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Jordy Yager

@jordyyager.bsky.social

Journalist • JSAAHC Director of Digital Humanities • Raised/Razed co-Director & Writer • Plot of Land Executive Producer • Mapping Cville-Albemarle Founder

171 Posts256 Follower165 Folgt
Prem Thakker ツ@premthakker.bsky.social · 3w ago

New: Macklemore says Robert Kraft — who owns Gillette Stadium, where Macklemore & Ed Sheeran were to perform later this month — called Sheeran. Kraft rallied other owners together behind an ultimatum for Sheeran: if Macklemore stays on the tour, you won't be allowed in our venues.

I'm not sure how to start this. So I'm going to speak from the heart and share the truth. Ed Sheeran and his team have made the decision to remove me from The Loop tour. But before I get into it, I want to say something that should be obvious. In this moment I think it matters. I am not a victim. Ed Sheeran is not a victim. Pink is not a victim. We have careers, money, opportunities, safety and audiences around the world. Whatever consequences any of us face for what we say, we get to go home to our families. The victims are the Palestinian people. The men, women and children who have been killed, starved, displaced and forced to live through unimaginable violence. More than 20,000 children have been killed in Gaza alone. People are being killed today, and people will be killed tomorrow. I want to make sure that as I tell this story, we don't lose sight of that. Ed is my friend. I've known him for 13 years. We've shared late nights, studio sessions and stages. He has this infectious magic about him that I've grown to love. I consider him a brother. And because of that, we've had some difficult conversations this past week. The type of talks rooted in love and respect for one another that still end in a place of fundamental disagreement. Nothing I'm writing here is out of spite or because I want to tear down his character. But as I told Ed multiple times on the phone, our friendship can't change my responsibility to tell the truth about what happened. Last Monday, in the middle of all the media attention surrounding Pink and what I said at MetLife, Ed told me that Robert Kraft called him. We were scheduled to play Gillette Stadium later this month, which is owned by the Kraft Group. Ed told me that Kraft said I would not be allowed to perform in his stadium. Ed also told me that Kraft had rallied some of the other stadium owners and collectively they gave him an ultimatum: if Macklemore stays on the tour, you will not be allowed to play in our venues. Ed was in …What I said at MetLife I have been saying on stages around the world for almost three years. So why is it an issue now? Because now I'm sharing a stage with one of the biggest artists in the world, in some of the biggest stadiums in America. At a certain level of exposure, "Free Palestine" becomes too much of a risk. If I kept doing the shows, saying Free Palestine, with Ed implicitly supporting it, the crowd getting loud and showing undeniable support for Palestinian liberation, what artist might speak out next? The stage becomes resistance. Maybe that's why this time it became so important to silence me. And one of the most effective ways to enforce that silence has been to weaponize the accusation of antisemitism. Antisemitism is real. And that is exactly why the word matters too much to be used as a shield against criticism of the Israeli state. When criticizing Israel, opposing Zionism or saying "Free Palestine" gets conflated with hatred of Jewish people, it doesn't protect Jewish people. It protects Israel from accountability. I hope this isn't the end of my relationship with Ed. Thirteen years of friendship doesn't disappear because of one painful disagreement. I hope we both continue listening, studying what is happening in Palestine and wrestling with what neutrality means in a moment like this. My door will always be open to continuing that conversation. When my brother Omar was doing the subtitles for the video I posted from MetLife, I thanked him. He told me there's a phrase in Arabic: لا شكر على واجب "La shukra ala wajeb." There is no thanks for a duty. That stayed with me. Because that's what this has become for me and millions of others around the world. A duty. Not something deserving of praise or gratitude. Not brave. Human. Who is winning the internet, who is getting canceled, who gets to play the stadium and who doesn't, all of it becomes so small when held against what we are actually witnessing in Gaza and the West Bank. An entire people be…
Jordy Yager@jordyyager.bsky.social · last mo.

PSA: there’s no reason your car should be coming into the parallel lane beside it pretending like you’re a giant big rig needing a crazy wide and extended turning radius to take your not-sharp-at-all little regular ole turn.

KEW@kidadaewilliams.com · 2mo ago

"We are living through the opening act of a second Lost Cause. TFG & his allies are waging a battle over our historical memory, attempting to narrow the very definition of who is American, & consolidating power & wealth in the hands of an elite few." www.democracydefendersaction.org/insight/trum...

Trump’s Plot to Make the Lost Cause Great Again | Democracy Defenders Action

Nearly a century ago, W. E. B. Du Bois identified one of American history’s darkest patterns. The administration and its allies are determined to bring it back.

democracydefendersaction.org

Jordy Yager@jordyyager.bsky.social · 3mo ago

"We are deeply inspired by the courage and persistence of everyone who made this moment possible over the past decade, and we are honored to contribute to a future shaped not by inherited symbols, but by shared values and collective imagination.” www.architectmagazine.com/design/the-l...

Rebuilding America's Memory

How MASS Design Group is transforming Charlottesville's Lee monument into a new civic landscape. Discover architecture's evolving role in public memory.

architectmagazine.com

Jordy Yager@jordyyager.bsky.social · 3mo ago

Nearly 1,000 weighed in, and now, 5 years after Charlottesville's Confederate monuments were removed, the next chapter begins. This Friday, July 10 at 6 p.m. at the Jefferson School—the final design team for Swords Into Plowshares will be announced.

johnedwinmason@johnedwinmason.bsky.social · 3mo ago

I wonder how many people currently at Charlottesville's Daily Progress know that it was an overtly white supremacist newspaper up to about WWII & a bit less overtly white supremacist for many years after the war. When I moved to C-ville in the early '90s, people commonly called it the Daily Regress.

Jane Smith@mustelina.bsky.social · 3mo ago

You nailed it, Jordy. Thank you. I think I might have had steam coming out of my ears as I read the article a few minutes ago, so your incisive analysis does my heart good. Zy’s response on fb was also beautiful: “Allow your anger to move you to action that yields a positive, generational impact.”

Laura@lkblivewell.bsky.social · 3mo ago

This whole thread is worth your time if you plan to say anything at all about Charlottesville and housing and justice. Thanks so much, @jordyyager.bsky.social.

Jordy Yager@jordyyager.bsky.social · 3mo ago

1/ Starting with the headline: "Hijack" implies illegitimate seizure rather than organized public advocacy or opposition. "Developer presentation" centers the event as belonging to the developer rather than as a required public engagement meeting designed to garner community feedback.

Jordy Yager@jordyyager.bsky.social · 3mo ago

1/ Starting with the headline: "Hijack" implies illegitimate seizure rather than organized public advocacy or opposition. "Developer presentation" centers the event as belonging to the developer rather than as a required public engagement meeting designed to garner community feedback.

Jamie Dyer@jamiedcville.bsky.social · 3mo ago

The Daily Progress is openly publishing apologia for developers while also minimizing the anger of locals. dailyprogress.com/news/local/b...

DTM@thedtm.bsky.social · 3mo ago

Yesterday, a felony indictment brought by a special grand jury charging local activist Tanesha Hudson with voter registration fraud was quickly thrown out. But not before it caused Hudson to lose her job. “The process was the punishment,” says Hudson. www.charlottesvilledtm.com/p/special-gr...

Special grand jury singles out local activist in rare voter registration indictment

Tanesha Hudson, 44, has voted in the same Charlottesville location since she was 18 years old. This year, a special grand jury charged her with a felony for doing so.

charlottesvilledtm.com

johnedwinmason@johnedwinmason.bsky.social · 3mo ago

Charlottesville masquerades as a progressive city. lol. In any case, read about this targeted prosecution of a local Black woman activist.

DTM@thedtm.bsky.social · 3mo ago

Yesterday, a felony indictment brought by a special grand jury charging local activist Tanesha Hudson with voter registration fraud was quickly thrown out. But not before it caused Hudson to lose her job. “The process was the punishment,” says Hudson. www.charlottesvilledtm.com/p/special-gr...