A year ago: Sorry you feel uncomfortable Sorry I shattered your idyllic visions and Sorry I tarnished your childhood home and located it somewhere other than heavenly Sorry I transformed it and muddied your precious memories Sorry I brought it up Today: No, I won’t apologise for your discomfort and no I won’t apologise... Continue Reading →
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 →
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 →
The margins between being a ‘man’ and being a ‘woman’ are blurred. Culturally, we’ve been force-fed the idea that women are supposed to be sensitive. We’re meant to show our pain, show our feelings, we’re meant to cry. Men are not. They’re supposed to be strong which is why phrases like ‘be a man’ and... Continue Reading →
