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Writer's pictureAmber Moore

Invisible STUD & Strange Fruit

Updated: Jan 27, 2021


So as I watch CNN and the continuing crazy of the child in the White House I think about the book by Ralph Ellison, Invisible Man and Billie Holiday's Strange Fruit. Why these, well think about it. The Invisible Man is valid in today's society and it can be applied to the masculine identified gay female (Stud, AG, Dom, Masculine of Center), especially Black (African American) and Strange Fruit can be about the murders of Black Transwomen in this country and of course, just being Black in America.


Can this change? I think that is everyone's question. According to our History, African Americans will stand up or fight for a moment. Unfortunately, We are so divided because of the belief that material things and money is the way. I think we have bought into the White privilege way. We as African decent we are nature people, mother earth not man made material ways... WHITE PEOPLE Beliefs. We are currently understanding that the Bible is a book to keep black ppl under a belief that we get our riches when we die but white ppl get their now on earth. the definition of Oppression. The Bible was say to be the tool to oppress the slave(when you get a chance check out Willie Lynch's letter)Back to my thought.... but we aren't the 1960 civil right fighters... I'm not sure what to call us. Do you really think that you can get black folks to come together in one city and march/walk to another like the Selma marches? I'll Wait. Ummmm, moving on in my rant. All over the country we are marching and having rallies but are they helping or making a difference? Some would say yes and others no. I'm not sure. I just keep reading the passages below and wondering will my grandkids have a chance to be successful. We might not be lynched as she describes in Strange Fruit but we are being lynched in a different way... Transwomen being murdered, Black ppl having the police called on them for just trying to live because white ppl are now showing their true colors... racism. And lastly, we believe that a white man or women has our best interest at hand as our next president when we have two people that are very qualified and they have the record. Plus, they look like us. They have truly walked in our shoes. They understand Racism. YES, they are us. So why not come together to put someone that looks like us in the highest position we have in our government again. You know, Masta knows what is best for us, not our own. We watch other cultures come together to make it...Mexicans will live in one apt with 5-8 ppl just to be able to come up but we won't do that. We are still crabs in a barrel. We forget that without us the American economic system would


So I have more to say but I will stop my rant here... til another day. We will continue to be the Invisible Man and the Strange Fruit until we start to protect our interests, communities and really see the power we hold in this country. Our economic value is ridiculous. TIL ANOTHER DAY!!


Now here is the piece from the book:

"I am a man of substance, of flesh and bone, fiber and liquids -- and I might even be said to possess a mind. I am invisible, understand, simply because people refuse to see me. Like the bodiless heads you see sometimes in circus sideshows, it is as though I have been surrounded by mirrors of hard, distorting glass. When they approach me they see only my surroundings, themselves, or figments of their imagination -- indeed, everything and anything except me."


And the lyrics from Strange Fruit by Billie Holiday:

Southern trees bear a strange fruit Blood on the leaves and blood at the root Black bodies swinging in the southern breeze Strange fruit hanging from the poplar trees Pastoral scene of the gallant South The bulging eyes and the twisted mouth Scent of magnolia, sweet and fresh Then the sudden smell of burning flesh

Here is a fruit for the crows to pluck For the rain to gather, for the wind to suck For the sun to rot, for the tree to drop Here is a strange and bitter crop



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