163 Search results for "starts"

Houston Chronicle and San Antonio Express expose decades of abuse by Southern Baptist leaders
A joint effort from the Houston Chronicle and the San Antonio Express is chronicling the sexual abuse of over 700 people by Southern Baptist Church (SBC) leaders, stretching over 20 years.
Interview: Kiese Laymon’s ‘Heavy’ reminds us that Blackness can be abundant in a world trying to make us disappear
This essay discusses child abuse, sexual violence, addiction, and extreme weight loss I tell him about my recent trip up to Philly and what happened on the way back. Our Uber driver overheard a conversation between myself, a child of the Carolinas, and my friend, the most Texas Texan I know, in which she told […]
Queer isn’t who you are, it’s how you reclaim freedom. And even the gayest of us sometimes fail at it
Content Note: This essay contains details about childhood sexual assault My parents didn’t hit me growing up. I know they hit my older siblings, but something had changed over the years before I got here. Maybe they saw it didn’t help. Maybe they even knew hitting children causes significant harm. But I like to think […]
Comic: The education system stifles LGBTQ+ students and kids of color from the start
by JeCorey Holder Lord knows, shits been REAL fucked up for us who are out here actively participating in capitalism (What’s good, internet bill?), but I feel so bad for baby Black queer folks and other young queer PoC who have no access to the mental tools and support they need to survive in this […]
We need to challenge fat antagonism in Black activist spaces
by Denarii Grace “I am sick and tired of being sick and tired.” These words, uttered by legendary Black civil rights leader Fannie Lou Hamer, have become as much a part of Black languages and cultural understandings, both past and present, as “lit,” “bumboclaat,” and “the bomb.” Her expression of the ongoing oppression of Black […]
Letter to my Black mother who wants me to forgive the world when I saw it try to kill her
By Kejhonti Neloms I can never forget the time when your car broke down in the parking lot of those shitty Flaget Apartments across the street from the old folks’ home. It was the West End. It was summer. It was 8AM. I think it was Sprint that fired you. Maybe it was Nextel. I […]
‘The First Purge’ is satisfying and cathartic, just as Black horror should be
by Andrew Keahey This essay contains some spoilers for The First Purge. Catharsis is important. As marginalized people, every day that we’re alive and drawing breath in this country, we are bombarded with things that infuriate and sadden us. The news not only traumatizes us by showing us the seemingly incessant violence perpetrated against us, […]
When your mother is your first abuser
Living Single began streaming on Hulu at the beginning of this year, but I have only recently had the chance to start re-watching the 90s sitcom. Throughout the show’s five seasons, I identified with each of the main characters at various moments, but there was only one episode where I was able to find any […]
Woman told FBI that Nikolas Cruz might carry out a massacre one month before Florida shooting
While America grieves with the Parkland community and generally supports the survivors-turned-activists in the South Florida community, some implore the nation to also support gun reform activists when they are mostly or solely Black and Brown people. Amidst these pushes and political pressures, a troubling transcript has been brought to light. According to the transcript, […]
‘Black Panther’ allows Black kids to see themselves as royalty
by Andrew Keahey I remember being put to bed by my Mother when I was a small child. I remember feeling my head start to bob and my eyes start to droop as I tried unsuccessfully to watch the late night shows that the grown ups got to watch. She would scoop me up in […]
Study connects sound racial identity with positive academic performance for Black girls
Picture it: Black teenage girls girding themselves in cocoons of Diaspora pride, resilience and academic fortitude, growing toward self-actualization and building with their homegirls. This is not a fanciful scenario, but rather the way many Black girls go about their days. Black girl magic starts early, spreads often and contributes to intellectual and interpersonal growth for the […]
What being Lincoln in a school play taught me about efforts to whitewash Black children in schooling
By George Johnson Anti-Blackness and the “alternative facts” about it did not start when Donald Trump became the 45th President of their United States. For Black children in America, we have only known a history rooted in false narratives, erasure, and the omission of any of our history unless it is first routed through a […]