1295 Search results for "court"

#UnderHisEye and the erasure of Black women in the carceral system
This essay contains discussions of racialized sexual violence and mentions r/pe and molestation. by Mekleit Dix The Handmaid’s Tale is a wildly popular American Television show based on a novel of the same name by Margaret Atwood. It portrays a dystopian nightmare: sterility in women becomes a widespread epidemic resulting in a break down of […]
There’s no such thing as a “progressive prosecutor” in a system designed to criminalize Blackness
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 […]
Christian complacency has no place in Black liberation
by Nakia Edmond Growing up in a Christian household, I was conditioned never to let the sun go down on my anger as it may provide an opportunity for the Devil. (Ephesians 4:26-27). Vengeance solely belonged to the Lord. However, on June 1st, 2020, those guiding principles came under scrutiny as protesters […]
How the imagination of the ‘Lovecraft Country’ writer’s room failed us
by Kamilah Bush This essay discusses sexual assault and r/pe. The first episode of HBO’s Lovecraft Country is possibly one of the most perfect television pilots of all time, in my opinion. The opening shot, drops us in the middle of a typical enough looking war scene—it is a familiar cinematic landscape with images we […]
Black gun ownership as resistance against white terrorism
by Donnie Moreland The first time I held a gun, I was afraid. The scenario was all too awkwardly cinematic to not be memorable. It was on a vacation with my mother to my grandparents’ South Carolina home. Sitting in their entertainment room, my grandfather entered with two guns. A magnum revolver and shotgun. He […]
The world is still inaccessible for us
by Jo (Foderingham) Brown The COVID-19 pandemic has forced non-disabled people to socialize almost exclusively via an internet connection. Suddenly, the IRL — “in real life” — world became inaccessible for people who have never experienced inaccessibility. But the world is still inaccessible for disabled and chronically ill folks. For the last three months in […]
Reimaging consent, for Black cis-het men, in a world where touch can kill
This essay discusses sexual violence and mentions r/pe by Donnie Moreland I must have written this sentence ten times before settling on the question of this piece, as the only way to begin—what does consent look like, in a world where touch can kill? This isn’t an universal inquiry, but a meditation on that which […]
Black conspiracy and skepticism persist because we believe the evidence of our experience
by Donnie Moreland There is a whispered binding between Black folks and the truth. Less truth, in that meta-ethical way we discern the spiritually evidential as Black folks, but truth telling. The expressions, negotiations and altercations with, and of, “facts.” How we tell the truth, digest it and confirm that truth as just that; gospel. […]
“Believe survivors” is inadequate for confronting the power dynamics that fuel sexual abuse
by Hari Ziyad Content Warning: Sexual Violence In February, the New York Times reported on a years-long feud between fashion executive Peter Nygard and his neighbor in the Bahamas, billionaire Louis Bacon, which was prompted over an adequately ostentatious property dispute. This gilded tea kettle of drama boiled over in a recent lawsuit alleging that […]
Combating colorism: All Black children are worth defending
This essay contains discussions of r/pe and sexual violence against and the trafficking of missing Black women and girls “One after another referred her to Missing Persons, to Juvenile Court, to her neighborhood service center, to family counseling. She was a customer come too soon to the new store, stock not yet in, sales personnel […]
Fatphobia means fat people’s bodies—and even our weight loss—are never just our own
by Indigo In the final weeks of 2019, pop culture analysts (and regular enthusiasts like myself) have taken to the variety of digital mediums available, and some even to the rooftops of their homes, to tell anyone who will listen that 2019 was the year of Lizzo. After the infamous “HAVE YOU EVER SEEN A […]
We need to talk about the sexual racism in HBO’s ‘Watchmen’
by Avery Ware I sat up in his bed and glared at him through squinted eyes, “What do you mean you only sleep with Black guys? Are you a fetish queen?” Boldly he responded, “Yeah, I probably am.” I’ll spare you the curse words that followed that statement. I was more angry with myself than […]