When I think of Dr. Mae Jemison, the image in my mind is of a smiling young Black woman in an orange astronaut suit, possibly wearing or holding the kind of helmet that astronauts wear when they embark upon a spacewalk. The image in my mind is static, unmoving. It’s lovely and placid.
Tag: representation
To Sir, With Love
We are just a few short weeks into 2022, and collectively many of us are mourning the passing of America’s last Golden Girl, a trailblazing fashion icon, and a remarkable actor who to me embodied poise and gravitas. Grief to me is such a strange, intensely personal thing. When famous folks die and I find…
Unintimidated: Ruth S. Wilson
This post is part of a year-long series. If you enjoy and learn from my writing, please contribute to support my full-time writing work via Patreon or Venmo. You can also purchase merch from TeeSpring or Bonfire, the proceeds from which enable me to continue this work. Between 1940 and 1945, millions of American women…
Piece 30: Grown
Our society seems to have deemed it necessary to punish teens for looking like adults by sentencing them – even if only in the court of public opinion – like adults.
Piece 29: The Square Root of [Im]possible
When you watch Jingle Jangle, I hope you will move a step beyond passively taking in all the joy and beauty it offers to ask yourself when you last saw such lovingly crafted black characters on screen, how many heartwarming holiday movies uplift a wholesome image of a black family, and what it means for girls to see themselves represented as talented and determined and curious and bold.
Piece 28: Soul
So if Pixar is going to wait twenty-five years to give paying audiences a black protagonist, we can damned well insist they give us a thoughtful, human story – just as they have with all the white protagonists before.
Piece 4: Representation
When brand names and images are changed in order to be more considerate of a diverse customer base, what feelings does this elicit inside you?