61 Search results for "humanize"

We Will Not Be Criminalized. We Will Not Be Dehumanized. We Are Young, Gifted and Black!
1Hood Media Academy on the set of our new video “Young, Gifted and Black” (Photo by Haute Muslim) “Young, Gifted, and Black” featuring Jasiri X, Tyhir Frost, Haze the Kid, and L U C, is the first release from 1Hood, a collective of Hip-Hop artists with a mission to improve self-image, dispel stereotypes, and […]
Why Black pain will never disarm white supremacy
A nursing book was recalled in 2017 because of the racist way that it discussed pain; how it is felt, how it is interpreted, and how it should be understood by physicians, and therefore, how it should ultimately be treated. This entry, entitled “Cultural Differences in Response to Pain,” included sections on “Arabs/Muslims,” “Asians,” “Blacks,” […]
Forbidden Laughter: The History of Laughing Barrels
By Sherronda J. Brown Seems like every year I learn some new factoid about how plantations operated during the time of chattel slavery of African peoples in the Americas. I inevitably come across another unfortunate piece of knowledge that I wish I never had to know. At the same time, I always understand how it’s […]
We can’t ignore Marrianne Williamson’s fatphobia and ableism just because she supports reparations for slavery
Marianne Williamson makes me physically ill, and seeing people support her compounds my nausea. The Democratic candidate made waves last week when she delivered an impressive answer about reparations to Don Lemon post-debate: “[T]here were 250 years of slavery followed by another 100 years of domestic terrorism… given that there were 4 to 5 million […]
When Black women make mistakes, we deserve compassion, not public ridicule
By now, many of us have learned of Tessica Brown’s devastating story. Last week, Brown, a Black woman from Lousiana, posted a TikTok that went viral when she admitted her hair has been stuck in the same hairstyle for a month. After running out of her usual Got 2 B Glued freezing spray, Brown decided […]
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 […]
Sex is not what makes us human
“Sex is what makes us human.” This, of course, is an absurd claim. And yet, it’s a lie that many believe. A lie that I have heard many times, in one form or another. I continually find myself having to argue that sex and sexuality are not and never will be factors in whether or […]
Black dissociation is a requirement of capitalism
CW: mention of body changes, dissociation and dysmorphia. by Imani As a Black person who has survived trauma and poverty, I assumed that I could handle anything, including what has been a physically debilitating matrix of illnesses. But in less than 8 months I started experiencing dissociation. I moved from a body I fought to learn […]
The myth of “progress” helps to obscure the truth—we are still marching for civil rights
“What is it you want me to reconcile myself to? I was born here almost 60 years ago. I’m not gonna live another 60 years. You always told me it takes time. It’s taken my father’s time, my mother’s time. My uncle’s time. My brother’s and my sister’s time. My nieces and my nephews time. […]
“Laughing barrels” and the defiant spirit of Black laughter
Seems like every year I learn some new factoid about how plantations operated during the time of chattel slavery of African peoples in the Americas. I inevitably come across another unfortunate piece of knowledge that I wish I never had to know. At the same time, I always understand how it’s of vital importance that […]
When Black womxn finally allow ourselves to get angry
Anger is dangerous. That’s what I learned as a child, when other people’s anger meant screaming and clenched fists and scratches and bloody lips and flying objects and switches and paddles and belts. Anger is unequal, too. See, my mom and my brother were allowed to be angry. And when they were angry, they were […]
A meditation on intergenerational trauma and how we raise Black children
This essay contains discussion of suicide. by Donnie Moreland On the other side of her beautiful and hardened, bulging belly, I can feel them. My baby navigating the uterus of the woman I love, curious to the pressure of my palm on the soft brown flesh between them and I. I imagine their curiosity, or […]