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 [...]
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 [...]
13 May 2013
By Kristen Reynolds As I sit here on the eve of my graduation, cataloging what I’ve learned over the last few years as a Black woman coming into (what I hope is) consciousness – I feel a great deal of shame. Shame and, if I am going to be incredibly honest, [...]
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 [...]
By Janell Hobson Fifteen years ago, the stardom of then-23-year-old Lauryn Hill had peaked when she released what would become her defining musical legacy. After rising to popularity as part of the hip-hop trio The Fugees, with fellow members Wyclef Jean and Pras, she later released her solo album, The Miseducation of Lauryn Hill,...
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By Hashim Pipkin I am not a black woman. And unlike many who are not, I do not claim to be able to speak for the quotidian existence of black women in this world. I do not know their interior lives. I do not know the battles their desires must take up daily to keep...
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By Amber Jones When did you first fall in love with hip-hop? This question frames one of my favorite films, Brown Sugar (2002). The film explores the relationship between two childhood friends, Sidney Shaw (Sanaa Lathan) and Dre Ellis (Taye Diggs), through the progression of hip-hop — best chronicled in the classic track “I...
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By Joshua Alston The victor in this weekend’s box-office battle was Evil Dead, the remake of Sam Raimi’s 1981 cult-classic horror film, which roared into first place with a better-than-expected $26 million take, and won far better critical reviews than are typical for horror films. Like the majority of remakes, the new Evil Dead...
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By Mazuba Haanyama My central aim involves the politics of bodily performance, in negotiation with shifting realities of a post-Apartheid context, where constructions of gender, race and class are both mobile and stagnant… This project critically engages the role of popular culture in influencing youth cultures. In a context such as South Africa, such...
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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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By Joshua Alston This week, Morrissey announced that he is canceling the remainder of his North American tour, due to an ongoing battle with a bleeding ulcer, Barrett’s esophagus, and a case of pneumonia in both of his lungs. I was disappointed to hear about the illnesses plaguing the singer, who since fronting the seminal...
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By Kyle Kusz The white man-boy is the most important cultural figure in America today. Hyperbole? Maybe. But, allow me to make a case that the ‘white man-boy industrial complex’ is producing ways of being and knowing the world, particularly for white men, that threaten the social interests (if not rights) of women and...
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By Salamishah Tillet “Baby girl genius,” is what I muttered when I saw Quvenzhané Wallis shine bright on the television screen last Oscar Sunday night. Beaming in midnight blue and flexing her bity arms, she was a sight never seen at the Academy Awards before. It was not simply because at nine-years-old, she was the...
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By Lisa O’Neill At a school mass at my all girls’ Catholic High School, the priest said a homily about chastity, and in particular, sex before marriage. “Let’s say you are about to get married and you are going give your husband a gift, the gift of yourself and your sexuality,” he said. I...
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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 [...]
16 May 2013
for Assata Amira Nakati Carter-Goff on her tenth birthday call down the name freedom call up the spirit of no matter what now call your shared name liberation veins steel will fierce focus shielding sacred smile laugh your own name radiant as cuba laugh your yawning name into language [...]
7 May 2013
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The Guardian