Ornella Nzindukiyimana
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orarunswild.bsky.social
Ornella Nzindukiyimana
@orarunswild.bsky.social
Nzee-ndoo-kee-yee-mah-nah, PhD -- Historian of Black sportspeople -- Assoc. Prof. StFX U -- Co-President of BCSA -- Editor, Sport History Review -- She/Her/Elle -- ✊🏾 🇷🇼 🇨🇦
It really never ends.

“The same chemicals found in pipes, pesticides and floor tiles are also present in some wigs, braiding hair and hair extensions”
www.nbcnews.com/health/women...
Harmful chemicals lurk in extensions and braiding hair marketed to Black women, study finds
Researchers at the Silent Spring Institute found compounds linked to cancer and other health harms in both synthetic and human hair samples.
www.nbcnews.com
February 15, 2026 at 1:16 AM
Reposted by Ornella Nzindukiyimana
The study does not remotely say that science “leans hard left.” Nor does the fact that academics left the Nazis-and-child-porn website for a different website mean they’re producing biased evidence.

All of the major threats to science in 2026 come from the right.
February 14, 2026 at 10:38 PM
We can't ever stop pushing for more and better, because they will sell you dirt and tell you it is all you deserve.

Good luck to Destanee Aiava. I really wish she had not felt like she had to wait until she retired to speak up more. I hope she finds her way in retirement.
desaiava on Instagram
www.instagram.com
February 14, 2026 at 10:01 PM
*logs out* ✌🏽
I wonder if people are paying attention to how much their doom scrolling is cutting into time they used to use to read books
February 14, 2026 at 2:52 PM
Ha!
Do wish I could grade as quickly as an Olympic judge
February 14, 2026 at 3:39 AM
Reposted by Ornella Nzindukiyimana
February 12, 2026 at 1:44 PM
Why did no one (absolutely no one!) tell me that J. Trudeau's grandfather was an owner of the Montreal Royals!??
February 13, 2026 at 9:31 PM
I didn't expect them to be so blatant when I heard of this... But that's on me. Because what else should one expect from the institution that unproblematically adopted the 1936 Nazi innovation of the Olympic torch relay from Greece meant to symbolize 'Aryan heritage'?
The IOC has banned the courageous & principled Ukrainian Olympian Vladyslav Heraskevych for his “helmet of memory” commemorating Ukraine’s war dead.

Meanwhile the IOC is selling a $42 "Heritage T-shirt" commemorating the 1936 Olympics, known as the Nazi Games. shop3.olympics.com/en/olympic-g...
February 13, 2026 at 5:02 PM
The very irony of quoting Nelson Mandela (yes, of course, it's not lost on me that they chose the most sanitized figure ever) in the opening ceremony only turn around and do this.
IOC also ordered Ukrainian speedskater Oleh Handei to tape over a line affixed to his helmet by Ukrainian poet Lina Kostenko: “Where there is heroism, there can be no final defeat.” IOC judged quotation to be war-linked & thus in violation of 'neutrality' rules www.theguardian.com/sport/2026/f...
February 13, 2026 at 3:20 PM
Biathlon would be way more entertaining if the shooting was a snowball fight instead!
February 13, 2026 at 2:40 PM
Give it up for the Canadian Olympic Committee for creating the most predictable brochure ever by gathering the two Black athletes for promos and for suggesting, through Cynthia Appiah, that "the high cost of sport" is just something you can choose to "slow you down".

youtu.be/2EmSqjewcZo?...
February 13, 2026 at 1:06 PM
Wait. I just remembered about the tattered USA flag in Salt Lake city. Wasn't that political? How does the IOC cut it exactly?
February 13, 2026 at 12:57 AM
Well worth a read, and a shot.
Resurrecting this after a challenging day:
"Here's what happened when I made my college students put away their phones." I find the links to research in this article especially useful.
Explore this gift article from The New York Times. www.nytimes.com/2025/08/21/o...
Opinion | Here’s What Happened When I Made My College Students Put Away Their Phones
www.nytimes.com
February 13, 2026 at 12:11 AM
It is very funny that yesterday the CBC coverage got overexcited and had five whole people on the men's hockey panel (only had two for the women). So today they held themselves back to only four.
By funny I mean ridiculous.
February 12, 2026 at 12:58 PM
Athletes not pushing back (because ultimately they all have a stake in The Lie) is why the Olympics continue to sell themselves as 'pure'. There is no Olympics without Olympians...

History will only recognize those who write to the future.
February 12, 2026 at 12:53 PM
Reposted by Ornella Nzindukiyimana
It’s very easy to go “hurr hurr woke nonsense” but it’s actually much harder to create something that’s more enjoyable than the woke nonsense, which is why fascists end up trying to silence everyone who points this out, or hating on everyone who enjoys Bad Bunny.
The challenge for fascism is not when it is fighting for control but when it gains control: because then it has to create a cultural product that people are consistently happy with. And, well, just look at the Turning Point USA Super Bowl show or that Match of The Day they had without commentators.
February 12, 2026 at 12:36 PM
Reposted by Ornella Nzindukiyimana
A dresser inside a museum in New York City has been discovered as a secret stop on the Underground Railroad — the first of its kind discovered in Manhattan in over 100 years
February 11, 2026 at 3:43 AM
The way Stromae's Papaoutai is widely used as background music to inspirational stuff lately is so funny to me. Just saw a cute video about a man picking uo a tiny baby during the last few steps of his marathon race. Maybe a song about a deadbeat dad is not the way?
Stromae, t'es un génie!
February 10, 2026 at 11:56 PM
Oh there is something facinating about this here about embodying history, living it. Black livingness, as McKittrick puts it.
Called by his ancestors, Ken Johnston walked 1,360 kilometres through southern Ontario to retrace parts of the Underground Railroad. Here's what he learned about Black history in Canada, including the outdoor survival skills needed to escape enslavement. thenarwhal.ca/ontario-nort...
Walking 1,300 km of Black history in Ontario | The Narwhal
Ken Johnston walked from Niagara Falls to Owen Sound, following the boggy, buggy Underground Railroad path of early Black settlers in Ontario
thenarwhal.ca
February 9, 2026 at 3:59 PM
Why didn't they name it the Bonaly, at the strict minimum?
February 9, 2026 at 3:53 PM
Reposted by Ornella Nzindukiyimana
Every Winter Olympics I think of Surya Bonaly. I hope she is thriving.
February 8, 2026 at 11:13 PM
Well, everyone else, go home.
February 9, 2026 at 1:35 AM
I wonder what made people exceptionally want to tune in to Nationalism TV since the last opportunity? (I have to look into whether 2014 was driven by a post-Vancouver glow.)
February 8, 2026 at 10:48 PM
Reposted by Ornella Nzindukiyimana
February 8, 2026 at 8:44 PM
Yes!
(Also just watched an adorable animation of the Sarajevo Games. This used to pretend to at least care about culture!)
Indeed - as @orarunswild.bsky.social rightly points out, there used to be an Olympic Art competiton alongside the sport. Check out this @sportinhistory.bsky.social article to learn more! #olympics #sporthistory #skystorians 🗃️

www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10....
February 8, 2026 at 10:37 PM