17 May 2013
“One has a moral responsibility to disobey unjust laws.” —Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. “No one is going to give you the education you need to overthrow them. Nobody is going to teach you your true history, teach you your true heroes, if they know that that knowledge will help [...]
22 May 2013
By Elizabeth Dorssom I first started referring to myself as a feminist when I was 17. Even though I didn’t identify as a feminist until I was older I was definitely a feminist from a very young age. When I was in elementary school I enjoyed playing with Hot Wheels cars instead [...]
20 May 2013
By Molly Baker On April 23, University of Arizona student Dean Saxton, better known as Brother Dean, stood on a bench brandishing a sign that bluntly stated in bold, black letters “You Deserve Rape.” Saxton proceeded to verbally harass many women that walked by on their way to class, calling them [...]
15 May 2013
By Mohadesa Najumi When I think about what modesty means in today’s political, cultural and religious environment, I am inclined to believe that the concept itself does not involve choice, or any dimension of freedom or independent thought. Rather, modesty constitutes a dictatorial concept forced upon women whether they agree [...]
7 May 2013
*Trigger warning* Sometimes I feel like the NRA is actively just trying to lose all the credibility it has left in this world. Just when you thought the NRA’s annual convention in Houston this weekend couldn’t draw any more negative attention, it goes out and casually promotes a company selling a product [...]
29 Mar 2013
By Monica Torres When I sign my name, it’s Monica, not Mónica. When I order pupusas at my favorite restaurant, the waiter will give my accent an approving nod, as if to say, you’re one of us. But it will only take a harder question for me to reveal the [...]
18 Mar 2013
By Alexa Lambertis At an early age, I was exposed to a woman who essentially changed my life. A sweet lady with a southern background, she was introduced to me as a family friend. I met her in her own home, where we would spend a majority of our time [...]
Assata Shakur has been given many names over the past four decades. Her political allies in the 1970s struggle for black liberation knew her as a comrade and freedom fighter. Ever since her escape from a New Jersey prison and exile in Cuba, she’s become an icon to many on the radical left. Some,...
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Brittney C. Cooper is assistant professor of Women’s and Gender Studies and Africana Studies at Rutgers University. She is a proud graduate of Howard University with her bachelors degrees in English and Political Science. Dr. Cooper is also co-founder of the Crunk Feminist Collective, a Hip Hop Generation feminist blogging crew that runs a...
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By Dani Cofini and Kelly Casey According to feminist theory, rape culture is defined as the normalization, victim-blaming, and tolerance that often pardons rape and sexual assault. In order to rid our society of this oppressive, misogynistic mentality, it is important to recognize how prevalent rape culture is in a given environment. Recently, UConn...
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By Victoria Rossetti, Rebecca Barton, and Stephanie Naranjo To the UConn Community: This letter is in response to the events surrounding Carolyn Luby’s open letter and the backlash she received, but it is also about a larger issue. This is a statement to the entire community at UConn. It is a call to action...
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Joan Morgan is an award-winning journalist, author and a provocative cultural critic. A pioneering hip-hop journalist, she began her professional writing career freelancing for The Village Voice. Morgan’s passion and commitment to the accurate documentation of hip-hop culture combined with adept cultural criticism placed her at the forefront of music journalism. She was one...
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There’s been much talk about TLC’s new show The Sisterhood, a reality show about the lives and struggles of Ivy Couch, Domonique Scott, Christina Murray, DeLana Rutherford, and Tara Lewis, five pastor’s wives in the Atlanta area. While some critics are threatening to boycott the show, and others are framing it as evidence of black preachers losing their way (which I guess...
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In her groundbreaking text, Hine Sight: Black Women and the Reconstruction of American History, black feminist scholar Darlene Clark Hine makes a distinction between black women and girl’s experiences “under slavery” and “after slavery.” She opines that under slavery black women and girls placed priority on protecting their sexual being, however during freedom, while...
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Name: Tomeka Hart Candidate for: U.S. House of Representatives, District 9 (Tennessee) Interviewed by: Tamura A. Lomax Why are you running for office? I am a native Memphian and a graduate of the Memphis City Schools. Raised in a working poor family, I am a first generation college student, attaining my BS degree in education,...
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For Trayvon, Michael and Martin, and all other black boys sable mappings cover him like an ethno-alien cartogram dipped deeply and precisely in ebony timber whipped in/two industrial multiplexes distorted by a pre/fix of datum convictions venomous raindrops of marked difference inflate him perorating from tongue to tongue oral histories scientific...
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Last week Rep. Jim Sensenbrenner was overheard saying that First Lady Michelle Obama should attend to her “large posterior” before lecturing Americans on eating right. Of course this was a circuitous swipe against Obama’s Let’s Move campaign. How dare the FLOTUS suggest we inclusively get off our growing posteriors and get moving, and how...
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22 May 2013
By Aditi Rao Dear Mr. Yadav, I too am an Indian Woman “Referring to the recent ‘Slut Walk’ held in the Capital, Mr. Lalu Prasad Yadav said we had naked women walking down the streets with tattoos on their cheeks, whereas Indian women did not even look up while [...]
17 May 2013
Assata do not dry like dissipated plums under castro’s bronzing sun you mural fortress you live memorial spirited artifice rouged sea salt that marinates america’s wound Assata you like stripped bone road unaware of which exit is free birth brown coagulated rhythm redefined reborn rumba queen Assata dusk breath [...]
16 May 2013
“Affirmation” by Assata Shakur* ___ I believe in living. I believe in the spectrum of Beta days and Gamma people. I believe in sunshine. In windmills and waterfalls, tricycles and rocking chairs. And i believe that seeds grow into sprouts. And sprouts grow into trees. I believe in the magic [...]
7 May 2013
7 May 2013
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