269 Search results for "everyday people"

httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qGaoXAwl9kw&NR=1 “You will not be able to stay home brother! You will not be able to plug in, turn on and cop-out, because the revolution will not be televised.” When Gilbert Scott-Heron’s poem featured on Volume 1 of “The Soul of the Black Panther Era” I can only imagine the excitement that filled the room […]

If last week’s rather desultory and occasionally poorly rendered post on The Fab Five was any indication, my love for Jalen Rose and the rest of the Fab Five is immense and endures even today.  I appreciate many of the things they symbolized.  Just like back in ’91, many do not hold this cohort of […]

CNN | March 3, 2011 (From Colorlines)  What has changed in the last twenty years is people’s access to cameras in order to film everyday interactions with police. The medium has become a crucial tool for demanding accountability for violent acts of unwarranted brutality. Rates of police brutality may not be going up, but there’s […]

I walked up to a 40-foot high fence, while noticing a small yellow sign in the peripheral. The sign said “Caution: High Voltage Fence.” It was made apparent that I was entering into what I could only understand as one of the many manifestations of an incarceration system. When I entered through the front door […]

A gifted student from North Carolina who was visiting family in Baltimore over the holidays, Barnes was scheduled to graduate early from high school. She did not have a history of running away or being a troubled child. The Phylicia Simone Barnes’ story is one of profound sadness and injustice on many levels. We know […]

For the last month or so, I have been trying to wrap my mind around how Antoine Dodson’s instant celebrity fame helps his sister, Kelly Dodson. Yes, I know Antoine’s internet fame allowed him to move his family from a less safe neighborhood context to a safer residential area. But, the reasons why a man […]

“Feminism tells us that the personal is political. Therefore, feminism is a useful frame for helping me to make sense of the gender politics that may be at play in my dating life. When a card-carrying feminist goes on a date, it is a feminist issue, maybe a micro-level one, but a feminist issue nonetheless. […]

Where I come from, the homeless are a dime a dozen, and beggars are as common as the neglected pennies of college students. It sounds harsh, but it’s true. While growing up, it was not uncommon for me to run into a crackhead who literally asked for a quarter everyday. It was no secret, everyone […]

Medical and construction supplies, food, water filtration equipment, in addition to supporters from abroad sailed toward Gaza (a tiny strip of land controlled and blockaded by Israel but inhabited by Palestinians) in attempts to provide relief, or rather…sustenance. (…because even these flotillas would not have been able to relieve the suffering in the occupied Palestinian […]

“Fuck the Police!!!” I have lost count. I couldn’t even tell you how many times I have heard the above phrase in my life. In my experience, people in the hood have a distaste for the police. I am not sure of the exact reason. In the house that I grew up in, people who […]

I tried to stay above the fray. For weeks I have contemplated writing a post about a certain Internet sensation that goes by the name of Kat Stacks. With the legalization of racial profiling and xenophobia in Arizona, NBA playoffs, and financial regulation I had a slew of topics I could’ve talked about. Trust me, […]

Nannie gave me my first lessons–and anxieties–about race.  My great-grandmother was pretty damn light.  So much so that I remember being nervous during grandparents day at Weisser Park Elementary School.  Kids’ grandparents would show up sometime in the afternoon and sit in on our classes.  We’d introduce them to our fellow classmates and perform poetry […]