2015
Why Zendaya’s Refusal to Be Diminished is Important For Us Black Girls
In order to understand why Zendaya’s appearance at the Oscars is important we have to understand the daily slights Black women have to contend with about their hair. My best friend’s mother had a live-in boyfriend who would frequently refer to me as a “wild child” because of my hair. Boys would constantly make fun […]
History of Lynchings in the South Documents Nearly 4,000 Names
An updated report on the brutal history of lynching and white terrorism experienced by Blacks in America. A block from the tourist-swarmed headquarters of the former Texas School Book Depository sits the old county courthouse, now a museum. In 1910, a group of men rushed into the courthouse, threw a rope around the neck of […]
Reclaiming ALL of Black History
You cannot add a “but” onto Black Lives Matter. You can’t align yourself to a multi-faceted, all-inclusive movement and still carry prejudices that put you at odds with it’s leaders. You can’t claim to want to fight against white supremacy while harboring the exact patriarchal, misogynist, homophobic, hetero-normative beliefs that characterize their oppression. While Black […]
A Letter to Marshawn Lynch
I get it. You just don’t want to fucking talk. Despite the media’s best efforts, I won’t sip their koolaid and attempt to demonize you because you don’t want to answer their inane questions. I’m not going to compare following rules at an anonymous 9 to 5 to caving to the demands of an […]
Black Robes, White Justice: An Open Letter to the St. Louis County Circuit Court
To the Honorable Maura McShane, Justice, St. Louis County Circuit Court: Greetings. I recently learned that you denied the request of the NAACP Legal Defense Fund to convene a new grand jury in the Ferguson case and appoint a neutral, special prosecutor to independently oversee the grand jury process. I write this missive to […]
The Darkness of Light / The Problem with ‘Light Girls’
This critique is not meant to discredit the experiences of the women interviewed, but to analyze the discussion and look further into the source(s) of colorism. After watching Bill Duke’s documentary Light Girls, there seemed to be a few things left unsaid. It didn’t shed a lot of light on the larger issues of black […]
An Interview with Ackee & Saltfish and Strolling Film-Maker Cecile Emeke
Introduction: I was able to catch up with the UK native, Cecile Emeke, an amazing film maker of the youtube series “Strolling”. In her video she gives voice to black youth in the UK to tell their stories of topics surrounding Black culture and Blackness. These stories are ones that are not often heard compared to […]
Why its Hard to Celebrate MLK Day
I am a freelance writer and I have work with a client most of today, Martin Luther King day. I won’t be able to attend any municipal events or view any tributes on television. I don’t have a television anyway, and I’m actually kind of glad I won’t be able to partake in America’s charade. […]
FBI Says Explosion Outside NAACP Office in Colorado Deliberate
An explosion outside an NAACP office building in Colorado on Tuesday morning that rattled neighbors was caused deliberately, officials say. An improvised explosive device was detonated against the exterior wall of the NAACP building on South El Paso Street in Colorado Springs around 10:45 a.m. Mountain time. No one was injured, said Amy Sanders, a […]