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My Head Is a Part of My Body and My Middle Name Is Makeba
As a child, the word “crazy” bounced around every black space I called home. “Crazy” was a destination and an origin. “Crazy” was at once a pejorative and wholly emblematic of our abundance. I loved the word “crazy.” I used it a lot in my oral communication with folks I loved. I used it to…
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Not Like My Kind: One Man's Experience With Racism
Kiese Laymon remembers on Gawker the summer when he was a graduate student and he and his girlfriend lived below a poor white family. One day, the cash-strapped family patriarch asked Laymon for $10, and then told him that he wasn’t like his “kind.” After he answered all my questions, Kurt got really close to…
Panama Jackson is the Senior Editor of Very Smart Brothas. He’s pretty fly for a light guy. You can find him at your mama’s mama’s house drinking all her brown liquors.