January 1935

african-this, african-that

...afro-this, afro-that (and the american “African American” is even worse) is a racist way of talking. An Egyptian is african. A boer from South Africa is too. The same applies to Tunisians, Moroccans, and Algerians. “African” does not mean “black”. But even if all africans were black, it would be racist to address such wide variation of people (even fenotypically speaking), originated from the biggest continent on Earth, by only one word. Yorubas are not bantu, malineses are not bundos, hausas are not gege. They are people with different histories and often tainted by millenary animosity. To call a mulatto – the child of a white american with a black Kenyan – an “African American” is a historical rudeness. Those expressions are “way worse than any other espontaneously adopted by people. Using them is adopting the vision of a slave trader.


"...afro-isso, afro-aquilo (e a forma americana “African- American” é ainda pior) é um modo racista de falar. Um egípcio é africano. Um bôer da África do Sul também. O mesmo para Tunisinos, Marroquinos e Argelinos. “Africano” não quer dizer “negro”. Mas mesmo que todos os africanos fossem pretos, seria racismo designar povos tão variados (inclusive fenotipicamente), oriundos do maior continente da Terra, por uma só palavra. Iorubanos não são bantos, malineses não são bundos, haussás não são gege. São povos com histórias diferentes e muitas vezes tingidas de inimizades milenares. Chamar um mulato filho de uma branca americana com um preto do Kênia de “African-American” é uma grosseria histórica. Essas expressões são “muito piores do que qualqer outra adotada espontaneamente pelas pessoas, como você diz. Usá-las é adotar o olhar do traficante de escravos."




(this is a quote by Caetano Veloso, posted yesterday on his blog, addressing IN FORM OF A POST (ah!) a comment made by my friend / twin, his #1 fan and follower, and now also – officially – the happiest man alive.)

historical photographs - the lego version

Here.

know your history, ladies!

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Elizabeth Hasselbeck, I'm sure by pure accident, was technically right. Whoopi - again technically - was wrong. What I'm trying to say is that it was all by chance, they were all assumptions. I would encourage Barbara to rethink her ladies, because right now, my friends, they are dangerously ignorant. This, coming from a foreign girl, should be extra shameful.

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The 15th Amendment (1870) to the Constitution of the United States prohibits federal or state governments from infringing on a citizen's right to vote. "The right of citizens of the United States to vote shall not be denied or abridged by the United States or by any State on account of race, color, or previous condition of servitude."

The 19th Amendment (1920) to the Constitution of the United States intended to extend the right to vote to women. "The right of citizens of the United States to vote shall not be denied or abridged by the United States or by any State on account of sex."

The Black Codes (1830 -1866) were laws passed on the state and local level mainly in the rural Southern states to restrict the civil rights and civil liberties of African Americans. The southern states provided freedmen (emancipated slaves) with limited second-class civil rights and no voting rights.

The Jim Crow laws (1876 and 1965) required that public schools, public places and public transportation have separate buildings, toilets, and restaurants for whites and blacks.

For a better understanding of what it was like for black people to vote back then, visit this interactive piece based on the series "The Rise and Fall of Jim Crow" from PBS.

1930-40s Great Depression & World War II era in vivid colors

The American Library of Congress has a unbelievably amazing flickr set with beautiful color photographs that range from 1939 to 1944. The images were created by photographers working for the United States Farm Security Administration and later the Office of War Information.






View of the South Water Street freight terminal in Chicago. On the background you can see the Wrigley Building (left), the Tribune Tower (center), and the Interncontinental Hotel (right).

via Made in England by Gentlemen

The future of Apple is in 1960s Braun

"Some people will probably call these examples a "rip-off" but, in a world where industrial design and art is constantly being recycled into new work, I just see Apple's products as a great evolution to classic concepts. Now, as I look at Rams' work I can't help but to wonder: which of these old Braun designs will Apple revive next? Is there a MacBook Air—the rumored ultra-slim wire-free portable that seems to be the favorite bet for tomorrow's keynote—in there?"

A beautiful piece by gizmodo compiling a gallery of Braun designs and how they seem to have influenced the Apple aesthetics.

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This link here is in portuguese but features more detailed and larger images.

you do what you gotta do

FROM PULITZER TO PARIS HILTON.
"He received a Pulitzer Prize for a memorable Vietnam War photograph. Now, Nick Ut has again snapped an image that says a lot about the times."

Dude. Seriously.