Lightnews — Scholar-powered news

Ryan H.

@ryan.blacksky.app

6.1K followers 1.7K following 4.7K posts

Your friendly neighborhood abolitionist. Educator/Activist/Artist and wildlife photographer. Building towards a care-based world in unarmed response, housing & social/racial justice; writing at https://creating.care (he/him) 💛🤍💜🖤 ♿ linktr.ee/rhenyard

creating.care

Posts Media Videos Starter Packs

Pinned

Ryan H. @ryan.blacksky.app · Jan 23

If you're in Southeast Michigan, this set of resources I've compiled have a lot of organizations working to protect those under threat from the new administration.

Ryan H. @ryan.blacksky.app · Dec 3

Happy to share that for #GivingTuesday I've created my 5th (!) edition of Ryan's Community Giving Guide for SE Michigan. Please share widely, and let me know if you discover/donate to someone new through this work - it really helps!

You can grab the full PDF version at www.henyard.com/giving

Cover of Ryan's Community Giving Guide - 2024-25 for Southeast Michigan. Main image is a photo of a sandhill crane, head bowed forward, with its heart-shaped crest centered in the frame ahead of a flurry of grey feathers. Bottom of the image has the Creative Commons attribution information (CC-BY-NC-SA) and a tag saying ' Created by Ryan Henyard (me!) v5.0 - henyard.com/giving - edit and adapt for your own community

text from the 'about the author' page: I originally created this giving guide as a way to amplify the challenges my communities were facing in 2020, and I’ve heard from lots of people who expressed a desire to help but don’t know where to start or who to support. I created this guide to highlight and uplift some of the important work happening, and encourage you to choose some of these efforts to support through donations, volunteering or mutual aid for Giving Tuesday and beyond.

For our fifth (!) edition, I have made some additions and changes to the organizations listed in the guide, and expanded sections on programs. Our communities are filled with people dedicated to building a more just and loving future, and I’m glad to be able to share some of that with you.

Because this is centered around my communities and values, it is not a comprehensive guide by any means; the guide and artwork are both available under a Creative Commons license (CC-BY-NC-SA) and I would be elated if others spread love for community-based work in their own communities. The best gift I can receive during this season is knowing someone contributed to these efforts after reading this guide, so feel free to share your support for these community pillars with me on social media or email.

In love and solidarity,
Ryan Henyard

email: ryan@henyard.com
instagram: @kuroganeig
BlueSky: @radiantwings.bsky.social

example page of the guide from the Housing section:

Avalon Housing
avalonhousing.org/donate
Permanent supportive housing with wrap-around services in Washtenaw County

Freedom House Detroit
freedomhousedetroit.org
Housing, education & legal support for indigent survivors of persecution seeking asylum in the US

Ozone House
ozonehouse.org
Inclusive shelter & support services for homeless youth in Washtenaw County

Daytime Warming Centers of Washtenaw
facebook.com/DaytimeWarmingCenter
A community-run, rotating low-barrier shelter space for people to get warm during the winter

Ruth Ellis Center
ruthelliscenter.org
Trauma-informed services for Detroit LGBTQ+ youth facing homelessness or the child welfare system

example page from the giving guide - Justice section:

A Brighter Way
abrighterway.org
Washtenaw mentoring program for returning citizens providing job skills, life skills & support

American Friends Service Committee - Michigan Criminal Justice Program
https://afsc.org/programs/michigan-criminal-justice
MCJP works directly with people imprisoned in Michigan to advocate for and with them, with the long-term goal of prison de-population.

Detroit Justice Center
detroitjustice.org
Legal services and transformative justice projects aimed at dismantling the carceral state.

Care-Based Safety
carebasedsafety.org
Care-Based Safety is building an independent, non-police response program that will grow life affirming safety options in Washtenaw County.

MI Liberation
miliberation.org
Grassroots network organizing against mass incarceration, criminalization, & the emergency release of prisoners during the pandemic.

11 64 120

Ryan H. @ryan.blacksky.app · 8h

I'm sure there's stuff in it that was visionary or unique, but the NES Friday the 13th game makes me mad just thinking about how easily you could screw yourself out of winning in it

lex luddy (ichiban appreciator) @lexluddy.xyz · 11h

What's the worst game you finished/rolled credits on?

(games media folks, it can't be something you were assigned to review; this has to be something you subjected yourself to of your own free will)

Ryan H. @ryan.blacksky.app · 8h

Kreia as a game critic @austinwalker.bsky.social

1 3

Reposted by Ryan H.

the rhetoric hashira @tumblesweed.bsky.social · 9h

half of my work is helping these organizations with strategic planning and building fundraising plans, designing org narratives when they haven't defined their work and mission in cohesion. All that ground work leads to securing funding.

1 1 7

Reposted by Ryan H.

the rhetoric hashira @tumblesweed.bsky.social · 9h

it's official, i've gotten over $100,000 in grant funds in 8 months for brand new, small nonprofits and fiscally-sponsored orgs. i feel very proud of myself and this little business i've started, helping the most underserved communities.

3 6 59

Ryan H. @ryan.blacksky.app · 9h

helping folks navigate these really counterintuitive systems so they can do the work they're called to is so, so vital!! It's such a beautiful offering 😭

1 1

Ryan H. @ryan.blacksky.app · 9h

not you hit em with the alt-text maury 😭😂

a man wearing glasses is standing in front of a brick wall and says `` the results are in ... '' .

Alt: maury povich reading a card saying 'the results are in'

media.tenor.com

1 1

Ryan H. @ryan.blacksky.app · 9h

incredibly valuable work, grateful for you cultivating all that growth! congrats champion

1 1

Reposted by Ryan H.

Chantal James @chantalalive.blacksky.app · 11h

Cover reveal!!!! The novella FES IS A MIRROR by Chantal James releasing from Willow Books on October 28 has stunning outerwear!

#booksky

The cover of Fes is a MIrror by Chantal James, multicolored geometric patterns in the zellige style

10 23 64

Reposted by Ryan H.

Preorder Read This When Things Fall Apart @mskellymhayes.bsky.social · 11h

And you, governor, should stop providing state cops to police protesters for ICE at Broadview.

Governor JB Pritzker @govpritzker.illinois.gov · 12h

ICE is recklessly throwing tear gas into our neighborhoods and busy streets, including near children at school and CPD officers.

The Trump Administration must stop their deployment of dangerous chemical weapons into the air of peaceful American communities.

4 170 780

Ryan H. @ryan.blacksky.app · 10h

better order a space heater because this shit is gonna be broken down by November, again

Ryan H. @ryan.blacksky.app · 10h

True story, one of the things I wasn't allowed to put in my Police Brutality online course was a section about how many dogs cops kill.

What was extra wild is you can look at departments' pages for 'lost in the line of duty' and a good chunk of them are K9's shot by their incompetent partners

Faine Greenwood @faineg.bsky.social · 13h

I have long believed that we should be WAY more vocal about how police and ICE constantly murder dogs, and I think this is great messaging actually.

The reality is that you can mobilize a whole lot of usually tuned-out Americans around a “someone is being mean to hecking doggos” cause.

1 12 37

Ryan H. @ryan.blacksky.app · 10h

fuck a recession indicator, that's a repression indicator 😭☠️

1 1

Reposted by Ryan H.

Laura @tutusntinyhats.bsky.social · 10h

I was lucky to get my preorder of Read This When Things Fall Apart, edited by @mskellymhayes.bsky.social, early - thanks, @portersqbooks.bsky.social! - and it's exactly as incredible as I had expected.

I highly, highly recommend it to anyone struggling with *gestures broadly at everything.*

A hand holds the book Read This When Things Fall Apart: Letters to Activists in Crisis by Kelly Hayes. The cover is dark blue and has an illustration of a person swimming in a lake at night beneath a full moon. In the background, behind the book, are shelves of books in a bookstore.

1 6 14

Reposted by Ryan H.

Louis M. Cypher @lou-m-cypher.bsky.social · 12h

D's passing hurts so much for the same reason Frankie's hurt so badly, b/c he was OURS through and through. Every piece of art he produced centered US and only US, and it was done intentionally and unapologetically. We lost a giant 🤦🏾‍♂️

6 14

Ryan H. @ryan.blacksky.app · 10h

Raphael Saadiq - Be Here ft. D'Angelo

YouTube video by RaphaelSaadiqVEVO

www.youtube.com

2 5

Ryan H. @ryan.blacksky.app · 10h

I don't even eat red meat, but gollllllyy

a woman is crying in front of a man in a suit in a netflix ad .

Alt: kerry washington walking away crying

media.tenor.com

1 1

Reposted by Ryan H.

Musa Okwonga @okwonga.bsky.social · 16h

It’s funny how black people are expected to reach across the aisle to voters like these, while no one ever expects them to reach across the aisle to black people. Amazing who gets to be human, and who doesn’t.

Carl Quintanilla @carlquintanilla.bsky.social · 17h

POLITICO: “.. They referred to Black people as monkeys and ‘the watermelon people’ and mused about putting their political opponents in gas chambers. They talked about raping their enemies .. and lauded Republicans who they believed support slavery.

@politico.com
www.politico.com/news/2025/10...

15 280 930

Reposted by Ryan H.

Ypsilanti District Library @ypsilibrary.org · 15h

This means new books may take longer than usual to reach our shelves over the coming months. We appreciate your patience and understanding as we navigate this transition! 🙏

Ypsilanti District Library @ypsilibrary.org · 15h

📚 UPDATE: The company that's been selling books to libraries since 1828 is closing up shop in January. Baker & Taylor's closure means libraries nationwide are scrambling to find new suppliers, and those suppliers are currently overwhelmed with orders.

News article headline reading "Nationwide supplier that sold books to libraries for community use closes down after 200 years" with a photo of a person browsing books in a library. Subheadline states "Library book distributor Baker & Taylor reportedly started laying off 520 employees without providing severance this week after a failed ReaderLink deal."

8 14

Reposted by Ryan H.

Victor Ray @victorerikray.bsky.social · 21h

I know it is beside the point because this administration simply wants resegregation but conferences for Black professional associations have always been open to everyone. Typically, the started as a response to white exclusion, and did not replicate that.

Benjamin McKean @blmckean.bsky.social · 21h

Very bad: OSU unilaterally cancelled the registration of grad students attending the joint conference of the National Society of Black Physicists and the National Society of Hispanic Physicists. And OSU won't fund recruiting at the Society for Advancement of Chicanos and Native Americans in Science.

Ohio State changes policy on group conferences after Trump administration threats

A federal investigation into potentially discriminatory practices at Ohio State prompted the university to change its policies regarding conferences.

www.dispatch.com

8 190 700

Reposted by Ryan H.

Adam Serwer @adamserwer.bsky.social · 17h

Turns out your assumptions about what republican group chats are like is correct www.politico.com/news/2025/10...

‘I love Hitler’: Leaked messages expose Young Republicans’ racist chat

Thousands of private messages reveal young GOP leaders joking about gas chambers, slavery and rape.

www.politico.com

82 1.1K 3.9K

Reposted by Ryan H.

Chantal James @chantalalive.blacksky.app · 17h

My novella FES IS A MIRROR out at the end of the month is set during the Moroccan monarchy's brutal suppression of the bread riots in Fes in December 1990. I wrote it years ago not thinking of trends, but now I'm eager to see how it contributes to understanding the current Gen Z protests there.

1 9 16

Reposted by Ryan H.

~Tanisha Cherislin~ @tani269.bsky.social · 19h

✨Hello! I’m Tanisha & I’m looking for work as a character designer & illustration work! Recently worked on Disney Junior Ariel!Please consider me for your projects!✨
💼:tanishacherislin.com
✉️:[email protected]
#PortfolioDay #characterdesign #drawingwhileblack #visdev #art #kidlitart

5 86 220

Reposted by Ryan H.

Louise Seamster @louiseseamster.bsky.social · 20h

I have a new paper out in @ersjournal.com, through a special issue on the mechanisms of racism, co-edited by @amandalewisphd.bsky.social and #EduardoBonilla-Silva. 50 free eprints at link
www.tandfonline.com/eprint/2WFQ9...

Mechanisms, smoke and fun-house mirrors: when naming racism is not enough

In this paper, I explain how public discourse around racism can hinder understanding of racist processes, becoming its own mechanism of racism. The general attribution of Flint's water crisis as a ...

www.tandfonline.com

2 21 33

Ryan H. @ryan.blacksky.app · 19h

browsing through the librofm kiss club books and am adding at least one title to my cart based on the strength of the puns alone

Ryan H. @ryan.blacksky.app · 19h

catching antiblack strays everywhere like 😭

a woman in a white jacket is asking " now why am i in it "

Alt: a woman in a white jacket is asking " now why am i in it "

media.tenor.com

1 3