“black people breed too much”

Let’s get real now. The title of this post was the headline on the front page of The Nassau Guardian. It was inspired by the sentiments of a local Archdeacon, Fr. James Palacious. Fr. Palacious was trying to eloquently reword the remarks previously made by Richard Lightbourn, a Member of Parliament. Lightbourn, who later apologized, claimed that unwed Bahamian mothers should have their tubes tied after having more than two children.

Let’s just say that this ruffled a lot of feathers.

I’m not a fan of any man trying to make suggestions regarding women’s bodies and their reproduction?

Well, when Reverend Palacious took to address the masses at our nation’s Majority Rule march and celebration, he remarked that, “We live in a country where the rich get richer, and the poor get children.” He further went on to say that “Black people breed too much.” Remember that The Bahamas is more than 90% Black, but I digress.

self care.

I talk about self-care a lot, and that’s because it’s something I really believe in, but bare with me. The term has become such a catchall that it’s oftentimes, I’ll admit, annoying to hear or it’s interpreted differently. Nevertheless, it was only last year that the practice of genuine self-care became a routine part of my life. It was only at that point that I realized I wasn’t really practicing what I was preaching.

When I started taking my self-care seriously – understanding that I couldn’t cater to anyone or anything else to the best of my ability without taking care of myself – ya’ girl started getting her shit together (slowly, but surely).

Now when it comes to self-care, everyone has their own ways and preferences, but I can only speak to my own. It’s hard being a Black woman. It’s even extra hard being a Black woman in a space, like my college, that requires so much of you. My most common acts of self-care are more personal ones that allow me to enjoy the simple things before having to re-enter such an eyeroll-inducing space, and to be carefree.

lib•er•a•tion (n.)

(Noa Snir)

liberation (n.) (goal.)

• the act or process of freeing someone or something from another’s control

• the removal of traditional social or sexual rules, attitudes, etc.

There’s a certain level of comfort in allowing things to remain the same, even when we realize that they’re holding us back. To transform, to shift, and to shed any old skin is difficult and there’s uncertainty. I’ve also had this limiting belief that things take a lot more time than they can actually do. There’re always excuses being made, especially with regards to time. When I speak of liberation, I’m talking about expressing my whole self and all that I am, without fear of others’ reactions, or even my own. It seems so simple and idealistic. Who knows. There has always been this internal resistance – a battle between progress and regression. It’s a journey, but there are three actions that ought to be cultivated to make this transition easier.

let me tell you something:

let me tell you something:

no one is going to look at you, broken and shattered
and think –
damn, you are beautiful.
no one is going to come pick up your broken pieces off the floor and
assemble them into a beautiful whole.
hell,
you won’t even look at yourself and think –
I made broken look beautiful.
you know why?
because all those writers lied to you.
yes,
all those with their poems of scraped knuckles and
blood dripping down chins,
pomegranate songs and loves that ripped through you like
hurricanes.
liars.
so you and i,
we are going to make a plan.

black sans apology

There’s something about the way we value life that’s just unrealistically distorted and that has to change. (Repeat the previous line until it sticks). It’s disproportionate to the way we view our economies and that has to change.We’ve heard it all before to the point where even if though it matters to us, it becomes so banal and is pushed in the background of white noise because there are so many goddamn issues demanding our attention.

Folks would raise more hell for the death of a gorilla or a woman choosing to have an abortion than for the death of another human being (whether it’s an unarmed Black person being shot or young Arab children killed my bombs or chemicals) anywhere around the world.

So you know how anti-choice trashcans say “What if the cure for cancer lies in the mind of a fetus that gets aborted?” Well, since fetuses already knowing advanced medical sciences aren’t a thing, I figured I’d provide some more valid alternatives:

homosexuality in the caribbean

Last night on Facebook, I posed a question to figure out why there is so much hate towards gays and transgender women (here in The Bahamas) yet so little, in comparison to lesbian women and transgender men? I had my ideas, as this had been a topic I’d taken interest in a while back when I first made this Prezi for the Caribbean and Latin America Cultural Day show at UWC. The feature video in that presentation followed the ‘Young and Gay: Jamaica’s Gully Queens’. It’s certainly worth watching for anyone interested in this topic.

In response to my question, a friend of mine, Breyant, provided a wonderfully outlined explanation as to the background of homophobia, in particular to the double standard towards lesbians and gays. Her response is below!

my dope ass reading list

These books have been on my reading list for a very long time now, and although this summer promises to be busy with jobs and resting, I’m going to try and make time for them – starting now and finishing whenever. In the photo I posted, I’ve replaced Question Bridge (admittedly not interested) with Nervous Conditions and  Nayyirah Waheed’s Nejma  (already read) for The Bluest Eye by Toni Morrison. Note, a lot of these are available free through PDF if you can’t get your hand on the book itself.

                 

Here are a few other ones that have been on my list, because they’ve been recommended some way or another:

when life gives you lemons…

Oh, Lord.

Okay. I have been sitting here, sipping on Lemonade overnight, because really and truly that was a spiritual journey and I’m still recovering. You see, last night, the universe had to call out on me to chill; and I had to sit in my thoughts for a while, because when something this emotional and profound happens, you gotta’ take time. To write this in that very moment would’ve been raw, if not too raw, and some refining and digesting needed to take place.

I’m not one for brevity, not for something like this, and these topics don’t allow for it anyway, so bare with me please as I try to capture and convey it all.

When it comes to Lemonade, there is way too much to unpack. Let’s just say, if you’re thinking that this is mainly about infidelity and marital strife with Jay, sit down right now honey, ‘cause you’ve missed the mark and we ‘gotta talk.

Let’s start here: Beyoncé made Lemonade for Black women first, then Black people as a whole. The world can enjoy it in its rightful context, but it’s for us.

a poem to get you through the worst of times

On the nights when you are lying down

Head buried in your pillow soaked in tears

Broken and bruised

You need to remind yourself of the rainbows glowing in your soul

And kiss the bougainvillea growing on your limbs

You need to tell yourself

That it is okay

It is okay to be flawed

It is okay not to be perfect

You need to tell yourself that it is okay to be sensitive

It is okay to bruise easier and faster

It is okay to have anxiety and the demons in your head

You don’t have to live their version of life

You don’t have to conform to their realities and standards of strength and weakness

You make your own self

You make your own reality

You make your own truth

And you profess it and live it with pride

You have a whole world inside you

Or maybe you are a world in itself

You are the cosmic energy of the universe

You are stardust and divine light

There is none like you

You have to accept the thorns on your body along with the flowers

You need to run to yourself

Embrace it like a long lost lover

Kiss every scar on your weary soul

And wear them with pride.

—

By Jawad Khalid
Artwork by LValenciaArt

april.

april showers bring may flowers.

this playlist was curated to accompany the days only april can shower upon us.
hope you like it.