1676 Search results for "violence"

But Black women are not cocoons: I’m tired of being expected to mother Black men and applaud when they finally grow up
by Josie Pickens Even before Jay-Z sat down and began chatting with journalist and executive editor of The New York Times, Dean Baquet, I could tell that the rapper—turned business mogul—had come a long way from his origins as a Brooklyn based bad boy rapper who boasted on every record he released about how much […]
Twitter bans some white supremacists from their platform, but efforts still feel hollow
Twitter took the step Monday of banning some white supremacists and groups from using its platform, most of them connected with the anti-immigrant Britain First group that Donald Trump recently retweeted to instant and swift backlash. Also included in the sweeping bans were individuals connected with League of the South and American Renaissance. This move […]
Where were internet access crusaders when Facebook stopped Korryn Gaines from streaming cops murdering her?
On Thursday, the Federal Communications Commission finally delivered its long-expected and devastating death knell to Obama-era Net Neutrality rules—policies supposedly put in place to ensure the internet remained on a level playing field with access equity. The repeal is likely to further impede the work of digital organizers for social justice and exacerbate economic disparities […]
The Black church taught me to be a docile victim, and now I renounce its lessons
I keep having to come out as “nothing.” To family, friends, coworkers, and anyone else who might make assumptions about my religious identity and affiliations. By “nothing” I mean that I do not subscribe to any organized religion or form of spirituality. Neither do I identify as atheist or agnostic. This is a point that […]
Luther Vandross hid for his mama: The closet is not only for the self-hating and selfish
By George Johnson The “closet.” A colorful phrase used to describe the lives of people like me who were too afraid to live as a queer people publicly. The place where we brought all of our lovers to do sexual things in the dark. The place where we could sneak off to and party with […]
To the women who bent my reflection: How internalized misogyny creates toxic relationships among women
by Ashley Nkadi This essay contains a brief discussion of sexual violence To the women who turned a gala honoring my work as an activist into a conversation about how “inappropriately” I was dressed, or rather, how “inappropriately” my full-length dress held my curves: You are no friend. To the women who were even quicker […]
Terry Crews indicts men in perpetuating a culture of sexual harassment
Time Magazine recently named “The Silence Breakers” its Person of the Year, a nod to how sexual assault, rape or sexual harassment victims have taken back their power and their voices from a system and a society that shuns them when they come forward with their accounts of sexual violence. Included in this list is […]
How growing up in what some called a religious “cult” helped me make sense of police abolition
Editor’s Note: This post contains discussions of sexual and domestic violence. It also contains spoilers of the Netflix film One of Us. I’ve been thinking a lot about growing up Black in the Hare Krsna community lately, owed primarily to the fact that I am currently working on a memoir. But I was most recently […]
How suffocating ideas of masculinity took the precious life of Giovanni Melton
by Maximillian Matthews I wonder when my late father first observed the singularity of my gender performance. Perhaps he saw it when he took me to my first concert during Janet Jackson’s 1993 Janet tour, and noticed how I knew every word she sang on the stage. He may have seen it when he observed […]
Learning to love myself as a Black queer man in a Black Greek Letter Organization
By George M. Johnson There is no such thing as Blackness that doesn’t encompass Queerness, despite the attempts from toxic masculinity and those willing to protect its image at all costs to have you believe otherwise. This cost is paid in the form of transgender people murdered, young boys killed by their fathers over their […]
Jenny Lumet pens letter alleging sexual abuse by Russell Simmons, struggles with being a WOC victimized by a man of color
People out to avoid the merits of certain claims often state some version of “only God can judge me.” The statement is expected to pause the progression of criticism and, with hope, allow certain allegations to fade. In the world of entertainment mogul and entrepreneur Russell Simmons, an analogous response about his generalized goodness was […]
How Tyrese used misogynoir and Black patriarchy to gain sympathy, support, and joint custody
by Idiley This is a man’s world. This is a world that is designed to coddle and protect men from the consequences of their actions and interactions with women. This is a world where men are given the immense power to define these interactions and single-handedly deem their retelling of it as an unchallengeable truth. […]