8079 Search results for "black on black"

Looking to the Blues as record of Black folks’ loss and longing
by Donnie Moreland This essay mentions domestic violence. August Wilson once noted, “The blues are important primarily because they contain the cultural expression and the cultural response to blacks in America and to the situation that they find themselves in.” I believe this to be true, in so far as the Blues may no longer […]
These 2 films reveal the powerful ways Black queer women find pleasure despite heteronormative violence
By Kim M Reynolds Audre Lorde defines the erotic as a “creative source,” something that is incredibly generative and “self-affirming in the face of a racist, patriarchal, and anti-erotic society.” The erotic functions as a respect for life, a recognition and practice of intentionality and sense of love that combats the individualistic and oppressive world […]
Virginity and hymen myths must be challenged to protect Black teens like Deyjah Harris
This essay contains discussions of sexual coercion & violation, as well as invasion of sexual/medical privacy I used to go to church when I was in college. Not because I wanted to, but because I felt obligated to. I grew up in “the church”—of the Southern, Black Non-denominational Christian variety, and I hadn’t yet escaped […]
How the myth that all Black parents give kids “the talk” about police is used to silence resistance
It’s interesting how so many of the stories we claim to be universal Black experiences seem to involve cutting ourselves smaller to avoid anti-Black violence. Stories involving that ever-present white woman—more perennial than any weed—who clutches her purse whenever she crosses our path, and how we all supposedly just want her to know we aren’t […]
I wish Black folks could mourn in our own little bubble
by Indigo In the early hours of October 17, 2019, United States Representative Elijah Cummings (D-MD 7th District) died of complications related to long-term health conditions at age 68 at a hospice center in Baltimore, Maryland. Representative Cummings has represented Maryland’s seventh district since 1996, Kweisi Mfume preceding him prior to becoming President of the […]
My parents’ storybook romance gave me unrealistic expectations for (Black) love in the digital age
Editor’s Note: This month at BYP, we will be exploring the US Elections & Family/Parenting issues, and we are interested in publishing works that address these topics. How has our political system been working for and against us? What dynamics are different today? How should we prepare for the presidential election, and what is the […]
Black asexuals are not unicorns, there are more of us than we know
This essay contains discussions of sexual violence as well as racist violence and fetishization I personally know of fewer than five Black people who identify as asexual, and I’ve only met two of them in person. The others remain virtual friends for now, but I hope to meet them someday. Of course, these are just […]
Black youth suicide is increasing. We can’t wait to create space to talk about mental health
Editor’s Note: This essay contains discussion of suicide By Carlett Spike The thought of killing myself has crossed my mind before. I was depressed as a teen — overwhelmed by the pressures to succeed in high school, keep up with way too many activities and ultimately get into a good college.
What does “home” mean for Black folks when white violence can so easily invade our dwellings?
by Donnie Moreland One of the most haunting images to come out of the Reconstruction Era, for me, is that of the 1872 Harper Weekly engraving entitled “Visit of the Ku Klux.” It’s a crude image, taken up mostly by the figures of a Black family—a mother, her daughter and an elderly man over a fireplace […]
When people defraud the world by impersonating Black womanhood
I always think of Invasion of the Body Snatchers (1956) whenever someone pretends to be a Black woman or disingenuously evokes our aesthetics. While there are many who outright pretend to be Black women, there are also those convinced that they can somehow actually become Black women and others who simply benefit from appropriating our […]
Why I no longer police my Black son’s behavior to make the world more comfortable
Editor’s Note: This month at BYP, we will be exploring the US Elections & Family/Parenting issues, and we are interested in publishing works that address these topics. How has our political system been working for and against us? What dynamics are different today? How should we prepare for the presidential election, and what is the […]
Maybe Black men protect white women because we see ourselves in them
by Donnie Moreland My crushes, in high school, were all white girls. I used to fantasize about asking them out, kissing them, fucking them. It was about the only way by which I judged my social value—by how many of them I was of interest to. In fact, the first girl to ever hear the […]