The internet has given voice to the voiceless. Instantly those previously excluded from discourses surrounding their race and/or gender are able to connect with those they feel wronged by thus creating an environment where the offenders are held accountable for their misdeeds or in Marc Jacobs’ case not only refuse to acknowledge their failures but further highlight the depth of their ignorance with glorious, unrepentant flare.
Read more13 Awesome Things About Brotherhood
The Problem With Channel 5's Gangland
“The single story creates stereotypes, and the problem with stereotypes is not that they are untrue, but that they are incomplete. They make one story become the only story.” – Chimamanda Ngozie Adichie
Currently on TV and in film in Britian, the prevailing narrative of black men and women are those in the Channel 5 documentary series Gangland and final film Noel Clarke’s successful trilogy Brotherhood. I walked out of Brotherhood and refuse to watch Gangland.
Read moreLena Dunham & Toxic White Feminism
*UPDATED September 4th 2016
Lena Dunham has been heralded as the feminist icon here to save a generation. While it cannot be denied that her breakout HBO hit Girls is a seminal work that didn’t shy away from conversations about important women’s issues (abortion, body positivity), the comedy was plagued from its outset by cries that it failed to accurately portray New York’s racial diversity. Girls writer Lesley Arfin responded to the backlash thus “What really bothered me most about Precious was there was no representation of ME.” Dunham herself took a more measured approach, claiming that she had learned a “painful” lesson and the experience of being corrected had “made me stronger as a feminist and an activist and a thinker."
Read moreTeyana Taylor & Glorious Agency
You know, you can be woke to the point of paralysis? There is a space where your enlightenment can render you incapable of enjoying art. The first time I saw Kanye West's Fade featuring Teyana Taylor, I was mesmerised, truly transfixed by her athleticism and musicality. I was awestruck by her ability to almost inhabit the music, become the sound using her form to translate the inarticulable- how your body wishes it could move to that song... but can't because you're not Teyana Taylor. *weep*
Read moreLeslie Jones & The Validity of Black Emotions
Leslie Jones cried after racist trolls camped out in her mentions. The comedian was forced to leave Twitter because right wing “news” site Brietbart’s tech editor, Milo Yiannopolous led a charge against her because she dared to be a dark skinned black woman starring in summer blockbuster Ghostbusters. Yiannopolous posted a picture of Leslie Jones with caption “At least the new Ghostbusters has a hot guy in it”, after being blocked he posted another picture of Jones that read “rejected by another black guy.” In doing so, Nero as he was referred to on Twitter, unleashed an onslaught against Jones by his 300,000 followers that saw Jones called every racist epithet under the sun. After fighting off as many of the trolls as she could, she decided to leave twitter. Her admission that she cried might have irritated those who demanded that she not “stoop to their level” but I found kinship in that declaration of pain. Her power in this situation came not from fending off these keyboard thugs, but from admitting and sharing that it hurt.
Read moreKim Kardashian & The Taming of the Swift
Only white allies can defeat white enemies.
"It was only another white woman who could beat her at her own game." - Ira Madison III
Not until events between Kim Kardashian-West and Taylor Swift unfolded on Sunday night did I truly understand that only the actions of white allies are able to usurp and dismantle the harm done by white enemies who use even the most implicit forms of anti-blackness. Click here for a blow by blow description of what the Kimye/Swift feud actually is and what transp
Read moreJess Glynne & The Erasure of Black Grief
Jess Glynne’s tweets were well intentioned. She did what we’ve been telling so many stars to do over the last few years; stand with us and state explicitly that the systematic murder of black people at the hands of police officers is wrong. Her series of tweets started so well. I balled my hand into a fist, felt it rising into the air. “To the policemen who think they can do whatever they want cause they have a badge…You are truly sick.” Just as my fist touched the sky, high and proud, my eyes skated over the dreaded words #ALLLIVESMATTER A familiar sense of anguish washed over me. I pulled my fist out the air and lamented how effective three words were at erasing the grief black people were collectively suffering on Twitter that day. From Glynne’s perspective, and that off the proponents of All Lives Matter, the statement is an immutable fact. From the perspective of black people, especially those of us in Britain who know the only reason the only reason we do not die at the hands of law enforcement at the same staggering rate as our brothers and sisters in America is because of our tight gun control, the idea All Lives Matter is just that- an idea. A myth if you will. A lie if you must. Jess Glynne sharing that untruth with her quarter million followers on a day when we voicing our pain, frustration and anger was an act of unconscious erasure.
Read moreJustin Timberlake & Peak Irony
No one was even talking to Justin Timberlake. Yet somehow he has managed to centre himself in Jesse Williams’ discourse about blackness. Had Timberlake tweeted “@JesseWilliams tho… #inspired” and left it at that, then I wouldn’t even be here writing this think piece. But no, he just had to make manifest what I’ve subconsciously known for years- Justin Timberlake is happy to make music that borrows heavily from black people but doesn’t (or refuses to) understand the oppression black people face.
Read moreSir Trevor McDonald & The Myopia of Privilege
When I read Sir Trevor McDonald had "blasted the BBC for discriminative job adverts" I felt a mixture of dread, anger and anguish wash over me so strong it almost took corporeal form and strangled me. Sir Trevor has joined MIA, Azealia Banks and Zoe Saldana on a list of prominent people of colour who seem obligated to further disenfranchise other people of colour using their platforms of privilege to do it.
Read moreNina Simone & The Audacity of Zoe Saldana
Dear Zoe,
Back in March I wrote this post about your casting in Nina Simone’s biopic. I don’t think you saw it because in your latest interview with Allure in response to the backlash you faced, you’re doubling down and claiming “We fucking won.” You even go as far as to say “For so many years, nobody knew who the fuck she [Nina Simone] was.”
Read moreTaylor, HiddleSwift & Slut Shaming
I still remember when Taylor Swift centred herself in Nicki Minaj's discourse around black womanhood, swiftly becoming the poster girl for white feminism's lack of intersectionality. The young woman is problematic at the best of times but I'm a fan of the evolution of critical thinking especially in young women mostly cos I am one and I too am experiencing a revolution. I digress.
Read more#HoodDocumentary & The Art of "Selling Out"
The BBC has ruined #HoodDocumentary!
#HoodDocumentary was better when it was independent!
What are we going to do to improve #HoodDocumentary?
The negative discourse surrounding BBC’s acquisition of the popular YouTube series #HoodDocumentary is tiring to read. The accusations levelled against Kayode Ewumi and co-creator of #HoodDocumentary Tyrell Williams that the show has become less authentic now that it lives on BBC 3’s new online platform seems at odds with the fact that both Ewumi and Tyrell have remained in creative control of the show despite its move under the British broadcaster’s banner.
Read moreHarambe & The Deflection of Guilt
Before her son was dragged by Harambe, the silverback gorilla in an enclosure at Cincinnati Zoo, Michelle Gregg was just a mother of four taking her children for a day out. Now? Gregg and her partner Deonne Dickerson have been accused of criminal negligence. Dry head Laura Collins wrote an article for (*sigh*) The Daily Mail with a headline so egregious as to be laughable reading “Father of boy who fell into gorilla’s enclosure has a lengthy criminal history.” As if his past transgressions, crimes for which he paid his debt to society, explain why his child wandered off and was able to climb into a gorilla enclosure. Enclosure. ENCLOSURE. It’s supposed to be closed, the clue is right there in the name.
Read moreThe Character Assassination of Amber Heard
I am a survivor of domestic violence. When I was 15 years old, I testified against our abuser via video link in Southwark Crown Court. His defence lawyer made it known he thought I was little more than a talented actress who had concocted an elaborate tale of abuse and violence in order to wring money from a poor, embattled man. Despite having just played a recording of my frantic 999 call to the court where I screamed, cried and begged for help as our lives were threatened by a man wielding a knife, his lawyer somehow spun it. I was a delusional teenager whose love of film and TV had warped my sense of reality. We were devious, treacherous women who had lied and manipulated to get this innocent, kind, benevolent man arrested, get his money and get him out of our lives.
Read moreAlesha Dixon : Sweet Like Chocolate
Viewers of Britain's Got Talent are calling for Alesha Dixon to be fired from her position as a judge because she described an act in the semi-finals of the ITV competition reality show as "chocolate men."
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Read moreDear Jesus & The End of A Chapter
It hurts. Ending a project when you feel there is so much left to say and so much left to achieve. I have won awards and travelled abroad promoting Dear Jesus, but I can’t eat awards. I can’t take my Screen Nation Award to the corner shop and use it to top up my Oyster Card. And whose fault is that? Who is to blame for the fact that so far while producing my web series, I have not made a return on my financial investments? I cannot blame any one of the systems of oppression set up to work against my efforts- I mean look at the examples creatives out there who are using social media platforms to transform their lives and achieve their dreams. Despite the odds, they have achieved greatness. The blame must then lie at my feet. I mean why else would a series that has starred 63 actors, spanned 6 seasons, comprising of 42 episodes fail to garner mainstream attention? It can’t be the content. It must be me. I am the problem. I don’t have the business acumen, the connections, the know-how to make this work.
Read moreWhen Black Girl Magic Isn't Enough
When my big brother shared Azealia Banks' interview on Hot 97 in the video below, I cried. Banks clearly articulated the pain felt by black creatives when their art is misappropriated by white people who they then must watch become wealthy while they languish, be awarded while they are left empty handed. It was decided, I would conjure my Black Girl Magic to rally around Banks and ignore the problematic points in her argument (is she shedding tears for Bill Cosby?) because I cape hard for black women. I cape especially hard for NW45, Deep Dark outspoken, women artists. Skip to the 7:52 mark to hear the discussion pertaining to the effects of cultural misappropriation in hip hop and rap music.
Read moreMira Nair & The Changing of The Guard
What a great week it has been for the representation of people of colour in cinema both behind and in front of the camera. First came the announcement of the stunning casting of Lupita Nyong'o and Michael B Jordan opposite Chadwick Boseman in Ryan Coogler's Black Panther, then came the release of the trailer for Mira Nair's Queen of Katwe.
Read moreMy Mind's Telling Me No : Thoughts On The Pied Piper
It hit me like a tonne of bricks on Friday afternoon when my team and I were drinking in the office- R.Kelly is a pedophile. I mean, we've known for years, but it really hit me- wow, this man has been targeting underage girls for sex with impunity for years. Not only is he a pedophile, one of the most heinous criminal acts known to man, but he has had fans of his music to conspire willingly with him to masks his crimes behind his musical genius. He has been telling us for close to two decades now "This is the Pied Piper of R&B." And we've been repeating it in the clubs, in the car, in the shower, I bet you said it in your head in his voice. It's sick. It's scary. Do you know how brazen it is to tell people what you are in your songs? When my good friend Genna reminded me of the etymology of the name the Pied Piper, citing it as the reason she didn't want to hear Back & Forth in the office, I felt sick.
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