Month: June 2016

Black man with rainbow flag

There’s no such thing as a safe space: Grieving after Orlando

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by Irna Landrum This post was originally published on Daily Kos and is republished here with permission. I needed an updo. I have dreadlocks, thick heavy tresses now long enough to fall over my shoulders. I was going to be a bridesmaid in an outdoor wedding in New Orleans. In the summer. The thought of my locks touching my face and my neck and my shoulders and back while I stood smiling in steamy humidity was too much to bear. I needed an updo. At the recommendation of several of my dreadhead sistren, I found a stylist in the 7th Ward, drove to her through pouring rain, and waited more than an hour to be seen. I walked into the shop and saw locs and afros and braids being done. I heard the familiar Creole cadence of speech I’d grown up with. I was called darlin’ as soon as I walked in the door. There are no spaces like this in my current city, Minneapolis. This new place immediately felt like home. When homophobia slaps you in …

Snelling Avenue Green Line Station in St. Paul

30 Years A Minnesotan

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by Walt Jacobs In the summer of 1986, I started an engineering internship at 3M. I was a kid from Atlanta spending the summer in the Twin Cities on my way to college in the fall. I grew up in mostly Black neighborhoods in the south so spending three months in the predominantly White Minnesota cities was quite an adjustment. In fact, the first time I walked into a McDonald’s my inner voice screamed, “There are White kids working at McDonald’s!” As the summer wore on I was shocked to see White and Asian folks in public housing complexes and was stunned when I could count the amount of Cadillacs I saw on one hand. Rear wheel drive is not practical for Minnesota winters! The first two times I was called “nigger” to my face were at Boy Scout camps. The third time was while sitting in a car at a stoplight on Snelling Avenue in St. Paul. I was on the passenger side with the window down; my colleague, a White intern from California …

Exposed tree roots

“Roots” and the Cult of Resiliency

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by dc edwards This post was originally published on the author’s website and is republished here with permission. This tweet pissed me off: Don’t tell me you don’t want to see another slave movie when you have watched 163 different versions of Spider-Man/Batman #Roots #haveaseat — LaToia Jones (@latoiajones) May 31, 2016 It’s a false equivalency. The feeling that many of us have about not wanting to relive trauma that exists even today in our community versus watching multiple renditions of fictional characters is just not the same. To argue that it is, is quite simply ridiculous. And yet, this tweet went viral. Making it to Colorlines and all over my Facebook timeline. Then of course Snoop Dogg, he of the infamous bitches & hoez lyricism, went on a rant against Hollywood and their consistent slave movie making hobby. And then Roland Martin went after him. Ok…Well… Technically what Snoop said minus the “real nigga” bravado and the cursing is not so wrong. Black activists often say that very little has changed when it comes to racism. And …

Ultra modern bookshelf

Blackasotan Bookshelf – June 2016

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Here’s what a few Blackasotans are reading this month: Erica:  See No Color by Shannon Gibney I identified quite a bit with some of Alex’s struggle to discover where she fit in. Her parents’ attempts to remain “color blind” were excruciating to read, as I’ve seen so many people wrongfully take that approach. (And I just liked that the story included a brief visit to my hometown of Detroit.) Sherlonda: F*ck Feelings: One Shrink’s Practical Advice for Managing All Life’s Impossible Problems by Dr. Michael Bennett and Sarah Bennett I think this is a wonderful read for those of us who struggle with ‘creating our ideal self and our ideal life’ and feel bad about it. This book tells the hard truth, using humor and some colorful language, about what we can and can’t achieve. Stephanie: Kindred by Octavia Butler Every Black person in this country should read this book. Although all of Octavia’s books are an experience, this one stands against the test of time in both a good way and a bad way: the …

Danger: Contents Under Extreme Pressure. Handle With Care.

A Difficult Job

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by Michael Kleber-Diggs This post was originally published on the author’s website and is republished here with permission. I keep thinking about that police officer down the street kneeling on that young black man and twisting his arm around, savagely, nonchalantly, while the child screamed ‘help! Help!’ I keep thinking about them. At the moment it happened my wife and I were walking in a park two miles to the north. It had been, to that point, a difficult week at our house. Our daughter is nearing the end of her Freshman year in high school, spectacular recovery work is needed in her math class; the calendar has other final exams, four (4!) dance recitals and her school’s formal. My work has been insane and so has my wife’s. We aren’t sleeping enough – none of us are sleeping enough. At some point you will be asked to parent well when you are tired. My wife and I were walking around the lake in an agitated state. We have just the one egg to obsess over, …