On April 3rd, Tumblr users will once again be confronted with a mosaic of Black beauty curated using the hashtag #BlackOut. Without a doubt, organizing coming out of Ferguson was strengthened by the broad coalition of people of different races and backgrounds who came together to stand firmly in defense of black lives. I continue…
A. Black B. Black + Lesbian C. Black + Gay D. Black + Bisexual E. Black + Transgender If you had to choose one letter, which would you choose? Go ahead, pick your strife. But know that it wasn’t a fleeting decision for Blake Brockington, a powerful, 18-year-old Black trans activist from North Carolina who…
Last Friday, Ta-Nehisi Coates closed his remarks on the case for reparations by saying that slavery isn’t a bump in the road of US history—it is the road. Prof. Kelly Lytle Hernández opened her talk, “Caged Birds: The Birth of Mexican Imprisonment in the United States,” with a similar metaphor that cuts to the quick…
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…
Serena Williams has an ambition and drive that is larger than life. This has helped her become the face of her sport, but she is consistently considered exceptional for a Black woman. The language used to describe her career goes like this: Serena Williams is an excellent tennis player even though she has a big…