95 Search results for "i am not your negro"

  by Tonya Abari Tanya Butler grew up on the backroads of a small, predominantly white Pennsylvania town. Much of her time was spent at her grandparents’ home, playing games with her younger siblings and cousins. Nights filled with shuffling and double-dealing weren’t about winning or losing–they were about learning. Games taught Butler and her […]

          by Rann In The New Jim Crow: Mass Incarceration in the Age of Colorblindness by Michelle Alexander, she states, “The fate of millions of people—indeed the future of the Black community itself—may depend on the willingness of those who care about racial justice to re-examine their basic assumptions about the […]

by Aaron Fountain  This essay contains quotes with extremely hateful rhetoric against Black women Wearing a helmet that covers his face and talking over a compilation of photographs of Black men with mostly white women, Youtuber MadBusDriverX frequently tell his listeners “save yourself Black men.” Save themselves from what, one might ask. The answer is […]

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 […]

by Robert Randolph, Jr., Ph.D. This essay contains discussions of sexual violence, lynching, and the serial murder of queer Black men.  Writer’s Note: The Deputy Editor invited me to write about this subject and I have carried these men, the named and unnamed in my head for weeks. I blew the deadline time and time […]

Mainstream conversations about online misogyny keep neglecting The Black Manosphere, and it’s because of misogynoir by Aaron Fountain On his weekly podcast, The Brother Pill, Sacramento-native and now Poland-transplant, Oshay Duke Jackson, conducts segments, interviews, and discussions about the issues faced by Black men. Occasionally, he talks about these things alone, but on most episodes […]

By Mark Matlock The possibility of weed legalization can be exciting to young people like me. Especially since our country’s current policies regarding weed have increased discrimination already fueled by the War on Drugs. But excitement can make us forget that being able to consume weed doesn’t get rid of the overt anti-Blackness that comes […]

by Andrew Keahey “I’m so glad I’m talking to you. That colored boy was not helpful.” That “colored boy” was me. I had been the lone person sitting behind the desk when this man with a swastika pin on his camouflage hat came in wanting a deal on a cell phone. His wife stood by […]

by Tabias Olajuawon This essay contains discussion of racialized sexual violence and anti-Black fetishism “You are not to touch other flesh without a police permit. The State wants to seize your bed And sleep with you… The message is clear: your penis.. your anus, your orgasm, these belong to the state. The erogenous zones are […]

James Baldwin’s unpublished works and letters have been delivered to an archive in Harlem. This happens after decades of being restricted to only a trusted few.

Not everyone has seen the new James Baldwin documentary I Am Not Your Negro (2016) yet. So, Mic has created a new video comprised of stars like Samuel L. Jackson, Janelle Monae, Lupita Nyong’o, Common, Chris Rock, Yara Shahidi and so many others who want you to “read James Baldwin” and know they iconic thinker […]

By Arielle Newton   Kendrick Lamar is my favorite New School rapper. His lyrical prowess alongside his masterful production, is an honorable change to the predictable pop-tainted “bars” that defines mainstream hip hop today. But recently, the man who I thought to be a creative revolutionary, is causing me Black feminist angst. There was the sidestep […]