Life of a Pisces

This, also keep in mind that the “American cowboy” has been exaggerated greatly by Hollywood and popular myth - it was really only a twenty/thirty year period in the mid-19th century that essentially ended around the American civil war when barbed wire was introduced and eliminated the need for them.

If you’re ever in Denver, check out the Black American West Museum. Lots of photos, artifacts, etc.

John Wayne’s character in The Searchers was based on a black man named Britt Johnson.

Ivy still grows on the front of Langston Hughes’ home in Harlem. There aren’t many houses like it left in New York City. Real estate agents estimate it’s worth over $3 million.

And that’s before anyone talks about the fact that one of America’s great writers – a hero of the Harlem Renaissance – lived there for much of the 1950s and 60s, until he passed away. His typerwriter is still on a shelf.

Pressure to sell “Hughes House” is escalating. The current owner listed it for a mere $1 million a few years ago, but it didn’t sell. For now, the home sits empty. The owner doesn’t live there. No one does. Paint is chipping off the front steps.

Renee Watson thinks it’s a tragedy. That’s why she started an Indiegogo campaign to raise $150,000 to rent the home and turn it into a cultural center honoring Hughes.

“The more Harlem changes, the more I’m motivated to do something,” says Watson, a writer who lives nearby, and has watched gentrification flood in. A Whole Foods is set to open in the area early next year. Realtors predict prices will skyrocket even further.

“We – the community – must hold on to the space,” says Watson. “I feel a sense of urgency.”

So far, the initiative to save Hughes House has raised just over $25,000.

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#JamychealMitchell

Youth Jailed Since April For Alleged $5 Grocery Theft, Found Dead In Jail Cell

A young man was arrested by Portsmouth, Virginia police over a mere $5 in groceries that he stole because he was hungry.

The arrest came on the same day a Portsmouth cop shot and killed an unarmed African American 18-year-old.

But now, Jamycheal Mitchell, 24, has been found dead in his jail cell, after spending four months behind bars with no conviction and no bail.

Mitchell had no muscle mass left by the time he died. As a registered nurse, she said she believes he was starving himself, apparently to pressure the “justice” system to  stop locking him up indefinitely.

Mitchell was accused of stealing a $1 bottle of Mountain Dew, a Snickers bar and a Zebra Cake. Combined, these amounted to a total of $5 he is accused of stealing from a 7-Eleven.

For that, he has been locked up for months, awaiting trail, and it is not even clear that he committed those crimes. There may have, perhaps, been a dispute about payment. Or perhaps he began consuming the food in the store and his credit or debit card was declined. Both of these scenarios could result in the same charges.

Perhaps still, he was poor, hungry, and stole food from time to time. Are we really in the business of locking people in cages for months over stealing food?

Mitchell’s death has not been covered by national, or even local media in Virginia, aside from a brief mention on the 11 o’clock news. Help us SPREAD THE WORD before the police start shaping the narrative of this young man’s death!

Amber Rose has the best response for why women should NEVER feel ashamed of demanding safe sex 

Amber Rose is simply not interested in your slut-shaming. The unapologetic social-media star doesn’t mince words when it comes to a woman’s right to own her sexuality. And you have to hear how passionately she defends the women in the audience.