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Drag Performance and Black Lives Matter
Black drag queens have been at the forefront of social justice movements since Stonewall, and this past decade has only seen this trend continue. Popular reality competition show RuPaul’s Drag Race has given several drag queens, both Black and not, a platform to use their voice and their drag to advocate for change. One being […]
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A Call Home: “Black Girl, Call Home”
Jasmine Mans’s poetry book Black Girl, Call Home was published this past March. The poetry collection explores concepts of femininity, sexuality, race, police and gun violence, religion, and much more, through powerful storytelling and imagery. Jasmin Mans is a Black and lesbian poet native to Newark, New Jersey. She recalls many of her childhood memories […]
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The Colonisation of Black Beauty
Society has a love-hate relationship with Black beauty, our features are ridiculed and heavily disrespected, but they are loved and alluring on other races; just as long as that race is not ours. Since birth, we are told that our noses, our lips, our melanated skin and our hair texture is less than and that […]
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Abolishing the Model Minority Myth
The model minority myth is an idea that encourages racism and drives a wedge between minority groups, forcing them to focus on being against each other rather than against their oppressors. White supremacists have often used this idea to place minorities into two categories: “The obedient, token minority” and “The threatening disobedient minority.” Those who […]
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It Hasn’t Been 101 Years
In August 2021, the United States celebrated 101 years since the ratification of the 19th Amendment and how far American women had come since receiving voting rights. However, that centennial didn’t mark a century since every woman in America could vote, but every white woman. By 1920, women of every other ethnic groups, including indigenous, […]
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What It Means to Navigate Two Different Worlds as a First-Gen American
A people hold among them culture, tradition and a particular way of life. Different countries hold different national values. When your parents originated and discovered themselves in a world quite different from the one you are discovering yourself in, disagreements about how to navigate the world are bound to arise. I cannot retell a story […]
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The Crack Epidemic: How the US Government Failed Black Americans
Ricochet was born into an unstable home with a verbally abusive mother in 196`1. She quickly became involved with drugs, alcohol and both abusive and drug-addicted men. Ricochet eventually moved out of her childhood home, and into a low income Harlem housing project with her two children. She soon developed an addiction to crack, which […]
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Meet Miami Golde, the Black Woman behind Féminin Rör
Féminin Rör is a Black-owned music publication created by women, for women. I had the opportunity to talk to Miami in May to learn about why she created her publication and the music industry’s overall need for better female representation.
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Love Your Past, Embarrassing and All
There is a great emphasis on change as we grow into young adults; adapting to changing surroundings, friendships, priorities and ultimately changing selves. Yet, I rarely hear of loving our past selves who are not actually fully abandoned as we “grow-up.” They are still foundations for our new beings, so why can’t we celebrate and […]
Dear Dark Skinned Girl 