Celebrating Community
A Decade of Black Twitter For the better part of the last decade, America has experienced a snowball of push back against customs that were once considered social norms, now acknowledged to be inappropriate. Social media continues to play a major role in a particular kind of public and social accountability, also known as ‘canceling.’ In recent months we’ve […]
“War is politics with bloodshed, politics is war without bloodshed.” Fred Hampton’s words are profound and captured perfectly in the new movie about the real Black Panthers, produced by Ryan Coogler, who brought forth 2018’s Black Panther. Judas and The Black Messiah follows the life of the dynamic teen activist Fred Hampton, who rose to become the Chicago Black Panther […]
To pursue your childhood aspirations, your first dream, takes audacity and faithful conviction. For some of us, remembering our dreams gets harder as we grow into adulthood. However, for Jazmin Johnson becoming a successful filmmaker is one dream she is bringing to life. When I first learned of Jazmin Johnson, I was privileged enough to read one of her scripts. […]
2020…trash but still ironic The irony of 2020 also being synonymous with perfect vision is hard to miss, as last year was definitely illuminating – racial injustice, health care disparities, government unpreparedness, and the loss of several cultural icons. Then there was the presidential election, centered amidst an ongoing pandemic. The election spilled into 2021 as Georgia Senate runoffs took […]
The grasslands, hills, and prairies of Staten Island’s Freshkills Park project seems like something out of The Sound of Music, or a Midwestern nature landscape. While New York City may not be synonymous with nature, this lesser-known development could put a dent in that perception. Freshkills is developing into the largest park in New York City, even bigger than Central […]
A Historic Election The historic election of Joe Biden and Kamala Harris marks another hard-fought milestone in American history. President-Elect Joe Biden, is now the oldest elected president in US history, and more noteworthy, Kamala Harris, the first Black (Jamaican), South Asian (Indian), and female vice president of the United States of America. As the nation transitions from one presidential […]
In my teens, I remember going to the movie theatre to watch ATL, Rapper TI was at the time, nearing the height of his pop culture presence. I had a crush on Lauren London who played TI’s love interest, Nunu – a standard infatuation for many boys at the time, and now (as she is still fine). ATL was my […]
The Origins of Lovecraft Country Lovecraft Country is one of HBO’s newest series based on author Matt Ruff’s 2016 best-selling novel, Lovecraft Country. Both the series and novel reference the work of another famous author, HP Lovecraft (Howard Phillips Lovecraft) whose earlier works made use of themes that dehumanized people of color. However, the HBO series created by Horror […]
Displacement Is No Myth Across the country, gentrification continues to be a sexy political topic for those least vulnerable to its effects, booming in and echoing out of consciousness. Regarding gentrification and the Black church in NYC, displacement is top of mind. For those most negatively affected by gentrification; lower-income, and long time residents, mostly people of color, gentrification […]
More than a month after the killings of Breonna Taylor, George Floyd, and Ahmaud Arbery, worldwide protests against police violence continue. New and old cases of police killings of civilians are gaining and regaining national attention. In the effort to deconstruct systemic police violence, New York seems to be making some strides with relatively aggressive actions. On June 12, 2020, […]