by Alexis Payne This past Monday, Deray McKesson, a leader in the Black Lives Matter movement (BLM), took over Yale’s Afro-American Cultural Center with an idea: “You are enough to start a movement. That is the story of Ferguson.” His audience was 200 potential movement-builders: Yale undergraduates, grad students, professors, and community members. McKesson’s organizing…
by Ashia Ajani and Nicole Chavez This past Wednesday, Jenn Fang, an Asian-American post-doctoral student, spoke to a diverse crowd of Yale students regarding the myth of the “Model Minority.” As explained by Fang, The idea of “successful” minorities and “problem” minorities came as a direct response to the Civil Rights Movement of the 1960s…
by Taylor Jackson Many Tumblr posts have been written about the cosplay struggle for comic enthusiasts of color. There’s the constant dilemma of either wanting to cosplay your favorite character, who probably looks nothing like you, or wanting to go as a character who looks more like you, but knowing that you will be competing…
by Alejandra Padin-Dujon Sprague Hall is comfortably full—occupied, not packed. The pretty, cream-colored woodwork glows in the light of soft yellow lamps. All goes quiet as the lights dim, all sound replaced by the false calm of an audience pretending to be ready. The opening remarks are trivial. They end. Keynote speaker Hilton Als is…
by Arianna B. Neal “This is not a trickle. This is a hemorrhage,” stated Professor Jafari Allen. Within his office, the floating scents of green mint tea and burning incense intermingled with the soft tones of classical piano and clinking glass dishes. He explained the crisis. Over the past few months, three renowned faculty of color…