All posts tagged: violence

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 …

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, …