1503 Search results for "rip"

*This piece is published in partnership with Breakthrough as part of By & For: Black Youth, a written series documenting the issues affecting Black girls and gender non-conforming youth.* This essay mentions death, suicide and state violence.   “Memory is a tough place. You were there. If this is not the truth, it is also not a lie.” […]

by Avery Ware The sexual question comes after the question of color; it’s simply one more aspect of the danger in which all black people live. I think white gay people feel cheated because they were born, in principle, into a society in which they were supposed to be safe. The anomaly of their sexuality […]

by Marq M.  In July 2012, the U.S. Food & Drug Administration approved Truvada as Pre-Exposure Prophylaxis (PrEP). Simultaneously, there’s been increasing awareness around additional benefits of Highly Active Antiretroviral Therapy (HAART) as a method of preventing HIV transmission, as well as reinfection from other strains. That understanding caught on to an extent that, in […]

I haven’t trusted Billie Eilish since I became aware of her nearly a year ago. The context in which I learned about her was a valid and necessary social media post which lamented how fucked up it is that Eilish has apparently gone out of her way to dress “modestly” so as to not be […]

  by Philip V. McHarris Communities directly impacted by violence are starting to advocate for the diversion of funds from policing towards more community based solutions to violence and harm. Unfortunately, city leaders are not listening. Early in December, residents and community organizers attended the Minneapolis City budget hearing.  They argued against allocating funds for […]

by Donnie Moreland  This essay contains spoilers for Patrick Chamoiseau’s 1997 novel, Slave Old Man The final words of Patrick Chamoiseau’s Slave Old Man read, “Brother, I shouldn’t have, but I touched those bones.” Those bones being, “The clavicles. Some vertebrae. A few formless bits. Porous things. And a broken tibia…” Those bones, as are […]

by Tiffany Hobbs She has her eyes.  It was the first time I’d looked longer than a few seconds into the eyes of the woman in the photograph on my bookshelf. Looking longer introduced me to the inevitability of dying and death. I was hiding from her eyes, playing a game I was determined to […]

BYP is launching our featured writers’ program, called The Spotlight. These four writers will publish one piece per month for a year on topics of their choice. These writers have been hand-picked by us and we’re excited to welcome them onboard. Here are our current Featured Writers! Originally from San Francisco, Tongo Eisen-Martin is a poet, movement worker, and educator. His […]

by Donnie Moreland  “We hummed a celebration for living. For fighting. For refusing to die. For enduring when giving up would be easier. For believing, against all odds, that we’d get home someday.”  —The Coming; Daniel Black “It’s nothing like losing one’s keys. It’s not as if he has been misplaced. It’s not as simple […]

by Avery Ware I sat up in his bed and glared at him through squinted eyes, “What do you mean you only sleep with Black guys? Are you a fetish queen?” Boldly he responded, “Yeah, I probably am.”  I’ll spare you the curse words that followed that statement. I was more angry with myself than […]

This essay contains descriptions of racial violence and spoilers for Episode 6 of HBO’s Watchmen  by Donnie Moreland I don’t trust Damon Lindelhoff—the showrunner of HBO’s Watchmen. He’s a damn compelling writer, but he is one that often conflates philosophical inquiry with good storytelling, which can result in pretentiously puzzling television; of which I’m very […]

I was 23 and at a birthday party the first time it registered that I was having a panic attack. I locked myself in the bathroom to get away from the noise, the flashing lights, the woman who was sharing her secrets and everyone else. Initially, I thought it was a heart attack and reasoned […]