140 Search results for "abolition"

Police-Free schools are necessary, as is abolishing the white supremacist state they are rooted in
by Mustafa Ali-Smith As protests continue on both the national and global scale, widespread call-to-actions ramp up. Dismantling, defunding, and divesting from policing and providing police-free schools are becoming a part of everyday conversations. Early educational institutions have even begun to respond to these call-to-actions by ending their relationship with local police departments and promising […]
“Allyship fatigue” is an insult to Black folks who never get to rest
I’ve been nursing the same headache for over a week and my right eye has been twitching for days on end. My eyes burn as I write this. Sometimes my eyelids feel so heavy it hurts to blink. I might be on the verge of tears, but I honestly can’t even tell anymore. There are […]
Our calls to action against anti-Black state violence cannot be ableist
by Tahirah Alexander Green Since the global COVID-19 health crisis began, my post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) symptoms have intensified. With non-stop discussions of hospitals and medical care in the news, in our homes, at our jobs, my memory keeps reaching back towards every violent hospitalization I’ve ever experienced or witnessed. While my chronic illnesses are […]
Big Pharma and the prison industry are colluding to overmedicate incarcerated populations
by Boké Saisi Large corporations that own brands such as Victoria’s Secret, Revlon, Old Navy and McDonald’s have come under public scrutiny for using Black and racialized prison labour to manufacture their commodities. Little attention, however, has been paid to Big Pharma’s predatory profiteering from prison labour and the practice of incarceration itself. The Prison […]
‘Seeking for the Lost’ and the project of finding each other as a misplaced people
by Donnie Moreland “We hummed a celebration for living. For fighting. For refusing to die. For enduring when giving up would be easier. For believing, against all odds, that we’d get home someday.” —The Coming; Daniel Black “It’s nothing like losing one’s keys. It’s not as if he has been misplaced. It’s not as simple […]
Black women face greater scrutiny than white women for being polyamorous
The societal impact of straying from what is considered a norm is greater for Black people than it is for our white counterparts. by Sarah Thomas Of the many places to learn about my sexuality, That 70’s Show was as good as any. There were tons of make-out scenes and implied sex during its […]
Black and in Vietnam, my hair is not a spectacle
by Adam Mahoney I’ve been living in Vietnam for four months and from the first 30 minutes I arrived in the country, my hair was a problem. I’m a 20 year old junior in college, so when the opportunity to not be in a classroom full of wealthy, white peers presented itself, I jumped at […]
Elizabeth Warren has been my Senator since 2013. I don’t recognize the woman on the campaign trail.
by Indigo On February 9, 2019 in Lawrence, Massachusetts, Senator Elizabeth Warren (D) announced her presidential bid, citing President Donald Trump as “just the latest and most extreme symptom of what’s gone wrong in America” and calling for “big, structural change.” In the months since announcing her presidential bid, Senator Warren has unveiled plans to […]
How the myth that all Black parents give kids “the talk” about police is used to silence resistance
It’s interesting how so many of the stories we claim to be universal Black experiences seem to involve cutting ourselves smaller to avoid anti-Black violence. Stories involving that ever-present white woman—more perennial than any weed—who clutches her purse whenever she crosses our path, and how we all supposedly just want her to know we aren’t […]
Don’t get too excited about tech advances. Many are designed to leave Black people behind
Editor’s Note: This month at BYP, we will be exploring Black Liberation & Organizing, and we are interested in publishing works that address these topics. How do we hold politicians accountable to Black communities? Is that even possible? What should be our role in the electoral politics? What does abolition look like in practice? What […]
‘Mixed-ish’ and the anti-Black myth of post-racial insulated societies
Perhaps due to my own intentional insulation inside of a cultish virtual world of angry Black radicals, last week I witnessed an overwhelmingly negative response on social media to the trailer for mixed-ish, ABC’s upcoming black-ish spinoff. Originally conceived as an episode of black-ish, mixed-ish will focus on Rainbow Johnson’s (Tracee Ellis Ross) childhood growing […]
‘A Million Little Things’ powerfully reflects the truth of many Black folk’s mental health struggle
Editor’s Note: May is Mental Health Awareness Month and National Masturbation Month. This is also the month that we celebrate Mother’s Day. At BYP, we will be exploring these topics alongside the theme of Imagination and the Arts, and we are interested in publishing works that address these topics and the things surrounding them. By […]