17 Search results for "ocad"

by Donnie Moreland  This essay contains spoilers for Patrick Chamoiseau’s 1997 novel, Slave Old Man The final words of Patrick Chamoiseau’s Slave Old Man read, “Brother, I shouldn’t have, but I touched those bones.” Those bones being, “The clavicles. Some vertebrae. A few formless bits. Porous things. And a broken tibia…” Those bones, as are […]

By Benji Hart In the last month, following the emergence of horrific images of migrant children being separated from their families and held in cages by border agents, the call to #AbolishICE has gone mainstream. Most notably, Congolese immigrant activist Therese Okoumou climbed the Statue of Liberty’s base on July 4th following an “Abolish ICE” […]

Arguing for improved sustenance options in America seems less than first-world. However food and water, the very substances that fuel us, remain reproductive and environmental justice issues. Food and water quality matter because they affect people as a whole, but especially people of color and those in the socio-economic margins. The specific instances vary. Environmental […]

In a “broken windows” fashion, the Chicago Police Department sustains a gang database of its residents. They say this is in efforts to stay ahead on crime. They also seek to punish those on the list to the fullest extent of the law when the opportunity presents itself. As of last week, CPD and it’s […]

It has only been 9 days since President Obama left office and a new administration took over in his place. Since then, Trump has signed a number of executive orders including but not limited to: an order starting the process to create a wall on the US-Mexico border, an order seeking the “prompt repeal of the […]

While Lauryn Hill was the only non-Haitian member of the Fugees, Pras and Wyclef Jean considered her “Haitian by association.” To show her appreciation of the culture – as well as the Caribbean and African Diaspora as a whole – she’s opened up an art exhibit to coincide with her performance at Kings Theatre this […]

For the first time ever in its 30-year history, a sitting president spoke at South by Southwest. President Obama walked on stage as a keynote speaker to open the Interactive section of the SXSW Festival on Friday, March 11, 2016 in Austin, Texas where he talked about 21st century civic engagement alongside the founder, editor, and […]

Twelve protesters were arrested Tuesday (Feb. 16) morning after protests stopped traffic in downtown Chicago. The protest was led by Organized Communities Against Deportations (OCAD) and spoke out against raids targeting undocumented families in the region. According to ABC7, the group managed to block traffic on Congress Parkway for more than an hour, starting at 8 a.m. […]

By L.G. Parker Some poets scream, others approach the microphone with a fierce control that sits you down and reminds you of your magic and your wounds. Afro-Mexicana poet Ariana Brown is the latter. With five years of experience as a poetry mentor and workshop leader, Brown has a commitment not only to her own […]

By Candice Iloh At the same time every year it seems the whole country focuses in on the same extraordinary black trailblazers of the past. They are the ones that have made the cut into your history books and who have managed to remain on the tongues of even the youngest black kids coming up […]

“African-Americans are, in a very real sense, the descendants of alien abductees…Speculative fiction that treats African-American themes and addresses African-American concerns in the context of 20th century technoculture — and, more generally, African-American signification that appropriates images of technology and a prosthetically enhanced future — might, for want of a better term, be called Afrofuturism.” […]

  Residents in Ferguson, Missouri are preparing for a “Weekend of Resistance” set to take place in St. Louis over the weekend. The protests are a result of another 18-year-old black male who was killed by police in St. Louis’ Shaw neighborhood earlier this week.