“Where you from?” the driver asks in Spanish after a few minutes in the air-conditioned cab. He had picked me up on the corner near my apartment, sweating under the morning sun in my khakis and button-down dress shirt with the sleeves rolled-up to the elbow. He is running me to the university, but it… Continue reading Going Native
Author: Ernest White II
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.
Remembering Selma
Fifty years ago, in March of 1965, thousands of people protested restrictions on the voting rights of black citizens in Alabama by marching from the town of Selma to the state capital at Montgomery, a distance of 54 miles. State and local police beat marchers unconscious and white militia groups attacked and killed participants, all… Continue reading Remembering Selma
Brothers, Do You Love Yourselves?
Fat faggot was what they called me from eighth through twelfth grades. It had been just plain faggot before then. And sissy and sweet thang and Oreo and mutt and sometimes halfbreed and once or twice even cracker. But it was fat faggot that stayed. It stayed after I had graduated high school and lost… Continue reading Brothers, Do You Love Yourselves?
My Fellow Black Americans: It’s Time to Get—and Use—That Passport
Brothers, if you don’t have one already, you need to get yourself a passport. If you do have one, it’s time to use it. As a 37-year-old black man from Florida, I can honestly say that now, more than ever in my lifetime, I am mortally afraid of inadvertently pissing off some over-eager, trigger-happy jackass… Continue reading My Fellow Black Americans: It’s Time to Get—and Use—That Passport