63 Search results for "twice as good"

As far as I can tell, no one really knows who first stated that Black people have to work twice as hard and be twice as good to be as successful as white people. I’d like to think that a great mass of ancestors came up with the old adage apart but simultaneously, a testament […]

*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.* A few weeks ago, my boyfriend and I decided to watch a trashy horror […]

This past week I became the facebook user that monotonously began searching through the lives, thoughts, and ideas of my fb friends through the convenience of my fb wall. I came upon a status update from a person that will remain nameless, that said “I make HIV look soo good.” A few thoughts cross my […]

Bah Humbug.  I almost totally forgot that Christmas is this Friday, have no idea when Hanukkah started, and couldn’t name the principles of Kwanzaa if Maulana Karenga threatened to falsely imprison me.  Still, I’ve found enough holiday spirit to give gifts to folks both naughty and nice.  I think they’ll be somewhat useful to the […]

Whether we want to admit it or not, there’s a superficial boundary between professionalism and unprofessionalism that undergirds constant productivity, capital and unhealthy notions of self worth. This boundary exists to reinforce white supremacy, carcerality, punishment, policing and surveillance. The structures that legitimize this faux boundary do so in service of themselves always. All the […]

by Daniel Johnson Regarding the abject brutality of the way the criminal justice system discards Black bodies and lives, writer Kirsten West Savali describes the practice in this way, reframing the common narrative that the criminal justice system is merely broken: “The system is not broken, it is functioning exactly as intended.” There is little […]

I remember the first time I had my intelligence questioned by a peer like it was yesterday; I had just won the regional spelling bee when a classmate, a non-Black person of color, started a rumor that my accomplishments were simply a result of me smoking marijuana. I was 14, and had never smoked a […]

For the second year in a row, Fix—Grist’s solutions lab—put out a call for short stories for their climate- fiction contest: Imagine 2200: Climate Fiction for Future Ancestors. Writers from across the globe activated their creativity and imaginations to offer visions of sustainability, justice, and hope. Dive into this story, The Metamorphosis of Marie Martin, […]

 by Inigo Laguda  This essay contains spoilers for Another Life (2019) and Annihilation (2018) For a writer, I read astonishingly little. I chalk my aversion up to over-inundating myself with books as a boy and filling all my curious voids with grand words and fantastical tales. It’s almost like I nauseatingly engorged myself on literature […]

by Daniel M. Johnson Lesson 1: Origins 1964-65 was a volatile time for Betty Shabazz. The conclusion of the winter saw her gazing at her husband’s corpse, riddled with bullets, leaving her to care for her four, soon to be six, daughters. Just into her 30s, she moved to Mount Vernon, NY to continue her […]

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 […]

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 […]