Today Michelle Obama celebrates her last birthday as First Lady, and we're still not ready to say goodbye. FLOTUS' impact extends far beyond her official duties. She has been a source of inspiration for Black girls and women.
Poet Jasmine Mans captures our fondness for the "girl from the South Side" with a beautiful poem about her reach. For many, Mrs. Obama has a been a friend-in-our head, auntie-in-our-head, or, even, a mother-in-our-head. While we've tried to make it clear how deeply her presence and warmth have us. Listen to Mans capture the words we could not express.
Diverse portrayals of Black women in media were sorely lacking. 18-year-old, Amaris Wilson and Jazmyne Smith, take down the ways Hollywood typecasts Black women in television and film in their poem "Black Women on Television" performed at the 2016 Brave New Voices International Youth Poetry Slam Festival last month.
About the neck-roll stereotypes, they said. "...apparently Black girls can have attitudes but not character development/ just to be clear we do not travel in packs like some 'Bring It On Scene'"
And the young women had some important insight on how Black actresses aren't allowed to grow.
isn't astonishing how Taraji went from 'I ain't playin with you Jodi!', to caring for beloved Benjamin Button, then to 'I aint playin with you Lucious!?'
Smith and Wilson, represented Baton Rouge's Forward Arts all star slam team, accentuated their point with dynamic one-liners and uncomfortable truths about representation. The team finished in the top 10 of competing teams at this year's BNV.
Life at a PWI isn't always easy. Black women are often expected to prove ourselves and shoulder the burdens of everyone else's expectations. Poet Kwyn Townsend Riley captures the frustrations of Black womanhood in spaces that weren't built for us in "PWI 10 Commandments."
Honey Sanaa is a spoken word artist, educator and activist from New Orleans, by way of Mississippi. She’s a member of the national championship slam team, Slam New Orleans, and holds the title of Last Chance Slam Champion.
She dedicates her writing to telling the stories of her ancestors and the women she encounters and loves. She is persistent in telling the stories of her own life, and constantly learning to be unapologetic in their telling.
In this piece, Honey tells the painful truth of a person who struggles with body issues and an eating disorder. She showcases a vulnerability that Black women don’t always allow themselves to feel by delving into various scenarios and microagressions that trigger her feelings of self-loathing.
Watch Honey Sanaa let her guard down in this performance as she shares her fears and failures in a way that moves her audience to share this pain with her.
Alyesha Wise uses her piercing poetry to explore the ways Black women and girls are often silenced about their experiences with rape and sexual assault. In "The Interview," the Camden, NJ native asks a series of questions about that express the feelings of alienation she and so many other survivors have felt.
Beyoncé's "Formation" was an unapologetic call to slay.
Ernestine Johnson took Queen Bey's rallying cry a step further by reinterpreting the song as an explicit demand for solidarity among Black women and girls.
Dressed up in a Black bodysuit and bullet vest reminiscent of what Beyoncé wore to the Super Bowl, Ernestine underscores the importance of collaboration. "If I could talk to my 10 year old self, I would tell her not to be jealous or envy," she rhymes. Flanked by little natural-haired girls, she declares that everyone has their strengths, so the key is working together.
Kanye West is undeniably great, but for many who were once big fans, his message has become muddied by his infatuation with whiteness. Poet Jasmine Mans articulated her hurt at what Kanye has become in this moving poem, "Footnotes for Kanye."
