62 Search results for "james baldwin"

“I know what the world has done to my brother and how narrowly he has survived it and I know, which is much worse, and this is the crime of which I accuse my country and my countrymen and for which neither I nor time nor history will ever forgive them, that they have destroyed […]

I don’t know what to write. I don’t have the words. I think what a lot of us must be feeling, just days after the Zimmerman acquittal, exists on the very edge of language, or just beyond its grasp. Frustrated, helpless, angry, sad all inadequately describe this country’s latest fuck you to a black boy’s […]

Last Sunday, the institution I attend, the University of Chicago, sent another sobering reminder to the University community that students and communities of color are not to be seriously valued, considered, or even meaningfully respected in their full dignity as human beings. On  January 27th, the University of Chicago used brutal and unnecessary force to […]

Although I was rather unceremoniously catapulted from it, I occasionally hear stirrings in the Ivory Tower. And sometimes those goings-on warrant a drivel-laced comment from me. Late last week, Brainstorm, one of the blogs on The Chronicle of Higher Education website, ran a response to the its own feature on some members of Northwestern University’s first class of […]

                  While it should be commonplace to study, promote, and protect Black History each and every day of the year, I still find it rewarding to dig into our history during the month of February to highlight those of our predecessors, especially the lesser know ones, to […]

The Black Youth Project wishes our readers a wonderful and liberating Coming Out Day. But we also want to make it very clear that all of us – regardless of age, gender, race or socioeconomic status – are on our own journeys. Nobody knows the best time for you to come out BUT YOU.

Yesterday as I sat in the library reading “Go Tell It On The Mountain” by James Baldwin I began to reflect on the role that books have played in my life. Not just any books, but in particular African-American literature. Below is a self-reflective poem that delves into my love,hatred, and passion for the written […]

As the fireworks lit up the sky over the San Francisco Bay and emitted smoke and dust that contained various heavy metals, sulfur-coal compounds and other noxious chemicals I reflected on the ever evasive concept of independence. What does independence means to the ex felons who have been relegated to the lowest rung of the […]

“We are conspicuous in our absence” says the democratic openly gay Senator Mark Leno. This statement is honest, but not the full story. The fight to get gay history integrated into the curriculum of schools in California is heating up.  The importance of gay history has come up before in my life as I wrote […]

Is a half-truth a whole lie? When looking back over my 6 years elementary school, 3 years of middle school, and 4 years of high school, I realized that not once did my classes teach me about any gay or lesbian figure in history. As a matter of a fact, if it is public education’s […]

by Donnie Moreland Most folk respond to the words, “I have a Master’s degree in film studies” with either, “What can you do with that?” or the more biting, “What’s the point of that?” Funny thing is that for much of my program, I asked the same questions. It’s when films such as Queen and […]

By George M Johnson Fuck the Grammys. Fuck the Oscars. Fuck the Emmys. Fuck it all. That’s all you would hear if Black folks were to say how we really feel when year after year we continue to be the best in the room only to be overshadowed by the “breakthrough performance of a lifetime” […]