We can hardly believe the year is over! We’ve been thinking about the blogs, books, films, and so on that have sustained us throughout 2010. So, what we’ve come up with is the inaugural “Crunk List”! CF Crunktastic Sesame Street, “I Love My Hair”: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=enpFde5rgmw– This song is a celebration of the beauty of Black girls’ hair. Night Catches Us* : http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hgtAhGOLC-Y. This film is a powerful retrospective on the aftermath of the Black Power Movement. The story is complex, layered, and written by Black director Tanya Hamilton. We need more Black women behind the camera! My Mic Sounds Nice! — *This BET documentary highlighted …Read more »

  Someday at Christmas men won’t be boys Playing with bombs like kids play with toys One warm December our hearts will see A world where men are free Someday at Christmas there’ll be no wars When we have learned what Christmas is for When we have found what life’s really worth There’ll be peace on earth Stevie Wonder, “Someday at Christmas” (1967) One of my favorite Christmas songs is Stevie Wonder’s classic, “Someday at Christmas.” I’ve listened to this song dozens of times during the holiday season and I’ve often thought about how crunk it is (despite its old school …Read more »

“Number 47 looks like my second-grade teacher. Number 83 resembles one of my daughters. Number 66 calls to mind my children’s grandmother. And although some faces were cropped from near-naked bodies, others were shot outdoors, wearing boots and jackets,” said LA Times Reporter, Sandy Banks, commenting on photos of unidentified Black females. Debra Jackson. Click. Henrietta Wright. Click. Barbara Ware. Click. These are some names of Black women who were sexually assaulted, drugged, murdered, and dumped in LA alleys and the backstreets by a former city trash collector.  As news broke about a serial killer dubbed the Grim Sleeper, I …Read more »

My addiction started with good intentions. I am a scholar who studies representations of black women so it made sense to look for black women on reality television shows.  This was not a practice I was unfamiliar with.  Watching Jeopardy or Wheel of Fortune was always more “appealing” growing up when there was a black person on the show.  I remember, even as a child, hoping/wishing/praying that the contestant would not embarrass us.  Us being me and them.  Us being all black people.  It is funny how even as a child I was aware that “their” (other black people’s) representation …Read more »

13th Amendment: Neither slavery nor involuntary servitude, except as a punishment for a crime whereof the party shall have been duly convicted, shall exist within the United States, or any place subject to their jurisdiction. On December 9th, courageous inmates at 10 Georgia state prisons staged a peaceful protest in which they locked themselves down voluntarily and refused to work. Their demands are simple: · A living wage for work · Educational Opportunities · Decent Healthcare · An end to cruel and unusual punishments · Decent Living Conditions · Nutritional meals · Vocational and self-improvement opportunties · Access to families …Read more »

Balance is required in all things. And since we at the CFC are perfectly willing to check somebody when they get it wrong, we are also willing to give you some resources and pointers on how to get it right. But when it comes to combatting privilege, often folks are unwilling to acknowledge the privilege they have, until someone who also has privilege does the same. With regard to male privilege, the discussions on choking during sex that we’ve been having have made this fact abundantly clear. So below is a list of readings, most of them short and accessible, …Read more »

At a recent Hip Hop performance, Jay Electronica asked his audiences “Do women like to be choked during sex?” Apparently, he asks this question at every show, and is conducting an informal survey so that him, his DJ, and Nas, can decide a $20,000 bet on the issue on December 25th. Nas says all women like to be choked. TJ the DJ says only some do. And Jay says, we all do, but in varying degrees. I say, “they are all a bunch of assholes.” They aren’t assholes because they like erotic asphyxiation. A whole lot of folks are into …Read more »

It is the end of the Fall semester and I have been reminded of the power of Black Feminist pedagogy after experiencing my graduate and undergraduate students archival project presentations.  Quick background, the course was an Africana Women’s Studies Intro to Women’s Studies class with a total of six black female students.  For their final projects they were asked to develop creative presentations/performances that would bring items from Audre Lorde’s or Alice Walker’s archives to life. We started off the course reading Ntozake Shange’s For Colored Girls Who Have Considered Suicide When the Rainbow is Enuf aloud to get ourselves …Read more »

Last  Friday, Lil’ Kim released Black Friday, a diss track to counter the release of Nicki Minaj’s debut album Pink Friday. When I heard the track, I had mixed emotions. Truthfully, my first thought was “Why is Kim hating on Nicki?” Surely, we don’t need that. And given that Kim seems to be washed up and almost entirely out of the game, it most assuredly sounds like some hateration. But I listened again to the track, and listened as Kim chided Nicki for being a “Lil Kim Clone Clown.” As Kim put it, “I mothered you hoes.” And I thought …Read more »