Author Archives: Cheryl_McCourtie

About Cheryl_McCourtie

Baldhead Empress, Cheryl McCourtie, has been a magazine editor and writer, and a nonprofit fund-raiser and communications specialist. Raised in Liberia, Malawi and Swaziland, she is avidly interested in women across the globe, in particular and people in general. The Baldhead Empress site is one of affirmation. Cheryl looks forward to sharing her positivity with as many like-minded people as possible. One Love!.

The Political Weaponization of Toni Morrison’s Beloved

Posted on November 5, 2021 by Cheryl_McCourtie

In 1968 the Jamaican government banned books with “radical” content, including the Autobiography of Malcom X. Not long after my elder cousin Vivia Heron, an avid reader since early childhood and then a college student on the island, immigrated toRead the Rest »

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The Holiday We Need is Not Juneteenth but Rather Election Day—Or So I Thought

Posted on June 21, 2021 by Cheryl_McCourtie

Forget about making Juneteenth a holiday. If Congress wants to do something for people who look like me—Black people—make Election Day a holiday. That was the story I woke up wanting to write on Saturday. I have become more andRead the Rest »

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It is Hard for Me, a Black Woman, to be an Ally to Asian Americans Because I Don’t Know Any

Posted on April 12, 2021 by Cheryl_McCourtie

I am a middle-aged Black woman of Jamaican descent who has no Asian friends in America. With the rash of despicable assaults and deadly violence against Asian Americans, and the recent clumsy plea by Senator Tammy Duckworth for more AAPIsRead the Rest »

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Dear Senator Manchin: Pass the COVID Bill!

Posted on February 2, 2021 by Cheryl_McCourtie

Dear Sen. Manchin, I am not your direct constituent, but since you have taken it upon yourself to hold up the COVID bill on behalf of all Americans, I feel entitled to write you. People in this country are SUFFERING.Read the Rest »

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Everything is Broken

Posted on August 18, 2020 by Cheryl_McCourtie

Everything is broken. Like this country. Yesterday I waited on hold for more than 25 minutes to make an appointment for an x-ray at a local hospital.  It was the second time in two days that I had called andRead the Rest »

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How an Episode from Everybody Hates Chris Reminded Me of My Boarding School Experience

Posted on June 12, 2020 by Cheryl_McCourtie

One of my favorite episodes from the sitcom Everybody Hates Chris goes something like this:  Chris and his mother are watching a holiday news broadcast.  Suddenly the boy’s teacher from his new, white school enters the screen. As the teacherRead the Rest »

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Dear White People, Sigh

Posted on June 5, 2020 by Cheryl_McCourtie

I have always thought of the “Dear White People” editorials as gags, devices used by people of color to highlight the many misunderstandings that non-people of color have about us. Until I got an email from a white former classmateRead the Rest »

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New Yorkers Are Being Murdered by the Federal Government

Posted on April 6, 2020 by Cheryl_McCourtie

Last week some members of the media heralded White House PBS correspondent Yamiche Alcindor for her brisk questioning of 45, yet again, during one of his daily freakshows. At one of these circuses, where 45 seldom remembers the dead butRead the Rest »

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Naming the Monster: Misogyny in the Black Community

Posted on February 18, 2020 by Cheryl_McCourtie

I love you Tamron Hall, but you’re wrong.  Wrong to pardon Snoop Dogg so easily for threatening journalist Gayle King’s life.  Wrong to give him a pass after his weak apology more than a week later.  I get that heRead the Rest »

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Vito Boscaino Hates Me, and I Don’t Know Why

Posted on January 21, 2020 by Cheryl_McCourtie

Sunday December 19, 2020 Vito Boscaino hates me, and I don’t know why.  A few days ago, he posted on Facebook a doctored photo of Michelle Obama that portrayed her as a man with a beard and referred to herRead the Rest »

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