Now that the grand jury has returned with their decision on the extrajudicial killing of Michael Brown, we should be reminded that even though Darren Wilson was not indicted, Blackness was certainly indicted by the grand jury. Darren Wilson is free and the police continue to be empowered to kill with impunity. Blackness was found…
Companies have been “blackening up” on Twitter lately. Performing blackness is normalized as good marketing. However, the appropriation and theft of black culture by outsiders is rooted in the tradition of minstrelsy. It’s hard to recall a time historically in the United States when black people have not been giving back to society, although media…
The murder of a black person is often disregarded by the media and much of the public as a normal, ignorable occurrence. But occasionally, the spectacle of a murdered black person captures the nation’s attention. It’s a tradition of sorts. The morbid pageantry of killing a black person, consuming black pain and stifling black cries…
The city that raised me is changing. Over the years I have watched Birmingham, Alabama, transform in many different ways. My hometown periodically captures the nation’s attention during discussions about civil rights or its high murder rate. I recently saw images of Birmingham appear frequently during the uprisings in Ferguson, Missouri. People made comparisons to…
By the time I discovered lil TerRio, hundreds of thousands of people had already shared clips of the 7-year-old Georgian dancing. There was no doubt to me that he was going to be a big deal. The viral clips with his ‘play cousin’ filming, laughing, and saying “ooh kill ‘em” quickly became impossible to avoid. But…
If you have kept up with the US political cycle, you noticed potential prospects for the next President touted after President Barack Obama’s re-election. Elizabeth Warren, Marco Rubio, and Chris Christie are familiar names for many of us – even if this happened without our consent. Among the political ranks of the Democratic Party, one…
When I first saw Michelle Goldberg’s piece “Sympathy for Justine Sacco,” over at The Nation I was not surprised as much as I was disgusted. Cultural critic Mikki Kendall, the creator of one of the year’s most popular hashtags #SolidarityIsForWhiteWomen, tweeted it to her followers. The piece disturbingly exhibits exactly what feminist women of color,…
By William C. Anderson & Natalie Yoon There is something big coming our way. It’s called the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP). It’s a trade deal that dwarfs the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA), set to conclude as early as the end of the year. TPP has been stealthily entering in and out of news outlets with a surprisingly small…
Don Lemon has managed to upset people across Black America for a second time right before the year’s end. While providing radio commentary Tuesday, CNN anchor Don Lemon clumsily came to the defense of NYPD’s controversial stop-and-frisk program, which he redubbed “stop-question-and-frisk.” While pondering if the program might exist under Mayor-elect Bill de Blasio, Lemon seemed to lament…
On October 18th I watched in awe as a progressive Democrat, the nephew of a Tuskegee airman and alumni of Morehouse – a traditionally Black university – addressed the nation. He was fellow Black man I remembered well, because he’d said something once that I would never forget. He said, “I believe that if Dr. King were alive today, he…
This week, reports of discrimination by Barneys New York have showered the internet backed by calls for a boycott. A pending lawsuit against the store alleges that 19-year old Trayon Christian was racially profiled after buying a Salvatore Ferragamo belt. Upon exiting the store Trayon described being arrested by police, jailed, and interrogated about how he made…
I learn more reading what feminist women of color write on Twitter than I feel I could learn in many gender studies college courses. Firestorms of conversation are happening around feminism and race. And for many of us men who identify as male feminists, it would be wise to pay close attention. At some point…
We’ve come a long way on certain issues relating to gender, sexuality, and assault. But some things take longer than others. We specifically still have trouble accepting that boys and men are sometimes the survivors of sexual assault. At best, we ignore the stories of men being sexually assaulted. At worst, we couch those experiences…
I was fortunate enough to be born in Birmingham, Alabama. Although some people are ashamed to be from there, and think only about Confederate flags, bad health, and poverty, I think about the rich history of Black resistance and organizing that took place there. The civil rights movement marked a time when Black activists in…
I clearly remember a cold and windy night in Washington, D.C. A friend reached out to me to see if I wanted to go with her to hear some spoken word poetry. I walked into a building on the legendary campus of Howard University that was filled with expressive poets, well-dressed audience members, and the…
100midnights 