Baldhead Empress

When I was a seventh grader in a Massachusetts boarding school my hall prefect told me that all Black people look alike.  I laughed—or rather cackled—at the foolishness of this girl. I thought of her as “mental,” in the commonRead the Rest »

When I was an undergrad at Tufts University in Medford, Massachusetts, I was in an often-rancorous class called Race Relations in American Society. This nontraditional course was taught on Thursday evenings by a Black former military officer, Jim Vance, thenRead the Rest »

Like millions of other people in this nation, I was riveted by the six-part documentary series, Surviving R. Kelly.  It forces us, particularly as Black women, to examine our own lives, and to come to terms with how we promulgate misogyny.Read the Rest »

You forget you’re in the South when you’re in Atlanta. Until you end up in an Uber on the back roads leading from the city to one of the new suburban enclaves. Then you hold your breath as your otherwiseRead the Rest »

The freaks come out at night The freaks come out at night The freaks come out at night (the freaks come out) The freaks come out at night—Whodini In the 1987-1990 TV show Beauty and the Beast, the part-animal part-humanRead the Rest »

In Massachusetts, sexual assault is defined as any crime in which the offender subjects the victim to sexual touching that is unwanted and offensive. The unwanted sex act is one that is forced upon someone, whether it is penetration orRead the Rest »

Several years ago, a TV ad that featured a young white boy abandoned by his mother in a train station caused worldwide condemnation. The stunt was for an anti-smoking campaign calling attention to the children left behind by deceased smokers.Read the Rest »

Roseanne Barr should not have been sacked for her racially prejudiced tweet yesterday. Her firing now makes her a martyr in Trumpville, and there will be repercussions—more micro-aggressions and outright violence—meted out on people who the resident of the WhiteRead the Rest »