To my social world, learn to love your hell so you may better understand when positive comes your way. Even in these harsh times, every generation sees the past as better. While living in the pain, it’s hard to see the passion, but these times we’re in are perhaps the greatest time for this nation… Continue reading This Is Our Come Up, So Don’t You Dare Give Up!
Category: African Diaspora
A League of Their Own
When I left Haiti in 1964, I was certainly aware of social and economic inequalities, as well as of those between men and women. I do remember, for instance, the enthusiasm of young people of my generation for projects of assistance and support to the needy, visits to the sick, and help in evangelization and… Continue reading A League of Their Own
Just a Citizen of the World
Who am I? Where am I from? I was born in Geneva, Switzerland, but people sometimes give me the look when I tell them I’m Swiss. I was told many times, “Go back home!” “Go back to Africa!” When I heard that, I kept telling them that I was born in Switzerland and therefore my… Continue reading Just a Citizen of the World
Uncle Shadow and the Crescent City
There is something mesmerizing, yet indescribable about New Orleans. For as many times as I have been, I still don’t understand it. Yet, it’s one of the American cities I enjoy most. Whether it’s folks calling me “baby” or the ever-present Bounce remix thumping from sound systems worth more than the vehicles they’re in, ain’t nothing like… Continue reading Uncle Shadow and the Crescent City
Spinach
This being her second visit to the grocery store, with its blinding fluorescent light and constant A/C, she came prepared. The wool sweater, a gift from her best friend back in Nairobi, smells of incense and coal, the scent of safe secrets, closeness, and familiarity. Its fabric caresses her chin as she exhales a memory… Continue reading Spinach
Abernathy Man: Carlos Watson
Abernathy Man is a series that spotlights remarkable black men and the work they’re doing. You are one of the few people of color leading a large, mainstream global publication. Where did you get the name Ozy? Carlos Watson: There was a wonderful 200-year-old poem called “Ozymandias.”[1] I often interpreted to mean “think big, but… Continue reading Abernathy Man: Carlos Watson
Of Gods and Men
“As an artist, you have to get outside of the concern with what other people think of what you do. I don’t do what I do to appease people. I do the opposite. I do stuff that makes you uncomfortable, that makes you get up and say ‘What are you saying? James, did you read… Continue reading Of Gods and Men
¡CUBA VIVA! — Undocumented
This one goes out to all the dreamers, the idealists…the “undocumented.” Undocumented. I always felt the DJ was talking to me when he played songs he knew would “connect” with a certain type of audience. Maybe there were teenagers of my same age all over Havana who felt he was addressing them, too. We were… Continue reading ¡CUBA VIVA! — Undocumented
¡CUBA VIVA! — Retratos
My first love, the island of my childhood. In 2009, I walked over 100 miles during the course of three weeks in Havana. I walked everywhere, spoke to strangers, sat around for hours in places waiting for the sunset, adults, children, animals. These are portraits of a life that could have been. -Hemley González … Continue reading ¡CUBA VIVA! — Retratos
¡CUBA VIVA! — Tambor
The narratives of the African Diaspora in Latin America are sadly underrepresented in both English and Spanish language media, and history curricula in schools. With projects like Negro: A Docu-Series about Latino Identity and now the documentary, Tambor, Dash Harris aims to educate us on how traditional African culture manifests in modern-day Latino society. I… Continue reading ¡CUBA VIVA! — Tambor