America’s legacy of misogynoir deprives Black women of agency — Black women’s bodies are often seen as a commodity in America. But, this dynamic isn’t due to chance. Nor did the Jezebel or Sapphire stereotypes pop up overnight. For hundreds of years, White men openly raped enslaved Black women, sometimes in front of their husbands or other family members. Stereotypes…

A deep dive into censorship motives throughout history and right now — First, before we get into motivations for book burning and censorship, let me first say that burning books in 2021 is one of the silliest aberrations of conservative think tanks. It's not like back in the day where words only lived on delicate pages caged within a hard body. We…

We’ve all been there. Here’s how to get to the other side — “Hello, hello, is anyone there?” We’ve all been there — you work hard on a draft of something, post it, and then…no one seems to be reading your work. But don’t take it personally — you are not necessarily being ignored. Readers don’t know your writing from a can of…

To communicate effectively, you have to control your tone. Here’s how to do that. — A couple of months ago, I read a story about blackface. Initially, I felt relieved that someone was bringing attention to this issue. Then, sentence after sentence, I realized my initial assumptions, based on the title, fell short. To my surprise, this article supported blackface. As a Black writer, I…

Ye tells Alex Jones, "I like Hitler." Let's unpack this. — Just when you think Kanye West couldn't stoop any lower than calling slavery "a choice," wearing a "white lives matter" shirt, spreading lies about George Floyd's death, openly threatening to go "death con 3" on Jewish people, we see him bringing a sledgehammer into the basement. In an interview with…

Gentrification and “white flight” are two sides of the same coin — Systemic racism is a slow-moving crash, and the problem with assessing the damage to something ongoing is that it’s hard to get an accurate read of the damage. Only once the cars have come to a complete stop can historians review the harm caused by systemic racism, which is why…

This topic comes up a lot, so let's dig in — Racism and white privilege complicate the relationship between White women and Black men in America. While some White women have loved Black men and respected them as friends, colleagues, and family members, others weaponized their whiteness to harm Black men. Some will claim the good outweighs the bad and that…

When it comes to AAVE, White people are all in the Koolaid but don't know the flavor — African American Vernacular English was coined in 1973 by a group of sociolinguistic scholars to describe the unique vocabulary and grammatical features used by many Black Americans. According to John Rickford, a professor of Linguistics and the Humanities at Stanford University, "slaves were required to learn the language of their…

We need a commitment to change and accountability — If Black lives mattered in America, fighting against racism wouldn't feel like rolling a bolder up a hill — we wouldn't be struggling like the Greek God Sisyphus. Yet, here we are, living in a society where White people hold more positions of power, make more money, and have greater…