Black women’s impossible dilemma: How this world ties our “safety” to the protection of our abusers
The world has an appetite for our pain, and this is what I refuse. This is why I will never again decide to protect someone who harms me.
The publishing industry cannot continue to hide its anti-Blackness behind their #BlackBestSeller
A bunch of self-confessed book addicts that is the publishing industry, may struggle to admit to itself, and its readers, that there are some problems within that throwing the faces of their Black authors to the forefront now won’t fix.
How “Gayle King v. Kobe Bryant” obscured a valid critique of sensationalizing sexual violence
In our efforts to resist this silencing, however, we must also consider the ways that others who are not public figures are implicated in these discussions
What happened to Wilder during his loss was sexual violence, something that Black men know too well
This historical lack of cultural currency associated with Black men being raped has impacted how Wilder's assault has been read.
I hope you catch AIDS and die
When you tell me you hope my death is via “catching AIDS.” What you are saying is you want me to live forever, or at least until a miracle occurs. And in response I say, “Thank you!”
No Jay-Z, corporate sponsorships cannot replace protests
The danger in celebrating corporate activism, and elevating Jay-Z as a model of activism, is that it frames resistance and rebellion as something to be done with oppressors,
How “Black people are not a monolith” is used to promote respectability politics
I am in no way saying that Black people are a monolith. We have varying cultures, ideas, beliefs, etc. What I am saying is that we should be careful about when we feel the need to claim that and why.
Don’t call her bluff
FROM OUR NEW SHORT STORY SERIES, 'IMAGING OTHER WORLDS': "She leaned forward and put her hands on my desk, causing my papers and folders to shoot into the air and swirl violently around us. My laptop sparked, then burst into flames. I could hear myself screaming inside my head, but nothing came out when I opened my mouth. I couldn’t move a muscle."
Take some into the mouth
FROM OUR NEW SHORT STORY SERIES, 'IMAGING OTHER WORLDS': "Pearl didn’t push Zura on the whole cunnilingus issue because that’s not what she needed from him. He wasn’t her only partner. What she wanted from him was a few free drinks followed by an enchanting night ride and a deep quickie."