Like the zombies of Haitian mythology, Breonna Taylor has been resurrected and trivialized, her death turned into an opportunity for glib commodification. By the time I learned about the existence of the New York Times’ documentary The Killing of Breonna Taylor, a few days before it was released, I was already tired. Breonna Taylor had...
Tag: malcolm x
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Centering White Allies In Black Liberation Destroys Our Movements
Centering white allies in our movements shifts them from being unapologetically pro-Black to becoming about what white people need to cope with their guilt. By Gloria Oladipo “Defeating White supremacy without White people creates Black supremacy. Equality is the truth. Like it or not, we are all in this together.” This is what Terry Crews—our...
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We Fight Together: 17 Black Anti-Imperialists to Radicalize You
White supremacy compels us to analyze how anti-imperialism is a necessity in our resistance against oppression. All of our struggles are intertwined. We are living in a particularly radical time right now. Seriously. I feel like everyone says that every couple of years, but this feels different. The energy in the air is different, so...
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The Struggle For Black Lives in the U.S. is Long Overdue for Humanitarian Intervention by the UN
It is time to re-activate the effort to bring the crimes that the U.S. has committed against its Black denizens to the attention of the UN. By Clarkisha Kent and Wicked Womanist TW/CW: state-sanctioned violence, torture, sexual assault, murder, mentions of death by suicide An imperative component—relying heavily on public cooperation and denunciation, conducting both...
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Words Mean Things: Reclaiming Martin Luther King Jr. From The Grips of Imperialism
King’s spirit is that of a true revolutionary which can never be distorted to the point of no return, and will always live on for those who need it. In schools across the United States, few Black names grace the pages of curricula as frequently and with more energy than that of Dr. Martin Luther...
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Surveilled and Harassed For Playing Malcolm X Speeches: Mikisa Thompson’s Resistance
“I’m just trying to survive as Black woman who wants to do the work to help dismantle white supremacy,” says Mikisa Thompson. Content note for anti-Blackness and descriptions of police surveillance and harassment. “It seems like we cannot do anything that brings us any joy or peace without being interrupted by white supremacy.” I listened...
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Decentering Black Male Paragons During Black History Month
This Black History Month, and really every month, my goal is to decenter cis(het) Black men in favor of uplifting queer Black folks, Black women, and other marginalized or unheard groups within the Black community. During Black History Month we gird ourselves for the inevitable white-centered mentions of Martin Luther King Jr. and his supposedly...
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How Malcolm X Prepared Us For a Trump Presidency
Guessing how Malcolm X would respond to current events can be a slippery slope, but it’s safe to say that he would not have been surprised by Trump’s election. For many, the election of Donald Trump to the U.S. presidency feels like a sharp U-turn toward inequalities we’d hoped to leave behind. Others see Trump’s...
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6 Lessons American Muslims Must Learn from Malcolm X
African American activist Malcolm X is a superhero for many Muslims, who have gained valuable lessons from his life. Here are 6 of them. Malcolm X, later known as El-Hajj Malik El-Shabazz, is an African American icon with a powerful legacy of racial justice. Few realize that he holds similar status in the Muslim community in...
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James Baldwin Documentary “I Am Not Your Negro” Is Mostly for White People
I couldn’t help feeling like the film wasn’t made for me; rather, it’s for (white) spectators peeking into black culture for, perhaps, the first time. I may be one of the few critics who didn’t walk away overwhelmed by Raoul Peck’s I Am Not Your Negro, the new documentary centered on a letter James Baldwin wrote...