Reckoning, the Combahee River Collective, and Black Women’s History Month
“What does freedom look like? We have never seen it. We have never touched it or tasted it. So, what is it?” I asked these questions in a recent Black...
“What does freedom look like? We have never seen it. We have never touched it or tasted it. So, what is it?” I asked these questions in a recent Black...
“You may as well leave my class now because you’re wasting my time and your’s,” Mr. Harris interrupted our Calculus class. “You’re never going to be anything anyway. Why are...
If white folx can’t be “allies” to their Black co-congregants in church, then I’m not sure there’s any place white allyship can actualy exist. Let me explain. On a recent...
One of the most irritating byproducts of this new era of being “woke” is the increased numbers of people who read one Martin Luther King, Jr speech or saw one...
What if being identified as “White” necessarily meant that one was seen as a criminal? What if being a “male” guaranteed that one would be deemed intellectually inferior? These metaphors probably...
Recently, the Movement for Black Lives convened in Cleveland, Ohio. Activists, organizers, writers, community leaders and concerned citizens alike gathered for three days to engage one another on the important issues facing...
Gender & Sexuality / Politics / Race
by Jenn M. Jackson · Published July 8, 2015 · Last modified December 17, 2016
When I was seventeen, I was groomed and preyed upon by a high school basketball coach. He told me to stop wearing panties if I wanted to get a ‘real...
After what seems like eons of terrible decisions from the Supreme Court of the United States, the past few weeks have offered a glimmer of hope amidst an otherwise abysmal narrative...
Since the murderous acts of terror (which left nine Black people dead) at the Emanuel AME Church in Charleston, South Carolina two weeks ago, six Black churches in the South have...
by Jenn M. Jackson · Published June 27, 2015 · Last modified December 17, 2016
This morning, Bree Newsome climbed a 30-foot flagpole in Columbia, South Carolina. I repeat. Bree Newsome climbed a 30-foot flagpole. I repeat. Bree Newsome. Again. Bree. Newsome. Some of y’all...
It’s not every day that a sitting president sings to congregants of the African Methodist Episcopal Church. But, in honor of the nine people killed last week in the Emanuel AME...
During my first quarter of grad school, I read some powerful words about the interaction between antiracism and antiracialism. These words resonated with me mainly because I frequently saw many...
by Jenn M. Jackson · Published November 23, 2014 · Last modified December 16, 2016
“Can I have that toy shooter Mommy?” “No.” “Why?” “Because you’re Black.” While many little boys run through streets, backyards, and playgrounds with toy guns, my sons don’t. Seeing White boys...
When I was 15 years old, I had what any level-headed person would call a stalker. Let’s just call him “Mike”. He was at least ten years older than me...
“Is it because I’m black?” This is the question we often ask ourselves when the taxi won’t stop or the other pedestrian on the sidewalk won’t smile back or when...
While writing a piece yesterday about John Crawford – the 22-year-old killed in Walmart for playing with a toy gun – I became aware of another story of ‘homicide by...