420 Search results for "slavery"

“Africa is a metaphysical testing ground in which Europeans used to get to know itself.” I have only been in South Africa for two days, and through my experiences and classes that I have taken I see the history of a beautiful country twisted into the realms of imperialistic patterns. As a Black American on […]

Greetings Black people, if you have been celebrating Kwanzaa for the first time I hope that it has been a good experience. If not and you are still considering, there are three days left. I left you earlier in the week with some ways to observe the Nguzu Saba, the seven principles of Kwanzaa. This […]

I want to live a life of service. I saw him through the bars of a Birmingham jail. He was sitting on the hard and less than comfortable cotton bed, in a room the size of a small Hyde Park apartment bathroom. His fingers were intertwined as his chin rested on the connection of his [...]

I was blessed last week to hear one of our most profound scholars Dr. Jawanza Kunjufu. His lecture was an alarm bell sounding the state of emergency in our communities especially economically. One of the incredible stats he presented was that the black community combined made $836 billion dollars last year, but we spent only […]

I’m sorry y’all but this “No Wedding, No Womb” stuff is really driving me up the wall. NFL season isn’t worth talking about until my Cowboys start winning. MLB playoffs hold no status since my Astros are…my Astros. No Wedding, No Womb has even managed to wrest my attention from the start of basketball and […]

A southerner once told me that American racism in the North was worse than in the South. For him, the covert racism he experienced in certain northern cities was more dangerous and misleading. Not sure I ever really understood the call for a more “upfront” racism as it seemed a scary thing that I could be called a Nigger in the open or accosted in a way that reminded me of my place in the world.

For the past couple days the internet has been all keyed up over the DEA’s search for translators to help them decode the intricate and complex language of the drug game. In short, the DEA is looking for, as they call it, Ebonics experts. Wait what? Are we acknowledging the fact that Ebonics is a […]

The other day, I was talking to my so-not-a-sports fan friend, rrrr about the LeBron James situation.  I mentioned how people took real issue with the slavery as analogy aspect of the whole debate.  I know I said something about the plantation model in my previous post about LBJ, but I wanted to return to […]

You probably already know this, but I believe in equality. I want to see equality in the education system, I want to see equality in the distribution of resources amongst different socio-economic backgrounds across the country, I even wish to see equality for people who serve jail time and are re-entered into society. But I […]

Sometimes, I make myself sick.  I waited for the LeBron James ESPN special, “The Decision,” like it was a Michael Jackson music video premiere.  (Remember the time?)  I sat in front of the television and waited for LBJ to moonwalk, spin, grab his crotch, and scream “Shamon,” at Jim Gray.  But, alas, that never happened.  […]

Despite Harriet Beecher Stowe’s best intentions, her character Uncle Tom has become a pejorative term aimed at black American’s accused of selling out to white folks. In the novel, he was supposed to be a good man, a Christian man, but it was Christianity that led him to, even under questionable conditions (say slavery), continue […]

Last night I had the privilege of experiencing an event where the voices of people who are removed from our society in every way, physically and intellectually, were heard, listened to, and represented. “Until I Am Free: Voices of Youth Sentenced to Life without Parole” is a project, facilitated by Chicagoan poet, artist and youth […]