20 year old Martese Johnson’s unprovoked beating by police was yet another example of the brutality that’s become America’s norm. Over the past couple years, our community has become almost numb to the consistent attack on Black life. Not only are the police abusing their authority, they’re doing it with impunity. Every instance of […]
When @OH_UnHeard, an equal rights group at University of Oklahoma, posted a video depicting members of the University chapter of Sigma Alpha Epsilon meerily bellowing a racist chant, University and Fraternity officials quickly moved to expel visible members and distance themselves from the very apparent display of anti-Blackness. To: All Student, Faculty, and Staff “To those who […]
Three years ago today, Trayvon Martin was murdered for no other reason than being a Black male. As much as detractors try to play up ambiguities in that night’s circumstance or justify George Zimmerman’s actions, we know what it was about. The criminalization of Black men by our society has embedded an innate fear in […]
-from USA Today The Justice Department said Tuesday its independent investigation found “insufficient evidence” to charge George Zimmerman with federal civil rights violations in the shooting death of Florida teen Trayvon Martin. Attorney General Eric Holder said the evidence did not meet the “high standard for a federal hate crime prosecution,” but the decision should […]
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 […]
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 […]
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 […]
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 […]
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 […]
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 […]
