Author | Lightnews

AFN

AFN

@listeningwhileblack.com

180 followers 290 following 160 posts

Drupal Dev. Dad of cat. Voice of Devon in How It Ends (https://howitendspodcast.com). he/him 🇺🇸🇳🇬🇹🇹🇬🇧 Post of the Day (PotD). 🎧 Random thoughts. 🧠 Bits of joy. 😹 Geeking out: Open Source. Writing. Books. Movies. Podcasts. Music. VO/Narration. EVs. Cycling.

howitendspodcast.com).

Posts Media Videos Starter Packs

Pinned

AFN @listeningwhileblack.com · 28d

📺PotW: We are clearly seeing madness... | The Last Word w/Lawrence O'Donnell

youtu.be/PGIxLFGUnUg

Lawrence: We are clearly seeing madness pouring from the darkness of Donald Trump's mind

YouTube video by MSNBC

AFN @listeningwhileblack.com · 28d

📺PotW: We are clearly seeing madness... | The Last Word w/Lawrence O'Donnell

youtu.be/PGIxLFGUnUg

Lawrence: We are clearly seeing madness pouring from the darkness of Donald Trump's mind

YouTube video by MSNBC

AFN @listeningwhileblack.com · Sep 3

Hey! Longtime/first time. I watched this piece and saw some creators I follow mentioned in the Wired story. I read the article and've since seen their feedback on it. Eye opening re: what the article missed/got wrong. Still need the left to step it up but I think this one's REALLY worth a revisit.

AFN @listeningwhileblack.com · Aug 23

🎧PotW: The African History of Africa | WBUR On Point

www.wbur.org/onpoint/2025...

See also:
share.libbyapp.com/title/10716896

#blacksy
#booksky
#podcastrecommendations

An African history of Africa with Zeinab Badawi

Everybody’s heard about Ancient Egypt. But just downriver, the kingdom of Kush was one of the most powerful states in the Nile valley. Sudanese-British journalist Zeinab Badawi gives us a lesser-known...

AFN @listeningwhileblack.com · Aug 21

Tolkien couldn't have written it better. Thank you Mayor Wu.

a man with a beard is holding a stick and a sword and says you shall not pass .

ALT: a man with a beard is holding a stick and a sword and says you shall not pass .

media.tenor.com

AFN @listeningwhileblack.com · Aug 18

This weekend I went on the New Bedford (MA) Underground Railroad Walking Tour. Our NPS Park Ranger was amazing - knowledgeable and passionate about a community which historically prevented slave catchers from succeeding in their nefarious work.

#inspiration
#blacksky
#fuckice
@altnps.bsky.social

A mural on a building in New Bedford, MA depicting various moments in the history of the Massachusetts 54th Regiment. This was the regiment of Black Union soldiers whose history was portrayed in the 1990 film Glory starring Denzel Washington and Morgan Freeman. 5 panels depict recruitment advertising, recruit sign up, cannonade training, Battle of Fort Wagner, surviving soldiers reuniting with family.

54th Infantry Regiment C seal in granite slab surrounded by bricks showing the names of regiment members. Soldiers commemorated here include two sons of New Bedford resident and famed abolitionist Frederick Douglass. The seal marks the spot in downtown New Bedford where recruits signed their names to the roster officially joining the 54th Regiment.

AFN @listeningwhileblack.com · Aug 3

📼PotD: "White Jesus" | @montemader.bsky.social on YouTube (2m40s)

youtu.be/G1VYrZh1Vvc

Happy Sunday. Stay blessed 🙏🏾

"White Jesus" strikes again it seems.

YouTube video by Monte Mader

AFN @listeningwhileblack.com · Aug 3

AI is an 80s kid TMNT fan.

AFN @listeningwhileblack.com · Aug 3

Day 1 Recap, pt. 4 - addendum

I neglected to add Lisa and Caron to that U.K. all-star list. Who would you add?

a man and a woman are pointing at each other with illusive soul written in the corner

Alt: a man and a woman are pointing at each other with illusive soul written in the corner

media.tenor.com

AFN @listeningwhileblack.com · Aug 3

Dems need to start flipping the tables of the money-changers. None of their lick-spittle anti-democracy colleagues should feel safe. Full LBJ on them. Expose their hypocrisy, indiscretions, the money they take and the deals they make. And if they're on the take too, burn it down or get primaried.

AFN @listeningwhileblack.com · Aug 3

🎶 Newport Jazz Fest 2025: Day 1 Recap, pt. 5

After Raye all but burned down the stage I could think of 1 group that even stood a chance to follow her. Thankfully that was the baddest band in all the land, The Legendary Roots Crew! Nuff said!!

#newportjazz
#musicsky
#blacksky
#theroots

AFN @listeningwhileblack.com · Aug 3

🎶 Newport Jazz Fest 2025: Day 1 Recap, pt. 4

Raye is a revelation and a powerhouse. Holding down a long line of soulful British songstresses from Dusty to Shirley to Grace to Sade to Amy to Adele. And now RAYE!! IYKYK. Mercy upon those who follow her!

#newportjazz
#musicsky
#blacksky
#raye

The sultry songstress Raye on stage at the 2025 Newport Jazz Festival. Her drummer and saxophonist from her incredible horn section flank her to the rear. They killed it! An impossible act to follow!

AFN @listeningwhileblack.com · Aug 2

🎶 Newport Jazz Fest 2025: Day 1 Recap, pt. 3

Preservation Hall Jazz, Sofi Tukker, Cato Miller and Scoffield, and The Philadelphia Experiment spanned the range from jazz preservation to get the party started music on through global jazz and jazz's future!

#newportjazz
#musicsky
#blacksky

AFN @listeningwhileblack.com · Aug 2

🎶 Newport Jazz Fest 2025: Day 1 Recap, pt. 2

Living legends! Photographs don't do them justice. To quote the fabulous Raye whose set came later in the day, "Music is Medicine." Theirs was nutrition, inoculation, and all-around panacea.

#roncarter
#newportjazz
#musicsky
#blacksky

AFN @listeningwhileblack.com · Aug 2

🎶 Newport Jazz Fest 2025: Day 1 Recap, pt. 1

- Ron Carter Quartet
- Preservation Hall Jazz
- Sofi Tucker
- Philadelphia Experiment
- Raye
- The Roots

The legendary Ron Carter kicked off the festival playing as smooth and powerfully as ever. A blessing to witness.

#newportjazz
#musicsky
#blacksky

AFN @listeningwhileblack.com · Jul 24

📼PotD: The Hays Code | @ashleytheebarroness (2m20s)

youtube.com/shorts/m5RDy...

Per the late great Roger Ebert, film is an empathy generation machine. Learn how through The Hays Code Hollywood systematically generated antipathy towards Black people.

#youtuberecommendations
#burnhollywoodburn

The Hays Code #shortvideo #youtubeshorts #rememberinghistory #blackhistory #americanhistory

YouTube video by Ashley B

AFN @listeningwhileblack.com · Jul 5

Happy Freedom* Day
(* initial pull request, not yet passing code reviewed, just barely validated by code sniffers and de-linters but pushed out as "Version 1" release by the assholes in Marketing)

AFN @listeningwhileblack.com · Jun 22

PotD: The Anti-Life Party | Takes by @jamellebouie.net (11m)

youtu.be/Em6hb2Mg0XA

I feel like this is more relevant now than when it was first posted.

#youtuberecommendations

The Anti-Life Party

YouTube video by Takes™ by Jamelle Bouie

AFN @listeningwhileblack.com · Jun 20

The scary part to me is the inevitable introduction of the "pay a premium to opt out of our surveillance" business model. Basically a protection racket.

AFN @listeningwhileblack.com · Jun 19

Haha! But I seem to remember Indy losing that debate. And handing over his bazooka and getting tied up with Marianne. If anything the ark was the real winner.

AFN @listeningwhileblack.com · Jun 19

📼PotD: The Origins of Policing in America | Washington Post (7m)
youtu.be/eBvo2OE5kqM

#Juneteenth we celebrate true freedom and the continuing fight to realize it for all in America. ICE is nothing new. Only the latest in a long line of tools deployed by the powerful to rob us of freedom.

The origins of policing in America | Perspective

YouTube video by Washington Post

AFN @listeningwhileblack.com · Jun 17

🖼️PotW: ICE and Superman | John Jennings

www.patreon.com/posts/131203...

A picture's worth a thousand words.

Two masked figures wearing fatigues with ICE emblazoned on their chests flank the Man of Steel whose head is down and is wearing green kryptonite manacles as they lead him away to be disappeared like so many other of our neighbors, friends and loved ones.

Reposted by AFN

Kevin M. Kruse @kevinmkruse.bsky.social · Jun 12

Our episode is out now:

Reposted by AFN

Whitney Alese @thereclaimed.bsky.social · May 25

A reminder that Memorial Day is a Black holiday.“

The fact that the freed slaves’ Memorial Day tribute is not as well remembered is emblematic of the struggle that would follow, as African Americans’ fight to be fully recognized for their contributions to American society continues to this day.”

The Overlooked Black History of Memorial Day

Historians like the Pulitzer Prize winner David Blight have tried to raise awareness of freed slaves who decorated soldiers' graves in 1865

AFN @listeningwhileblack.com · May 26

🎧PotD: The Secret World Behind Those Scammy Text Messages | NPR Planet Money (34m)

www.npr.org/2025/05/23/1...

The secret: it's far more tragic than you think. And also, a harbinger of a future being shaped by a certain 🍊 someone and his acolytes.

#podcastrecommendations

AFN @listeningwhileblack.com · May 23

🎧PotD: Ffff | The Allusionist (44m)

www.theallusionist.org/allusionist/...

Well fuck.

The prevailing mood (for me anyway) since at least last November. For some much needed levity, enjoy this enlightening discussion of that Swiss Army Knife of the English language: fuck

#podcastrecommendations

Image courtesy of theallusionist.org. A boggle game board - an orange plastic tray gridded into cubes 4 rows tall and 4 columns wide. The grid contains cubes showing the following:
- the letters F and C in the first and 3rd spaces of the 1st row
- the letters U and K in the 2nd and 4th spaces of the 4th (bottom) row.