144 Search results for "sexual freedom"

“Internalized anti-Blackness has us quick to condemn, erase, and humiliate ourselves and our ancestors more than we do the people who did the actual enslaving” — Chelsea Neason My grandmother lived a long life, but I can only imagine how much longer it would have been without the struggles she fought through. She used to […]

by Daniel Johnson The topic of masculinity, what it is and how it is expressed in both immediate and popular culture, is one that always seems to be spurred on or perhaps made more visible by conversations which happen on social media, usually centering around how men showing each other affection seems to be taboo. […]

by Denarii Grace “I am sick and tired of being sick and tired.” These words, uttered by legendary Black civil rights leader Fannie Lou Hamer, have become as much a part of Black languages and cultural understandings, both past and present, as “lit,” “bumboclaat,” and “the bomb.” Her expression of the ongoing oppression of Black […]

I don’t have any children of my own, so take everything I say here with a grain of salt. You can use whatever can be distilled from my tears, if you have to. They don’t have any other use, I am told. I don’t have any children of my own, but I have been a […]

by Ayika Tshimanga  Before Robyn Rihanna Fenty released her commercially successful project that is popularly regarded as her best work to date, ANTI (2016), she produced an underrated gem that would lay the groundwork for ANTI to exist, Rated R. At the time of Rated R’s release, Rihanna was widely regarded–and arguably may still be […]

by Tabias Olajuawon This essay contains discussion of anti-Black violences, particularly lynching, and mention of r/pe “… Ancestors, you will find us still in cages,  Despised and disciplined. You will find us still mis-named.   Here you will find us despite.          You will not find us extinct. You will find us […]

by Victoria Collins Though she was absent of critical acclaim in the very beginning, Janelle Monáe set in motion the narrative of a dystopian reality that would serve as the backdrop for a decade-long narrative of freedom, love, and acceptance with her 2003 self-released album, The Audition. In 2007, she followed her debut album with […]

Heroes are basically destined to fall, and so I’ve made an effort to resist bestowing that honor even upon people I admire the most. Still, the recent antics of Kanye West, inarguably one of the most influential hip-hop artists of the last two decades whose music has played a huge role in my life, have […]

by Kamali Senior Content Warning: This essay contains discussion of anti-Black violences, including lynching and r/pe  American history is marred by white violence, extremism, and terrorism, as harrowing as it is extensive. In America, the archetype of a terrorist is, allegedly, a disaffected Black or brown person with radical ideologies, willing to act on them. […]

By Arielle Iniko Newton Last weekend, my six roommates and I were interviewing potential roommates to fill an unoccupied room in the social justice-oriented home we share. One of the prospects was a white, cisgender, heterosexual man. Upon interviewing him we quickly learned that he did not possess a commitment to dismantling whiteness that we […]

Which came first: the derailer or the eraser? This question was inspired by pop star Camila Cabello’s pro-immigration speech to millions of viewers at the 60th annual Grammys last night. “Today, in this room full of music’s dreamers, we remember that this country was built by dreamers, for dreamers, chasing the American dream,” Cabello said […]

*A note from our editor Sherronda J. Brown: January is Human Trafficking Prevention Month, and our theme at Black Youth Project is Human Trafficking and Slavery. We are interested in publishing works that address these topics and the things surrounding them.* This post contains spoilers for season four of How to Get Away With Murder. […]