Programs: BlackBox

When Style Becomes a Question of Origin

Black dandyism carries history in its seams. Long before it appeared on red carpets or museum steps, it emerged as a response to dehumanization. Enslaved and colonized Black people took imposed forms of dress and turned them into dignity. Clothing became a language: I am here. I am refined. I am not what you say […]

Not Just a Celebration

Juneteenth Is Not Just a Celebration For Black folks, Juneteenth doesn’t land like most holidays. It carries weight. It stirs memory. It can feel meaningful and hollow at the same time. That’s not contradiction—that’s truth. Juneteenth marks a moment when freedom was announced, not created. When people were told they were free long after freedom […]

Malcolm and the Monk

But this day. This moment. Every line and limitation I’d looked for has blended and blurred. Every idea of what is supposed to be has been erased. We are the ocean, as the Tibetan Monk would say. A variety of waves, a part of the same source underneath.

Dependency, a Helluva’ Drug

You understand that obligation doesn’t actually exist. It’s not real. It’s merely a place where you won’t take responsibility for what you want.

Forty Days and Forty Nights in the Food Desert

As much as we complained about the gentrification, I had to admit where I was a gentrifier myself. And that with it came some healthy food options and access for those who could afford it. And something to move towards for those who couldn’t.

Underneath the Hood of Race Relations

[T]he complexity of who we are actually includes multichromatic lineages: both dominant and marginalized cultures from all over the world, as well as ancestors who have probably been both oppressor and the oppressed.

Segregated Minds

In my mind I had quickly slipped into the “Because I’m black trance.” We thanked her and carried on to find food elsewhere. This was a test of my practice, of not assuming I’m being oppressed. Not assuming I’m being discriminated against because I’m black.

4th of July in Chi town

I sat on the couch of our 17th floor apartment, staring out the floor to ceiling windows and seeing a sea of fireworks that stretched across the city of Chicago. A city I had never seen before, where my first memory of it is glowing and lit up with vibrant color. 4th of July has […]

Black Joy & Genius Tour 6.29.22

Next stop NC. I stepped off train, and was greeted by my parents. No sooner than I got to their house, did I test positive for the Rona. After all this time living in my redwood cloaked, clean California bubble, I figured it was only a matter of time before la covida loca got me. […]