Modern Griots Reviews: Renegade Performance Group’s “The Inscription Project”

Graffiti and The Dance of Power Relations From its beginning almost 40 years ago, Hip-Hop culture has had afrofuturist tendencies, from costumes and sounds of artists like Afrika Bambaataa and Ramellzee to later Missy Elliot and her videos with Hype Williams; to the hacking of street lamps to power sounds systems and other innovative rewiring […]

The My-Stery: We Must Value Our Own Stuff Even in the Face of Doom Part 2

If you have been following the news, you most likely have heard about Azealia Banks’ interview on Hot 97, in which she gave an honest critique of appropriation of the cultural forms that originated in black cultures: “I feel, just in this country, whenever it comes to our things, like Black issues, or Black politics, […]

The My-Stery: The Different American Realities We Have and Politics of Proof – RIP Trayvon Martin

I feel genuinely weakened and tired from the not guilty verdict given to the George Zimmerman case. I was not shocked by it, but it did feel like another painful smack in the face after you’ve already been beaten several times. During the whole trial, two quotations from Malcolm X came to mind: “If you […]

Black Girls/Black Women Are from the Future: Free Angela

Angela Davis is more than an afro and if you think wearing an afro is radical and revolutionary enough, then you do not know much about Angela Davis’ life. Having grown up in Birmingham and knowing the girls who were murdered in the Birmingham church bombing, Davis seemed destined to want to make a change […]

Otherworldly Videos: America, the Ugly

Joey Bada$$ – Unorthodox RebelMatic – Survival Gathering These two songs and videos are sadly relevant for today. This is dedicated to Kimani Gray, Trayvon Martin, Hadiya Pendleton, and the countless other young people who are victims to violence everyday.

The My-Stery: Some Thoughts About Moving #Forward After the DNC

Now that the glitz, glam and hype about the Democratic National Convention is over and I think we need to come back to reality. Although I do respect Obama, his good intentions, and what he has accomplished, I still have fears for the future of this country and the world. With his new campaign slogan, […]

The My-Stery: Invisibility and Anti-Matter at the RNC

Watching veteran actor Clint Eastwood’s “act” with an invisible President Obama in a chair may have been the highlight of the Republican National Convention, but as several commentators have mentioned, it ironically represented the Republican platform and treatment of Obama in this election. Through their words and actions, this is what I have heard from […]

Rethinking the ‘Fantasy’ of Africa in Roots Reggae

Professor, author and cultural analyst Louis Chude-Sokei speaks in his lecture, “When Echoes Return: Roots, Diaspora and Possible Africas (A Eulogy).” The lecture centers on the death of South African reggae singer Lucky Dube and how the fantasy of a singular Africa in roots reggae music has been both a dangerous space and a space […]

Otherworldly Videos: White House, Black President

With the next presidential election only a few months away, let us look back on the symbolism of a black president through speculative film and think about the new considerations we must think about now that we have one. In a 1961 speech at the Liberation Committee for Africa, James Baldwin offered a critical response […]

“NO FAIRYTALE: Why We Must Teach Kids About Prison”

Dr. R. L’Heureux Lewis-McCoy wrote an article about the increasing need to teach young children and adults about surviving the prison industrial system: Recently, a picture has been floating around the Internet of a children’s book called “The Night Dad Went to Jail: What to expect when someone you love goes to jail” by Melissa […]