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Jonathan W. Gray

@elmcitytree.blacksky.app

40K followers 1.3K following 8K posts

Professor at CUNY, scholar of Blackness, comics, music, & popular culture writ large, leftist & left handed. 🇰🇳 🇺🇸 🇵🇸 🏳️‍⚧️ I maintain the Blackademics feed, the scholarly side of #Blacksky https://bsky.app/profile/did:plc:w4xbfzo7kqfes5zb7 Personal account

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Jonathan W. Gray @elmcitytree.blacksky.app · 4d

Updated the Blackademics starter pack again (!) to include Vincent Brown, Imani Perry, the Harare Review of Books and others. Stay tuned for more developments coming soon....

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Jonathan W. Gray @elmcitytree.blacksky.app · 7h

The use of color in Dick Tracy is astounding. I wish any of the FF films would have used this palate.

jamelle @jamellebouie.net · 8h

and it looks phenomenal. they have basically outlawed this amount of color in movies these days.

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Jonathan W. Gray @elmcitytree.blacksky.app · 7h

Black owned & controlled bsky.app/profile/rude...

Rudy wants revolution. @rude1.blacksky.team · 8d

Migrating to Blacksky PDS: Complete Guide | Blacksky Documentation

Complete guide to migrating your Bluesky account to Blacksky's infrastructure. Covers migration tools, step-by-step instructions, troubleshooting, and how to use Blacksky services without migrating.

docs.blacksky.community

Reposted by Jonathan W. Gray

Hypervisible @hypervisible.blacksky.app · 10h

ai is a fascist tool. www.washingtonpost.com/technology/2...

Ilyasah Shabazz didn’t want to look at the AI-generated videos of her father, Malcolm X. The seemingly realistic clips — made by OpenAI’s new video-maker Sora 2 — show the legendary civil rights activist making crude jokes, wrestling with the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. and talking about defecating on himself.

“It is deeply disrespectful and hurtful to see my father’s image used in such a cavalier and insensitive manner when he dedicated his life to truth,” Shabazz, whose father was assassinated in front of her in 1965 when she was 2, told The Washington Post. She questioned why the developers were not acting “with the same morality, conscience, and care … that they’d want for their own families.”

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Iron Spike @ironspike.bsky.social · 11h

lol liars, every one. Chicago cops threatened to quit if Brandon Johnson was elected mayor. Police union leader LITERALLY threatened "blood in the streets," saying between 800 to 1,000 would walk.

Guess what never happened.

And even if they'd made good on that threat... OK??? BYE????

Mark Misoshnik 🏴 @misoshnik.bsky.social · 1d

Lmao is this supposed to be a bad thing?

A tweet from Bari Weiss that says “"It's shaken me to my core," a lieutenant said of Mamdani's unexpected victory in June. "The absolute dread I feel is palpable.
"
Today in @TheFP our @Olivia_Reingold talks to the cops who say they will walk if Zohran Mamdani is elected in November:”

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Coach Finstock @coachfinstock.bsky.social · 11h

Average NYPD salary with OT is well over 100K, you live like a king on that in Long Island ain't none of them going nowhere. Anyone who believes that is a stone cold idiot. How many other jobs are they qualified for where they could earn that? Zero. The answer is zero.

Mark Misoshnik 🏴 @misoshnik.bsky.social · 1d

Lmao is this supposed to be a bad thing?

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Julie DiCaro @juliedicaro.bsky.social · 13h

So Kilmer Abrego-Garcia will not challenge a deportation to Costa Rica, who has agreed to for him residency, but DHS won’t agree to send him there because it’s not cruel enough.

www.nytimes.com/2025/10/10/u...

For weeks, Mr. Abrego Garcia, a Salvadoran national who is married to a U.S. citizen, has made clear that he would not challenge his deportation if he were sent to Costa Rica, which has promised him legal residency and guaranteed that he would not be sent back to El Salvador.

But the Trump administration has refused to deport him to Costa Rica, and in an earlier hearing this week, Judge Xinis pressed the administration to consider the option or clarify why it was unacceptable.

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Jonathan W. Gray @elmcitytree.blacksky.app · 13h

Congratulations sir.

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My Father’s Daughter @aninsggirb.bsky.social · 13h

Doesn’t preventing citizens from leaving the country violate the fundamental right to freedom of movement (protected under the Privileges & Immunities Clause of the U.S. Constitution & the 5th Amendment's due process rights) & per scotus, such restrictions can’t be imposed w/out due process of law?

StrictlyChristo 🇺🇦🌻❌👑 @strictlychristo.bsky.social · 13h

Starting October 14th, the Trump administration will ban Non-Binary+Intersex people (including citizens) from entering/leaving the country (via plane) through CBP passport changes
www.gtlaw-insidebusinessimmigration.com/u-s-customs-...

CBP Enforces Binary Sex Codes and Enhanced US Passport Validation in APIS

CBP enforces binary sex codes and stricter US passport validation in APIS effective October 2025. Key compliance updates for business travelers and airlines.

www.gtlaw-insidebusinessimmigration.com

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Dr. Carlotta A. Berry #NoireSTEMinist 🤖 @drcaberry.bsky.social · 15h

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Jack Tripper @chadstanton.blacksky.app · 16h

Really would like people to shift their thinking to the point where they see themselves and the people around them as the people who will collectively navigate through this moment.

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Jonathan W. Gray @elmcitytree.blacksky.app · 16h

Well played sir.

a man in captain america 's uniform says i understood that reference

Alt: captain america says i understood that reference to Bruce Banner

media.tenor.com

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Viet Thanh Nguyen @vietthanhnguyen.bsky.social · 16h

Another article that does not interview a single Palestinian.

www.nytimes.com/2025/10/12/w...

A Test Now for Israel: Can It Repair Its Ties to Americans?

www.nytimes.com

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Steven W. Thrasher is finishing The Overseer Class @thrasherxy.bsky.social · 16h

Pro tip to reporters and protesters: always have swim goggles in your pockets or bags. They’re small, $10 and if tear gas is used, slip them on & no matter how much you cough, you’ll still be able to SEE without burning eyes.

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Ted McCormick @tedmccormick.bsky.social · 17h

Shared courtesy of my Penn History colleague, Ben Nathans

Image: A variation on Benjamin Franklin’s “Join, or Die” engraving, originally published in the Pennsylvania Gazette in 1754. Each segment of the snake has the name of a university sent Trump’s “compact”: Texas, AZ, Vanderbilt, USC, Dartmouth, UVA, Brown, Penn, MIT.

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Jonathan W. Gray @elmcitytree.blacksky.app · 16h

Someone needs to train them!!

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Olúfẹ́mi O. Táíwò @olufemiotaiwo.bsky.social · 17h

1) I once again take this opportunity to remind you: to keep its basic functioning, society has to discourage baldfaced lying, especially by authorities

2) is...is it happening?

Aaron Rupar @atrupar.com · 18h

STEPHANOPOULOS: I didn't insinuate anything. I asked you whether Tom Homan accepted $50k as was heard on an audio tape recorded by the FBI in September 2024. You did not answer the question. Thank you for your time.

VANCE: No, George, I sai--

STEPHANOPOULOS: We'll be right back

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Chanda Prescod-Weinstein 🌌 @chanda.blacksky.app · 17h

Currently reading and feeling very validated by:

Emily's Reverie @nettlesomeone.bsky.social · 24d

The most 2025 novel of 2025.
7 years ago journalist Rhys punched his MAGA son in law at Thanksgiving. Then he went off grid. Now his grandkids show up needing help.
What comes next is a wild ride: a road trip, guns, and Rhys trying to figure out cell phones. This book is ALIVE. #books #booksky

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Ebony Elizabeth Thomas @ebonyteach.blacksky.app · 16h

It's very sad. Many seem to misremember that Obama was president during 9/11, Katrina, and caused the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan plus Great Recession.

George W. Bush? Reminds them of their grandpas! A nice elderly man who paints.

And so, of course, many believe that Biden was president in 2020.

Nicholas Grossman @nicholasgrossman.bsky.social · 21h

“Who was president in 2020?” remains one of the most pertinent questions in American politics—absurd, yes, but here we are—and that extends to “who was president January 1 - 19, 2021?”

Joyce White Vance @joycewhitevance.bsky.social · 22h

That’s a nice trick, since Biden wasn’t the president on Jan 6.

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andré carrington @andrecarrington.bsky.social · 16h

Need everybody to bring the same fire they had for Jimmy Kimmel to this

ProfKori @profkori.bsky.social · 18h

✅ He fired a U.S. Attorney who refused to bring charges against her
✅ He replaced them with someone with NO prosecutorial experience

This isn't justice. This is retaliation.

When Black women do their jobs with excellence, they face attacks. But AG James isn't backing down, and neither should we.

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Brendan Nyhan @brendannyhan.bsky.social · 18h

"Look at the picture... One of these is a member of a private militia that supports the President and was involved in a violent effort to overturn the election, the other is an agent of the state. Can you tell the difference?" donmoynihan.substack.com/p/purge-merg...

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derek guy @dieworkwear.bsky.social · 1d

seems like a non-insignificant percentage of rage against the machine's fanbase are young republican men driving SUVs bopping their head to anti-oil, pro-immigrant songs thinking the lyrics are about how they wish their suburban parents would get off their back

Tom Morello tweets: "Fascinating that all those “don’t tread on me” posers and their AR-15’s are nowhere to be seen and government tyranny is instead being opposed by a guy in an inflatable frog suit."

Someone named Manny replies: "@grok
why do some people say Tom Morello and band mates are RAGE FOR THE MACHINE and not against ?"

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Jonathan W. Gray @elmcitytree.blacksky.app · 18h

You need to migrate to Blacksky sis

Reposted by Jonathan W. Gray

jamelle @jamellebouie.net · 19h

a key thing about vought — and all of these guys — is that they have a totally top down and hierarchical vision of the world. they believe that the cultural changes they hate can be turned off by destroying the federal government because they can’t imagine that they emerged bottom-up in society

Thomas Zimmer @thomaszimmer.bsky.social · 20h

What he’s railing against is a profound shift in culture, status… He’s obsessed with the idea that America is controlled by a leftist “ruling elite” - but “elite” isn’t defined socio-economically or by political power, it means something like: Getting to define “real America” and who gets to belong.

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Tyler King @tyleraking.com · 1d

This is just so very, very illegal. And Republicans in Congress aren’t the least bit interested in controlling the purse. They’re just employees of trump org at taxpayer expense. This is a dictatorship.

Task & Purpose @taskandpurpose.com · 1d

Pentagon moves $8 billion from research to pay troops trib.al/G0HMywT

Pentagon moves $8 billion from research to pay troops

Left over R&D funds will be used to pay military members on Oct. 15, the Department of Defense said, following orders from President Trump.

trib.al

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Jonathan W. Gray @elmcitytree.blacksky.app · 19h

“Where are you from?”
“Really, what was it like to grow up there?”
“What brought you to the city?”
“And how are you finding things so far?”

Why are we making it so difficult to behave like human beings?