Civil Rights Movement Marches on in Mexico

Time Magazine posted an article outlining the plight of Afro-Mexicans. Time writes: Mirroring Mexico’s history itself, most of Yanga’s Afro-Mexican population has been pushed to neighboring rural villages that are notable primarily for their deep poverty and the strikingly dark skin of their inhabitants. Mexico’s independence from Spain and new focus on building a national [...]

Lessons from NCNW’s Black Family Reunion

This past weekend blackgirlgrown participated in the NCNW’s Annual Black Family Reunion Celebration. It reminded us of our own family reunions, the good, bad, and the ugly…..but lovely even still. And no matter the hemming and hawing, we’ll return next year. Several teaching and reflective moments come to mind: Family is family whether we are [...]

Guest Post: Dr. Maya Rockeymoore: My Learning Story

Dr. Maya Rockeymoore, President and CEO of Global Policy Solutions.  Working with the Forum for Education and Democracy’s Rethink Learning Now campaign, Dr. Rockeymoore shares her “learning story.”  This campaign is designed to get people engaged in education reform by sharing their “learning stories.”   They are seeking to collect stories from across the United [...]

Black on Black Neglect: Hook A Brotha Up

AverageBro.com has a guest post by Janks Morton, an independent black filmmaker, on how the “hook a brotha up” mentality is ruining independent black film. Janks, producer/director of Boys To Men and What Black Men Think, begrudgingly makes a plea for African Americans to support independent black film with the $$$ and stop getting bootleg [...]

Lies We (Black America) Tell Ourselves

HT to Savvy Sista.  Tonya Pendleton hits it out the ballpark with her Black America’s 10 Biggest Lies post over at BlackAmericaWeb.com. The Top 10 Biggest Lies Include: Lie #1: Soul food is good for you. Lie #2: Baby mamas/daddies are okay. Lie #3: Celebrities are more deserving of forgiveness than others. Lie #4: A [...]

It’s Not How Much You Make, But How Much You Keep

If the African American community is to prosper over the long term absent government involvement, a prerequisite must focus on wealth creation.  Not just making money, but keeping it.  Yes, the black middle class makes made a lot of money.  But how many of us still have it?  And how many have a plan to [...]

25 Years of Crack Sentencing

Twenty-five years ago this year, the U.S. Senate and U.S. House of Representatives overwhelmingly voted for, and President Reagan signed, the 1986 Anti-Drug Abuse Act creating mandatory minimums and disparate penalties for crack cocaine offenses. In the twenty-five years since its enactment, the disparate sentencing, falling along racial lines, has created a groundswell of community [...]

Stop Cursing

With the disclaimer that I am certainly not the one to lecture on the subject, I don’t like cursing. Yes, occasionally some four-letter words fall out of my mouth. This is usually in the company of very close friends, not too flagrant, and never in public or around elders. Growing up, I remember cursing (or [...]

On Dr. Henry Louis Gates, Jr.

All one can say is wow.  And similar to the O.J. Simpson verdict, your point of view is likely colored by the color of your skin. For every white guy celebrating our “post-racial” society there is a black man with a “driving while black” story. If that wasn’t enough, President Obama’s remarks on the subject [...]

Tracing our Family History and African Ancestry

President and First Lady Obama’s recent trip to Ghana magnified our collective African ancestry. Visiting the Door of No Return, President Obama remarked on the stirring emotion created in the stark contrasts of then and now. Shortly thereafter, the revolting news of grave robbers raiding Chicago’s historic Burr Oak Cemetery and the initial belief of a [...]

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