It has been exactly one year since I wrote my piece “Walking While Black.” Yesterday I watched the Unite the Alt-Right rally on a live Facebook feed and saw a car plow through a crowd of anti-protestors. America is at odds with herself over Colin Kaepernick not being signed to an NFL team over his silent […]
I don’t attend marches or really believe in rallying. I understand the concept of solidarity and support, but I have this thing about fragmented demonstrations preaching to the choir under time constraints, and size limitations set to a government issued permit to exercise a First Amendment right. But in the cold of a January Saturday […]
For almost two years, As220’s new creative director, Shey Rivera, has been the curator of a quarterly event called “Luna Loba.” Centered around the subthemes of transformation, hunt, shamanism and the wild and wilderness, LUNA LOBA focuses on the work of female and gender neutral artists. I have seen anywhere from six to 12 artists stretch […]
Two nights ago I was on Facebook and Meryl Streep was breaking the internet. I don’t own a television so I was unaware of what the hype was about. Someone pointed out that Meryl gave a heartfelt clap back to the Pres-Elect. Someone else pointed out she allied herself with masses, and one last accolade […]
From Saturday January 14 until Saturday January 21, 2017, Rhode Island Black Stories (RIBS) presents the 19th annual FUNDA Fest. FUNDA means to teach and learn in Zulu and KiSwahili, and for an entire week, adults and children will be able to experience some of the best cultural arts programming across Rhode Island at venues that […]
The day before the election, I was walking with my daughter on our way to dinner and she asked me if I thought she would live to see 20. My daughter is 13. Why would a 13-year-old, healthy American girl ask such a question? As a father, can you imagine? I stayed silent too long, […]
In defense of Kaepernick, when I joined the army, I did not swear to uphold the national anthem. I did not swear to protect the flag. I swore an oath to uphold the Constitution of the United States of America (and protect the land from enemies both foreign and domestic). Now I know ya’ll are thinking, “Yeah, […]
I am waking up on the second day after seeing Trinity’s Appropriate, by Brandon Jacob Jenkins, directed by Brian Mertes. After viewing, it took me about this long to digest and come up with a coherent way to express not only what this play says to me, but how this play says something I […]
On May 18, I went out to see a local band in Providence. I used public transportation, had a great evening with friends and left for home around 11pm. The last stop on the bus line is conveniently at the top of my street, so I exited the bus and began the five-house walk home. […]
While the television plagues America with an onslaught of social injustices carried throughout the nation, we here in Rhode Island seem to have been spared viral police videos, save one, and adding names to the litany of unarmed victims struck down by law enforcement. Why are we so different? What are we doing that can possibly […]