Black Women Demand Reparations & the Right to Live Free BIPOC women leaders have for centuries been stitching our community stories into the US tapestry to correct the white-washed narrative and reveal this nation’s bloody history. Black women have labored to produce and reproduce generations of possibility and freedom dreams, while countering the nonsensical myth-making […]
Category: Girls
Black Girl Running
When I was a little Black girl with barrettes in my hair, I loved running, skipping, and jumping. I loved waking up and being able to move. I wasn’t very fast, a shame for a girl in a Jamaican family for sure, but I loved running around all the same. There was so much joy […]
Lemonade, Sweet Tea, and Dirty Laundry on the Clothesline
Homemade lemonade was relief from the humid heat of North Carolina summers. Sweet and sour lemon water always tasted better after it had been sitting for a few days, bathed in the sun so the sugar syrup could fully absorb the lemon pieces floating at the top of a see through pitcher, like a see […]
Color(ism) Complex(es)
When I heard a documentary called Dark Girls had been produced in 2011 to share the often silenced stories and experiences of dark-skinned women and girls, I felt a wave of emotions and had a range of reactions fluctuating from curiosity and anxiety, to excitement and anticipation. I wrote an ode to dark (skinned) girls […]
Unbreakable or The Problem with Praising Blackgirl Strength
It has been almost three years since we learned the name Amber Cole, a fourteen year old blackgirl who was secretly recorded while performing fellatio on a former boyfriend. Images and taunts spread quickly as the video went viral and commentary about Amber’s agency, privacy and sexuality sparked controversy across the interwebs. There was slut-shaming, […]
Dark-Skinned Blackgirl Visibility: On Gabby and Lupita
As a black feminist I am always here for the celebration of blackgirls, black women, and black wommanness in general (shout out to Dr. Ruth Nicole Brown, arbiter of Solhot, a promise to young blackgirls and women—and others who are doing the work past visibility and towards self-esteem and community accountability). And as a dark-skinned […]
Somebody, Anybody? It’s Hard Out Here for a Sista
Trigger warning: Violent language “Somebody, anybody sing a Black girl song” Ntozake Shange, For Colored Girls Who Considered Suicide When the Rainbow was Enuf Being a Black woman or girl in the United States has never been easy. That much […]
Mama’s Baby, Papa’s Maybe
Father’s Day has come and gone again. As someone who did not grow up with a father or father figures, this day has not traditionally been on my radar at all. These days, though, it’s hard to forget Father’s Day, besides all the incessant commercials urging you to buy the fathers in your life any […]
Getting Crunk at Charis: Sweetwater and Supporting Feminist Bookstores!
Come one, come all! Join us in Atlanta at Charis Books and More on Friday, June 28th, 2013 at 7:30pm EST for CF Robin Boylorn’s book talk for Sweetwater: Black Women and Narratives of Resilience. The CFC is so proud of our girl Robin! Earlier this year, she published her first book with Peter […]
Bringing Back Wonder Woman
AS LOVELY AS APHRODITE – AS WISE AS ATHENA – WITH THE SPEED OF MERCURY AND THE STRENGTH OF HERCULES – SHE IS KNOWN ONLY AS WONDER WOMAN. Dear privileged Hollywood women, We need you. It’s time. You can no longer remain silent. You must act. You must step up. White men alone cannot decide […]