I just knew that things would change for me the day I closed on my book deal. In my mind, this moment was going to be bigger than anything I had done in my 32 years of life, and I wanted to be aware and very present. I wanted to rejoice like all the viral […]
Junot DĂaz, the award-winning author of The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao, has been accused of sexual harassment and misogyny in the literary world by fellow woman authors Zinzi Clemmons, Monica Byrne, Carmen Maria Machado, and others.
A team of three Black girls from D.C.’s Benjamin Banneker Academic High School—Bria Snell, India Skinner and Mikayla Sharrieff—was excited to enter the NASA Goddard‘s Optimus Prime Spinoff Promotion and Research Challenge (OPSPARC) student competition to win a trip to NASA. Their project, IN3-Incubator Program, aimed to create a filtration jar that will filter water continuously and […]
In a recent interview with Rolling Stone, singer/rapper Janelle Monae revealed that her sexuality is fluid, telling the magazine, “Being a Black queer woman in America-someone who has been in relationships with both men and women–I consider myself to be a free ass motherfucker.” Monae continued, “Later I read about pansexuality and was like ‘Oh […]
By Mark Matlock The possibility of weed legalization can be exciting to young people like me. Especially since our country’s current policies regarding weed have increased discrimination already fueled by the War on Drugs. But excitement can make us forget that being able to consume weed doesn’t get rid of the overt anti-Blackness that comes […]
Editor’s Note: April is Black Women’s History Month. Throughout this month, Black Youth Project is celebrating Black women. This month is also National Minority Health Month, Autism Awareness Month, Sexual Assault Awareness Month, Child Abuse Prevention Month. We are interested in publishing works that address these topics and the things surrounding them. Collaborating with the […]
New York University students will have some of the culture’s most coveted academic experiences this fall. As Q-Tip and NYU both recently announced, the legendary rapper, actor, producer, DJ and founding member of A Tribe Called Quest will co-teach a seven-class NYU course on the intersections of jazz and hip-hop. Music historian Ashley Kahn will […]
by Anonymous Response from the masses to recent mass shootings are, yet again, an avoidance of white violence and racism. In the wake of the shooting event at Marjory Stoneman Douglas high school in Florida, citizens and elected officials have reignited the gun-control debate. Central to the debate is the accessibility of semi-automatic rifles—the weapons […]
by Jamila Mitchell The emancipation of freed slaves and subsequent constitutional amendments of the 20th century meant that white people could no longer marginalize Black folks through the physical bondage of chattel slavery. Faced with new restrictions, they quickly resigned to maintaining their rule through a new age of psychological warfare on the formerly enslaved, […]
By Alyxandra Goodwin Rapper and criminal justice reform advocate Jay-Z recently announced that he is investing in a “decarceration start-up” called Promise. The app sets up a “care plan” for individuals that would have alternatively been monitored while housed in a jail facility, instead monitoring them out in the world and providing reminders for court […]
A federal judge in California rendered a recent ruling that should give communities of color some relief. U.S. District Judge Virginia A. Phillips decided to halt the city of Los Angeles’ enforcement of most of its remaining gang injunctions, which primarily target Black and Brown people. In her preliminary holding, Judge Phillips said, “that Los Angeles […]
An area of Wyman Park Dell, which is located near Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore, was renamed and rededicated on Saturday in honor of legendary abolitionist and freedom fighter Harriet Tubman. Now the Harriet Tubman Grove, the site formerly housed statues honoring Confederate generals Robert E. Lee and Thomas J. “Stonewall” Jackson, as well as […]
