Shelter from the Storm: On Epidemic Sadness and Trauma Among Girls and Queer Youth In her book, Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl, published in 1861, the 19th century abolitionist and author Harriet Jacobs entitles one chapter, “The Trials of Girlhood”. In it, she describes the ritualized sexual…

For Tyre, who loved sunsets skated purples, pinks and greens painted them gap-toothed on his cosmic sail veiled his body with their radiance kicking to infinity launching midair insurrections on floppy shoelace dares — to the ‘goofy’ baby boy who called out MAMA dreamed her halcyon smell taking refuge in her sweetness cracking the sky open with his camera’s kaleidoscopic eye reading its mystic little wonders

Reverence for white pregnant women, white motherhood, and the maintenance of white families are an integral part of American national identity. …

A few weeks ago, at a Black parent meeting hosted by my child’s high school, I encountered homophobic pushback from parents who objected to my recommendation that Black queer-affirming material be incorporated into the curriculum. …

What’s at Stake for Black Girls and Young Women in the Midterms? Today is National Voter Registration Day, and the stakes couldn’t be higher for young Black women and girls. With the midterms looming, there has been little commentary on the catastrophic impact GOP and anti-progressive victories will have on…

“I was driving the №1 Highway in northern California and I was overcome by the appearance of two parallel rainbows. I had a feeling of near-death or near catastrophe. Then I drove through the rainbow and I went away…I put that together to form the title.” Ntozake Shange. Poet, playwright…

The Future of Black Wealth and L.A.’s Mayor’s Race For the past few months, billionaire Rick Caruso has been hijacking L.A.’s mayoral race, ramping up his law and order fearmongering message with a mega boost from the Police Protective League. Through an Independent Expenditure designation, the League has raised millions…

Uplifting Black Community in Buffalo, Defeating White Terror in Amerikkka By Sikivu Hutchinson They came to the Tops grocery store in Buffalo to do the everyday ordinary rituals that are the unseen backbone of Black families and communities everywhere; Sunday food shopping across generations. Quick trips for a certain dinner…

Extending her global classroom to us, hooks made radical space possible for all the transgressive Black girls who are reading, writing, speaking and blowing up the margins — “It is time for Sapphire to testify on her own behalf, in writing, complete with footnotes.” Regina Austin, “Sapphire Bound,” 1989. Driving L.A.’s cesspit 405 freeway one afternoon in the late eighties, a voice on the radio punched out at me like a bolt from the blue. It was high-pitched…