A Black Female Perspective…
My older brother’s reverie for Janet Jackson placed me in front of the television for the 2004 Super Bowl halftime show. I, nor my eldest sibling, liked football, but he knew my love for music would make me a formidable companion for the evening’s events. During Jackson’s performance, he gushed about how Janet moved and [...]
I write this piece as a follow up to my previous post that articulates an overview of the complexities harbored in the Gorilla Glue story. In this brief post, I seek to reference the elephant in the room. While some question why the gorilla glue story was news, others have taken it upon themselves to [...]
As an African in America, I can honestly say that a part of me dreads black history month. For many, this month offsets a black year with a celebration of the motivational forces of a black past and present, but the anti-black world employs black history month as a platform to assault the African in [...]
When I think of poetry, I think of, in no particular order, Sterling A. Brown, Amiri Baraka, Mari Evans, Lucille Clifton, Nicki Giovanni, Sonia Sanchez, Countee Cullen, and Langston Hughes. When I think of black femininity as personified in poetry, I depart from Maya Angelou’s gentrified and universalized “Still I Rise,” and ‘“Phenomenal Woman,” and [...]
Appeal Through Representational Politics: Lady Gaga, the recording artist selected to perform the national anthem, is the daughter of Italian immigrants, Jennifer Lopez, who was also selected to sing, is the daughter of Puerto Rican immigrants, just as new Vice President Kamala Harris is the daughter of two immigrants. This showcase makes a notable departure [...]
Trump is gone, but white supremacy presides. He has dissipated into the anti-black climate that created him, made him president, and promises to invent new ways for him to redefine and actualize his supremacy. The ambiance of the next four years looms in the air and the minds of those who prepare to counter “we [...]
When I think about American Skin, I think of those tarred and feathered, the black bodies dangled over scorching hot flames, their limbs dipped and torched, their “American” skin charred black. This skin, which too often acts as wrapping paper for the murdered, is America. Director, writer and producer Nate Parker depicts America in the [...]
This week, Howard University reported that it has a new Editor-in-chief, a title the university awarded to a woman of Asian descent. As editor-in-chief, this non-black woman of color will assume responsibility for the university’s Magazine. What stands out most about this appointment is the word “storyteller.” For centuries, the HBCU has authored a significant [...]
I was uncharacteristically excited to see Regina King’s One Night in Miami. This excitement was motivated by an opportunity to support both a black director and black screenwriter. My overall resistance to plays as films remains as does the America’s employment of seemingly black ambiances to propagate anti-black ideals. I have abridged my thoughts into [...]
Hi Everyone! So with a new year comes new adventure. I am writing to formally announce my podcast: Blackness. Under-Represented. Listen to the trailer here: https://anchor.fm/blacknessunderrep Blackness. Under-Represented will include episodes eight minutes or less that provide insight into happenings relevant to black people and black culture. This announcement is not a farewell to blogging; [...]
