshades)
“Democrats need to grow a pair and go on TV and radio and start actually slugging it out with idiotic Republicans. They don’t need to go low like the GOP, but fucking man the trench for once and don’t give an inch. Climate change is REAL. Evolution is REAL. Tax cuts DO NOT WORK. Healthcare is a RIGHT. Black people and muslims are being MURDERED on a daily basis. Trump COLLUDED with the Russians. Democrats need to start fighting like the world and people’s lives depend on it.”
Alison Chandra never expected to go viral for tweeting about her son’s medical bills — in fact, she never expected to be the mother of a child who needed so much medical care in the first place. But, with one viral tweetstorm she made it clear just how important the Affordable Care Act is to so many families. Read more (6/26/17)
He's just a big sweetie who's doing the best he can...
As if people aren’t bad enough, your future seatmate could feature large, pinchy claws. Well, sort of.
According to the Transportation Safety Administration’s Instagram account, a screener at Boston Logan International Airport found himself facing this giant of the sea while resolving a checked baggage alarm:
Lobsters — quite popular at airports in New England, as one may imagine — are allowed in both carry-on and checked bags, TSA notes, but just make sure you’ve checked with your airline ahead of time for packing guidelines.
