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What Chris Brown’s Guest Appearance on Black-ish Says About All of Us
On Wednesday, Entertainment Weekly broke the news that troubled singer Chris Brown will be guest-starring on this week’s episode of ABC’s hit show Black-ish. This casting decision raises important questions about black entertainment, mental health and the blind eye we turn to violence against women. Most of us were introduced to the fresh-faced Brown in…
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On White Women Who Pen Criticisms of Beyoncé and Serena When White Feminism Isn’t Enuf
The phrase “whiteness gone white” rings all the more true every time a talented-beyond-measure black woman graces us with her presence and is criticized for it. And white women are continually leading this cause. On Sunday, Feb. 12, a very pregnant Beyoncé graced our television screens as she levitated onto the Grammy stage with an…
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Tyler Perry, Lee Daniels Built Careers on Black Women Stories but Trade in Misogynoir
Did they use us just to lose us? Recent comments from Hollywood mega producers Tyler Perry and Lee Daniels have raised eyebrows about the ways they use gender and class privilege to distance themselves from the very communities from which they come. And they do this all while leveraging patriarchal notions of economic achievement to…
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As a Woman, I Can’t Love Madea and Hate Straight Outta Compton
Tyler Perry’s brand of hyperbolic “church humor” and F. Gary Gray’s hit film Straight Outta Compton, a biopic of the West Coast rap group N.W.A, might seem worlds apart. But for me, they are two sides of the same coin. I’m disappointed in myself that it took so long to figure that out. I was…
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How ‘Selling a Home While Black’ Nearly Broke Me
Everyone tells you it’s hard to sell a home nowadays. No one tells you how hard it is to sell a home while black. Last March we did all the things you are supposed to do when selling a half-million-dollar Orange County, Calif., home. We packed items we were no longer using. We downsized our…
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Janet Mock Breaks Through the Isolation for Transgender Women of Color
I recently added a new name to my list of inspirational writers: Janet Mock. Her best-selling memoir, Redefining Realness: My Path to Womanhood, Identity, Love and So Much More, is a beautiful—at times bumpy—journey through girlhood. Reminiscent of Zora Neale Hurston’s iconic Their Eyes Were Watching God, it is a touching story of self-realization and self-love.…
