Summer after 8th grade year, something happened... That's why we don't like the heat where I'm from. Praying the groundhog always sees his shadow so we stave off sunny days just a bit longer. Everybody knows what happens when God brings that heat so if it's all the same to you, we'll take the winter. I still remember the first time I felt the heat. First time I understood what happens when it gets that hot, the sticky-suffocating-can't-breathe kind of heat. It came in that sudden, shocki[...]
Play “That low pro hoe she’ll be cut like a afro […] but I know she’s a loser […] Me and the crew used to do her.” Bell Biv Devoe “B****** ain’t sh*t but hoes and tricks.” Snoop Dogg “Put a Molly all up in her champagne, she ain’t even know it, I took her home and enjoyed that, she ain’t even know it.” - Rick Ross By now most of us are familiar with the track. Each generation has its own version but the message remains the same. Women are disposable. Wom[...]
Last month, over 200 Black men penned an open letter to President Barack Obama to express their concerns on the exclusion of Black girls and women from the My Brother’s Keeper Initiative (MBK). In solidarity, 200+ Black Men, including Rev. James M. Lawson, Danny Glover and Charles Mills, concluded with the following: As Black men we believe that if the nation chooses to “save” only Black males from a house on fire, we will have walked away from a set of problems that we will be compelled[...]
As an advocate for survivors of sexual and domestic violence, cases of such violence in the news usually catch my attention. Recently, there seems to be a considerable number of cases involving Black male celebrity perpetrators. The Game, The Dream, Columbus Short and Michael Jace are just a few of the Black male celebrities who have recently made headlines for various acts of violence including assaulting a pregnant woman (Dream) and murder (Jace). So where are the calls to boycott Floyd[...]
Read an online article that addresses male privilege, white privilege, or anything of the sort and you will likely find a comment board littered with defensive comments from the group identified as having privilege. As the targeted parties often have less experience engaging the subject matter than the writers, it’s not uncommon to see people reflexively cry that a writer’s arguments are more offensive than the system that the writer is attempting to identify. Many of these reactions amo[...]