Slavery in Life, Slavery in Death: Reckoning with the Zombification of Blackness
Like the zombies of Haitian mythology, Breonna Taylor has been resurrected and trivialized, her death turned into an opportunity for glib commodification. By the time I learned about the existence of the New York Times’ documentary The Killing of Breonna Taylor,
14 Re-Tellings of Black History According to Shameik Moore (Probably)
“Harriet Tubman did all that huffing and running knowing there were horses and carriages. Who did she think she was? Jordan Peele in a parkour skit???” - Shameik Moore Being Black in this world is simultaneously a wonderful, yet peculiar thing.
Decentering Black Male Paragons During Black History Month
This Black History Month, and really every month, my goal is to decenter cis(het) Black men in favor of uplifting queer Black folks, Black women, and other marginalized or unheard groups within the Black community.
During Black History Month we gird ourselves for the inevitable white-centered mentions of Martin Luther King Jr. and his supposedly pure non-violence compared to our supposedly recent civil unrest, à la the Black Lives Matter movement. We spit curated “facts” about everyone from MLK Jr. to Madam CJ Walker to The Black Panther Party and we have our paragons lined up and ready just the way we learned them in school: Rosa Parks, George Washington Carver, Malcolm X, Frederick Douglass, etc. What happens when we center people like Marsha P Johnson, people like Trudy of Gradient Lair, people like me? Well, usually what happens is an immediate shutdown. Someone brought up colorism in regards to Rosa Parks success as a public civil rights figure and people were up in arms. Instead of placing Parks into historical context where colorism is definitely relevant, the response was an All-Lives-Matter esque, “We are ALL Black.” The same thing happens with Beyoncé — but that’s nothing compared to the uproar a mention of MLK Jr.’s infidelity brings. In conversations about our Black idols we are encouraged to forget their very human transgressions or imperfections in favor of “preserving the legacy.” Perfection over reality or relatability engenders idolization, and that’s why political leaders preferred monotheism to paganism — control.Related: 8 THINGS YOU MAY NOT KNOW ABOUT ROSA PARKS
8 Things You May Not Know About Rosa Parks
Rosa Parks was a fearless activist who inspired many generations all over the world. Chances are you’ve known about Rosa Parks for almost as long as you’ve known how to spell your own name. Every Black History Month, there are