Authors Michaelharriot

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Aight. Here’s my favorite 2 stories about Bill Russell.

Both stories reveal how much of a humble human being he is. And one blows my mind because it dismantles what we think about the evolution of sports.

A thread:


The first is, that there is an assumption that today’s athletes are faster, stronger, etc. which is is based on ZERO evidence.

For instance, Wilt Chamberlain benched 465 lbs at 59 years old. Arnold Schwarzenegger says he benched 500 lbs on the set of Conan the Destroyer

Most basketball experts say Wilt has the highest vertical leap in NBA history. A few others argue that Michael Jordan did.

I think they’re both wrong.

Why?

Well let me tell you a story:

In 1956 Bill Russell was selected for the US Olympic basketball team

During this time, pros weren’t allowed in the Olympics, so the International Olympic Committee tried to say that he was ineligible since he had already signed with the Celtics, even though he hadn’t played yet

Luckily, Russell prevailed and led the team to the gold medal as the captain.

But if they would have stopped Russell from playing for the US basketball team, he would have STILL been in the Olympics.

How?

Because Bill Russell was one of the greatest high jumpers I. The world.
You are framing the question so that you can receive the answer you want but I’ll bite.

A thread.


1. Would you agree to a law that required you to get a blood test every time you used the bathroom?

How about a law that required you to slice one millimeter off your penis every time you used ketchup?

I bet you’re thinking “But those laws have no point.”

EXACTLY

Every single large-scale peer reviewed study ever conducted says voter fraud does not exist on a meaningful scale.

Dating back to 1982, there have been less than 500 prosecutions. If we multiplied that by the literal billions of votes cast...

There are LITERALLY more people who claim to be abducted by aliens than there are convictions for in-person voter fraud (Seriously, there was a

When Richard Hasen, a law professor and author of the 2012 book “The Voting Wars” looked at 30 years of data in search of voter fraud changing the outcome of an election, he couldn’t find a single instance
It was a dark and stormy night...

(I’ve always wanted to tweet that) But seriously, there was a tropical storm when a group of people gathered in the woods.

If they were white, we’d call them “founding fathers” but they were slaves who were about to change the world

A thread


Voudou priestess Cecile Fatiman danced with a knife. Then she split a pig and everyone drank the pig’s blood from a wooden bowl while enslaved priest Cutty Boukman prayed:

“The god who created the earth; who created the sun that gives us light. The god who holds up the ocean;

who makes the thunder roar. Our god who has ears to hear. You who are hidden in the clouds, who watch us from where you are. You see all that the white has made us suffer. The white man’s god asks him to commit crimes. But the god within us wants to do good...

It’s He who will direct our arms and bring us the victory. It’s He who will assist us. We all should throw away the image of the white men’s god who is so pitiless. Listen to the voice for liberty that speaks in all our hearts.”

Then , the meeting adjourned & everyone went home.

A week later, on Aug. 21 1791, it began.

In one week, 1800 plantations on the Island of St. Domingue would be burned to the ground and 1,000 white enslavers would be dead.

The shit had finally hit the fan.
I know I’ve been beating this redlining and wealth gap drum for 20+ years but here is a GREAT cliffs notes version.

But don’t take @ambermruffin’s word for it. You should get references...

A thread


How homes in Black neighborhoods are undervalued by $156

Every major bank in the US has been sued for mortgage discrimination and a study that included every mortgage in America found that Banks charge higher interest rates to nonblack customers



https://t.co/sx9tWWB98s

Baltimore redlined areas in 1935 vs Baltimore Drug arrests in 2016