the_lion_of_anacostia 🦁
LightNews LightNews
banner
digitalscorpyun.bsky.social
the_lion_of_anacostia 🦁
@digitalscorpyun.bsky.social
2K followers 1.4K following 4K posts
📡 Du Bois: “Destroy ignorance—or it destroys us.”

Black history is the core dataset of human history, not its supplement.

Nyama ya tembo: kula huimalizi. 🔱

#FreePalestine #Reparations #DecolonizeTech ✊🏿
Posts Replies Media Videos
digitalscorpyun.bsky.social
They didn’t raise their hands because they wanted the South to win — they raised them because a white preacher made it clear: dissent could get you killed.

But think about it, would you prefer homelessness over enslavement?

Terror disguised as prayer. Coercion masquerading as faith.
Screenshot of the Equal Justice Initiative’s “Reconstruction in America” digital exhibit, Chapter 1: Journey to Freedom. The background is stark black with white text centered on the page, framed by generous margins. At the top, the EJI logo appears on the left, with navigation links “Resources” and “Share” on the right. Beneath the chapter title is a large quotation in bold, serif type. The quote reads: “Just before the war, a white preacher, he come to us slaves and says: ‘Do you want to keep your homes where you get all to eat, and raise your children, or do you want to be free to roam around without a home, like the wild animals? If you want to keep your homes you better pray for the South to win. All that wants to pray for the South to win, raise your hand.’ We all raised our hands ‘cause we was scared not to, but we sho’ didn’t want the South to win.” Below the quote is the name and attribution in small text: “Mr. William M. Adams — Formerly enslaved in Texas.” A thin red line sits just above the name as a decorative divider. The left side of the screen shows a minimal navigation menu with several unfilled circular markers, indicating sections of the exhibit. The overall mood of the page is solemn and reflective, emphasizing the coercion, terror, and false “choice” described in the firsthand testimony.
November 30, 2025 at 2:41 AM
digitalscorpyun.bsky.social
Stephen Miller aka General Hux. Note the white power hand signals.
A pale-skinned man in a stark black military-style uniform stands in front of a massive red draped backdrop. His expression is tense and intense, teeth clenched slightly as he speaks. The glossy black hat and angular shoulder flares give his silhouette a sharp, authoritarian look. Out-of-focus uniformed figures stand behind him, enhancing the militaristic, propaganda-like atmosphere of the scene.
November 30, 2025 at 1:41 AM
digitalscorpyun.bsky.social
Freedom didn’t begin with celebration — it opened into famine, disease, and abandonment. The Freedmen’s Bureau fought to keep people alive in a South shattered by war, neglect, and hostility. Liberation without infrastructure is just survival by another name. #FreedmenFacts
A somber, documentary-style illustration rendered in muted grays, dull blues, and earthy browns depicts a Reconstruction-era relief scene highlighting the precarious survival of newly freed Black families. In the foreground, a silhouetted Black family of four—two adults and two children—stands in sparse, war-torn fields. Their features are intentionally obscured for safety and symbolic universality. They gather near a simple wooden table where a white Freedmen’s Bureau agent, also featureless and in period attire, distributes food rations and basic supplies. Crates and cloth sacks around the table signal scarcity and the fragile nature of postwar aid. In the mid-ground, additional silhouettes of freedmen wait in a loose line. Their postures show fatigue, vigilance, and quiet endurance. Worn clothing and empty hands underscore the material deprivation of the era. Behind them stand ruined buildings—collapsed brick walls, broken beams, roofless structures—representing the destruction left by the Civil War. Several barren trees rise starkly against the sky, stripped of leaves, reinforcing a sense of environmental and emotional desolation. The background contains a faint, distressed American flag with washed-out stars and stripes, rendered in subdued tones to symbolize the contradiction between promised freedom and lived hardship. Layered behind the flag is a ghosted map of the Southern states, thin radiating lines extending outward like a network, evoking both the spread of the Freedmen’s Bureau and the overwhelming scale of need across the region. Light enters softly from the upper left, casting long shadows and highlighting uneven ground, torn earth, and scattered debris. The palette blends cool grays for air and ruins with warm browns for soil and timber, creating an atmosphere of exhaustion, resilience, and uncertain hope. No identifiable faces appear, ensuring safety and emphasizing symbolic representation.
November 30, 2025 at 1:34 AM
digitalscorpyun.bsky.social
Black Codes morphed into something just as cruel: sharecropping + scrip. In the 1920s–30s, Black laborers were paid in tokens or store credit they could only spend at the plantation. Inflated prices, fake wages, lifelong debt. Slavery renamed, not ended.
November 30, 2025 at 12:38 AM
digitalscorpyun.bsky.social
Black Codes didn’t “restore order.” They rebuilt slavery with paperwork — criminalizing rest, movement, labor, even childhood. Freedom was legal in theory, illegal in practice. New shackles, same fear of Black autonomy. #ReconstructionTruth #AbolitionLogic
A solemn, high-contrast illustration in sepia, slate gray, and burnt umber portrays a symbolic scene about the oppressive legacy of the post–Civil War Black Codes. In the foreground lies a heavy broken iron chain, its worn links etched with terms such as “Vagrancy Laws,” “Apprenticeship,” “Labor Contracts,” and “Curfews.” The metal looks aged and battered, and a single light source from the upper left casts long, dramatic shadows that make the chain feel both threatening and newly disrupted, as though snapped through resistance. Next to the chain stands the silhouette of an adult Black figure with obscured features—gender-neutral and anonymous to avoid likeness. Their slightly bowed head and relaxed hands suggest a mix of vigilance, exhaustion, and reflection. They face toward the distance, as if weighing the burden of these laws and the ongoing struggle to live beyond them. In the mid-ground, several more adult silhouettes appear, also faceless. One holds a book, symbolizing restricted literacy and tightly controlled learning; another carries a work tool tied to coerced labor and binding contracts; a third stands near a simple plow, referencing the agricultural servitude enforced by apprenticeship laws. Their poses communicate how ordinary life was constrained by legal control rather than open physical chains. Behind them stretches a faded, tattered American flag with muted stars and stripes, representing a nation declaring freedom while enforcing racial discipline. Layered faintly over the flag is a ghosted map of the Southern states with thin radiating lines forming a web, suggesting how Black Codes spread through bureaucratic networks. The composition blends documentary realism with symbolic imagery to show how oppression operated through paperwork, statutes, and surveillance as much as through force.
November 29, 2025 at 11:16 PM
digitalscorpyun.bsky.social
🎙️To Pimp a Butterfly is resurrection work — jazz, funk, rage, sorrow, and prophecy fused into a Black spiritual for the modern empire. Kendrick names every demon, including the one in his own chest, and still finds a way to fly. #ButterflyLogic #ComptonProphet
Historical black and white photograph depicting a group of joyful young men gathered closely together in front of a grand building with columns and a flagpole, reminiscent of mid-20th century American architecture. The men are dressed in a mix of casual and athletic attire, suggesting a social or sporting event. The overall mood is one of camaraderie and celebration.
November 29, 2025 at 1:34 AM
digitalscorpyun.bsky.social
The 1863 Draft Riots weren’t random chaos — they were class pain redirected into racial violence. Poor immigrants clung to whiteness as their only currency, while Black freedom was framed as a threat. America’s hierarchy didn’t break; it flexed. #DraftRiotLogic #WhitenessEconomy #Holloway
A mixed-media collage showing the 1863 New York Draft Riots as a system of redirected class fury. On the left, desperate working-class white immigrant men appear in period clothing, layered with fragments of historical newspaper clippings. On the right, Black residents look fearful and vulnerable as flames spread toward their side of the image. Behind both groups, faint gears, charts, and economic diagrams suggest an unseen machine converting poverty and resentment into racial violence. The background buildings are burning, and the entire scene is overlaid with gritty textures from 19th-century newsprint and industrial grime. No text appears in the artwork, but the composition emphasizes hierarchy, misdirected anger, and systemic manipulation.
November 29, 2025 at 1:05 AM
digitalscorpyun.bsky.social
Nobody should have to prove they’re human. Birth is enough. Systems that demand paperwork for dignity are confessing their own failure. We are sacred before we are documented. #BirthrightHumanity #SovereignSoul
A digital mixed-media portrait of a young Black person staring directly at the viewer with a calm, unflinching expression. Warm golden light glows from the center of their chest, illuminating their face and upper body. They hold a torn bureaucratic document in both hands, symbolizing rejection of imposed proof. The background is textured with faded paperwork and subtle blue digital glitches. Bold distressed text overlays the image, reading: “Birth is enough. Sovereignty needs no signature. Humanity requires no permission.”
November 28, 2025 at 10:24 PM
digitalscorpyun.bsky.social
Uptown Saturday Night had me laughing so hard I nearly weed meself! LOL. Running the trifecta, Let's Do It Again (1975).
November 28, 2025 at 4:01 AM
digitalscorpyun.bsky.social
Just fed my neighbors my city-famous (actually neighborhood-famous :)) Cajun Red Beans and Rice! They love me.

Now playing:

Uptown Saturday Night (1974)
November 28, 2025 at 2:54 AM
digitalscorpyun.bsky.social
No Way Out is a powder keg. That riot feels ripped from a modern feed, Cora glows with a beauty Hollywood never deserved, and Widmark spits pure venom—racism so raw it still stings. Wild this was made in 1950. #BlackFilmHistory #CinemaTruth Next up: A Piece of the Action Potier, Cosby, Jones (1977)
November 27, 2025 at 11:50 PM
digitalscorpyun.bsky.social
Today is the birthday of an early-republic architect of the American state, Robert Robert Livingston.

“The Chancellor” — co-writes the Declaration but also co-signs the racial order the new nation inherits.

(They won’t tell you that part.) #UnfinishedReckoning
November 27, 2025 at 8:18 PM
digitalscorpyun.bsky.social
🦂 A Critique of Pratinav Anil’s White-Splaining Review of Mahmood Mamdani’s *Slow Poison*

1. The Reviewer Performs a “Polished Colonizer POV,” Not a Review

From the opening line, Anil positions himself not as a reader,

www.theguardian.com/books/2025/n...
November 27, 2025 at 5:11 PM
digitalscorpyun.bsky.social
Petrified Patel caught looking like he just remembered every classified document he ever touched. #PetrifiedPatel #PoliticalTheater
November 27, 2025 at 4:31 AM
digitalscorpyun.bsky.social
Black soldiers filled 142 infantry regiments, 13 artillery, 7 cavalry—over 209,000 serving the Union, 23 earning Medals of Honor, 36,000 dying in a country that denied them rights. Their service broke the Confederacy’s spine. #USCT #ReceiptsFirst
Illustrative poster commemorating the service of African American soldiers during the American Civil War. It features a central figure holding a Medal of Honor, standing before a backdrop of silhouetted soldiers and a flag. The figure is superimposed over a pile of military caps, signifying the lives lost. The poster includes text highlighting the number of infantry, artillery, and cavalry regiments, as well as the number of Medals of Honor received and soldiers deceased. The phrases 'Their service broke the Confederacy’s spine' and 'Proven in blood before the nation granted rights' are prominently displayed, along with hashtags #ReceiptsFirst and #USCT, emphasizing the historical significance and recognition of their contributions.
November 27, 2025 at 4:24 AM
digitalscorpyun.bsky.social
@markhamillofficial.bsky.social
November 27, 2025 at 3:54 AM
digitalscorpyun.bsky.social
Douglass demanded equal pay, promotion, POW protections, and retaliation for racist killings. Lincoln admitted Black troops were “on trial” because of white prejudice. Black valor had to fight for recognition even from the Union. #USHistory #CivilWarTruth
November 27, 2025 at 3:05 AM
digitalscorpyun.bsky.social
When Douglass reached Washington in 1863, he wasn’t just an abolitionist—he was the father of a son who survived Fort Wagner with the 54th Massachusetts. Black patriotism was proven in blood long before the nation honored it. #CivilWarHistory #BlackValor
A stylized, vintage-poster–like illustration of Frederick Douglass standing at a Civil War–era wharf in Washington, D.C., rendered in deep blue-black shadows with warm sepia highlights. Douglass is portrayed as a mature Black man with a full white beard and stern, resolute expression. He wears a tall stovepipe hat and a heavy dark overcoat, and he stands three-quarter turned to the viewer’s right. His face is partially shadowed, giving him a carved, monumental presence. In his right hand he holds a folded enlistment document labeled “54th Massachusetts / Colored Volunteers.” A small, symbolic thread of red—suggesting blood shed in battle—hangs subtly from the fold. His left hand rests on a worn military haversack stenciled “L. Douglass,” representing the gear of his eldest son, Lewis Douglass, who fought at Fort Wagner. Behind Douglass, faint and smoky, a battlefield scene bleeds into the sky: silhouetted Black Union soldiers of the 54th Massachusetts charge forward with bayonets raised, running uphill toward the unseen ramparts of Fort Wagner. Their bodies are rendered as dark forms against a turbulent sky of blue-gray clouds tinged with rose light. A tattered American flag, ripped by gunfire yet still upright, leans dramatically in the wind near the advancing figures. Smoke and dust swirl along the ground, blending the battlefield into the harbor setting where Douglass stands. A single lantern on the cobblestones casts a soft circle of amber light near Douglass’s feet, reflecting off the seams of his coat. The overall palette is muted iron-blue, sepia, and soft gold, giving the image the look of an aged tintype or nineteenth-century engraving. Across the top of the poster, bold type reads: “BLACK PATRIOTISM WAS PROVEN IN BLOOD.” In the lower right corner, handwritten script adds: “long before the nation honored it.” Hashtags in faint type appear at the bottom: #BeforeHonor and #BlackHistory.
November 27, 2025 at 2:22 AM
digitalscorpyun.bsky.social
A young Frederick Bailey flipped Baltimore’s alleys into a classroom. He bartered bread for letters, turning hunger into literacy and scarcity into strategy. Before Douglass escaped the South, he escaped the terms of his captivity. #BlackHistory #StreetCurriculum
A warm, dusk-toned street scene set in a narrow 19th-century alley shows a young Black boy at the center—around eleven or twelve, thin, barefoot, wearing a loose, worn shirt and trousers. His expression is focused and serious, lips slightly parted as if mid-thought, eyes attentive to the white boys gathered around him. He stands beside a rough wooden crate that serves as a makeshift table or meeting point. On the crate lie a few small rolls of bread and two pieces of folded, aged paper. A broken iron shackle rests beside them, partly hidden in shadow, suggesting a symbolic presence rather than an overt narrative. The Black boy holds several small pieces of bread in his hands, sharing them with three white boys who stand close, shoulder to shoulder. All the children wear shabby, dirt-stained clothing common to poor urban laborers or street urchins of the era—patched jackets, caps, loose shirts. Their faces show a mix of curiosity and eagerness, but also respect; none appear dominant or mocking. One of the white boys, the one on the far right, holds an open book with yellowed pages. His fingers grip the spine as if he’s been reading aloud or preparing to show a word. His gaze meets the Black boy’s hand as he takes the offered bread, implying a direct exchange: food for learning, sustenance for knowledge. Behind them, the alley stretches into a foggy, golden distance. Silhouetted adults move through the haze—leaning against walls, walking alone, carrying bundles—figures blurred enough to feel atmospheric rather than central. The buildings rise high and close, creating a tunnel of muted browns and sepias. Light falls from above and behind, outlining the boys in a soft rim of illumination while leaving deep shadows between them, emphasizing the intimacy of their gathering.
November 27, 2025 at 1:33 AM
digitalscorpyun.bsky.social
A boy named Bailey cracked the slave system with nothing but stolen letters, alleyway teachers, and a fifty-cent book. Before Douglass ever ran, his mind had already escaped. Consciousness was the first break in the chain. #AbolitionMemory #LionOfAnacostia
A dark, atmospheric scene shows a young Black boy sitting alone on a rough wooden crate in a dim alley at night. His clothes are worn and loosely hanging, the fabric frayed at the sleeves and edges. He is barefoot on uneven cobblestones. The only light in the image comes from a small candle he holds carefully in his left hand; the flame casts a warm golden glow across his face and the open book resting on his lap. His brow is furrowed with concentration, and he traces the lines of text with the index finger of his right hand, reading silently and intently. The book’s pages are slightly yellowed and textured, catching the candlelight in soft highlights. Around him, the alley dissolves into darkness. Behind his shoulder, faint chalk letters—A, B, C, D, E—are scribbled on a wooden plank wall, as if someone used the space as an improvised classroom. Near his feet, a loose metal chain lies coiled on the ground, partly illuminated; it appears old, opened, and unused. A couple of torn scraps of paper are scattered by his toes. In the far background, barely visible, a lantern glows faintly down the alley, signaling distance, danger, or the wider world beyond this moment of fragile learning. The image carries a chiaroscuro mood: deep shadows surrounding a single warm circle of light where the boy reads, suggesting knowledge as the first spark of liberation within an oppressive environment.
November 27, 2025 at 1:00 AM
digitalscorpyun.bsky.social
Here's the image with alt text.
A graphic styled like an online ARTnews article is shown. At the top is the ARTnews logo in bold black letters, with “Est. 1902” in smaller type to its right. Below it is a headline that reads: “New York City Mayor-Elect Zohran Mamdani Names Arts and Culture Transition Committee.” Under the headline is a rectangular photograph of Zohran Mamdani standing on a stage behind a podium. He is placed slightly right of center. Mamdani has short dark hair, a trimmed beard, and is wearing a dark navy suit, white shirt, and light blue tie. His left hand rests on his upper chest as if acknowledging applause. His expression is calm with a faint smile. Stage lighting casts a soft purple tint on the left side of his jacket. Two microphone setups are visible: a single thin stand in front of him, and an attached pair on a clear, angled podium at the right edge of the frame. Behind him are several tall flags: one blue with yellow elements, one white and blue, one orange and white, and one green and white. The background is dark, with the flags partly illuminated but without clear emblem details. Below the image is a paragraph of serif text on a white background. It states that New York City mayor-elect Zohran Mamdani, who recently defeated independent candidate Andrew Cuomo, has appointed an arts and culture transition committee. The committee has 28 members, including curators, art dealers, journalists, and nonprofit arts administrators. Two names in the paragraph—Elizabeth Alexander and Hannah Traore—appear in red. Alexander is described as president of the Mellon Foundation, which has a $7.7-billion endowment. Traore is noted for launching a 3,000-square-foot Lower East Side gallery four years earlier. The layout resembles a magazine article: masthead at the top, headline beneath, central photograph, and text block below. No extra graphics or decorative elements are present.
November 26, 2025 at 3:53 AM
digitalscorpyun.bsky.social
Ain’t no color line on the waterline.

Africans shaped the Chesapeake’s fastest boats — from log canoes to pilot schooners — while land laws tried to cage them. Tech history hits different when you follow the wake instead of the myth. #WaterTruth #BayLine

Steffen, The Mechanics of Baltimore, 39
Black-and-white engraving of two sailing vessels in combat on rough seas. On the left is the American brig Chasseur, flying a large U.S. flag and carrying multiple square-rigged masts; on the right is HMS St. Lawrence, a sharp, fast schooner with tall raked masts and triangular sails. Both ships are heeled in the wind, their rigging taut, cannon ports open, and figures visible aloft in the shrouds. The scene depicts their duel off Havana on February 26, 1815. Image: “The brig Chasseur and HM schooner St. Lawrence duel off Havana,” 19th-century engraving.
November 26, 2025 at 3:06 AM
digitalscorpyun.bsky.social
that they turned him into a myth in their plays rather than reckon with his reality.

Juan Latino didn’t escape slavery.

Juan Latino defeated it—intellect first, body last.

A liberation hymn in iambic bones.

“Portrait of a Moor,” oil on oak wood. Courtesy Rijksmuseum (SK-A-4986).
A Renaissance-era painted portrait of a Black man shown from the waist up, rendered in oil on oak wood. His skin is a warm brown tone, with a full black beard and closely cropped hair. He gazes slightly upward and to the left with a calm, dignified expression. He wears a bright red cap adorned with a small gold emblem, along with a red tunic layered under a deep black cloak with wide shoulders. A long dark cord necklace hangs down his chest. His hands, gloved in pale leather, rest on an ornate belt decorated with gold and intricate geometric designs, giving the impression of status and refinement. The background is a softly textured teal-green, typical of 16th-century portraiture, emphasizing his face and clothing. Attribution: “Portrait of a Moor,” oil on oak wood. Courtesy Rijksmuseum (SK-A-4986).
November 26, 2025 at 2:37 AM
digitalscorpyun.bsky.social
Stephen "pick up my trash" Miller loves to sermonize about Rome, Athens, and Monticello — but his lineage traces back to Antopol, a muddy market square in the Pale of Settlement. The man preaching “Western civilization” comes from a shtetl his own ancestors fled. Myth louder than memory. #ShtetlReal
A black-and-white historical photograph showing a large group of townspeople gathered in an open square in Antopol (Antepolie), a shtetl in what is now Belarus. The people—men, women, and children—stand in winter coats on muddy ground, forming a loose line across the foreground. Behind them sit several small wooden and brick buildings typical of Eastern European villages in the early 20th century. In the center of the square rises a tall wooden well sweep (a simple levered water-drawing device). The sky is pale and overcast, and the overall scene has a somber, quiet tone, capturing the everyday life of a Jewish community before the destruction of the Holocaust.
November 26, 2025 at 2:16 AM
digitalscorpyun.bsky.social
This is Trump’s base — tiki-torch fascists with grocery-store memberships. The same men who chant “Jews will not replace us” stand behind you in the checkout line buying rotisserie chicken like they didn’t march for hate last night.
A nighttime march of white supremacist demonstrators carrying lit tiki torches. At the front of the group, a young white man in a black shirt raises his arm in a Nazi-style salute while gripping a torch in his other hand. Behind him, dozens of predominantly young white men walk in formation, some wearing T-shirts with extremist slogans. Their faces are illuminated by the firelight as they move past a brick wall along a street. The scene evokes intimidation, hate, and the torchlit rallies associated with fascist movements.
November 26, 2025 at 2:11 AM