12 Search results for "commodify"

By Blake Simons The present day Movement for Black Lives, which I argue was revived by the people of Oakland after the murder of Oscar Grant, and came into fruition because of the rebellion that working class Black folks started in Ferguson after the murder of Mike Brown, has been co-opted by Black capitalistic neo-liberals.

By Clelia Rodriguez The persecution and hunt of non-white bodies is old news. Social media maps it up instantly with white liberals’ “I’m glad that’s not me or my family going through that,” or their almost gratifying pity. Each second, each moment, each hour, each day, each night, each week, each month, each year, each […]

“Internalized anti-Blackness has us quick to condemn, erase, and humiliate ourselves and our ancestors more than we do the people who did the actual enslaving” — Chelsea Neason My grandmother lived a long life, but I can only imagine how much longer it would have been without the struggles she fought through. She used to […]

I just knew that things would change for me the day I closed on my book deal. In my mind, this moment was going to be bigger than anything I had done in my 32 years of life, and I wanted to be aware and very present. I wanted to rejoice like all the viral […]

While Black people often share cultural, historical and experiential linkages, we have never been a monolith. These tensions between collective identity and individual autonomy sometimes contribute to splintering among organizers who advocate Black freedom. As of Wednesday, the activist organization formerly known as Black Lives Matter Cincinnati (BLMC) announced their transition into Mass Action for Black […]

By Maximillian Matthews “Don’t hit me up if you are fem… no soft shit.” “No offense to you but NO FEM, soft, questionable dudes etc. MASC dudes only!!!” “Please be masc. I’m not into feminine dudes at all. Carry your purse to the next dude’s house.” If you’re reading this, it’s too late. We have […]

Editor’s Note: *I AIN’T THE FIRST PERSON TO EVER THINK OF THIS SHIT. To be Black is to live outside of the ways the world makes sense of itself. Outside of the gender binary, or how men and women are forced to occupy distinct roles, but Black men aren’t given the power patriarchy affords to […]

This article was originally published at Water Cooler Convos. “I love you. Mommy loves you, Charlotte.” I watched a character named “Ofwarren” speak those words to a rosey-cheeked baby before jumping from a bridge. She was attempting to end her own life. Ofwarren survived the plunge into the cold waters below. Yet, the image of […]

I am a non-voter who has the audacity to still be upset that my people are dying. I have been told innumerable times that I am not supposed to be allowed this. “If you don’t vote, you can’t complain” is perhaps the most common non-voter shaming refrain I’ve heard, right up there with “your ancestors […]

Last week it was reported that Michael Sam, the 7th round NFL draft pick of the St. Louis Rams and the first openly gay player to be drafted, would be filming a reality series set to air on Oprah Winfrey’s OWN network. There was a bit of a stir about Sam’s series, and although there […]

This period of time is very telling for the future trajectory of America. In the last decade, we’ve seen the murder of countless unarmed, innocent Black men and women in cities all over the United States. New York, Los Angeles, Chicago, Phoenix, Baltimore, St. Louis, Detroit. We’ve lost the precious lives of Sean Bell, Oscar […]

Though I am ostensibly a U.S. Citizen (some days it feels tenuous as hell), I also have a Crunchy Nation green card, which means my Twitter feed was full of earth mother goddesses, headwraps, and the like drooling over Erykah Badu’s new video for “Window Seat,” the lead single from her album, New Amerykah Part […]