in 1979, a group of Black feminists, the Combahee River Collective (CRC), organized a march in protest of missing and murdered Black women.
I spoke with Barbara Smith, co-founder of CRC, on how Black lesbian feminist socialists cultivated bridges:
#IWD
what is your government telling you about the value of _your_ life when it is easier to ask for help with dying than it is to get housing, social services, medical relief, etc?
canada has the highest social media footprint of right wing extremism. according to this 2020 study in the UK, the presence of hate groups in canada tripled in recent years, and is higher than the US and UK:
a fire destroyed Waheen market, a major source for Hargeisa’s economy, on the eve of Ramadan. many of the shops are owned and run by women. 28 injuries so far, millions of $$ lost. this will have a significant impact on the city as a whole.
please donate
abdirahman abdi, a black muslim refugee from somalia, was killed by police in canada's capital city in 2016. it was filmed and shared across national news platforms for the country's observance. the police officer who killed him was found NOT guilty today.
abolish the police.
eishia hudson was murdered over a bottle of liquor in winnipeg. she was 16 years old. a few days ago, police killed d’andre campbell in brampton after *he* called the police for assistance. anti-Black and anti-Indigenous police violence persists, even amidst a global pandemic...
my grandfather was a doorman in 1930's Harlem (like many Somali seamen after the war). by chance, he witnessed a mob murder while on the job and was asked to take a stand as a witness........ that's when he decided it was time to dip back to africa lol
me rn, critiquing beyonce and jay z's continuous ode to capitalism while branding themselves as invested in black liberation, but also really feeling this album so far
toronto has felt like two cities for a long time. a more neglected side was always privy to the full picture. the other is now witnessing what was already there. it is the latter who are sensationalizing conversations about crime right now.
[Resource] The
@therapy4bgirls
directory is a listing of +1000 mental health professionals across the country who provide high quality, culturally competent services to Black women and girls.
👩🏾💻:
Sending love to everyone on my TL tonight!
remember when doug's brother, rob, was caught smoking crack-cocaine on video, y'all? remember when TPS invaded toronto's largest somali neighbourhood in response to absolve white men from any criminality while publicly criminalizing a whole black muslim refugee community?
black lives matter—one of the most important liberation movements of our time—started off as a hashtag
#onhere
(after the acquittal of zimmerman). black queer women have utilized THIS public sphere to organize and shape inter/national discourses about anti-black state violence
hodan hashi, a 23 year-old black muslim woman, was killed after a vicious attack this weekend in saskatoon. the framing and reduction of her murder to a bar fight absolves the racism and sexism involved in her death.
#justiceforhodan
the organizers arrested at hamilton's encampment protest are black muslim women. i hope we understand the arrests of anti-poverty activists at peaceful demonstrations are targeted and planned; that these individuals are already subject to hyper-surveillance measures pre-event
canada’s MAiD program—medically assisting people in their deaths—expands March 17, 2023* to include people coping with mental health. this is in the midst of multiple economic and social crises. what is our government telling us about who has the right to a quality life?
east africans really took the dishes of italian colonizers and was like let me work it and re-work it, put my thing down, flip it and reverse it, tii esrever dna ti pilf, nwod gniht ym tup
when you are murdering black people in your music video, with no warning, to prove a political point, i really can't help but wonder who your art is for. surely it isn't black folks.
islamophobia is deadly and trickles into every fabric of canadian society. it permeates through state policies, institutions, media and public discourse, and the minds of many. a 9-year-old boy is going to grow up without his family. innalilahi wa innalilahi raji’un.
ramadan kareem to those who are partaking in the holy month, especially those fasting without community, through grief, financial uncertainty, and all the other difficulties this pandemic has exasperated. may Allah swt protect you and grant you ease 🤲🏾✨💫
this many police responded to a call yesterday because *one* man was standing on a car at eglinton west and oakwood. this was during a peaceful demonstration to fight against gentrification and protect the historic little Jamaica neighbourhood.
defund. abolish.
i moved to New York at the end of 2022 to start a job at
@mccNYU
as a visiting assistant professor in Media, Culture, and Communication — happy to finally share this one✨✨✨
a dispensary called "hobo" opening up beside sistering, a shelter for precariously housed women in toronto, says more than enough about the compassion in this city
eid mubarak to you and yours — especially to the Muslim workers in Minnesota currently protesting Amazon for fair wages and the day off work to celebrate eid ul fitr 🌸🌙🕌✨
you voted for body-worn cameras as a solution to police brutality—a project that will cost up to $50 million—and voted against reallocating a tiny tiny 10% of the police budget to community services
stop pretending you care for ”meaningful change” around policing in this city
In the wake of this very sad event, we have taken action to make sure there is real, sensible, and meaningful change in our city, especially as it relates to persons in distress, the kinds of help available to them in moments of crisis and their interaction with police.
the police circled around the MAGA guy to protect him from the crowd chanting at him to leave. we're just keeping the peace, an officer told me. an East African woman was in near tears seeing this. MAGA guy was smug the whole time.
one of the many things I've learned through caring for plants: when a plant fails to blossom or grow, the root of the problem is not in the plant itself, but its environment. this tweet is not about plants, though.
toronto’s mayor is wrongfully trying to stop a peaceful, anti-apartheid rally at Nathan Philips Square today. she says no permits were obtained for a public space that, as per NPS website, does not need permits for “demonstrations, protests, and marches”
the loss of hodan nalayeh is such devasting news. hodan dedicated her life and career as a journalist to sharing nuanced stories about somalia and its diaspora. let's keep hodan's children and family in our prayers. allah yerhamo 🥀
#BreakingNew
: Hodan Naaleeye
@HodanNaaleey
, TV journalist & founder of Integration TV, and her Husband Fariid Jaamac, Was among the dozen people who died today's Hotel
#Asaseey
Kismaayo. Hodan, left from
#Canada
where she started her TV Diaspora Program. Grant to Jannah
delegating power to police to enforce lockdown rules in a city with a growing housing crisis is especially concerning. i’m scared for all the unhoused people who won't be able to provide police with an address when harassed.
a young somali trans girl in north carolina is in need of support after being outed to her family. the goal is to get her legally emancipated to escape abuse and threat of deportation. please donate/share with networks: via
@LGBTQ_Somalis
today i went to rouge valley hospital (in malvern) to discharge a 58-year old family member who is clinically schizophrenic. i arrived at the hospital only to find out they had LOST him because of their neglect.
nina simone once said that oscar peterson is one of the greatest pianists. it sucks that he isn't celebrated enough.
he's from Montreal's little burgundy neighbourhood, where you can find real tributes and murals dedicated to the legend.
inna lillahi wa inna ilayhi raji'un.
unfortunately, Almaas Elman is not the first somali woman committed to social justice issues, and who was visible in her work, that was murdered in somalia. this trend is alarming.
we don't need the police investigating the police to receive justice. we know that there is an inevitable police bias involved with SIU investigations. abolish the SIU.
#JUSTICEFORREGIS
#RegisKorchinskiPaquet
#BREAKING
: The province’s police watchdog says no charges will be laid against responding officers in the case of Regis Korchinski-Paquet, the young woman who fell to her death from a High Park Avenue balcony in May.
"Forever and always, your beautiful Black life matters and you’re loved fiercely, no matter what the world around us tells you." —
@AnthonyNMorgan
Black Canadians share their stories and words of heartache and strength.
toronto fam, please circulate this. hakeem is from toronto's parkdale neighbourhood and is missing. he's 25, 6 ft, 160 lbs, slim build. he was last seen at king/dufferin. if you have any info, please contact
@bliptor
or the phone numbers below.
cite black women. cite black women. cite black women. cite black women. cite black women. cite black women. cite black women. cite black women. cite black women. cite black women. cite black women. cite black women. cite black women. cite black women. cite black women. cite black
depressing to think about all the black and racialized service staff and cooks who will be exposed to covid because dipshits wanna drink and eat overpriced mediocre food on patios
hi, friends. vulnerability is something i'm still learning to practice, esp through my writing. it's been years since i've written a personal essay. here's something i wrote for
@Hazlitt
about depression, anger, and healing through ramadan:
truth is there are bare lilly singh’s running through toronto, and many of them are the active gatekeepers in this city’s creative industries 🤷🏾♀️🤷🏾♀️🤷🏾♀️
“What’s the cost of TTC fare? 3 dollars, something like that?” Councillor Jim Karygiannis, who sits on the TTC board, doesn’t know the current cost of riding transit. This, on the day advocates are expressing outrage about a possible 10 cent fare hike next year.
#TOpoli
for
@i_D
’s worldwide issue i spoke with
@MustafaThePoet
about surviving a gentrifying toronto, his tensions with making music as a devout Muslim, Smoke Dawg, and the weight of grief. i hope it grasps just how special Mustafa and his album is:
From Grammy awards/nominations to opening for the Raptors game (with a poem in honour of Mandela) to collaborating with Valentino, Mustafa the Poet stays reaching new levels of Black Muslim excellence with his poetry. This city should be so proud.
We say 👏🏾 MashaAllah 👏🏾
Collaborated with
@MaisonValentino
on their new Women’s collection, my poetry & words are embroidered on the clothes, shoes & bags..what an honour, black history all year!!
“I’m writing for black people in the same way that Tolstoy was not writing for me, a 14-year-old coloured girl from Lorain, Ohio.... The point is not having the white critic sit on your shoulder and approve it" — Toni Morrison in 2015:
when people say "there's no community in toronto," lately, i get disappointed. there is community here. they're the ones showing up, endlessly, to defend lamport stadium, alexandria park, etc. if it's not at the function go to your local protest because this city is under fire.
in 2016, while in court for the trial against the murder of my cousin, my aunt held back tears before saying to me: ”i fled war back home only for my children to die here” 💔
#JusticeForAbdirahman
two black muslim activists dropped out of BLM-TO and the broader BLM movement today. please read the statement by Sah Ra and Sarah Jama, two housing activists from Hamilton. the sentiments in this letter echo the message from yusra khogali's exit in 2019. yusra tried to warn us:
Here is our statement on why we left BLMTO,
@bolshevikbaddie
"After over a year of struggling within
@BLM_TO
to improve internal processes, we left the group when, like many other people, we found out about
@blmcanada_
$8 million dollar purchase of the
@WildseedCentre_
"