Ernest White II is a writer, educator, and explorer who served as the founding editor of Abernathy. Ernest is the publisher of FLY, and splits his time between Cape Town and Miami. His passions include São Paulo, Indian food, and Rita Hayworth. Follow him at ernestwhite2.com.
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 […]
Abernathy Man is a series that spotlights remarkable black men and the work they’re doing. You were among the few professional football players to come out as gay once retiring from the NFL. Tell us about how ideas of masculinity affected your experience as a black gay athlete and how it affects us as a […]
“We can live in a world where the police don’t kill people by limiting police interventions, improving community interactions, and ensuring accountability.” So reads the hopeful, matter-of-fact vision statement of Campaign Zero, a momentous, sweeping initiative focused intently on ending police violence in the United States. Organized by four social justice leaders from around the country […]
“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 […]
One could say that the whole mess started in 2013, when the Constitutional Court, the supreme judicial body of the Dominican Republic, immediately rendered some 200,000 of its citizens stateless. “The ruling retroactively stripped Dominicans of Haitian descent of citizenship back to 1929,” says France François, spokesperson for the Washington, D.C.-based Association of Haitian Professionals […]
Once upon a time, I lived in Colombia. And one day, I posted this as my Facebook status: Acabo de caminar del gimnasio. Hoy es un día brillante de sol tropical. Y bajo de ese sol iluminante, se me dió cuenta que yo era el único negro/moreno/mulato en la calle que no era obrero, vigilante, […]
To the black men—and women—who died fighting for a country they believed in, even if it didn’t believe in them, we give eternal thanks.
“Hey you,” the vending lady barked at us. “You buy souvenir.” “No, no, thank you.” I said, as politely as I could, pressing my lips together in that unintentionally patronizing, very American way. She stalked off, muttering not quite under her breath. I didn’t understand the words, but I understood the meaning. We were being […]
My mother and father grew up in segregation. Mickey and Miami have fooled people into thinking otherwise, but Florida is and always was a Southern state. My father was born during the Baby Boom and lived in a shotgun house on the brother side of Jacksonville, the youngest of four siblings. His older brother, Julian, made […]