Black Feminist Collective

By Stephanie Younger • When we spoke with Nupol Kiazolu in 2018, she was completing her senior year of high school, preparing to attend Hampton University, and she was the President of Black Lives Matter Greater New York Youth Coalition. She is now 22 years old, and next year, she will graudate Hampton University with her degree in political science and begin law school. Continue Reading

By Chelsea Ekwughalu • Content Warning: eating disorders, body image, anorexia, and bulimia. • Continue Reading

By Chloe Alexandria • Throughout the summer of 2022, Transport for London (TfL) and Network Rail staff have been protesting against the poor working conditions, low pay and increasing cuts towards the transport sector. On Friday, 19^th August, 400 overground and 10,000 Tube workers are set to strike for 24 hours. Continue Reading

By B.J. Wright • Originally published on Calypsoul • In December 2018, the Black Feminist Collective published a short essay by Kiarran T.L. Diaz titled, “Why The Handmaid’s Tale is Problematic”. Now, I’ve never read the book or watched the show, and while Diaz’s critique focused explicitly on the Hulu original series, I’ve come to find that there is usually nothing lost in the translation of white narratives from literature to film. Continue Reading

By Chloe Alexandria • Opportunity, social mobility and economic success is determined by one’s ability to fulfill the linguistic expectations of a white British society. Living in London, I often witness the ways in which English speakers are favored, seen as the norm and given access to linguistic capital. Continue Reading

May 5^th, 2022 marks 5 years since Black Feminist Collective was created. Continue Reading

By Stephanie Younger • The 2020 uprisings in defense of Black life made an abolitionist politic accessible to many people, allowing us to reevaluate why we are conditioned to believe that carceral systems work, that police keep communities safe, and how we can make this system obsolete. Continue Reading

By Yasmeen Jaaber • Originally published on Medium • In March 2020, when my Junior year ended, there was little I had control over. I thought of the future and saw either fire and dying or nothing at all. I struggled with feeling any difference in the days and I needed something to give the calendar on my wall meaning. Continue Reading

By Kevin A. Blanks • Finally, in the aftermath of Ahmaud Arbery’s trial, I am able to exhale. I didn’t even realize I was holding my breath until the verdict came in and the jury declared Arbery’s killers guilty for his murder. It should feel like a victory, but it doesn’t. Continue Reading

By Teresa Younger • To me, motherhood is a critical aspect of Black feminism. A critical understanding of our experiences allows Black women to contribute to each other, and the liberation movements in significant ways. Continue Reading

Originally published on MIZZOU Magazine • Continue Reading

By Micaela Stevenson • Colonialism has been defined by scholar activists as the process in which a group of people is dominated or subjugated by another group of people. This most commonly occurs between two ethnic groups or tribes, but may also occur between different genders or sexuality. Continue Reading

By Micaela Stevenson • “Stratified reproduction,” as defined by Shellee Cohen, is "the practice in which a society assigns value to offspring and therefore reproductive capacity of different groups of people." While commonly race or socioeconomically based, this can be based on any category into which we can divide people. Continue Reading

By Teresa Younger and Stephanie Younger • The community fridge is a concept and a place where communities are given access to share and collect food. In August, we had a conversation with Taylor Scott, about mutual aid, how she brought the community fridge to Richmond, Virginia and founded RVA Community Fridges in 2020. Continue Reading

Anonymous • Originally written in December 2019 Continue Reading

Thank you to everyone who has participated in our Black August commemoration teach-in today! Continue Reading

For Black August, we compiled a list of books authored by Black freedom fighters, and more political education resources. On Saturday, August 28, we will hold a teach-in to commemorate Black August. Continue Reading

Watch: An archive of our Instagram Live conversation with Garnett Achieng on gendered violence and the marginalization of women and queer people in the digital world, and what must be done to combat it. Watch

By Carlota Memba Aguado • Originally published on Afroféminas • Germany recognizes the massacre of the Herrero and Nama in Namibia during German settlement as genocide and plans to apologize before Parliament as well as pay reparations. Continue Reading

By Chloe Dunston • The Tiger Flu is set in the year 2145, which author Larissa Lai depicts as a “time after oil” divided by factions, gender, disease and technology. After years of greedy leadership, environmental degradation, and the exhaustion of fossil fuels, Saltwater City and its outskirts stand alone in what was formerly Vancouver, Canada. Continue Reading

By Teresa Younger • At Black Feminist Collective, we are celebrating Imani House, an organization that allows Black people to empower themselves through the provision of education, information and support services in the United States and Liberia. Continue Reading

By Stephanie Younger • At the Katie Geneva Cannon Center for Womanist Leadership (KGCCWL) Virtual Spring Conference, I had the unforgettable experience of interviewing Ruby Sales, a freedom fighter, theologian, and founder of the SpiritHouse Project. I am honored to have had this conversation with Ruby Sales, and to have this knowledge shared with me because there are so many similarities between our journeys as Black liberationists. Continue Reading

By Mariana Álvarez Castillo • Originally published on Afroféminas • Regarding the feminist commemoration dates, it is important to think about some of the discussions that have historically taken place within the movement, but that in the context of the recent 8M are shaken, deepened, and resumed. I like to think that this is what these dates are for: not to assume that all the answers have been given, to surrender to the dilemma, the contradiction, the discomfort of being an activist, being anti-patriarchal, being anti-racist. Continue Reading

By Mariana Álvarez Castillo • Originally published on Afroféminas • Delphine Desane (B. 1988) places moments of her world in limbos of colors: from her experience as a Black woman in Europe, she brings situations, outfits, faces and hair to the canvas. With flat colored backgrounds and penetrating gazes, Delphine makes visible the Black corporality that surrounds her, from a place that involves the intimate, the meditative and the forceful. Continue Reading

"Black Mommas," by Tanya Barnett Continue Reading

By Stephanie Younger • Last week, we spoke with Fatima Derby, a Ghanaian feminist thinker, writer and organizer, who stands for freedom, justice and equality. During our conversation via Instagram Live, we discussed the violence LGBTQ+ people in Ghana are experiencing, what influences homophobic and transphobic violence against queer and trans Ghanaians, and the fight for their liberation. Continue Reading

Anonymous • Content warning: language of abuse Continue Reading

10 Readings Authored by Black Feminists and Abolitionists Continue Reading

By Kayla Dorancy • In an effort to achieve what some may call “the American Dream”, “reparations”, or just “getting theirs” — far too often do we see the main perpetrators and victims sharing the skin color and experiences. Continue Reading

By Stephanie Younger • We said abolish the police and abolish the prison industrial complex, not "representation" of Black women who maintain those systems. Continue Reading

By Teresa Younger • In the future what will we name the period of history that we are currently living in? Every aspect of life feels so volatile as we are thrown from one crisis to another. No matter how urgent, it is easy to fall out of the news cycle and thus our collective consciousness because of yet another urgent crisis. Continue Reading

By Kayla Dorancy • Immigration is a universal practice by people that’s survived countless generations. The United States is known universally as a “melting pot” of culture and nationality. The inclusion and diversity of America is often embraced and is her most remarkable feature yet, internationally. Racial and ethnic variety is claimed to be the foundation of the United States’ greatness. Continue Reading

By Kayla Dorancy • If I were to ask you when New York City schools were integrated, what would you tell me? 1954 right? In fact, most people reference Brown versus The Board of Education and 1954 as when schools were integrated. You're not wrong that in 1954 Brown versus Board of Education was won by abolishing separate but equal and compelled all schools in the United States to be fully integrated. However, the creation of laws to uphold the Supreme Court ruling and their enforcement were/are not reflective of the case's ruling. Continue Reading

"On the Ancestral Blessing of a Union," by Yemi Miller-Tonnet Continue Reading

By Teresa Younger • Content warning: Sexual violence and murder Continue Reading

By Teresa Younger • During a conversation about the Virginia Museum of History and Culture’s Agents of Change: Female Activism in Virginia From Women’s Suffrage to Today, which featured a panel about my daughter and her artwork in March of this year, I was asked, “Is your child happy doing this work?” Continue Reading

By Marissa Mann • "A Tale of Two Schools: Brooklyn College Edition" Continue Reading

By Riss • Riss reflects on her experiences as from a child perspective to an adult perspective living with Single- Sided Deafness. She wants the reader to understand that there are so many incidents and not enough time. (October 2020) Continue Reading

By Riss • Riss reflects on her body’s change during the pandemic. (September 2020) Continue Reading

By Stephanie Younger • In 1983, Alice Walker, a Black feminist, poet, author and activist coined the term "womanist" in her book, "In Search of Our Mother's Gardens: Womanist Prose." Womanism offers a space for Black feminists who have been erased from our own labor for the mainstream feminist movement, which often centers white, cis women who are seeking to be equal to white, cis men. Continue Reading

By Stephanie Younger • Little Fires Everywhere is a limited series on Hulu, based on the book authored and published in 2017 by Celeste Ng, that aired from March 2020 to April 2020. The series takes place in 1997, and begins when Mia Warren (Kerry Washington), an itinerant artist and her daughter Pearl (Lexi Underwood) move to a property in a liberal, wealthy neighborhood in Shaker Heights, Ohio. Continue Reading

By Joyce Hounkanrin • I hate mornings, yet I make a promise to myself to be up early. This morning I have no choice in the matter; someone is incessant in their attempts to reach me. The phone, which I keep under my pillow, wakes me and I see it is my therapist calling, reluctantly I answer and he greets me in a rush of words I imagine tumbling over his tongue and crashing over his teeth. Continue Reading

By Kayla Dorancy • "How America Believed the Coronavirus Proved the Existence of Educational Inequity" Continue Reading

By Skyla Bailey • Our history classes constantly teach students to think of European History when they think of “American” History. However, African Americans, Native Americans, Asian Americans, and Latinx Americans are all part of America. Students of Color in Virginia want to learn more about our history and our stories. Continue Reading

By Stephanie Younger • During a revolution about police and prison abolition, liberals have been advising the Black youth who are advancing these movements to "just vote." A remarkable example of this paternalistic behavior is experienced from white liberal feminists who, instead of organizing 52% of white female voters who helped Trump win in 2016 to not elect him for another term, are choosing to further silence young Black feminists and abolitionists when the politicians of their liking fail social movements many of our self-proclaimed "allies" claim to care about. Continue Reading

By James A. Perry Jr. • The presence of elitism, capitalism, racism, and sexism are still ubiquitous within the apparatus of higher education. Higher education leaders need to move beyond rhetoric involving diversity, equity, and justice. In their quest for absolution, these sentiments have increasingly become cliché and disingenuous. Continue Reading

By Skyla Bailey • As Black and Brown youth, we are tired of being considered second place, tired of having the education system fail us, and tired of being behind. Continue Reading

By Shontrice Barnes • Ever since I could remember, writing has been a huge part of my life. All throughout my childhood, I had kept journals of random things that I would write. Stories, poems, songs, random thoughts… words were some of the only ways I knew how to express myself. Continue Reading

By Kahlia Phillips • “Who is solidarity for?” was a question posed by Ebony Donnley, the partner of Ericka Hart, in an IG live show and I’ve been pondering this question ever since. Our priorities around who we, as Black people, engage in solidarity with are not in order and it’s time that we change that. Continue Reading

"Pain Poem," by Alexandra Brown • Originally published on Magical Women Continue Reading

By Alexandra Brown • Originally published on Conversations With • This reflective piece is a summary and critical analysis of a conversation between author, activist, and Afro-Pessimist philosopher, Professor Frank B. Wilderson III and Chairman of ‘Before Columbus Foundation’, Justin Desmangles. The discussion was entitled, ‘Re-Imagining the Black Body: Race, Memory, and the Excavation of Freedom Now’. Continue Reading

By Alexandra Brown • Originally published on Conversations With • I wish to begin by sharing a prose I wrote in response to the murder of George Floyd. Institutional, systematic and structural racism, feels like I am dying a slow and painful death. When I learnt of the murder of George Floyd, it was like trauma to the soul. I fell silent, as I screamed. I am filled, consumed and embroidered with rage. Continue Reading

"Sista, Be Free," by Tanya Barnett Continue Reading

By Joyce Hounkanrin • "Do you want her?" The white nurse’s name was Millie and she proposed this question with regard to the impending birth of my daughter. I had voiced one fear. Continue Reading

By Joyce Hounkanrin • What is embedded in the language of Black women? What belongs exclusively within our mouths? Briefly translated, there are secrets we have transported from the Middle Passage and kept secreted beneath our tongues; in the folds of our spirits; in the curves of our smiles; and in the salt of our tears. Our language is revealed in our loving; our food; and our mothering. Continue Reading

"Reconciliation," by Tanya Barnett Continue Reading

"My Blackness," by Tanya Barnett Continue Reading

"Church Sestina," by Addison Walton • Content warning: Descriptions of murder and white supremacy Continue Reading

By Tani Washington • It seems that every year, when Black activists speak up against large-scale inequity and systemic brutality against people of color, there are those who attempt to qualify this suffering through questions that point to the sufferings of other, usually non-marginalized, groups. Continue Reading

Black Feminist Collective has compiled a list of resources for anti-racism, and intersectionality, including books, media, and organizations to support in the fight for Black liberation. Continue Reading

By Ryan Edward Perry • Originally published on The Backlight Blog • I was talking with one of my best friends today. She has recently, to my delightful surprise, become quite outspoken and engaging regarding social justice and the current state of American culture and the movements that have risen in that space. Continue Reading

By Stephanie Younger • 10 days ago, I climbed up the Robert E. Lee Statue at a protest in Richmond, Virginia—the former capital of the Confederacy—and I was asked to speak. This was unplanned, and I have been grieving so heavily these past few weeks that I had no idea what to speak about at first. Continue Reading

"The President Called My People 'Thugs,'" by Lux Aghomo Continue Reading

By Giovanna Adams • We’ve all heard the sentiment, "we're all in this together" over and over again. It feels good to hear and it feels good to say, doesn’t it? Those words are comforting and encouraging during a time when we are all facing uncertainty and insurmountable burdens. Continue Reading

By Stephanie Younger • Content warning: Sexual violence • Could a hashtag topple the career of a popular artist? Continue Reading

By Stephanie Younger • When white liberals invited me to organize amongst them, it often took a while for me to realize that I was being exploited. Continue Reading

By Teresa Younger • Given the deep divides apparent in society today, it is refreshing to re-read Poet Laurent Maya Angelou’s “Human Family” poem as a reminder of our endless similarities. “Human Family” was featured in an Apple ad during the 2016 Summer Olympics, a world event that draws spectators by the million. Continue Reading

By Stephanie Younger • In late January, I was scrolling through my Facebook news feed during my break in between college lectures when I came across a post that claims that referring to a white woman as a "Karen" is "misogynistic," "marginalizes" white women and ignores their needs which they often demand at the expense of Black lives. Continue Reading

By Giovanna Adams • Originally published on HB4 Diversity's Newsletter • As a global health crisis has entered all of our lives, we’ve seen the impact on equity in education, challenges to our daily economics, and have only begun to see the ramifications on our psyches from social distancing and for some, social isolation. Continue Reading

By Stephanie Younger • This year, the Black Lives Matter Los Angeles chapter was excluded by the Women’s March Los Angeles. In an article for LA Progressive, Melina Abdullah, the co-founder of Black Lives Matter LA, wrote an article detailing the harm caused by the Women’s March. Continue Reading

"Gone," by Raina Cornish Continue Reading

By Stephanie Younger • When I learned that 2020 presidential candidate Joe Biden won 10 states on Super Tuesday on March 3^rd, I couldn't help but think of his track record of fighting for segregation, and the criminalization of Black youth. Continue Reading

"Hermosos Tontos," by Raina Cornish Continue Reading

"What I Want to See for the Future," by Amaya Madarang Continue Reading

"Be Silence," by Nchedochukwu Ezeokoli Continue Reading

"Token," by Summar McGee Continue Reading

"Water" by Sahana Kapumba Continue Reading

By Stephanie Younger • Do the ways we talk about gender stereotypes represent the struggles we all go through? Continue Reading

By Teresa Younger • Complete with unsolicited comments, touching attempts from strangers, and pressure to do away with your coils right now, or you risk the shame of being prevented from attending your graduation or losing gainful employment? Is natural hair controversy a real thing? How have generations dealt with this constant problem? Continue Reading

Anonymous • Content warning: Self-harm Continue Reading

By Jourdan Lobban • “Defiant!” “Fresh!” “Rude!” Those titles followed me all through my childhood and into my teen years. Anytime I did something bad, I knew what was coming. Continue Reading

"Riding Rising Waters" by Jourdan Lobban Continue Reading

"Glory O'Brien's History of the Future" by A.S King, reviewed by Jourdan Lobban Listen

By Jourdan Lobban • After becoming frustratingly bored reading my latest book, my commitment was no more. Instead of powering through the dry spell, my fingers practiced the ultimate sin, which skipping through the book. Continue Reading

By Stephanie Younger • Are all people in America served and protected by the law? Continue Reading

By Princess Jiménez • Originally published on Kultwatch • In the Dominican Republic, where supposedly moral society and the Church often espouse virulent homophobia and transphobia, an unusual alliance has appeared among the very poorest: singers and producers of popular music genre Dembow are working with queer people and trans women, who have become huge stars in their own right. Continue Reading

By Traycee Truth • The following excerpt is the first chapter of Traycee Truth’s e-book, The Therapeutic Alliance Handbook. Continue Reading

"Broken Tree," by Kiarran T. L. Diaz Continue Reading

By Shelby Moring • She’s so relaxed. That hazy daydream of myself that I conjure, praying on her to materialize any day now. She doesn’t exist apart from me, but she’s so far in the future, that it almost seems impossible to reach her sometimes. What does she have that I don’t? Where I long for excess, she is content in abundance of her own kind. Continue Reading

"Nine Phases: Black Women Crying in the Bathroom," by Krystal Tang Continue Reading

"Spots on the Rug," by Joshua Redd Continue Reading

By Sharayah Alkire • Throughout American History systems have been built up to bring down Black people in many ways. Some of these systems have been legal and widespread, being used across the nation. One of these being the school's systems. Continue Reading

By Belan Yeshigeta • Women have often been given the short end of the stick when it comes to equal rights, and it is no secret that African Americans are still prejudiced against to this day. The unique experience of being apart of both of these marginalized communities is one that is too often overlooked. Continue Reading

"Spots on the Rug," by Ayana Graham • A Poem Inspired by John Coltrane’s “Alabama”. Continue Reading

By Kristin Couch • Reading Zora Neale Hurston and Audre Lorde led me to question myself about the stance I take on activism. These writers represent two polar ideals of being that I have struggled to find identification with. Zora Neale, my humanist hero who finds that everyone should enjoy being in her company, and Audre, my radical writer who so eloquently speaks about the struggles of being a Black lesbian. Continue Reading

By Joshua Redd • Amber Guyger was sentenced to 10 years in prison on October 1^st, 2019 for the murder of Botham Jean on September 6^th, 2018. The murder of Black folks by the hands of officers is nothing new. What made this case extremely peculiar was that he was murdered in his own home. Continue Reading

"To All the Men Who Have Fetishized Me Before," by Kimberly Davis Continue Reading

"Crown Her With Many Crowns," by Ryan Edward Perry • Originally published on The Backlight Blog Continue Reading

By Brittany Jeter • The following excerpt is from Brittany Jeter's upcoming novel, Of Cats and Women. Continue Reading

"Fire and Mud," by Kiarran T.L Diaz Continue Reading

"Black Music," by Baletica Genous Continue Reading

"Stage 2" – Nelle Jones Continue Reading

"Two Poets," by Quincy Evans Continue Reading

"Mightier," by Tene'sha Crews Continue Reading

By Kayla Austin • The aftermath of the natural disaster that was Hurricane Katrina is a display of the effects of environmental racism, redlining, and the neglection of people of color and those facing poverty. Katrina is one of the worst natural disasters to occur in the history of the United States. Continue Reading

By Sarah Mathew • Collaboration with the Richmond Peace Education Center's annual essay contest, "Remembering 1619 and Restoring Justice." Continue Reading

By Gloria Amado • Collaboration with the Richmond Peace Education Center's annual essay contest, "Remembering 1619 and Restoring Justice." Continue Reading

"My Name is Pronounced 'Revolution,'" by Simonne Elease Willis Continue Reading

By Graciela Barada • Originally published on Cuatro Meses en Barbados • When I was about ten or eleven years old, I became overly conscious of my body and the lens through which the world saw it. Arguably, everyone deals with fluctuations in their self-esteem, particularly in regards to body image and especially during puberty, a confusing time of uncertainty and change. Continue Reading

"Perpetual Home," by Tene'sha Crews Continue Reading

By Mia Birdsong • Originally published on Medium Continue Reading

"My Raw Thoughts on Depression," by Kenidra R. Woods • Originally posted on Twitter by Kenidra4Humanity Continue Reading

By Havana Chapman-Edwards • Speech at the Global Climate Strike on May 24^th, 2019 • My name is Havana Chapman-Edwards and I am 8 years old. I am here today because sometimes democracy looks like disagreement. I can’t sit in my classroom learning about our government when the government isn’t taking my future seriously. Continue Reading

"Trigger Warning," by Quincy Evans Continue Reading

"An Affirmation to Black Girls," by NaVosha Copeland • Originally posted on YouTube by NaVosha Copeland Continue Reading

By Taneasha White, Brooke Taylor, Sarmistha Talukdar and Rebecca Wooden Keel • Mother’s Day inspires images of family, bonding and care. May 12^th is right around the corner, and many of us will be spending the day with our family. However, we forget that many Black women will spend this day in cages, just because they don't have enough money to pay bail. Continue Reading

By Stephanie Younger • Even though Black youth and youth of color - especially Indigenous youth - are the most affected communities by climate change, and have been combating this issue for a very long time, our voices are always excluded and left out of the conversation and action surrounding climate change. Continue Reading

Anonymous • Black men have to grow a politic around gender based violence. Y'all need to know how to talk about this. Black men, you have a responsibility to grow your understanding of gender based violence because Black women need you to learn to talk about it in a way that doesn't point blame to the survivor of violence, or minimize the reality that Black women face abuse and harm. Continue Reading

"It Has Happened Again," by Tene'sha Crews Continue Reading

By Raina Cornish • Racial profiling, “color blindness”, racist crimes, hatred. These are all issues that are making the world more divided than ever. People always say that we need to stop history from repeating itself, but how can we stop it if we continue to add fuel to the fire of racism and bias to other races? Continue Reading

"Don't Forget," by Tene'sha Crews Continue Reading

"A Poem About Hair," by Tene'sha Crews Continue Reading

By Mei-Ling Ho-Shing • According to the Oxford Dictionaries, intersectionality means, “the interconnected nature of social categorizations such as race, class, and gender as they apply to a given individual or group, regarded as creating overlapping and interdependent systems of discrimination or disadvantage." This term is very well-known in the fight for gun violence prevention. Continue Reading

Anonymous • In the third grade, I remember standing in the lunch line waiting for cheap spaghetti and old milk. I would look at the other girls in line and think about how pretty they were. And then I’d tell myself to stop being gay. "Stop it, stop it, stop it." I pushed those feelings to the bottom of my existence and eventually they were so distant I found myself floating in identities that weren’t mine. Continue Reading

By Stephanie Younger • Nearly a year ago, I was given the opportunity to deliver a speech at the March For Our Lives rally in Richmond, Virginia, which led to being quoted in multiple local news outlets, being invited to write articles for the ACLU of Virginia, and to organize with a group of student activists. In the midst of these opportunities, I faced racism and online harassment by the students who organized the local March For Our Lives rally. Continue Reading

By Jourdan Lobban • February 2^nd was Groundhog Day, although one little critter can’t possibly change the swirling halo of frigid cold we must all endure (insert sad face). It’s also one of the few precious days making up Black History Month. Continue Reading

By Atari Gems • I'm exhausted. My mother tells me to slow down. Drink more water. Cut back on the things. Limit time on social media. Go to the gym I’m passionate about. However seems like the work keeps stacking and stacking. I step back and scale it back then feel guilty. Continue Reading

By Stephanie Younger • The most disheartening racism I experienced was by the white moderate, by the white progressive who claims to believe Black lives matter to them, and the white feminist who claims to be an ally, until proven otherwise. Continue Reading

By Roshaé M. Lowe • Liberal feminism (often interchangeable with humanist feminism has very little relevance today. Times have changed and gender is no longer regarded as the lone oppressive factor for women. With the rise of the theory of intersectionality, feminism has broadened its scope to allow for the inclusion of women of color, queer women, trans women, and folks outside of the restrictive gender binary. Continue Reading

“My Confessions,” by Kolby Whack Continue Reading

By Chelsea Higgs Wise • It’s been a few days since the Women’s March RVA, and as motivated as I am to build; my passion is to amplify narratives of persistence for Black women. I understand that dismantling the patriarchy will take bulldozers of disruption as well as barriers of sustainable resistance. Continue Reading

"To Swim," by Zakkiyya Anderson Continue Reading

By Fallen Matthew • Life just keeps getting better and better for me. I have been afflicted with inexplicable symptoms and anxiety surrounding them for the past decade—all of which were either downplayed or dismissed by my MD, an upper-middle class white man generations removed from mine, despite a CT scan that showed “basal ganglial calcification.” Continue Reading

By Stephanie Younger • Speech at Women's March RVA + Expo 2019 Continue Reading

By Jameelah Lewis • "Sticks and stones may break my bones, but words can never hurt me," these are just a few that every person bullied to stay strong, but the question in play here is, how do you stop a bully? It seems that African-Americans are picked on through the media more than any other ethnicity group or marginalized community. Continue Reading

By Daylisha Reid • I grew up in a family with liberal viewpoints. As a child I had a basic, uninformed understanding of politics: Republicans are racist and influenced policies that benefited the wealthy, and kept the poor stagnant; Democrats are not racist, they are progressive human rights influencers that create social and economic opportunities that are accessible for everyone, regardless of race, religion, gender, or sexual orientation. Continue Reading

By Mei-Ling Ho-Shing • On February 14^th, 2018, my school, Marjory Stoneman Douglas, came face-to-face with gun violence. On that day, I was on the 2^nd floor of the Freshman building, the same building we lost 17 of our MSD Eagles. I hid behind my teacher’s desk holding my classmate's hand, in prayer and in fright. Continue Reading

By Sharayah Alkire • By Black mothers, in many forms, are a large part of our literature, movies and society in general. They are the women standing at the forefront of the civil rights movement, they are the mammies, the house negroes, the women who fought, struggled and clawed our way into the light. We as Black women have been a group that has been portrayed in so many forms we must struggle to be seen in any other way. Continue Reading

By Stephanie Younger • Black Women are Being Left Out of the Conversation Surrounding Human Trafficking. Continue Reading

By Kiarran T.L. Diaz • In the age of "wokeness," TV shows, and media alike are rushing to find a way to sell their ideas to people who are tired of the nonsense. Different shows, movies, and books try to align themselves with diversity by trying to take shortcuts left and right. Continue Reading

"Fight for You," by Stephanie Webb Continue Reading

By Stephanie Younger • 7-year-old student activist Havana Chapman-Edwards was the only student at her school in Alexandria, Virginia to participate in the National School Walkout to honor the victims of the 1999 Columbine school shooting. Continue Reading

By Stephanie Younger • On Saturday afternoon, the Richmond community joined RISE For Youth, Art 180, and Performing Statistics, to "honor the voices, dreams and demands of youth affected by the school-to-prison pipeline." Continue Reading

By Stephanie Younger • The Hate U Give is a movie based on the acclaimed YA novel by Angie Thomas. Directed by George Tillman Jr., the movie opens with 16-year-old Starr Carter’s (Amandla Stenberg) narrating her recollection of being given “the talk” by her formerly-incarcerated father Maverick (Russell Hornsby), on how to survive encounters with the police. Continue Reading

By Stephanie Younger • Art 180 is an RVA-based organization that gives marginalized young people the opportunity to create change by expressing themselves through music, poetry, dance, and more. On Friday, they opened the exhibition, "Lift Us Up! Don't Push Us Out!" a mixed-reality exhibit that raises awareness about the school-to-prison pipeline, the youth and their families affected by this issue. Continue Reading

By Stephanie Younger • I recently met Princess Blanding at an art build for the upcoming National March For Justice and Reformation for Marcus-David Peters on October 13^th. In May of this year, Blanding's brother, Marcus-David Peters, was murdered by the Richmond Police Department while he was having a mental health crisis; and just yesterday, the commonwealth attorney of Richmond, Virginia ruled the murder a "justifiable homicide." This week, I spoke with Blanding about the movement demanding Justice and Reformation for her brother. Continue Reading

By Stephanie Younger • In June, I met Patrisse Cullors briefly after she accepted the "Next Generation Award" at the ACLU National Membership Conference. Cullors is an organizer, writer and artist who co-founded Black Lives Matter Global Network and founded Dignity and Power Now. Continue Reading

By Stephanie Younger • My painting in Art 180's gallery, "Everything is Connected," is about the racism I experienced within the gun violence prevention community. The different colors represent the emotions I felt throughout the time I faced online harassment. Continue Reading

By Stephanie Younger • The murder of Trayvon Martin 'ignited a fire' within the heart of a then 12-year-old Nupol Kiazolu she says she has never felt before. "I couldn’t fully articulate how I felt at the time, but I knew I was angry," she wrote in an Instagram post in February. Continue Reading

By Stephanie Younger • Virginia, we have a problem. We need to come to terms with our state’s history of the marginalization of the Black community. Virginia is where the first enslaved Africans were brought against their will. We live in Richmond, the former capital of the Confederacy. Continue Reading

By Stephanie Younger • I am writing this as a Black kid who was excluded by the student organizers of the Virginia National School Walkout Protest on Friday, April 20^th at Brown’s Island in Richmond Virginia. Continue Reading

By Stephanie Younger • The following list is based on my real experiences with misogyny, ableism and anti-Black racism, that I’ve written on a mixed-media piece I created during an art program at the VCU Arts’ Department of Sculpture + Extended Media. Today, my artwork—among my classmates' artwork—was included in a gallery at Art 180. Continue Reading

By Stephanie Younger • Today, I was a speaker at a March For Our Lives demonstration in Richmond, Virginia addressing the fatal school shooting at Majory Stoneman Douglas High school in Parkland, Florida. My speech shed some light onto how gun violence disproportionately affects women, queer and trans people, and Black communities. Continue Reading

By Stephanie Younger • On Friday, November 3^rd, hundreds in Richmond, Virginia attended the Juvenile Justice Parade, organized by RISE For Youth, Art 180 and the Performing Statistics project calling for the closure of youth prisons in Virginia. Continue Reading

By Stephanie Younger • On October 13^th, white students on Short Pump Middle School‘s football team posted a video of themselves simulating sexual assault, while shouting racial slurs at their Black teammates they have pinned to the ground. Continue Reading

By Stephanie Younger • On August 11-12, Klansmen, and Neo-Nazis attended the Unite the Right Rally, a demonstration against the removal of the Confederate monument. They attacked counter-protestors, many who were of anti-fascist and anti-racist activists. Continue Reading

By Stephanie Younger • What needs to be done to empower Black youth instead of criminalizing and undermining us for speaking up, and censoring our history? Continue Reading