It happens every time Beyoncé drops an album. Or a video. Or sneezes. Whenever she makes a move, folks want to remind us that her movement don’t fix racism, sexism or bring about world peace. The interweb is filled with cries of, “I mean doing a Black Panther salute during halftime on one of the world’s largest platforms is fine but what is she doing for Black people,” and “She spent all that money on that video but do she donate her money to the Black community?” I’m not even goi[...]
Reasons I'm here for SZA's The Weekend video directed by Solange. 1) A Black girl is centered for 4 minutes and 9 seconds. Just her. 2) SZA teaching and preaching with the dancing. Y'all know how I feel about dancing as a means to positive body image and self-esteem. I recommend doing it naked. Often. 3) SZA dancing by, and for, herself. Even as we watch, it's clear SZA isn't dancing for the gaze(s). None of them. Not whiteness. Not men. Not even fans. We should take note. 4) I'm[...]
It's been a long time, shouldn't have left you... Look, I been broke lately. Not as in pockets but spirit. But if you need to borrow money, then just pretend I said pockets. This thang (whole damn world) been getting to me for a while. But I put on a good face. A beat face. Shoutout to my Beauty Blender #notsponsored. I digress. If that surprises you, then welcome because you must be new here. So yeah, I've been laying low. Because self-care. But my sisters been holding me down. As always, B[...]
I asked my 3 children if they could each name a Black female superhero. They responded; “Storm” “Angel Salvadore” “Rosa Parks” Curious as to my youngest son’s answer, I probed him further. “Why is Rosa Parks a superhero?” “Because she helped her people.” More often than not, conversations with my children leave me feeling slightly puzzled. In that moment, I was simply humbled. I had prepared myself to write about usual Black women superheroes like Storm[...]
So y’all know I’ve been buying lots of lipstick lately. While it began as a form of self-care to process police brutality, it turned into me discovering the fun of makeup. Like most things in the lives of Black girls and women, the notion of beauty is political. So rather than keep the beauty separate from the blog, I’ve decided to merge two worlds that already intersect for so many of us. This is the Pretty Political series. In the inaugural post it only made sense to talk about the pr[...]