I was wearing my best polo shirt, baggy jeans, and gold hoops on the first day of high school. It was the perfect outfit for a ninth grader at the large New Jersey school I should have been attending, surrounded by all of my childhood friends, but a terrible choice for the suburban New England… Continue reading How to Be Beige
Results for "Hip Hop"
Change I Can Believe In: On Media Bias
There are some things in media that I believed would never change. If I’m watching TV and I check out the Knicks game, it is likely they’ll lose. They’ve been losing my entire life. But what things in the media sphere can we change? While not always on display, my natural hair is a beautiful… Continue reading Change I Can Believe In: On Media Bias
On Appropriateness and Appropriation
My fellow white men, Ferguson was insane. Back then, I split my time between New York City and North Florida, so I was able to witness two very different communities responding. Predictably, the white, male, cisgendered group (of which many of us are part) in Florida substantively crushed the myth of post-racism in modern society.… Continue reading On Appropriateness and Appropriation
Sundays With My Grandmother
I woke up on Sunday morning in my grandmother’s apartment, smelling the steam that came from my ironed dress pants that hung on the wall. I could hear the loud voice of Pastor Joel Osteen on the television preaching about forgiveness and the goodness of God. “By the glorious grace of God” or “Turn to… Continue reading Sundays With My Grandmother
From Ferguson to Philippi
I live in Cape Town, South Africa. Far away from the community organizing, battle-waging on the streets of Ferguson, Missouri, I read through the effects of police brutality from my news sources in my own backyard and I am overcome with a sense of connectedness with these problems. In my short life, I have met… Continue reading From Ferguson to Philippi
Going Native
“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
On the Cusp of Identity
Johny Pitts is a writer, photographer, and broadcast journalist interested in issues of Afro-European identity. He won a Decibel Penguin Prize for a short story included in the The Map of Me, a Penguin books anthology about mixed-race identity. He recently collaborated with author Caryl Phillips on a photographic essay for the BBC and Arts… Continue reading On the Cusp of Identity
What’s all this about?
Abernathy is an Oakland-based media company that produces events and long-form, sophisticated content for black professionals. Our mission is to produce quality content that speaks at once to and for that audience: spreading the word about remarkable black men, reinforcing expectations for what our leaders can contribute, and amplifying the good news from all corners… Continue reading What’s all this about?