Ava DuVernay is hedging her bets, looking to portray herself as both pop culture educator and blameless conversant in a larger, more complicated discussion. I stopped being disappointed by Black celebrities a while ago. I think it was a long time coming, but it was cemented last year when I saw that RocNation Brunch tweet...
Tag: Martin Luther King Jr.
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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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Nina Simone On Intent And The Many Lifetimes Of Impact
Nina Simone’s impact on the world sustains even when it was a far fetch from what she originally envisioned for herself. By Hess Love “I’m just a soul whose intentions are good, oh lawd, don’t let me be misunderstood.” Nina Simone is good company, or so I’ve heard it said by someone who could relate...
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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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2020 Democrats And Their Harmful Histories With Police
Just like Kamala, most of the prominent white candidates have complicated (read: bad) histories with policing, incarceration, and Black people in general. When Senator Kamala Harris dropped out of the presidential race last week, her supporters on Twitter claimed that she was unfairly treated by the “Kamala is a cop” narrative. They said that belaboring...
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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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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...
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No, Calling Out Racism Isn’t Divisive
The hard truth is that white people who refuse to listen to black critics are the ones setting torches to bridges of allyship and slicing apart coalitions. Unremarkably, some white activists of all genders have reacted negatively to the criticisms of black organizers that racism partly motivated the white feminism that put bodies dressed in pussy hats on...
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Does the New Memphis Grizzlies Jersey Celebrate Martin Luther King, Jr. — Or the Place He Was Assassinated?
On April 4, 1968, Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr,. was assassinated as he left his motel room in Memphis, Tennessee. It’s truly one of the saddest days in U.S. history, and a landmark moment that Memphis residents wish hadn’t happened in their city. Or not. The Grizzlies, the NBA franchise based in Memphis, recently unveiled...