Art, Lineage & the Work of Liberation
Hey Fam 🤎 👋🏾
So i’ve been thinking…
Maybe at 250 years old, this country just needed a little more time.
Maybe democracy is still possible.
Maybe we can finally live up to the values we claim.
Maybe if we just believe hard enough…
Things will shift.
Maybe justice is right around the corner.
Maybe freedom is finally expanding to include all of us.
…
lol.
** siiiike ** 😮💨
APRIL FOOLS
This country was founded on genocide,
built on stolen land,
and sustained through exploitation, violence,
and the constant policing of who gets to be fully human.
And let’s keep it a buck…
It ain’t stopped.
It just got more sophisticated.
So no — i ain’t waiting for this place to become something it has never been.
i'm committed to building something different.
To creating what doesn't exist yet.
in the ways i can,
with the tools i have.
and that looks like a lot of things.
sometimes it looks like organizing.
sometimes it looks like political education.
sometimes it looks like showing up for people in real, material ways.
and sometimes…it looks like making art that inspires.
that tells the truth 🗣️
Because we come from a lineage of people who refused to accept the world as it was handed to them.
Maroons. 🔥
rebels
abolitionists
A lineage of people who lived in right relation with the planet.
people who chose to live free or die.
and that lineage didn’t end.
it’s us.
so wherever you are right now…
find your place.
find your people.
find a local organization.
read a mafuckin book. 📚
(i’m almost done with Unapologetic: A Black Queer and Feminist Mandate for Radical Movements 💫 by Charlene A. Carruthers and it’s still a banger.)
plug into something real.
you don’t have to do everything.
but you do have to do something.
(beyond just poppin out to your local weekend protest — though that can be a spark) 👀
and if you’re looking for something to listen to that carries this energy —
i’ve got a throwback track on my bandcamp that’s been sitting a little more underground.
it’s called “Gavin DeGraw.” ✨
it’s me naming a lot of the things i’ve been speaking on here — direct, no filter.
you can listen here:
We don’t get free by accident.
or by begging.
we get free because we decide to.
and we act! ✊🏾
Power concedes nothing without an [organized] demand!
— Frederick Douglass & Charlene A. Carruthers
If you want to support the music, poetry, and the process of becoming,
i’ve been sharing a lot of the work through my Patreon.
There’s even a free tier 👀
so you can peep the goods and get a lil taste. The lowest paid tier starts at $3 (cheaper than a roundtrip MTA fare!)
It’s a place where you can catch the work while it’s still forming ...
vulnerable,
unfinished,
becoming. 🧚🏽♀️
And real talk,
in a time when so many forces are trying to erase and silence Blaqueer TGNC artists telling the truth,
supporting the work is its own kind of resistance.
If that speaks to you,
come thru!
With Love & Immeasurable Gratitude,
amani 🤎 🙏🏾
Click to INVEST IN MY ART
Sign-up for my Patreon & support my work long-term
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“The role of the artist is to make the revolution irresistible.” -Toni Cade Bambara
Amani O+ Bday update
Hey Fam 🤎 👋🏾
Today’s my birthday. 🌻
i’ve been reflecting a lot on this past year.
Honestly, the best gift i’ve given myself is sobriety.🖤
For a long time weed was woven into everything —
before meals,
before work,
at work,
after work,
before a walk,
on the walk,
after a walk.
i really believed i needed it to move through the world.
Turns out…
i don’t.
** gasps ** 😮💨
Choosing sobriety has started to feel like an act of decolonization for me.
a way of honoring
my ancestors,
my body,
and the purpose i feel pulling on my life.
Another thing i’m focusing on this year is self-confidence.
cuz real talk…
i love my music down.
i adore my poetry.
the work is FIRE. 💥
But i still catch myself shrinking when people compliment me.
Still catching myself wondering
if i’m worthy of the path opening in front of me.
Insecurity isn’t just personal — it’s political.
Misogynoir and anti-Blackness work overtime to erode our
self-determination.
They teach us to doubt ourselves,
To shrink our brilliance,
To question our right to take up space!
So this year i’m practicing seeing and holding myself clearly.
Moving with the legacy i come from! 🌟
"A lineage of self-determiners.
Maroons.
abolitionists.
rebels"
People who chose to live free or die.
Charlene A. Carruthers writes all of this in
Unapologetic - A Black Queer and Feminist Mandate for Radical Movements 💫
She says that our movements need griots 🗣️
People using many mediums to clarify and expand the stories of the Black radical tradition.
That’s what i’m doing with bars and prose.
Our people’s history of resistance is deeper and more expansive than most of us were ever taught.
Even though it has served as a model for liberation struggles across the world.
So i’m telling those stories. 💪🏾
And also the story of becoming myself.
In the midst of all this ...
fascism rising,
the world feeling ever uncertain
My own path actually feels clearer than it ever has.
The political education happening through the B.L.A.C.K. Label
and thru the Movement 4 Black Lives
is sharpening my analysis and feeding my spirit in ways i’m endlessly grateful for.
And it’s reminding me that culture work is critical to movement.
Artists Against Apartheid? ✊🏾
i’m sooo ready.
Put me in, coach❗️
If you want to support the music, poetry, and the process of becoming,
i’ve been sharing a lot of the work through my Patreon.
There’s even a free tier 👀
so you can peep the goods and get a lil taste. The lowest paid tier starts at $3 (cheaper than a roundtrip MTA fare!)
It’s a place where you can catch the work while it’s still forming ...
vulnerable,
unfinished,
becoming. 🧚🏽♀️
And honestly,
in a time when so many forces are trying to erase and silence Blaqueer TGNC artists telling the truth,
supporting the work is its own kind of resistance.
If that speaks to you,
come thru!
With Love & Immeasurable Gratitude,
amani 🤎 🙏🏾
Click to send some bday love & INVEST IN MY ART
Sign-up for my Patreon & support my work long-term
Join me online: instagram · youtube · tiktok · website · bluesky · upscrolled· streaming· NEWSLETTER