I have been able to learn about tribes from Africa at Dabl’s African Bead Museum. I have learned the true art of being a b-boy or b-girl with The Foundation. I have seen the art of graffiti, I have marched yelling “Black Lives Matter” in the streets, I have twerked with the black LGBTQIAs at The Woodward. I have learned who I am in the black community and how many layers of blackness are in Detroit
Read MoreBy Chani The Hippie
Our money has made people rich over and over again. That is power. We have more power than we understand and our dollar is the biggest tool. With such a tremendous spending power we can change the climate of the world towards us if we use it. We need to use our dollars to empower ourselves economically. There are tons and tons of black businesses that we need to funnel our dollars into and support.
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by Rashad J. Buni
By reviving the Black Power movement, we can shift our efforts from changing the trajectory of the pendulum to transforming the workings of the clock that drives it. Sometimes the revolutionary option is the best option. A quick perusal through history will show you that attitudes like "The New Black" or disproportionate police brutality has always been present in America.
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by William Garner
I think there is a serious issue that needs to be addressed before real change can occur through black cooperation. We have still not forgotten what we were conditioned to believe hundreds of years ago about our various shades. Every #blacklivesmatter hash tag is undermined by someone generalizing another person as a ‘light-skin’ or ‘dark-skin.’ Every atrocity committed by the police is seen as just that much less atrocious by black people’s distaste for themselves; their own kind. Every time a black person dares to speak in criticism of his or her own people it is seen as borderline hate speech and uncle-tomming, which is eventually related to that persons skin tone.
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by Damon Mitchell
The situation in Baltimore isn't an "unjustifiable" riot. It is an uprising against the social order of white supremacy. Exiting the Mayflower and lashing out against Native Americans through rape, torture, murder, culture degradation and destruction is what you could call an unjustifiable riot. An unjustifiable riot would be burning down neighborhoods to celebrate your school's NCAA championship win. It's important for Baltimore officials to understand that you cannot make a suggestion of the riots being "unjustifiable" without also questioning the dysfunctional behavior of the Baltimore Police Department.
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by Kevin Rigby, Jr.
When non-Black people, but especially other people of color, use the n-word, it isn’t just mean. It is an act of violence, of theft, and of divisiveness so severe as to render any attempts at solidarity moot. The n-word, as Black people use it today, is perhaps our best attempt at demanding our humanity and our right to define ourselves. The word encompasses our history, our current realities, and the love and solidarity we have for one another. It creates a space in which we might articulate ourselves.
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