When you don’t know….you don’t know.” The first time I heard that expression was in 1997 when I first saw the film Hoodlum. Two characters were in the midst of a Harlem turf battle during a Depression-era numbers racket in Harlem, and mob boss Charles “Lucky” Luciano grouses to Ellsworth “Bumpy” Johnson about another gangster,… Continue reading Act Like You Know: When ‘Tacky’ & ‘Tone-Deaf’ Go Viral
Tag: Black beauty
Loving The Fake, Loathing The Real: Columbusing, Whiteness & Black Beauty
For most parents, it’s an automatic and instinctual practice: we gaze into the faces of our babies and fall in love. From the tops of their heads to the bottoms of their feet, we gaze in wonder at the innocence we’ve been entrusted with and hope that they will one day embrace themselves the way… Continue reading Loving The Fake, Loathing The Real: Columbusing, Whiteness & Black Beauty
Black Hair, Why Care? Battling Prejudice Against Africanized Tresses
The die was probably cast from the moment I was born. According to Mama, one of the first things she noticed, after counting the fingers and toes of course, was my hair. “You had the thickest, glossiest curls I’d ever seen. I would just brush it, braid it, put you in little dresses and take… Continue reading Black Hair, Why Care? Battling Prejudice Against Africanized Tresses