Anonymous • Originally written in January 2020 Alice Walker defines colorism as a “prejudicial or preferential treatment of same-race people based solely on their color.” SImilarly, texturism is prejudice of people based on the texture of their hair, which mainly impacts Black folks, especially Black women and girls with type for natural hair. Throughout elementary […]
Read MoreThank you to everyone who participated in last week’s Black August commemoration teach-in! Facilitated by Micaela Stevenson and Stephanie Younger, we were joined by Ruby Sales to discuss her involvement in the Southern Freedom Movement. We shared what Black August means to us, what we’ve been doing to honor Black resistance, freedom fighters and political […]
Read MoreAs part of our commemoration of Black August, we compiled a list of books authored by Black freedom fighters and political education resources.
Read MoreBy Elvira Swartch Lorenzo • Originally published on Afroféminas • When I made the decision to seek therapy, I initially had two opposite reactions. The first was an initial enthusiasm to take care of myself and hopefully become a better person. That feeling was quickly replaced by panic: I knew immediately that I would feel more comfortable working with a […]
Read MoreBy 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. Although Germany’s genocide reconciliation and reparations plan continues to be criticized for not including the payment of reparations […]
Read MoreBy Chloe Dunston • This was also published on AGITATE on July 27, 2021. • 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 […]
Read MoreBy 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, West Africa. Imani House is a good example of work in action. IHI was co-founded in 1981 by […]
Read MoreBy 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, an inner-city mission dedicated to Jonathan Daniels, who was murdered, while shielding her from a deputy who tried to […]
Read MoreBy 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 […]
Read MoreBy 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 […]
Read MoreBy Tanya Barnett •
Read MoreBy 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 […]
Read MoreAnonymous • Trigger warning: Language of abuse
Read MoreBlack Feminist Collective has a put together a collection of 10 articles authored by Black feminists and abolitionists.
Read MoreAnonymous • Content Warning: Mentions of suicide and self-harm, and descriptions of ableism and anti-Blackness.
Read MoreBy Kayla Alexandria 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. While the Black experience is not a monolithic one, the obstacles and difficulties we face […]
Read MoreBy Stephanie Younger • During an uprising in defense of Black life calling for the abolition of the police state and the carceral state, it seemed that liberals who were saying “listen to Black women,” were solely speaking in reference to Black women who do the labor of “saving our Democracy.” Recently, many who have […]
Read MoreBy 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 […]
Read MoreBy Kayla Alexandria 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 […]
Read MoreBy Kayla Alexandria 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 […]
Read MoreBy Yemi Miller-Tonnet •
Read MoreBy Teresa Younger • Content warning: Mentions of sexual violence and murder According to PEW Research Center, 235 Black people were shot to death by the police in 2019. The social movement against systemic racism and police violence continued in 2020, when believers around the world turned out following the May 25th Police killing of […]
Read MoreBy 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, I was asked, “Is your child happy doing this work?” I wondered if I should respond by stating that since my […]
Read MoreBy Marissa Mann • Marissa Mann is a graduate student studying Speech-Language Pathology, who loves advocating and helping those who are in need and feel that they do not have a voice. Marissa’s project highlighted their college experience during the COVID-19 pandemic within the City of New York Educational system, where they do not only […]
Read MoreBy Riss Clark • 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) Age 11 My mom places the phone to my left ear. I hear nothing. […]
Read MoreBy Riss • Riss reflects on her body’s change during the pandemic. (Sep. 2020)
Read MoreBy Stephanie Younger • This article was re-published on Afroféminas on March 9, 2021 • 1. “From womanish. (Opp. of “girlish,” i.e. frivolous, irresponsible, not serious.) A black feminist or feminist of color. From the black folk expression of mothers to female children, “you acting womanish,” i.e., like a woman. Usually referring to outrageous, audacious, courageous […]
Read MoreBy 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) […]
Read MoreBy Joyce Hounkanrin • This article was re-published on Afroféminas on June 29, 2021 • 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 […]
Read MoreBy Kayla Alexandria Dorancy •
Read MoreBy Skyla Bailey • A Message to Virginia Department of Education (VDOE): 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 […]
Read MoreBy Stephanie Younger • The idea that our worthiness of being valued relies on how much labor we do for our oppressors is rooted in anti-Blackness. In particular, many liberals have been advising Black youth to “save our Democracy” and to “just vote” during a revolution centering police and prison abolition, and divestment from the […]
Read MoreBy 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. We needn’t look further than the now […]
Read MoreBy 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. We want to have all schools in Virginia to become equitable sanctuaries where every student can flourish. This petition is an essential call-to-action. We ask […]
Read MoreBy Shontrice Carin 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. The most vivid […]
Read MoreBy 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. The murders […]
Read MoreBy Alexandra Brown • Originally published on Magical Women •
Read MoreBy 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 […]
Read MoreBy 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 […]
Read MoreBy Tanya Barnett •
Read MoreBy 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. I was scared to give birth. A co-worker had shared with me she had fallen off the bed while giving birth. Given […]
Read MoreBy 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 […]
Read MoreBy Tanya Barnett • This poem was re-published on Afroféminas on February 26, 2021 •
Read MoreBy Tanya Barnett •
Read MoreBy Addison Walton • CW: This content contains descriptions of murder and white supremacy.
Read MoreBy 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. This kind of response is a tactic known as blame-shifting. […]
Read MoreIn light of the uprisings in defense of Black life, Black Feminist Collective has created a list of resources, including books, media platforms, and organizations to support in the fight for Black liberation.
Read MoreBy 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. My friend, […]
Read MoreBy 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 in front of a large crowd of protestors. This was unplanned, and I have been grieving so heavily these past […]
Read MoreBy Lux Aghomo •
Read MoreBy Giovanna Adams • We’ve all heard the sentiment 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. It really is a nice sentiment, but it’s difficult to feel […]
Read MoreBy Stephanie Younger • Content warning: This article has mentions of sexual violence. Could a hashtag topple the career of a popular artist? Hashtags have the power to raise social consciousness about the exploitation of marginalized communities, to give them a platform that influences public discourse, and to ultimately change the status quo. Notably, “#MuteRKelly” […]
Read MoreBy Stephanie Younger • Each time white liberals invited me to work amongst them in organizing spaces, it never took me too long to realize that I was being tokenized and stereotyped. I wrote this article based on my experiences with white liberals who don’t understand that they have the benefit of viewing the racist […]
Read MoreBy 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. Sports have […]
Read MoreBy 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 blog post, in which the author claims that “Karen” memes are “misogynistic,” make white women “invisible,” “marginalized, wondering when our needs will matter.” (Translation: their “needs,” as in […]
Read MoreBy 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. We […]
Read MoreBy Raina Cornish •
Read MoreBy Stephanie Younger • When I learned that 2020 presidential candidate Joe Biden won 10 states on Super Tuesday on March 3rd, I couldn’t help but think of his political legacy of fighting for segregation, and criminalizing Black youth. Disappointed by the amount of Virginians who supported him, I re-read an excerpt from Dr. Martin […]
Read MoreBy Raina Cornish •
Read MoreBy Amaya Madarang •
Read MoreOriginally published on Afroféminas • The capacity of Spain to normalize brutal acts with racist content, disguised as alleged anti-racist content never ceases to surprise us. This is the case of the Mataculebra perpetrated in Puerto de la Cruz de Tenerife. This video speaks for itself and we will not say more than that it […]
Read MoreBy Nchedochukwu Ezeokoli •
Read MoreBy Summar McGee •
Read MoreBy Sahana Kapumba •
Read MoreBy Stephanie Younger • This article was re-published on Afroféminas on March 9, 2020 • Do the ways we talk about gender stereotypes represent the struggles we all go through? In Katherine Toland Frith and Barbara Mueller’s article entitled, “Advertisements Stereotype Women” written for the book, “Advertising and Societies: Global Issues,” they write about how […]
Read MoreBy 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? My news […]
Read MoreBy Elvira Swartch Lorenzo • Originally published on Afroféminas • It doesn’t matter what you think you are trying to represent, or that you may think you’re entertaining children. It doesn’t matter if it’s a tradition; if you paint yourself in a color that is not your’s, it’s racist. The blackface controversy comes every Christmas like nougat, where we see […]
Read MoreAnonymous • Content Warning: Mentions of self-harm • In the Black community, talking down to, speaking poorly of, publicly humiliating and criminalizing Black youth as a whole is acceptable. In the Black community, body shaming, and devaluing dark skin and degrading Black girls with Type 4 natural hair is acceptable. In the Black community, violence […]
Read MoreBy 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. Lectures in yelling style, laced with fury, and if I didn’t shape up in time, the belt would make an appearance. It was a routine […]
Read MoreBy Jourdan Lobban • It was endless The sea of self-doubt Rejection Beating me With its ruthless water Every chance it got It was brutal How it told me Over and Over “You’re bad, Worthless. Rude, Evil, A sinner who needs saving.” All the while I hung my head low Taking blow After blow Hoping […]
Read MoreBy Jourdan Lobban • Jourdan Lobban aims to live life in all of its rising tides and calm waters, with some books, and writing journals.
Read MoreAfter 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. And instead of reading for the plot, I was fishing for the romance sections that matched my expectations for the novel. My brain only […]
Read MoreBy Stephanie Younger • Are all people in America served and protected by the law? In the documentary, “Profiled – The Mothers of Murdered Black and Latino Youth,” director Kathleen Foster utilizes the power of art, amplifies the voices of Black and Latin American women and youth, and directs attention to protest and dissent. This […]
Read MoreBy 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 […]
Read MoreBy Traycee Truth •
Read More“I will never know your happiness History only saved your pain Sleeping Ancestor, When we meet Will I represent your dreams, Or your shame?” – Kiarran T.L. Diaz By Kiarran T. L. Diaz •
Read MoreBy 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 […]
Read MoreBy Krystal Tang • Take initiative – Okay here I go! I did it. Oh I did it slightly wrong…a different way? I didn’t do it right? Oops. Let me learn. Give me another chance? Teach me so I can grow…. “No”. Gets belittled, screamed at, no empathy, no sympathy, everything you did right before gets […]
Read MoreBy Joshua Redd •
Read MoreBy 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. As a result of redlining American education has purposely based school districts in areas […]
Read MoreBy 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. […]
Read MoreBy Ayana Graham •
Read MoreBy 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 […]
Read MoreBy Joshua Redd • Amber Guyger was sentenced to 10 years in prison on October 1st, 2019 for the murder of Botham Jean on September 6th, 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. […]
Read More“To All the Men Who Have Fetishized Me Before,” by Kimberly Davis By Kimberly Davis • “I’m a gentleman lives in _____________ looking for a long term relationship dating also hanging out. I believe in treating a woman with respect and honor I am 5”11 prefer African American and Hispanic types of women no offense […]
Read MoreBy Ryan Edward Perry • I did not always appreciate my Blackness. I used to be one of those “I’m not Black, I’m O.J.” types that purposefully eschewed the culture in favor of a more centrist approach to interpersonal relationships. I grew up and still reside in a place called Woodbridge, Virginia, just a half […]
Read MoreBy Kiarran T.L Diaz •
Read MoreBy Baletica Genous •
Read MoreBy Nelle Jones •
Read MoreBy Quincy Evans •
Read MoreBy Tene’sha Crews •
Read MoreBy 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. This natural disaster […]
Read MoreBy Sarah Mathew • In 1619, my second great grandfather was kidnapped from his home in Angola and forced onto a Portuguese slave ship, just to be stolen by English pirates. After all this, he was finally delivered to the English settlement of Point Comfort where he, along with 20 other Africans, were sold to […]
Read MoreBy Gloria Amado • 400 years ago, my ancestors were kidnapped from their homes. Not only was there fear from their original captors, the Spanish, but they were then seized by a Dutch warship and brought to an unknown land. They were sold as property and worked until they collapsed. Considered as nothing more than […]
Read MoreBy Simonne Elease Willis •
Read MoreBy 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, […]
Read MoreBy Tene’sha Crews •
Read MoreBy Mia Birdsong • Originally published on Medium • I sent this to many of the cis-het men I know. One of them (thanks, Mordecai!) asked me to make it a Medium post so he could share it. Hi, my cis-het dude friends and family! How are you doing? Great, I hope! So, as well-informed, […]
Read MoreBy Kenidra R. Woods •
Read MoreBy Havana Chapman-Edwards • Speech at the Global Climate Strike on May 24, 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. I […]
Read MoreBy Quincy Evans •
Read MoreBy NaVosha Copeland •
Read MoreBy Taneasha White, Brooke Taylor, Sarmistha Talukdar and Rebecca Wooden Keel of Southerners on New Ground • Mother’s Day inspires images of family, bonding and care. May 12 is right around the corner, and many of us will be spending the day with our family. However, we forget that many Black womxn will spend this […]
Read MoreBy 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. Similar to the fight against gun violence, Black and youth of […]
Read MoreAnonymous • Peace and love, how y’all feel? Sisters, how y’all feel? Brothers, y’all alright? -Erykah Badu 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 […]
Read More“It’s happening in the streets, it’s happening in war. And then It bleeds into schools, and into churches and what for? I don’t know. But I do know that hate is at the roots. Poisoning the branches and rotting the fruit. It is not okay.” – Tene’sha Crews By Tene’sha Crews •
Read MoreBy 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 […]
Read More“I realize that even though I want to hold strong American pride The more things that I see pulled out of the dark, the more that I want to hide Then I think about the news, and that long list, how in my brain burned their name How the pictures that they broadcasted seemed to […]
Read MoreBy Tene’sha Crews •
Read MoreBy 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. […]
Read MoreAnonymous • 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 […]
Read MoreBy Stephanie Younger • This article was edited and republished on Reforming America on April 2, 2019 • Nearly a year ago, I was given the opportunity to deliver a speech at the March For Our Lives in Richmond, Virginia, which led to being quoted in multiple local news outlets, being invited to contribute articles […]
Read MoreBy Jourdan Lobban • This article was re-published on Afroféminas on October 18, 2019. • February 2nd 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. For 28 […]
Read MoreBy 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. Like the crack […]
Read MoreBy Stephanie Younger • In 1963, Dr. Martin Luther King wrote in his “Letter From a Birmingham Jail,” “I have almost reached the regrettable conclusion that the Negro’s great stumbling block in his stride towards freedom is not the White Citizens Counciler, or the Ku Klux Klanner, but the white moderate, who is more devoted […]
Read MoreBy Roshaé M. Lowe • Liberal feminism (often interchangeable with humanist feminism 1According to feministhumanists.org, a feminist humanist (or humanist feminist) “aggressively challenges the harmful notion of gender inferiority. A feminist humanist believes in the humanity of all human beings and works toward an equal and just society based on human reason, compassion, empathy, and […]
Read MoreBy Kolby Whack •
Read MoreBy 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. With this resistance, […]
Read MoreBy Zakkiyya Anderson •
Read MoreBy 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 […]
Read MoreBy Stephanie Younger • Speech at Women’s March RVA + Expo 2019 • At an age where I was extremely self-conscious about the way I looked as a Black girl, people would rather comment on my body than my intellect. At age 14, people attempted to stop me from pursuing my dreams of being a […]
Read MoreBy 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 […]
Read MoreBy 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 […]
Read MoreBy Mei-Ling Ho-Shing • On February 14, 2018, my school, Marjory Stoneman Douglas, came face-to-face with gun violence. On that day I was on the 2nd 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 […]
Read MoreBy 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 mammys, the house negroes, the women who fought, struggled and clawed our way into the light. We […]
Read MoreBy Stephanie Younger • When she was 16, Cyntoia Brown lived in a hotel with an adult who sexually enslaved her, assaulted her, and threatened her. In 2004, another white man who sexually enslaved and abused Brown, and often intimidated her with guns. Out of fear, she shot him, was arrested, tried as an adult, […]
Read MoreBy 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. Producers love to […]
Read MoreBy Stephanie Webb •
Read MoreBy Stephanie Younger • This article was republished on The Melanin Diary • 7-year-old student activist Havana Chapman-Edwards was the only student at her school to participate in the national school walkout to honor the victims of the 1999 Columbine school shooting. Her story went viral and captured the attention of CNN, Refinery29, The Washington […]
Read MoreBy Stephanie Younger • In 2006, my family moved out of Charlottesville to attend school in Henrico, county outside of Richmond, Virginia. Throughout the past 12 years that I’ve lived here, I spent most of elementary school in HCPS, spent 3 years in private school, and returned to HCPS for part of middle school. My […]
Read MoreBy Stephanie Younger • On Saturday, November 3, 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.” The protestors, many composed of speakers, dancers, singers, poets and other performers gathered outside of Hotchkiss Community Center to raise awareness […]
Read MoreBy Stephanie Younger • The Hate U Give is a film based on the acclaimed YA novel authored by Angie Thomas. Directed by George Tillman Jr., this film begins with a then 9-year-old Starr Carter (Amandla Stenberg), her younger brother, Sekani (TJ Wright), who was one year old, and her older brother, Seven (Lamar Johnson), […]
Read MoreBy 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, October 5th, they opened “Lift Us Up! Don’t Push Us Out!” a mixed-reality exhibit that raises awareness about the school-to-prison pipeline, the youth and […]
Read MoreBy Stephanie Younger • Last week, I met Princess Blanding at an art build for the upcoming National March For Justice and Reformation for Marcus-David Peters. I recently had a conversation with Blanding about demanding justice for her brother, Marcus-David Peters, who was murdered by the Richmond Police Department. Stephanie Younger: What is the story […]
Read MoreBy Stephanie Younger • On June 11, 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. I recently interviewed the freedom fighter to reflect on 5 […]
Read MoreBy Stephanie Younger • My painting in Art 180‘s gallery called “Everything is Connected” is about both 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, and this piece has allowed me to express my frustration with my voice […]
Read MoreBy Stephanie Younger • The murder of Trayvon Martin ignited a fire within a then 12-year-old Nupol Kiazolu “that [she’s] never felt before.” “I couldn’t fully articulate how I felt at the time, but I knew I was angry,” she wrote in a post on Instagram. “A few days after your murder, I came to […]
Read MoreBy Stephanie Younger • This article was edited and re-published on the ACLU of Virginia on July 24, 2018 • 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 […]
Read MoreBy Stephanie Younger • I am writing this as a young Black person who was excluded from speaking at the Virginia National School Walkout Protest at Brown’s Island in Richmond, Virginia. Weeks ago, the organizers guaranteed that I could speak about police brutality, and the significance of centering Black youth who are impacted by gun […]
Read MoreBy 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 in a VCU Future Studio program at the VCU Arts’ Department of Sculpture + Extended Media. My artwork symbolizes how I am healing and unlearning from my […]
Read MoreBy Stephanie Younger • This article was edited and re-published on the ACLU of Virginia on April 5, 2018 • Today, I spoke at a March For Our Lives demonstration in Richmond addressing the fatal school shooting at Majory Stoneman Douglas High school in Parkland, Florida. My speech shed some light onto how gun violence […]
Read MoreBy Stephanie Younger • On the evening of Friday, November 3, hundreds in Richmond, Virginia attended the Juvenile Justice Parade, organized by RISE For Youth, Art 180 and Performing Statistics calling for the closure of youth prisons in Virginia. People began marching at City Hall, wearing silk-screen t-shirts that read, “Guide Us, Don’t Criminalize Us” […]
Read MoreBy 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 anti-racist counter-protestors, many comprised of anti-fascist, and Black Lives Matter activists. According to Al-Jazeera, the white supremacists’ violence left 35 people injured; and a white supremacist rammed his car […]
Read MoreBy Stephanie Younger • Originally published on HCPL TeenScene’s Read & Review • A 16-year-old Black teen who has witnessed the two fatal shootings of her childhood best friends, tries to make sense of the world. Starr Carter witnessed the first shooting when she was ten. It was a violent crime in a violent neighborhood, and […]
Read MoreBy Stephanie Younger • Many institutions fail to educate people about Black liberation and the feminist movement from the narratives Black women, Black girls and Black non-binary people, who are often discredited for their work on the frontlines of Black liberation—which is often centered around cishet Black men, and mainstream feminism—which often centers cishet white […]
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