918 Search results for "neighbor"

by Bryson Scott Check out the amazing and imaginative art work of Bryson Scott. Ancestral Backturn We encounter a figure turned away from us—unbothered, unwavering. Clothed in a green kimono with traditional patterns, crowned by a natural halo of hair, and framed by a serene lunar glow, this piece speaks of quiet strength. It’s a […]

Kendrick Lamar dominated the news cycle in 2024 not only with his ongoing feud with Aubrey “Drake” Graham, but also with the announcement that he would be headlining the Super Bowl LIX Halftime Show. With the Kansas City Chiefs vying for a record-breaking three consecutive Super Bowl victories and Philadelphia Eagles’ running back Saquon Barkley […]

The man grabs her arm tightly and presses her against the gate, and in someone’s fantasy this, without context, might have been erotic. I want it to be—for her sake, I’d say if you asked—but I also want it for mine. I do not want to personally get involved in a violent dispute between strangers, […]

By Amber Butts Every day I’m resentful of capitalism. And when I say capitalism, I don’t mean the binary, often well-meaning but willfully simplistic response of “Well, you have an iphone don’t you?” (I do not, but that’s besides the point). I mean the ways capitalism and its siblings (environmental and medical racism, antiBlackness and […]

Editor’s Note: This essay contains descriptions of anti-Black and anti-queer violence. Sometimes, I give white people the wrong directions when they get lost. For awhile, this was on accident. I am horrible with directions, and so I wouldn’t even know I was pointing them the wrong way. But mostly when I do this today, it […]

by Alycia Kamil We Speak Our City Back On Language, Gentrification, and Black Presence in Chicago There are stories that arrive already smoothed out. Made digestible for funders, developers, and media outlets. The kind that trades in progress narratives and polished soundbites. This is not that kind of story. This piece opens differently. The voice […]

by Asha Ransby-Sporn A full decade ago this summer, I arrived at a retreat center in the Chicago suburbs with about a hundred other Black organizers, and community leaders from around the country brought together by Cathy Cohen’s Black Youth Project. Not long into former President Barack Obama’s second term, the goal of the gathering […]

Dalvin Aboagye Near the end of May, the more melanin-infused parts of the internet were set ablaze by a questionable scene in the second season of She’s Gotta Have It, the Spike Lee-produced Netflix series based on his 1986 film of the same name. Within what many already saw as a weak portrayal of Black […]

Editor’s Note: June is LGBTQ Pride Month. At Black Youth Project, we will be exploring gender, sexuality, transgender issues and queer theory, and we are interested in publishing works that address these topics and the things surrounding them. by Andrew Keahey When your whole life is in the inbetween, you see things that other people […]

by Donnie Moreland I’m entering my apartment lot, around 9:45 PM, having returned from the gym. My vision often obscured around this time, I’m hurried to brake as two figures creep along in front of me. The two feel my headlights on their backs, thus they oblige my curiosity, and turn around. They are Black […]

By DJ Ferguson My mother, no stranger to emotional blackmail, had no hesitation in using it on behalf of her god in an attempt to reconvert me. “Don’t you think God (Yahweh) ever mourns?” she asked, hoping to get me to feel sorry for the possessive West Asian shepherd god whom I no longer worship. […]

by Ja’Loni Amor Owens “The bus is late. Again,” I mumbled to myself. A lanky white man plopped down next to me even though there was plenty of room for him to sit further away, and not invade my space.  “You waiting for the bus?” he asked.  Duh. “Yeah, I am. It’s late though.” “You […]