Imprints on our skin, fresh in our blood: Straighten your hair, they slurred, as they staggered past. Straighten for you means whiten, Europeanise. Force my tight, nappy curls between the hot iron clasps of your European beauty standards; making myself acceptable for your viewing. Her hair’s grey but she’s black, they laughed. Your white privilege reaches beyond the scope of... Continue Reading →
Creating my own blog has allowed me to interact with the vast online writing community but has also exposed me to the harsh and dark side of social media. What struck and really upset me, is the large number of teenagers who had made social media accounts to promote suicide and self-harm. Just the other... Continue Reading →
Halloween season is upon us and I’m sure almost everyone is frantically trying to decide on a costume for the one of many parties that we’ve agreed to go to. Traditionally, Halloween is a day which enables people to remember the dead, and hence many believe the festival to be rooted in paganism. Less traditionally,... Continue Reading →
The last line of my first blog post reads ‘Black people need to do better.’ Now, eight posts later and I’m opening with this same belief in mind. From what I’ve seen, black people are one of the most racially divided groups. There is a massive lack of unity presenting the black community as a... Continue Reading →
Girl, 20, raped in the early hours of Sunday morning. ‘What was she wearing? Was she showing too much skin. Why was she walking alone at that time? She was probably drunk. She should have got a taxi home.’ Victim blaming. I frequently hear saddening reactions like the above in response to accounts of sexual... Continue Reading →
‘Go home. You’re not welcome here. Go home.’ Show me home, this place which you shriek and shout of, this place you shower in my face as you shove past me in the street. Show me where my home is, draw me home, paint me home, where I used to safely play sticks and stones,... Continue Reading →
Being a celebrity is to be well-known and famous, to be liked, disliked and followed. And so, holding this status instantly grants you a share of power. Whether welcomed or not, you’re placed into a position where you have the authority to influence the way people think and the way people behave. You can control... Continue Reading →
Nothing could be more unlike Beaten, broken male bodies, shot dead in the street for resisting arrest, for standing unarmed, for talking back. Black BOY; nothing could be more unlike liberation. Twenty-seventeen, Libya host African, migrant slave markets. Auctioning off human life as merchandise; a mere four-hundred-dollars. Cheap. Any takers? Free on record,... Continue Reading →
He’s only picking on you because he likes you. Only calling you names, making fun of you and pushing you around, because he likes you. He’s only making you feel inferior because he likes you, as of course, the myth says, ‘boys are only mean to the girls they like’. I’m sure lot of young... Continue Reading →
