CW: mentions of suicide Amidst a national call for police officers to be held accountable for the murder of innocent Black people, police officers shot another unarmed Black man named Jacob Blake on Sunday in […]
Category: Opinion Articles
Dark-Skinned Black Girls Deserve Diverse Representation
In elementary school, I wanted an American Girl Doll, one like all my classmates had. The doll’s stories are based on important historical events and eras, such as colonial America or World War II. There […]
How the Healthcare System Fails Black Women
To put it simply, being a Black woman in America is hard. We experience misogynoir that leaves us feeling like no one has our back. The world ignores our struggles because we’re meant to be […]
Unpacking Common Excuses for Colorism
Colorism– defined as the discriminatin against people with darker skin tones– has always been a difficult topic to discuss within the Black community. People with lighter skin often deny the existence of any preferential treatment. […]
AAVE Is More Than Just Your Internet Slang
If you aren’t familiar with the acronym, AAVE stands for African American Vernacular English. As a Black child growing up in a suburban neighborhood, I was often told I was articulate because it surprised people […]
When It Comes to Addressing Systemic Racism, Black People Need More Than Empty Gestures
In May, I wrote a post about the performative allyship I saw from my peers on social media. I wrote about how the flood of social media posts I saw from my classmates sometimes felt […]
Black Lives Matter is Not a Political Issue, It’s a Human Rights One
Between the fight for racial justice, the upcoming election, and the worsening pandemic, the United States is incredibly politically divided right now. People on both sides are constantly accusing the other of spreading fake news, […]
Black Students at Predominantly White Private Schools are Fed Up
In many ways, independent schools in America’s northeast are pinnacles of privilege. Similar to elite colleges, there are students with long generations of alumni whose last names are on buildings. Private schools like these send […]
Juneteenth and the Black History We Aren’t Taught
As children, we learn that the day the Emancipation Proclamation was signed in 1863, all enslaved people were freed. I remember imagining everyone packing up and leaving their plantations, walking towards a future of new […]
Why Do People Say “POC” When They Just Mean Black?
As much as I use the term “People of Color” (POC) in conversation and my writing, I recognize its flaws. POC generally includes everyone who doesn’t consider themselves white– so Black, Asian, Pacific Islander, Middle […]
