Perhaps I should have started at the beginning...

Where should I start? I don't like policing. It may sound harsh but it is a drastic evolution from the kid who didn't like police. Here is where most people say, "But there are some good cops." To which I respond, "The road to Hell is paved with good intentions." Policing is only good to those who believe that Black and Brown people need to be policed. Policing is not only founded in oppression it is literally, violence…

During the 2020 presidential debates I found myself rooting for Donald Trump, he had called out Joe Biden on his part in perpetuating the Clintons' "Superpredator" propaganda used to push the 90 create the current state of mass incarceration. Unfortunately, Donald Trump could not close the deal, he was not educated on the subject—not many Americans are. Most are under the assumption that it is all about the drug laws, it is so much more…

#FACTS

August 27, 1999

Shots were fired into the Zone 6 Police station on Northumberland Street in the Squirrel Hill section of Pittsburgh where four officers were working…

The old man was a fixture at the shore, his brown feet pressed into the ground sturdy like a tree that peered out into the vastness of the sea. He was faithful in his routine, each day at dusk he ventured beyond the limits of the village where the trees gave way to soft white sands…

Jalen was born on the day that our Haitian ancestors declared independence. That day shifted the reality of the black diaspora—that day changed my life…

I often wonder how to quantify a Black woman's soul energy. What amount of the universe mist she call upon to perform the magic that she does? I do not pretend to know…

Never trust anyone that says, "Trust me." I don't give shit if they descend from the clouds floating on coagulated baby giggles. Tell them to fly their fancy ass some place where trust is cheap…

My name is Senzar. It is the name I had when my mother adopted me. She said that I stared at her with my big brown eyes and captured her heart. "And there you were a sweet brown sugar," she would smile. The white people in Podunk, including my parents, never saw me for my color, I was just Senzar…

"I've seen some cold nights and bloody days." I've been in many hands and have taken many lives. I've been gripped by some killers and some coldblooded cowards…

Eyes were always upon her like hands, hands were hungry like mouths and mouths that meant destruction. To Thomasina, white men's words were like mucus pulled from the bowels and spat in her face…

Adelaide was making sandwiches and potato salad. She said that "it's too hot to be turning on the stove." Her wiry black fingers creased and folded the wax paper to make a pocket for the turkey sandwiches…

by Maurice Stevens

Turn Around! Turn Around! I yelled into the mirror as I watched a shadowy figure approach me from behind. My body wouldn't obey. I stood stiff as if I'd been encapsulated in concrete…

The 2019 University of Pittsburgh Equity report exposed the city of Pittsburgh as being among the worst in the country for Black women to live. Despite this fact, many surveys have the city listed as one of the most "livable" cities in the country…

Malcolm X once said that Black women are the most disrespected and unprotected...

Prison is meant to break you. I remember vividly entering Western Penitentiary, it was like being awake for my own death…

We've all heard the term, "crabs in a barrel" used to express frustration with others who seem to be pulling another person down…

Light passes through the canopy. Life passes through my panoply.

I lived in an indestructible fortress to fear, nothing could harm me. I was a perpetual sentinel in my own life, always on guard. As a child in America there are rules that apply universally…

I braced myself as I pressed the gas pedal. My black sedan seemed to sense my trepidation and hesitated before it lurched forward through the intersection into Wishanick Woods, a place I had avoided for most of my life…

"You're lookin very dark skinned today." That is how Big Rose and I greet each other. The reply, "Thank you…"

"You know there are no black people in Africa," she said…

Thomas Smith was the owner of one of the South's largest plantations. He once boasted that he owned more slaves than he did chickens, "The evil Black wenches hatch more children than the damn hens…"

In the 1800s, slave owners were faced with what they perceived to be a perplexing phenomenon, the runaway slave. A group of slave owners turned to Dr. Samuel Cartwright to research and remedy their problems with the absconding slaves…