ordinary thoughts: power, politics, and prejudice
Good evening, and happy Wednesday. 2024 is off to an unaccustomed start, to say the least. In just 10 days we’ve witnessed captivating truth-telling spills that have garnered tens of millions of views and reactions, remarkable speeches from trailblazing actors at the Golden Globes, historical tenures coming to an end, and landmark resignations with daunting impacts for the future. It seems as though we’ve been fed with an entire month’s worth of striking stories - all within a week-and-a-half. Just imagine the tales that’ll be discussed by the end of Q1 in April.
P.S., Happy Día de Los Reyes to those who celebrated over the weekend, much love to you and your families. We hope whoever’s been selling coquíto over the holidays made bank.
- Isaiah & Cybele
black women in power
Claudine Gay’s resignation from Harvard marks a sad, turbulent, and unfortunate, yet all-too-familiar ending to what was the shortest presidential occupancy in the school’s nearly 400-year history.
stories that have our attention
Lily Gladstone makes history, winning Best Female Actor at the Golden Globes, the first Indigenous actor to win since the awards began 81 years ago
Lily Gladstone, who grew up on the Blackfeet Nation reservation in Browning, Montana, took home the award for Best Female Actor — Motion Picture — Drama for their role as Osage woman Mollie Burkhart in Martin Scorsese’s Killers of the Flower Moon. Accepting the award, Gladstone spoke the Blackfeet language to open their powerful speech.
"I just spoke a bit of Blackfeet language, a beautiful community nation that raised me, that encouraged me to keep going, keep doing this," she said. "My mom, even though she's not Blackfeet, worked tirelessly to get our language into our classroom so I had a Blackfeet language teacher growing up." Gladstone's father is of Blackfeet and Nimiipuu heritage and her mother is white.
"I’m so grateful that I can speak even a little bit of my language, which I'm not fluent in up here, because in this business, Native actors used to speak their lines in English and then the sound mixers would run them backwards to accomplish Native languages on camera," Gladstone said.
Palestinians hail South Africa for bringing Gaza 'genocide' case
Dozens of Palestinians gathered Wednesday in front of the statue of Nelson Mandela in the occupied West Bank to thank South Africa for bringing a "genocide" case against Israel over its bombardment of Gaza. The crowd waved Palestinian flags, listened to speeches and held signs saying "Stop the genocide" and "Thank you South Africa". Hearings at the UN's top court will begin on Thursday with South Africa hoping the judges will compel Israel to halt its bombardment.
"It's very important to show appreciation to the people who understand our pain," Ramallah mayor Issa Kassis told AFP after addressing the crowd. "We feel that South Africa listens to our heart." South Africa's ruling African National Congress has long supported the Palestinian cause, often linking it to its own struggle against the apartheid government, which had cooperative relations with Israel. Mandela famously said South Africa's freedom would be "incomplete without the freedom of the Palestinians".
Congo’s constitutional court upholds election results, declares President Tshisekedi the winner
About 18 million people cast ballots in the presidential election for the Democratic Republic of Congo, which had a turnout of more than 40%, according to the election commission. Tshisekedi won reelection with more than 70% of the vote as opposition candidates and their supporters questioned the validity of the results.
The vote was mired with logistical problems. Many polling stations were late in opening or didn’t open at all. Some lacked materials, and many voter cards had smudged ink that made them illegible. Congo has a history of disputed elections that can turn violent, and there’s little confidence among many Congolese in the country’s institutions. Before the results were announced last month, opposition candidates, including frontrunner Moise Katumbi, said they rejected the results and called on the population to mobilize.
in other news...
Politics
U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken pressed the Palestinian president Wednesday to reform his government, seeking to rally the region behind postwar plans for Gaza that include concrete steps toward a Palestinian state.
Israel faces accusation of genocide against Palestinians in Gaza in case brought by South Africa at U.N. court
Bosses in the Biden admin are pressed over young staffers’ anonymous letters
Markets
Stocks rise Wednesday as traders await inflation data, earnings
Investors await the latest consumer price index report slated for release Thursday. Economists polled by Dow Jones expect CPI rose 3.2% year over year in December.
Rust belt's new shine: Zillow predicts 2024's hottest real estate markets
Tech
Microsoft challenges Apple as world's most valuable company
SEC account hack renews spotlight on X's security concerns
BlackRock, Ark lower fee for planned spot bitcoin ETFs
Sports
Michigan football runs over Washington 34-13, wins 2023 national championship
Memphis Grizzlies superstar Ja Morant will undergo season-ending surgery, completing a turbulent stretch for one of the NBA's brightest young stars
Here’s the NFL playoff bracket: and in depth details on matchups in the 2024 NFL playoffs
pa' la cultura
cultural trivia
The 66th Annual GRAMMY Award ceremony airs February 4th at 8pm EST.
Question: Which MC, or group, won the first-ever Hip-Hop GRAMMY award?
Run-D.M.C.
N.W.A
DJ Jazzy Jeff & the Fresh Prince
KRS-One
song of the week
Song of the Week is chosen from subscriber submissions, as we pay close attention to the latest exceptional output of music from artists who remain slightly under the radar.
Song of the Week:
Kream - by DIXSON, released in 2021.
words of wisdom
Today’s quote is from a distinguished university professor of sociology emerita at the University of Maryland, College Park.
From her book Black Feminist Thought: Knowledge, Consciousness, and the Politics of Empowerment, which gained national attention, originally published in 1990.