INTRODUCTION
This month October here in the UK is Black History Month so to celebrate I’ll be discussing my 6 prominent black artists and activists that has inspired me and some reasons and ways they have inspired me. This year’s theme is “Honouring Our Communities,” so before I go onto the main subject I would like to talk about our community here in Bristol in the UK. Now it’s no secret of Bristol’s past with the involvement with slavery and people wonder about the state of Bristol nowadays but Bristol has a lovely home based community and people like my dad and the people he works with like the people at community based radio station Ujima and business and community leaders I’ll call them do a wonderful job of making Bristol so inviting and warm to be around. I love the fact people like my dad and the people open opportunities for disadvantaged people and ethnic groups and are always bridging gaps in the ethnic groups from race to mental health and that makes me proud to be part of and to be part Bristolian. Racism is one of the top subjects you would find in the community and I’m not saying Bristol is perfect cos boy there are still some asses around but we don’t put up with it especially in main parts of Bristol like the town and surrounding areas. It’s all about helping others along the way if you can and stopping major outbreaks from happening but I know like London as well I don’t know any other parts I’ve been to as I haven’t been up north or to Birmingham that many times but I guess we are all the same but we all stand against corruption, racism or hypocrisy. Bristol is also diverse which I also like and does cater to many beliefs, foods etc. But rest assured and you best believe if we hear any racist remark someone will be around to troll them I mean it doesn’t get rewarded or ignored by the community which makes Bristol a safer place to be in if you are of a ethnic background but you can never stop the rift raft from having their opinions. I’ve also been to two multi cultured schools one was the primary school from 6-11 and then my secondary school 11 on wards and this had led me to have a better understanding of other people’s religions and backgrounds so much so no one can tell me silly stories about how in their old transcripts it says x,y,z, or it means x,y,z and that ladies and gentlemen is the essence of most of Bristol and the real community but shout out to all the people and everyone I did and didn’t mention who do their part for your community and stand up and against something backwards and dumb.
HARRIET TUBMAN
Harriet Tubman was born in slavery and later escaped and made 13 trips back to rescue approximately 70 enslaved people, including her family and friends. She used a network of antislavery activists and safe houses known collectively as the Underground Railroad. During the American Civil War, she served as an armed scout and spy for the Union Army. In her later years, Tubman was an activist in the movement for women’s suffrage. Tubman was beaten and whipped by enslavers as a child. Early in life, she suffered a traumatic head wound when an irate overseer threw a heavy metal weight, intending to hit another slave, but hit her instead. The injury caused dizziness, pain, and spells of hypersomnia, which occurred throughout her life. After her injury, Tubman began experiencing strange visions and vivid dreams, which she ascribed to premonitions from God. These experiences, combined with her Methodist upbringing, led her to become devoutly religious. In 1849 Tubman escaped to Philadelphia, only to return to Maryland to rescue her family soon after. Slowly, one group at a time, she brought relatives with her out of the state, guiding dozens of other enslaved people to freedom. Tubman (or “Moses”, as she was called) traveled by night and in extreme secrecy, and she later said she “never lost a passenger”. After the Fugitive Slave Act of 1850 was passed, she helped guide escapees farther north into British North America (Canada) and helped newly freed people find work. Tubman met John Brown in 1858 and helped him plan and recruit supporters for his 1859 raid on Harper’s Ferry. When the Civil War began, Tubman worked for the Union Army, first as a cook and nurse and then as an armed scout and spy. For her guidance of the raid at Combahee Ferry, which liberated more than 700 enslaved people, she is widely credited as the first woman to lead an armed military operation in the United States. After the war, she retired to the family home on property she had purchased in 1859 in Auburn, New York, where she cared for her aging parents. She was active in the women’s suffrage movement until illness overtook her and she was admitted to a home for elderly African Americans, which she had helped establish years earlier. Tubman is commonly viewed as an icon of courage and freedom. I heard about Harriet Tubman early on in life and always seen her as a courageous black woman who fought her oppressor to free people who were under so much pain and misery. Most people wouldn’t of looked back once fleeing slavery so to go back to rescue the 70 people more than once does show courage and loyalty. Now for some serious eye brows down but still Tubman related but I wasn’t very happy to hear of silly conspiracies about Harriet Tubman and was shocked on how low they went and who was eating this garbage. As much as they (the supremacist) like to keep black people down and enjoy white washing any sort of resistance against the stuff they are so proud to be white about but I’m not buying it for a second and is most offensive to her legacy, her family and black people. I know it’s a lie like when they said she had Herpes from birth which is completely fabrication as she would of died much earlier I mean as a child as back then it would of been still unknown and untreatable which was a lot more deadly back then. Anyway the reason why you should get that STI sorted is to stop it leaking to other parts of the body and making parts of you body say infected and untreatable for that STI and to also to stop infecting other people. So she would of been swollen and in a lot of pain and when it does spread it becomes fatal which means wave goodbye to your life and future cos you will be buried sooner.
MARTIN LUTHER KING JR
Now I don’t need to explain who Martin Luther King Jr is but for the record he was a Baptist minister and civil rights leader who was assassinated on that now infamous hotel balcony in 1968. He was a prominent leader of the civil rights movement from 1955 until his assassination in 1968. He advanced civil rights for in the United States through the use of nonviolence and sometimes civil disobedience against Jim Crow laws and other forms of legalized discrimination, which most commonly affected African Americans. A Black church leader, King participated in and led marches for the right to vote, desegregation, labor rights, and other civil rights. He oversaw the 1955 Montgomery bus boycott and was the first president of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference (SCLC), leading the unsuccessful Albany Movement in Albany, Georgia, and helping organize nonviolent 1963 protests in Birmingham, Alabama. King was one of the leaders of the 1963 March on Washington, where he delivered his “I Have a Dream” speech, and helped organize two of the three Selma to Montgomery marches during the 1965 Selma voting rights movement. There were dramatic standoffs with segregationist authorities, who often responded violently. The civil rights movement achieved pivotal legislative gains in the Civil Rights Act of 1964, the Voting Rights Act of 1965, and the Fair Housing Act of 1968. King was jailed several times. Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) director J. Edgar Hoover considered King a radical and made him an object of COINTELPRO from 1963. FBI agents investigated him for possible communist ties, spied on his personal life, and secretly recorded him. In 1964, the FBI mailed King a threatening anonymous letter, which he interpreted as an attempt to make him commit suicide. King won the 1964 Nobel Peace Prize for combating racial inequality through nonviolent resistance. In his final years, he expanded his focus to include opposition towards poverty and the Vietnam War. In 1968, King was planning a national occupation of Washington, D.C., to be called the Poor People’s Campaign, when he was assassinated on April 4 in Memphis, Tennessee. James Earl Ray was convicted of the assassination, though it remains the subject of conspiracy theories. King’s death led to riots in US cities. King was posthumously awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 1977 and Congressional Gold Medal in 2003. Martin Luther King Jr. Day was established as a holiday in cities and states throughout the United States beginning in 1971; the federal holiday was first observed in 1986. The Martin Luther King Jr. Memorial on the National Mall in Washington, D.C was dedicated in 2011. I always admired Martin Luther King Jr just his I had a dream speech alone but he was a strong man with hope and determination and another courageous person who will always will go down in the history as a real winner and man of his word. He used non violent tactics to fight great oppression of that time and stood up for what he believed in and so wanted for him and the people putting himself in great dangers way to make America great again way before silly MAGA came around. I do believe the old CIA wanted him dead as he was causing so much disruption and awareness to the whole of America and beyond. Their history of foul play does make sense if you knew it wasn’t just the Italian Mafia running Hollywood in the olden days going through all the history between the old CIA and Hollywood which means they would of tried to get all the top players of the noise or what they would of called noise to silence all the things they don’t like or see or to push like equality and fairness. So yes I believe he was assassinated so he and the growing crowd was silenced they did it and tried it on a lot of artists and world leaders it’s what they do sadly.
NELSON MANDELA
For those who don’t know who Nelson Mandela is he was the first black President of South Africa from 1994 – 1999 but before that was imprisoned from the 60s to 1990 for showing rebellious and resistance against black misjustice like the apartheid in South Africa had before he abolished it. He was the country’s first black head of state and the first elected in a fully representative democratic election. His government focused on dismantling the legacy of apartheid by tackling institutionalised racism and fostering racial reconciliation. Ideologically an African nationalist and socialist, he served as President of the African National Congress (ANC) party from 1991 to 1997. Mandela was born in Mvezo to the Thembu royal family. He studied law at the University of Fort Hare and the University of the Witwatersrand before working as a lawyer in Johannesburg. There he became involved in anti-colonial and African nationalist politics, joining the ANC in 1943 and co-founding its Youth League in 1944. After the National Party’s white-only government established apartheid—a system of racial segregation that privileged whites—he and the ANC committed themselves to its overthrow. Mandela was appointed President of the ANC’s Transvaal branch, rising to prominence for his involvement in the 1952 Defiance Campaign and the 1955 Congress of the People. He was repeatedly arrested for seditious activities and was unsuccessfully prosecuted in the 1956 Treason Trial. Influenced by Marxism, he secretly joined the South African Communist Party (SACP). Although initially committed to non-violent protest, in association with the SACP he co-founded the militant Umkhonto we Sizwe in 1961 and led a sabotage campaign against the government. In 1962, he was arrested for conspiring to overthrow the state and sentenced to life imprisonment in the Rivonia Trial. Mandela served 27 years in prison, initially on Robben Island, and later in Pollsmoor Prison and Victor Verster Prison. Amid growing domestic and international pressure, and with fears of a racial civil war, President F. W. de Klerk released him in 1990. Mandela and de Klerk negotiated an end to apartheid and organised the 1994 multiracial general election in which Mandela led the ANC to victory and became President. Leading a broad coalition government which promulgated a new constitution, Mandela emphasised reconciliation between the country’s racial groups and created the Truth and Reconciliation Commission to investigate past human rights abuses. Economically, Mandela’s administration retained its predecessor’s liberal framework despite his own socialist beliefs, also introducing measures to encourage land reform, combat poverty, and expand healthcare services. Internationally, he acted as mediator in the Pan Am Flight 103 bombing trial and served as Secretary-General of the Non-Aligned Movement from 1998 to 1999. He declined a second presidential term and in 1999 was succeeded by his deputy, Thabo Mbeki. Mandela became an elder statesman and focused on combating poverty and HIV/AIDS through the charitable Nelson Mandela Foundation. Mandela was a controversial figure for much of his life. Although critics on the right denounced him as a communist terrorist and those on the radical left deemed him too eager to negotiate and reconcile with apartheid’s supporters, he gained international acclaim for his activism. Widely regarded as an icon of moral leadership, democracy and social justice, he received more than 250 honours—including the Nobel Peace Prize—and became the subject of a cult of personality. He is held in deep respect within South Africa, where he is often referred to by his Xhosa clan name, Madiba, and described as the “Father of the Nation”. Now I was brought up with Mandela and I remember him talking about being imprisoned and I may of read his book and backed his charity in later years but he will go down as a rebellious soul with a lot of patience and later on power. His story was top top top news before he was freed in 1990 and people were cancelling South African products once again way before cancel culture when it meant something may I just add. I mean South Africa was the only place a part from some states down the south of America where they had this weird vibe going on but South Africa was the last place on this earth to have the apartheid still a working law the most of the world secretly faded the law out after great pressure like what happened in America. The man was wrongful imprisoned from what I hear what he was doing or at the very least over sentenced for something only a serial killer or child killer should get which is max sentence life and life is life and no life which is why I don’t put hands on people. He did do great things like abolishing the apartheid which for people who don’t know what the word means or never seen it written down it’s separation between black and white people and also happened in America infamously. I mean let’s talk about that for a second so eye brows down for a another round of Eyes Brows Down number 11 (a quick bingo joke) as Elon Musk wants to bust jokes for you but it’s Africa and I’m going stupid here and run with the simple narratives most people who are born African are black, brown or biracial even Middle Eastern Asian and Chinese mixed I heard it’s diverse anyway his ancestors are from Holland who his ancestors colonized South Africa and there they are still swinging their balls in the air (bum rushing) into making up things like the apartheid in a mostly black county is disturbing and I’m glad it’s a thing of the past. The Arabs have a long outstanding time in Africa mainly Egypt who haven’t over enforced their wealth or power in the country and they definitely didn’t start colonizing and enforcing race restrictions. So basically for Musk to make fun of Mandela or agree with the Apartheid comes off as a certain influencer’s shoe she hauled in FYI expensive but looks cheap….Gurl I’m sure they would look dashing once on.
BOB MARLEY
Another person who needs no introduction and one of the kings of Reggae Bob Marley. He is considered one of the pioneers of Reggae and also a Rastafarian who always sung about injustice, peace with each other and themes around slavery and also Africa and Israel. He was also controversial in his outspoken support for democratic social reforms. Marley also supported the legalisation of cannabis and advocated for pan-Africanism. Marley began his career in 1963, after forming the group Teenagers with Peter Tosh and Bunny Wailer, which became the Wailers. In 1965, they released their debut studio album, The Wailing Wailers, which included the single “One Love”, a reworking of “People Get Ready”. It was popular worldwide and established the group as a rising figure in reggae. The Wailers released 11 more studio albums, and after signing to Island Records, changed their name to Bob Marley and the Wailers. While initially employing louder instrumentation and singing, they began engaging in rhythmic-based song construction in the late 1960s and early 1970s, which coincided with Marley’s conversion to Rastafari. Around this time, Marley relocated to London, and the group embodied their musical shift with the release of the album The Best of The Wailers (1971). Bob Marley and the Wailers began to gain international attention after signing to Island and touring in support of the albums Catch a Fire and Burnin’ (both 1973). Following their disbandment a year later, Marley carried on under the band’s name. The album Natty Dread (1974) received positive reviews. In 1975, following the global popularity of Eric Clapton’s version of Marley’s “I Shot the Sheriff”, Marley had his international breakthrough with his first hit outside Jamaica, a live version of “No Woman, No Cry”, from the Live! album. This was followed by his breakthrough album in the United States, Rastaman Vibration (1976), which reached the Top 50 of the Billboard Soul Charts. A few months later, Marley survived an assassination attempt at his home in Jamaica, which was believed to be politically motivated. He permanently relocated to London, where he recorded the album Exodus, which incorporated elements of blues, soul, and British rock and had commercial and critical success. In 1977, Marley was diagnosed with acral lentiginous melanoma; he died in May 1981, shortly after baptism into the Ethiopian Orthodox Church. Fans around the world expressed their grief, and he received a state funeral in Jamaica. The greatest hits album Legend was released in 1984 and became the best-selling reggae album of all time. Marley also ranks as one of the best-selling music artists of all time, with estimated sales of more than 75 million records worldwide. In February 1981, three months before his death, Marley was honored with a designated Order of Merit, Jamaica’s highest honor related to people involved with either the arts, literature or science. In 1994, Marley was posthumously inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. Rolling Stone ranked him No. 11 on its list of the 100 Greatest Artists of All Time, and No. 98 on its list of the 200 Greatest Singers of All Time. His other achievements include a Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award, a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame, and induction into the Black Music & Entertainment Walk of Fame. Bob Marley will always go down as a kind and peaceful man and is where my personal education of the world it was and now is or at least side notes and though he didn’t have the most political impact imprint he still spread love and good practices if you want to do right in this world like what we would see with any Rastafarian. His music really helped me understand about certain issues and later on down in life the principal of life and also how to be a better person or a good person and some of the traps I should be looking for like government corruption and misjustice. Back to number 11 eye brows down town but I do think he was murdered my automatic finger will always be directed at the old CIA since he was already under their investigations and once again it was in their best interest to silence the noise is what I think I called it earlier but it says no evidence shows foul play by the old CIA but that is if you believe all what you read on your favorite search index. In all seriousness I do think the attempted murder was by a rival political party that knew his ever growing influence could mean the end of their party for a long time, or it was done by the CIA or co signed by the opposing party by the CIA they probably were sponsored basically that is my take on it all just my take on it after watching so much stuff in the past mainly in the 2010s when most of the world turned woke even me.
JIMI HENDRIX
Jimi Hendrix was one of the greatest Guitarist and though he still had a some what short carer he still had a big impact and inspires even the greatest Guitarist and even of his time even though his presents wasn’t really felt as much as when he was alive meaning in reflection time. Now I was thinking Symbol AKA Prince lol or Jimi and I thought there was only one answer as Jimi was probably Princes inspiration playing the guitar and broke down barrels as did Chuck Berry did even more in the start of Rock n Roll in the 1950s and the other inspiration behind a lot of Rock N Roll artists after Chuck and even in Country Music. He was an American guitarist, singer, and songwriter. He is widely regarded as one of the greatest and most influential guitarists of all time. He was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1992 as a part of his band, the Jimi Hendrix Experience; the institution describes him as “arguably the greatest instrumentalist in the history of rock music” Hendrix began playing guitar at age 15. In 1961, he enlisted in the US Army, but was discharged the following year. Soon afterward, he moved to Clarksville, then Nashville, Tennessee, and began playing gigs on the Chitlin’ Circuit, earning a place in the Isley Brothers’ backing band and later with Little Richard, with whom he continued to work through mid-1965. He then played with Curtis Knight and the Squires. Hendrix moved to England in late 1966, after bassist Chas Chandler of the Animals became his manager. Within months, he formed the Jimi Hendrix Experience (with its rhythm section consisting of bassist Noel Redding and drummer Mitch Mitchell) and achieved three UK top-ten hits: “Hey Joe”, “Purple Haze”, and “The Wind Cries Mary”. He achieved fame in the US after his performance at the Monterey Pop Festival in 1967. His third and final studio album, Electric Ladyland (1968), became his most successful release and his only number-one album on the US Billboard 200 chart. The world’s highest-paid rock musician, Hendrix headlined the Woodstock Festival in 1969 and the Isle of Wight Festival in 1970. He died in London from barbiturate-related asphyxia in September 1970, at the age of 27. Hendrix was inspired by American rock and roll and electric blues. He favored overdriven amplifiers with high volume and gain, and was instrumental in popularizing the previously undesirable sounds caused by guitar amplifier feedback. He was also one of the first guitarists to make extensive use of tone-altering effects units in mainstream rock, such as fuzz distortion, Octavia, wah-wah, and Uni-Vibe. He was the first musician to use stereophonic phasing effects in recordings. Rolling Stone wrote: “Hendrix pioneered the use of the instrument as an electronic sound source. Players before him had experimented with feedback and distortion, but Hendrix turned those effects and others into a controlled, fluid vocabulary every bit as personal as the blues with which he began. Now you may be thinking Jimi hasn’t done anything political or if you know me I don’t play guitar or have I except for those toy ones or made a big stance on the world but he put a bit of color to the electric guitar world again after it did turn into a prominent white artists and bands which is no disrespect to them. Even though I do play keyboard I love my synths boy do I love a good synth or bass but he taught me it doesn’t matter if it was quote unquote black like yeah I’ve put my bongos in the repair shop they are getting tuned old Kinta is tuning them I know legend. But it didn’t matter what colour I was I’ve been playing all my life well since I was seven and whoever thinks I’m trying to bring out my white side as I am biracial with a white and black parent or being too white really needs to reflect on before their was this great judgment and what started it in the first place and the sweet days when everyone got a chance you just needed to be good at what you did and have a bit of a flair to you which I feel the flair is over exaggerated now a days and not enough talent I mean some of them none of the underdogs or top shelvers. Moving on but he made it except-able for other black and can I say people of color it’s the word I’ve been avoiding but I’m going to get it out there as I do mean people from a ethnic background to get play and get into playing guitar and broke down racial barrels within music of what a black artist should look like or the type of music they should play and expect from them.
MICHAEL JACKSON
A very controversial person if you believe in the lies and I no longer believe, will believe or feel comfortable in the witch hunt of Micheal Jackson now he has been found not guilty in a court of law and what I gather from after watching that gripping showcase of people who are going to hell and also the real reason why he turned quote unquote whiter over the years and his childlike choices and at times demeanor but that is a whole new topic on the thirsty, the celebrity lifestyle and impact of that throughout the decades and so much more like understanding what is and isn’t a witch hunt and so much more so if you want that leave a comment leave a horse emoj or something so I know if even one person wants to know my take on the whole drama they called Micheal Jackson’s life and the more the merrier as it will get me typing much faster. Micheal Jackson was a child star first being in the The Jackson Five with his siblings and his father being the manager from their humble but strict beginnings in the 1960s which they all broke down barriers in the serious times of racial related issues and where separation of colors happened not just at the water fountain but also in clubs and bars, motels, hotels and leisure centers and was still a thing in many states and may I add quickly like any black prominent artist or group in the 60s slightly higher up in the 70s and pushing to the 80s and going down from the 60s down to the 1800s when it was first Blues in 1860 and then Jazz in the 1920s. But by the mid 1990s he had and not just this but he had such songs like Heal The World talking about poverty but not just talking about it being part of the what I call the humanitarian squad who had a serious impact of not just doing their bit but telling others to help others and not to feed into the lies which was the two takeaways I took from his special Christmas televised message he did I think it was in the late 90s or early 2000s I really can’t remember. And not to mention the Earth Song a song about how we are destroying the earth with that full blown video that did get trolled by the smart asses who concentrated more on his skin color and change of face. And lastly Black & White his song about how it doesn’t matter what race we are with the state of the art of the time of all different creeds and colors shape shifting one after the other they were all positive songs that help people get dressed and become of part of a cause or something in big and smaller steps for some as a child and still has a massive impact in trying to be part of a cause again even if it’s my own cause which is awareness. Michael Jackson was a prolific philanthropist who donated an estimated $300 million to over $500 million to charity during his lifetime, earning a Guinness World Record for supporting 39 charitable organizations. his key humanitarian contributions and initiatives are Heal the World Foundation: Founded by Jackson in 1992 to fight poverty, disease, and child abuse, while providing medicine and funding for children worldwide. “We Are the World”: Co-wrote the 1985 charity single with Lionel Richie, which raised over $60 million for African famine relief. Medical & Hospital Support: Donated his $1.5 million Pepsi settlement to establish the Michael Jackson Burn Center for Children, funded a liver transplant and 10 years of treatment for 4-year-old Béla Farkas in Hungary, and regularly visited children’s hospitals and orphanages globally during his tours. Disaster Relief & Supplies: Airlifted 46 to 47 tons of medical supplies, food, and vaccines to war-torn Sarajevo and other international crisis zones. Scholarships & Youth Programs: Contributed millions to the United Negro College Fund (UNCF), Camp Ronald McDonald, and local community initiatives like Heal L.A..