2545 Search results for "al b sure"

COVID-19 or not, Black folks are building virtual spaces of joy, intimacy and tenderness
The impacts of capitalism and society’s never ending romanticization of working hard, being productive and making money (lest we be labeled lazy) have done a disservice to our relationships. We usually don’t have time to check in because even when we are off of work, we’re too exhausted to be present enough to support vulnerable, […]
Black folks die from broken hearts all the time
*This piece is published in partnership with Breakthrough as part of By & For: Black Youth, a written series documenting the issues affecting Black girls and gender non-conforming youth.* This essay mentions death, suicide and state violence. “Memory is a tough place. You were there. If this is not the truth, it is also not a lie.” […]
I’ll always be the “angry” and “unreasonable” Black student when I call out racism on my campus
by Indigo During my first semester of law school, I struggled with acclamation into legal academia, but being at an institution invested in public interest lawyering, I shrugged it all of. Then, the racial tensions within my first-year cohort at my University exploded after several of my colleagues complaining to Academic Affairs about our only […]
The endless appropriation of MLK and white supremacy’s need to rewrite historical narratives
Barely a month has passed since I wrote about appropriation and the vampiric nature of whiteness, specifically as it pertains to Black art and aesthetic. My focus was white artists and their simultaneous disavowal and infiltration of rap and hip-hop, and my purpose was to illustrate the pattern of how white society appropriates Black art […]
Talking to Black youth about the complexities of sexual racism after Wilder v Fury
by Jacques P. Lesure It’s no secret that boxing is a gladiator-esque game that draws in hundreds of millions of dollars per year. Those who watch the sport must remain flexible to a wide range of unpredictable outcomes such as knockouts, excessive bleeding, and swollen faces. It was reported that the boxing rematch Deontay Wilder […]
The colonial politics of desirability, fitness and gay manhood
by Avery Ware The sexual question comes after the question of color; it’s simply one more aspect of the danger in which all black people live. I think white gay people feel cheated because they were born, in principle, into a society in which they were supposed to be safe. The anomaly of their sexuality […]
Capitalism makes us think that having our basic needs met is revolutionary. It’s a lie.
The true focus of revolutionary change is never merely the oppressive situations which we seek to escape, but that piece of the oppressor which is planted deep within each of us, and which knows only the oppressors’ tactics, the oppressors’ relationships. -Audre Lorde I check my bank account every day, regardless of whether or not […]
Black non-monogamy is a pre-colonial practice
Valentine’s Day is tomorrow and as usual it’s got me reflecting on how utterly diabolical consumerist culture is, how it influences and perpetuates our constant need to measure who is most worthy of love, affection and gifts. And why we think it is our business to begin with. It also has me deeply bitter about […]
There will never be a “Sexual Revolution” under capitalism
by Marq M. In July 2012, the U.S. Food & Drug Administration approved Truvada as Pre-Exposure Prophylaxis (PrEP). Simultaneously, there’s been increasing awareness around additional benefits of Highly Active Antiretroviral Therapy (HAART) as a method of preventing HIV transmission, as well as reinfection from other strains. That understanding caught on to an extent that, in […]
Gameschooling is a critical tool that helps Black children learn
by Tonya Abari Tanya Butler grew up on the backroads of a small, predominantly white Pennsylvania town. Much of her time was spent at her grandparents’ home, playing games with her younger siblings and cousins. Nights filled with shuffling and double-dealing weren’t about winning or losing–they were about learning. Games taught Butler and her […]
The business of prisons and the laws that make sure they exist
by Cheryldean Peters Beginning in the early 1600s, my ancestors were legally forced into slavery and robbed of their freedom. They were involuntarily exploited, beaten and forced to work as servants, which primarily helped generate income for America’s economy. Their servitude drastically enhanced local and colonial economics while creating generational wealth for their oppressors. Africans […]
Quality, art, the culture of sameness, and white men’s egos
“Culture today is infecting everything with sameness. Film, radio, and magazines form a system. Each branch of culture is unanimous within itself and all are unanimous together.” —”The Culture Industry: Enlightenment As Mass Deception”, Dialectic of Enlightenment Stephen King recently tweeted, “I would never consider diversity in matters of art. Only quality. It seems to […]