King Lear goes First Nations

Shakespeare’s tragedy, King Lear, set in 17^th Century Canada, amidst the pressure of early contact and confrontation, with an all-aboriginal cast from across the country, including the renowned August Schellenberg, Mohawk, as Lear.  In this powerful family conflict, an aging father—dividing his kingdom—demands proof of love from his daughters, thereby unleashing a tempestuous tragedy that even a king can’t control. A play as big as Canada, resonating with our own history. 

(Source: selchieproductions)

laprima510:

anotherfeminist:

thinkmexican:

Charter School Teaching Nahuatl & Danza Faces New Criticism

The LA Times ran a story Sunday on Academia Semillas del Pueblo, a Los Angeles charter school teaching Nahuatl and Danza Azteca as part of its curriculum titled “LAUSD charter elementary with low test scores gets a reprieve.” The article mainly focused on how the school has narrowly avoided closure while setting the goal of making language and culture accessible to its students. However, towards the end, the Times quotes Judicial Watch, an organization that calls itself a “public interest group that investigates and prosecutes government corruption.”

Here’s the quote: “The school ‘is not much more than a training ground for the Mexican reconquista movement, which seeks to conquer the American Southwest — by force or by ballot box — and return it to Mexico,’ concluded Judicial Watch…”

Why give such a misinformed group legitimacy, LA Times? Not only is there no such thing as a “Mexican reconquista movement,” but as pointed out in the article, such rhetoric has led to actual death threats.

Image: Juana de la Cruz Farias, a teacher at Academia Semillas del Pueblo, teaches Nahuatl, an indigenous language of Mexico, to Anthony Rayo.

Photo Credit: Gary Friedman, Los Angeles Times

Que alguien me informe del movimiento de reconquista. Gente mamona.

RECONQUISTA MY ASS….WE TAKING OUR SHIT BACK STARTING OFF WIT OUR BABIES THEY HAVE THE RIGHT TO THEIR NATIVE CULTURE!

(Source: synodik)

neworleanspharaoh:

theoddmentemporium:

Henrietta Lacks. Lived: 1920-1951 Who’s DNA was pivotal in forming modern genetics.

When tobacco farmer Henrietta Lacks was diagnosed with cervical cancer at the age of 30 in 1951, all she wanted to do was get better. Sadly, after eight months of radiation and surgery at Johns Hopkins University Hospital, Lacks and her tumor-riddled body lost the battle with the disease.

However, unbeknownst to her and her family, her cells lived on — right up until today. Known as HeLa cells (a combo of the first two letters of her first and last name), they have been multiplying since the sample was (secretly) taken from one of Lacks’ tumors and sent to Dr. George Gey’s tissue-culture research lab back in the 1950s. Not only did Lacks’ cells help scientists test the polio vaccine, HeLa cells were also sent into space.

Unfortunately, Lacks’ family didn’t find out about the grand experiment till the early 1970s when a researcher from Johns Hopkins called them. But now Rebecca Skloot’s recently released “The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks” will ensure history knows the unprecedented role Lacks played — and how her body revolutionized modern science.

Just finished writing an essay on Mrs. Henrietta Lacks. If you did not believe the Black Woman is God. May you understand her story. Her cells have been used for 11,000 different patents. Perfect example of how science has experimented on blacks and ultimately took advantage of her, and her family.

fyeahblackhistory:

Queen Calafia

Calafia is a fictional warrior queen who ruled over a kingdom of Black women living on the mythical Island of California. The character of Queen Calafia was created by Spanish writer Garci Rodríguez de Montalvo who first introduced her in his popular novel entitled Las sergas de Esplandián (The Adventures of Esplandián), written around 1500.

Calafia, also called Califia, has been depicted as the Spirit of California, and has been the subject of modern-day sculpture, paintings, stories and films; she often figures in the myth of California’s origin, symbolizing an untamed and bountiful land prior to European settlement.

Click here for video.

(Source: newkidssonmycock)

(Source: themonstersmile)

rikaorlanda:

Silence Kills

Oaxaca, Mexico

(Source: fuckyeahlatenighthosts)

“Dear Mr. Vernon, we accept the fact that we had to sacrifice a whole Saturday in detention for whatever it was we did wrong. But we think you’re crazy to make an essay telling you who we think we are. You see us as you want to see us… In the simplest terms, in the most convenient definitions. But what we found out is that each one of us is a brain, and an athlete, and a basket case, a princess and a criminal. Does that answer your question? 

Sincerely yours, the Breakfast Club.”

(Source: buffys)