72 Search results for "spectacle"

The US has a long record of violence against Black Americans, especially in the form of public lynchings. Paying close attention to this history, and how these actions are often seen as justified, can explain how today’s political violence against Muslims, Mexicans, and refugees continues to be normalized in this society. This week, I read […]

For the past thirteen days, the #LetUsBreathe Collective has been occupying Homan Square, the known Chicago Police black site where arrested individuals have been disappeared, tortured, and abused. The occupation began on Thursday, July 21st, following the national #FreedomNow Campaign against police unions and has continued in the style of a block party. #LetUsBreathe activists are […]

A political tactic that was once used to further skew the imbalance of power in America was the literacy tests that predominantly Black voters were forced to take to “prove” how American they were. In actuality, they were mostly arbitrary riddles that were meant to be extremely difficult and nearly impossible to answer correctly. Although literacy tests […]

On Tuesday, we learned that the embattled biopic loosely based on Nina Simone’s life, simply called Nina, will be released on April 22. On Wednesday, the trailer was released. And, while all the sentiments against Zoe Saldana’s blackface (or “mud face”) and fake accent are correct, there’s a bigger reason why Saldana never should have […]

Queen Bey literally owned the past 48 hours of everyone’s lives. More importantly though, she used her station as arguably the world’s biggest pop star to address the issues facing Black Americans around the country.

Michael Brown, Jr. was murdered in cold blood last August in Ferguson, MO. Now, a life-sized model of his dead body is on display in an “art exhibit” in the historically Black neighborhood of Bronzeville in Chicago. Sadly, it epitomizes the very definition of the White Privilege and racism it seeks to rebuke.

By Jay Dodd This week, former college wrestler, Michael L. Johnson was found guilty of “recklessly infecting” a partner with HIV and exposing the virus to others. Johnson, known as Tiger Mandingo, at twenty three years old is looking to face over 60 years in jail for each felony count. As, Fusion masterfully notes, the […]

By Jay Dodd Recently, I was on a panel for local 8th graders about personal identity and how it connects to work around justice / community building. While discussing my story of self-discovery, I realized the students kept squirming every so often. I was intentionally not centering the talk around the “sex” in sexuality, so […]

  The following piece is from The Grio. It was written by Demetria Irwin. By: Demetria Irwin The “I don’t like mens no more” video has gone viral.  The almost seven-minute long clip purports to show a young man being “delivered” from homosexuality during the COGIC 107th Holy Convocation. There are so many things wrong with this […]

  The following post is from Feministing. It was written by Mychal Denzel Smith. By: Mychal Denzel Smith While the country was voting, or trying to convince people to vote, or wondering if Lil’ Jon would make it to Georgia in order to vote, or debating Lena Dunham, comedian Artie Lange was being a racist, […]

  The following post originally appears on Gawker. It was written by Lanre Akinsiku. By: Lanre Akinsiku In undergrad, I drove a ’92 Ford Taurus that just hulked, tank-like, up and down the streets of Berkeley. The thing was conspicuous, an ocean liner. I was pulled over all the time, once or twice a week at one point. […]

Imagine having an entire generation of young people, who have all loss someone close to them to a violent death.  There is a collective pain that not even they understand.  Most of them feel as if there is nothing they can do and as such they are simply hurting.  Some will plot for revenge, but […]