ππ¦π’π³ ππ°π₯, ππ¦π’π³ π΄π΅π’π³π΄, π₯π¦π’π³ π΅π³π¦π¦π΄, π₯π¦π’π³ π΄π¬πΊ, π₯π¦π’π³ π±π¦π°π±ππ¦π΄, ππ¦π’π³ ππ·π¦π³πΊπ΅π©πͺπ―π¨. ππ¦π’π³ ππ°π₯. – Alice Walker I imagine thereβs not a lot one can say about a work like this that probably hasnβt been said, but there is a lot to be said of the distance one travels when staying alive, gaining experience, and reflecting. …And all Iβve been thinking about is God. Iβve been thinking about where itβs at, how we find it + how it continuously bursts out of whatever weβve tried to hold it in. And like that Ultimate Ancestor, Walkerβs prose is elusive in the way that the relationships explored in these letters seem to…
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How The Word Is Passed: Land, Buildings, Time + Space.
“Go straight for two miles on Robert E. Lee. Take a left on Jefferson Davis. Make the first right on Claiborne.” translation: “Go straight for two miles on the general whose troops slaughtered hundreds of Black soldiers who were trying to surrender. Take a left on the president of the Confederacy, who understood the torture of Black Bodies as the cornerstone of their new nation. Make the first right on the man who allowed the heads of rebelling slaves to be mounted on stakes in order to prevent other slaves from getting any ideas.” – Clint Smith How The Word Is Passed: A Reckoning With The History of Slavery Across…
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Riding with Natasha Trethewey on “Memorial Drive: a Daughter’s Memoir”
"In my grandmother's house the act of remembering, recounting that story, was meant to ensure my future safety, protection gained through knowledge, and the vigilance that brings, a certain hyperawareness: hair rising on the back of my neck when I'd hear a particular kind of southern accent, a tensing in my spine when I'd see the Confederate flag or the gun rack on a truck following us too closely down the road." In this quote Trethewey shows how being a daughter of the south is a constant state of understanding a hatred nobody believes is there and a danger that feels all to real all the time.
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Transnational Roundtable Discussion on Systemic Racism: Video
I had the distinct privilege of being asked to speak on systemic racism both from a literary perspective and as a black man in Amerikkka. The great thing is, I most certainly wasn't the star of the show. There were people from all over the world giving their informed thoughts and opinions, as well as their experiences. We didn't stop talking for over 3 hours!
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Ibram X. Kendi Vs. Van Jones
Recently I finished βHow to be an Antiracistβ By Ibram X. Kendi and I also recently put the finished stamp on βConversations in Black.β I think both of these books were extremely necessary, especially for the time that we currently find ourselves in. America, at least for me, is at a standstill, and the only thing that seems to really still be working and permeating the fabric of this country is the very thing that it was built on: systemic racism. First Iβd like to talk about the books and then Iβd like to talk about some convos that these ideas sparked. Ibram X. Kendiβs book is really, really good…
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Conversations, Reading + Brothers Building…
Right now the world is kind of in shambles. It’s difficult to find anything noteworthy on the internet and everyone’s kind of in a panic the likes of which I’m sure most of us have never seen. The only natural disaster I have to juxtapose what Covid-19 has done to the nation is Katrina, and even that was regional. In response to the mayhem going on everywhere, what I’ve found to be most calming is to spend some time actually searching out the good in the 24 hours we are allotted daily, especially between myself and others. Recently a brother of mine texted me out of the blue and asked…
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Contemporary Black Authors I’ve found over the past two years | #ABMR
1. Ed Gordonβs recently released Conversations in black. I havenβt put a big enough dent in this just yet to give thoughts-but Iβm excited. 2. Londrelleβs Eternal Sunshine + Sun Flower Soul both of which are super transformative and filled with everything you need to do daily maintenance on your mind, body, + soul. There’s chakra affirmations, meditations, and so much more. He typically creates an audio version that you can download on Apple Music or Tidal. 3. Nana Kwame Adjei-Brenyahβs Friday Black. A dystopian story collection + all of them are amazing and take the reader on an excursion that he’s never quite ready for. The Finklestein 5 story…
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Image Comics: Excellence
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Angela Davis – Freedom is a Constant Struggle
Angela Davis has written and seen more than I could ever imagine. She’s been a noted member of the American Communist Party and she has also been an associate of the black panther party, the black liberation army, and the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC). Having been around all of these formative groups, and having been instrumental in most of what I think of as the civil rights movement and the contemporary struggle for equality, she is a stalwart in her own right. Cornel West called her a “long-distance freedom fighter” and this short, concise offering from her, Freedom is a Constant Struggle: Ferguson, Palestine, and the Foundations of a…
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Bryan Stevenson’s “Just Mercy” – A review
Bryan Stevenson is a public interest lawyer who has dedicated his entire career to the pursuit of justice through his dedication to the poor, the incarcerated (with a specific interest in the juveniles who are incarcerated), and those that are condemned to life in prison and death row. Through this dedication, he was led to the creation of the equal justice initiative (EJI), where he works as the executive director, establishing his headquarters in Montgomery, Alabama. All of this is chronicled in his book Just Mercy: A Story of Justice and Redemption, where he details not only the realities of being an African American male interested in law in America…