1183 Search results for "communities"

“I am intelligent, I am intelligent, who are you? Because I am intelligent” These were the words I told an 8-year-old boy to repeat as I helped him with his homework at a community center for HIV/Aids impacted communities.  He spoke about how he really wanted an X-Box for Christmas; I just wanted him to […]

Coalition of Black Women Pen Open Letter Criticizing “SLUT WALKS”   A coalition of African American women – including activists, academics, and organizational leaders – have co-authored an open letter to the organizers of “Slut Walk,” taking to task the movement’s use of the term “slut,” as well as its level of engagement (or lack […]

Culture in itself is harmless. Simply a hallow word that curls off the surface of one’s tongue. It is only when culture is contextualized that it begins to define our world, our actions, and our perception. When “culture” is paired with another term, it ceases to be ambiguous and comes to life to either uplift […]

httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SVEDpC_6iIE When I was nine years old my stepmother told me blatantly: “don’t you bring no white women home to my house.” The statement, which was racially charged with 4 ounces of abhorrence, 2 cups of historical baggage, and a whole recipe of nuances that could rationalize or reprehend statements similar to my stepmothers. Regardless […]

The unexamined life is not worth living. These are the words of Socrates at his trial for heresy, and after one of the most interactive summers I have ever experienced, I now want to take a moment to both reflect, but also interrogate the concept of privileged reflection. A year ago I wrote, and I […]

Afternoon RoundUp September 9, 2011 The internet has been freaking out today at the prospect of fast food chains like McDonalds, Wendys and Taco Bell accepting food stamps from customers. You’ve got one side arguing that nobody, rich or poor, should be utilizing a tax payer-funded program like food stamps to buy junk food like […]

httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mG_Gvd4PFFo&feature=related As a follow-up to The Viral Video, EBT: We Have Failed You Chapter…An Open Letter, I want to talk about a comment that I received frequently about Chapter’s character in the EBT video. Many people have emailed me saying that they agree with my blog, but that they also know black women who do […]

Integration, while necessary, cost us more than we might have initially thought. I’m not the first person to make this statement and I won’t be the last. Simply put, the costs of integration were high. Before integration became federal law, Black people lived in tight-knit communities where they went to school with familiar faces, patronized […]

httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NkuuHX1iebE Some cringe when they hear their high-pitched voices Speaking out in individuality. In a world invested in aping heterosexual-identities. Idolizing hyper-masculinity, Causing downlow men to hide the truth from their family, Causing feminine men to be ostracized within our community. As mothers frown at the thought of tolerance and fathers yell at their sons […]

httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NzspsovNvII&feature=youtu.be Dear Chapter, Once upon a time when I was a little brown girl and the economy was really bad because of Reganomics, my “employed” and single black mother received food assistance to help feed her two daughters because her minimal wage check could not fully cover rent and the daily luxuries of milk, eggs, […]

Over the past couple of months I have been working for an Organization called Equal Education, more commonly known as the movement of and for learners, parents, teachers and community members working for quality and equality in education, through analysis and activism. I humbly declare that the activism and community leadership that I’ve seen over […]

On top of America’s legacy of racism there’s nothing more upsetting than the absence of guilt, from the racists of course. Not even the first sentence describes the severity of our situation, especially when there are tv shows, Bait Car for instance, that broadcast the hatred of Black youth. Every time I’ve watched Bait Car, […]