My first name is Karléh – the Ghanian word for “lovely”. My middle name is Ashanta, which is an extension of the Swahili word for life, “Asha”. In some Southeast Native American tribes, Ashanta means Princess. And for the Ashanti tribe in Ghana, having the name Ashanta denotes royal blood. So, my name can be…
Category: Voices
DOWN Magazine’s Statement of Purpose – Defining Our World Now.
DOWN Magazine emerged out of the silences intentionally and unintentionally created by the overwhelming whiteness of Yale’s journalistic landscape. These gaping holes motivated us to create a publication that would not only enrich the communities in which it is grounded, but also create an outlet for the news, voices, and arts that have been pent…
The Dead Shall be Raised
I am the American heartbreak – The rock on which Freedom Stumped its toe – The great mistake That Jamestown made Long ago. –Langston Hughes “You think it’s the hurricane? I think a dead man trying to tell a tale.” Curtis T., a homeless man, was being interviewed by the New Haven Independent about an…
Slutty by Association: Black Girls and the Burden of Sexuality
On Monday March 23rd, Little League World Series star Mo’Ne Davis was called a “slut” in a tweet sent out by Bloomsburg University first baseman Joey Casselberry. “Disney is making a movie about Mo’Ne Davis? WHAT A JOKE. That slut got rocked by Nevada.” The consequences of Casselberry’s comment came at him swiftly and mercilessly. In…
Beyond Recognition: A Case for Asian American Studies
“The impossible is the least that one can demand.” – James Baldwin I have never felt more intellectually and spiritually affirmed than I have at the Asian American Studies Conference last month – an unprecedented event in Yale history. Over the course of the conference, I had the pleasure of listening to academics and graduate…