Two weeks ago Congress named Juneteeth a federal holiday. The holiday commemorates the day the last enslaved Black people in Galveston, TX were notified they were free via the authority of the newly signed Emancipation Proclamation. The prospect of citizenship was a godsend after almost 4 centuries of bondage. However, freedom came with several systematic […]
A few days ago, an Uber driver I had on the way home from work told me that “The older you get, the more your doctor tells you to laugh—so I laugh a lot!” It was the eighteenth of June. I had learned earlier that the White House made Juneteenth a federal holiday, and, since
Reflections on My First Federally Recognized Juneteenth Read More »
What does it say about the state of American politics that over four months after the end of the previous presidential administration, which was panned internationally, brought for the first time ever to two separate impeachment trials, and overwhelmingly regarded as perhaps the most morally reprehensible, dishonest, illegitimate, and unintelligently managed four years in recent
I am not a regular on Facebook, but from time to time, I take a scroll to see what’s trending, what’s thought-provoking or what enlightening lessons I could learn. Low and behold I came across a post with an image of André 3000 and Big Boi of the hip hop duo Outkast, Not sure what the connection was between the post and
The Good Guys When you visualize a member of the army what do you think of? Someone who has sworn to protect and serve this nation and has taken on that duty to better themselves and their country. This is why when they come back from serving, America gives them benefits along with discounts. This
The contemporary age of hip-hop is widely centered around the Black cisgendered male gaze. The genre has definitely paved its way in fighting against systemic oppression, the war on drugs, and the prison industrial complex. Subsequently, the genre has fallen victim to perpetuating sexism towards women, while spreading homophobia and transphobia to Black LGBTQ members.
The New York City premiere for the third and final installment of the critically acclaimed TV show, Pose took place on Thursday night. The executive producer and director Janet Mock went off-script during the presentation. She demanded fair pay for Trans women and blasted Hollywood for their mistreatment of her. Page Six broke the incident on
Janet Mock’s Outburst Is a Cry for Equality for Trans Women in Film Read More »
In \”A Treatise on Pessimism\” from December, I said of a recent police murder: “The timing of this murder seems almost by design as if [the officer] and company wanted to reassure all who were drunk on the unrest and indignation that had become characteristic of 2020 that nothing had changed, and that he would
Seattle native Tierra Umi Wilson, known as UMI is making waves with her new re-released album, Introspection Reimagined. The L.A.-based musician is known for how tranquil her music comes across. UMI’s sound is very reminiscent of Groove Theory’s Amel Larrieux, very soulful with quaint lyricism. She radiates on this new album, making sure every listener
If Amanda Gorman is not the most famous poet in the United States right now, she is at least the most widely celebrated. The signs of this are virtually everywhere you look. Having been the first-ever National Youth Poet Laureate, a distinction she won in 2017 when she was only 19 years old, she was
