2936 Search results for "doe"

Black Gen Z Doesn’t Need Another ‘Leave Your Hometown’ Speech
By. Kourtney K Galloway I have noticed there is a certain kind of ambition that gets handed to young Black folks in smaller Southern cities, almost like it is just the obvious next step: leave. Go somewhere bigger. Find more opportunities. Build your network. Get some experience, make some money, and maybe come back later, […]
‘Fast Color’ was snubbed by Hollywood’s white male gatekeepers because it doesn’t fit their worldview
This essay contains spoilers for Fast Color by Melanie Ojwang Fast Color immediately stands out as different from the comic based blockbusters I’ve grown used to over the past decade. When it was first released, I rushed to see it, fearing that it wouldn’t be in theaters past opening weekend. It turns out that my […]
When does defending one’s reputation become a ploy to avoid addressing faults?
I don’t want to live in a world where all I have is my reputation. I don’t want my worth to be determined solely by what others say and think about me based on standards I never agreed to, but such is the nature of capitalism. In the age of The Influencer, we are being […]
My mother proved protection is possible without police, even if she doesn’t know it
Sometimes, an answer is not an answer to everyone. Sometimes, whether something is an answer depends, like seeing a blue or gold dress or hearing yanny or laurel in that auditory illusion. Or like when Black people are finally allowed in token numbers to receive a few of the laurels we hear we should always […]
Trauma doesn’t turn you into a bad person
I say a lot of shit. Before COVID, before my mother-in-law relapsed, before my brother announced his secret baby and before the fall out, before my god sister’s cancer diagnosis, I said that if one more traumatic event happened to me after my mother’s own cancer became untreatable earlier this year, I would fall apart. […]
Police brutality does not end because of a pandemic, it is made worse by it
Content warning: mentions of slavery, police brutality “The buyers paraded them and made them dance. They opened their clothing to check for wounds; they pinched their limbs and flexed their muscles. They searched earnestly for scars, since scars were said to be evidence of a rebellious nature. When they finished their inspections, they posed questions […]
I love fashion, but—as a fat woman—it doesn’t always love me back
by Kamilah Bush I love clothes. I love fashion and style. I love all kinds of clothes from the big fashion houses to things I’ve fished out of thrift store bins. I watch the major award shows just for the gowns. My favorite holiday is The First Monday in May, also known as the Met […]
The Revolution of Black Mothering: Confronting a future that doesn’t always include us
by Hess Love belly of boat dissolves you, precipitates you into nonword from which you cry out, generates clamor of your protests, boat is your womb, a matrix, yet it expels you- Edouard Glissant I always wanted to be a mother. I wanted motherhood’s playfulness, its duty, its imagination and selflessness. Like most people that […]
What does “home” mean for Black folks when white violence can so easily invade our dwellings?
by Donnie Moreland One of the most haunting images to come out of the Reconstruction Era, for me, is that of the 1872 Harper Weekly engraving entitled “Visit of the Ku Klux.” It’s a crude image, taken up mostly by the figures of a Black family—a mother, her daughter and an elderly man over a fireplace […]
Mass shooters prove white supremacy doesn’t have a political party
Editor’s Note: This month at BYP, we will be exploring the US Elections & Family/Parenting issues, and we are interested in publishing works that address these topics. How has our political system been working for and against us? What dynamics are different today? How should we prepare for the presidential election, and what is the […]
Being a Black educator doesn’t mean you aren’t teaching anti-Blackness
Editor’s Note: This month at BYP, we will be exploring Education & Schooling, and we are interested in publishing works that address these topics. What are the implications of charter and private schools in communities of color? How do we counteract anti-Black textbooks and teachers in our childrens’ education? How did you heal from bullying […]
Loving trans and non-binary folks doesn’t make you a radical
This essay contains discussions of suicide, intimate partner abuse, and transmisogyny by Indigo Since last week, dozens of activists, journalists, influencers, and entertainers have come forward to tweet and post #RIPReese, a hashtag memorializing a man named Reese who recently died by suicide. Posts raising awareness of Reese’s death came after a video was shared […]