Colorism Schism

So Jesse Williams, of "Grey's Anatomy," was awarded the Humanitarian Award at the BET Awards last week and gave a blistering speech about black people's impatience with the slow tide of change in the racial landscape of America. In a plain, tailored black shirt and pair of slacks, with none of the ostentatious jewelry that …

#PrayerforOrlando

In the wee hours this morning, when those of us intrepid enough to get out and party are winding down, closing out our bar tabs and deciding where we're going to go for pancakes and eggs--gossiping and laughing about the night's festivities and fuckery--Omar Mateen invaded the Pulse nightclub in Orland, FL and opened fire. He …

Full Code

My great-grandmother is 100-years-old or thereabouts. We aren't sure because she was born in Alabama, in her parents' home, with the help of a midwife. Her birth certificate says she came to this world on September 8, 1915, but she was told she was born on September 3, 1916. She was well into her 90s …

I Don’t Think So

When I was in grad school at University of Chicago, my brilliant friend Summer used to always talk about writing a paper on the ways in which California is represented in black literature. Her thesis was something along the lines that race plays out more uniquely in California than it does in the northern and …