“Depending on the context, an individual may be an oppressor, a member of an oppressed group, or simultaneously oppressor and oppressed.” -Patricia Hill Collins “The true focus of revolutionary change is never merely the oppressive situations which we seek to escape, but that piece of the oppressor which is planted deep within each of us.” […]
Tag: Black Women
Antoine Dodson’s Sister: On Invisibility as Violence
(Click here for original news story) We are in the midst of Antoine Dodson Mania! For those that don’t know him, he’s the now famous man who fought off the intruder that climbed into his sister’s second story window in the middle of the night and tried to attack her with her daughter present. Remember […]
how do you solve a problem like montana?
Since Montana Fishburne’s ignoble entry into public consciousness, many have publically chastised Laurence Fishburne’s teenage daughter for lack of sense, sanity and unblemished behind. I am less interested in casting stones and more interested in the trauma behind the tragedy and without a doubt her porn debut is tragic. Remember her in the CarltonJordan.com video […]
Shirley Sherrod’s War: When Keepin It Racially Real Goes Wrong
It’s ironic how much time the daughters of Rosa Parks spend under the bus these days. The administration’s willingness not to take a stand on behalf of Shirley Sherrod’s is the latest evidence that when it comes to race we are long on cowardice and short on integrity. This week, Sherrod, an employee at the […]
How it feels to be…
Last week, I spent some time with thirty black high school students from rural Alabama as a part of a summer enrichment program. After leading a session discussing Zora Neale Hurston’s “How if Feels to be Colored Me,” I had the students break into small groups to talk about how it feels to them in […]
glitches: the ballad of ebony brown
Kool G Rap’s “Men at Work” concluded The Roots’ Sunday evening set in Brooklyn’s Prospect Park. In the swelter, a paunchy Black Thought perspired through the rap standard while his legendary crew capered Pip-like in the background. A master of breath control, Black Thought expelled not a pant and it was an exhausting exercise. The Roots are serious showmen and I can’t say that I wasn’t entertained but going to a hip hop concert and hearing that repeated declamation “Men at Work” prickled as a reminder that for too many “Men at Work” remains hip hop’s definition.
Tex-Mex Feminism
There is a reason why the CFC is a people-of-color collective. Our sheroes come in all shades of brown: Barbara Smith and Gloria Anzaldua, Chandra Mohanty and Patricia Hill Collins, Cherrie Moraga and bell hooks. Many a feminist therapy session has been devoted to healing the divide between Black and White feminists. It remains a […]
Musing on Black Women Writing
My post Black Women x The Streets x Harassment has 114 comments on Racialicious. I don’t think I have ever written something that has received such a massive response. The comments are illuminating because they demonstrate the ways in which people may or may not see how racial sexism is at play when Black men […]
War(rior) Women: For Harriet, Shoshana, and All the Rest
When I think of Black women’s relationship to the military, to war, and to soldier narratives more generally, I’m reminded that our motivations are often times fundamentally different and that our stories, like our lives, are unfairly ephemeral, fading quickly into the background. Black feminism would not be the same without one Black female war […]
For Elsie Lacks
Does anybody see the black women Bound and gagged In dirtied white gowns Hair disheveled and feet bare Climbing over one another Trying to get your attention Does anybody hear the black women Moaning muffled cries Kicking and wiggling Banging their heads against the floor Trying to get your attention I see them. I hear […]