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Unique Views, Episode 42: When Stuntin’ Goes Wrong
Adulting is hard. This week I complain to podcast co-host Stephen A. Crockett Jr. the third that I’m having a rough time trying to keep up with all the things life gives adults. He does something that surprises me: He listens and even offers me advice. Stephen then goes on to let me know that…
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I Tried to Read Nbecki’s, I Mean Rachel Dolezal’s, In Full Color so You Didn’t Have to, and I Failed
“Because I felt black, I liked being seen as black.” —Nkechi Amare Diallo … or Nbecki text I feel rich and I like being seen as rich. So am I rich? Is that how this works? Maybe it was because my eyeballs have never rolled to the white meat so many times, rendering me unable…
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Watch: Hashtag Revolution: Break the Silence for Black Women and #SayHerName
Hashtags have defined pop culture. You spot them all over social media, and now many of them have become popular phrases, especially when they highlight blackness: #BlackBoyJoy, #BlackGirlMagic, #GrowingUpBlack and the list goes on. Usually these hashtags are met with laughter and reflection on relatability in blackness, but there’s one hashtag that serves not only…
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From A Different World to Dear White People: Meet the Black-TV-Series Whisperer, Yvette Lee Bowser
“We’re all storytellers,” Yvette Lee Bowser said to me during our chat after I asked her how she battles creative blockages. She went on: “Writer’s block only exists when trying to figure out specifically how you’re going to tell the story. I never feel a dearth of stories to tell or characters of whom to…
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Nothing Can Prepare You for How Powerful The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks Is
Writers tell stories in hopes that not only are they read but they also come to life. This is what has happened to Rebecca Skloot’s book The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks, which chronicles the tragic tale of Lacks, a 31-year-old black woman from Clover, Va., whose terminal-cancer diagnosis and undying cells ended up changing…
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Watch: Hashtag Revolution: #BlackTravel Takes the World by Storm
Hashtags have defined pop culture. You spot them all over social media, and now many of them have become popular phrases, especially when they highlight blackness: #BlackBoyJoy, #BlackLivesMatter, #GrowingUpBlack and the list goes on. #BlackTravel has become more than a hashtag; it’s a lifestyle, offering up various imagery of beautiful black people all over the…
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Unique Views, Episode 38: Where Do You Even Go to Buy a Prison, Damian Marley?!
Stephen A. Crockett Jr. and I finally did something we never do: No, we didn’t get along. We’ll never do that. We did a minisode of our podcast! Every week, when I grow weary of Stephen’s voice and personality, I say, “Ugh, let’s just make this a minisode so that we can just get in and…
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Watch: Hashtag Revolution: 16-Year-Old Girl Teaches Only Lesson You’ll Ever Need About #Melanin
Hashtags have defined pop culture. You spot them all over social media, and now many of them have become popular phrases, especially when they highlight blackness: #BlackBoyJoy, #BlackLivesMatter, #GrowingUpBlack, and the list goes on. #Melanin is a shining example of a hashtag-turned-movement. Not only is it a fresh and delicious word to use in place…
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Watch Out Loud: What Is #BlackBoyJoy and Why Do We Need It?
I was obsessed with Chance the Rapper after watching him live his unapologetic best life at the 2016 Video Music Awards on MTV. He stuck to my rib so much, I asked my managing editor, Danielle Belton, if I could write about him. She obliged my random request. Not only did I write about Chance…
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Watch: Black Trans Women Are Dying
Woman is the nigger of the world. —John Lennon This loaded song lyric is not only a manifestation of a Yoko Ono-hypnotized John Lennon, but a statement that stops you in your tracks. If that’s the case, then what of black women? Moreover, what of transgender women, and to take it even further—what of black…