Black Girls be Announcing the Winner: “Hidden Fences” and the bounds of white imagination

But then whiteness showed up, as it always does, a tether pulling us away from the Afrofuture, back even from this moment and to a not so distant past. With one “innocent” mistake whiteness reminded us that we are interchangeable, frivolous and indiscernible. When “Hidden Fences” fell from one white mouth after another, it was supposed to be a sign that our stories don’t matter, no one cares and we can be invited and still unwelcome. At least, it was supposed to be: But instead it showed the limitations of the white imagination.

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A Reflection on Water

Today we will measure the water; a 1/2 cup for Auntie Lila’s stuffing, 2 quarts to boil the macaroni and 6 cups for Grandma’s lemonade. If Thanksgiving had an official sponsor it would be water. This is true every day but especially holds on days like today where we gather to feast with family and …

Black Girls Be This: a Meditation on Holy Week and HB-2

This week is the holiest of holy weeks in the Christian faith. With Palm Sunday, Holy Thursday, Good Friday and Resurrection (or Easter) Sunday, it is supposed to be a time of honoring the greatest sacrifice made and a celebration of renewal. Newness. But one cannot bask in the Great Re-Do without first taking ownership …

Black Girls Be Witches

Before you recoil in fear like: Let me lay out a story for you. A few weeks ago, my mother was sitting at her sewing machine at 1am, making “slave skirts” for our production, Escape to Freedom. As I watched her hunch over the machine and heard the mechanical rattle, this exchange happened: Me: Mom, you believe …

Black Girls Be Gentrifying*?

Image Credit: Astrid Idlewild I just read an article that hit me in the feels. Morgan Jenkins (@morganjenkins) wrote about being a Black gentrifier in Harlem for The Guardian. And though I am not taking my talents to NYC (cuz I am not about that winter wonderland life) it got me to thinking. I’m moving …

Black Girls Be Checking Alex Trebek

It is 7:13pm on Monday, June 30 and Jeopardy is on the tv. Just as it has always been in my house for my whole life. When I was 2, I would slurped down mashed peas and hum the Final Jeopardy round theme song. But as I have gotten older, and so has everyone else, …