I post this article by Teju Cole on the White Saviour Industrial Complex with a heavy heart. This is because while I am broadly engaged in the field of international development that is the target …

In the aftermath of the Stephen Lawrence case verdict, London-based poet Dean Atta saw something that made him very angry. It was not so much an image than an idea that sparked him to pen …

From our friends at ColorLines, a video by Jorge Rivas documenting “The Year in Race - Disasters, Deportations, and DREAMS Rising.” It’s a bleak portrait of the frustrations abound in 2010 from Tea Party antics …

For women of colour, shadeism is an ever-present reality of daily life. Four young girls detail their own struggles with the embedded discrimination of shadeism in this documentary: Shadeism.

Shadeism from Shadeism on Vimeo.
   

It’s been nearly one month since Arizona passed law SB1720 into procession, effectively aiding the discrimination of all migrants in the state. The law may purport to stem the flow of “illegal” immigrants across …

Know the true meaning of Malcolm X, and you cannot help but be moved. You cannot help but stand up taller and aim to live with greater courage, committed to the upliftment of oneself and of all people. The life and death, struggle and change he underwent from 1925 to 1965 still stands as a powerful source of learning and inspiration. The burden now falls upon those of us who know to ensure that new generations aren’t deprived of also truly knowing Malcolm, and living better because of it.

The following resources and selected quotes have been gathered as a brief, introductory primer for those unfamiliar with Malcolm X.

Avatar :: Though visually breathtaking the movie has many issues in basic plot and storytelling, without even the problematic narratives about the noble savage, “primitive” native cultures and the way in which colonization, white privilege and white guilt is played out.

When Will White People Stop Making Movies Like “Avatar”?
Critics have called alien epic Avatar a version of Dances With Wolves because it’s about a white guy going native and becoming a great leader. But Avatar is just the latest scifi rehash of an old white guilt fantasy.

As a child, I was drawn to Cookie Monster’s manic love for baked goods, but my most vivid recollection of Sesame Street is Gordon. I can’t remember when I first saw him, whether he was having one of his chats with Oscar about O’s grouchy outlook on life or whether he joined in a song urging us to do something good for ourselves, but I do recall his presence: warm, joyful, thoughtful and firm. Not a caricature or stereotype of a Black man, Gordon represents Sesame Street’s greatest value for me as a father—a world where people of color are celebrated without being tokenized, satirized or exaggerated.

I’ve recently moved to London, officially for Academic purposes, but unofficially to bask in the ultimate Global City and take part in it’s exhaustive list of arts and culture and general weekending inside the city’s heart. London is the bastion of mixing and diffusing, home to every culinary cuisine from virtually every corner of the earth, the premiere fashionista hotspot, and global trendwatching in politics, music and the catwalk.

Toronto-based MC and Poet Boonaa Mohammed never shies away from sharp words that uncover the harsh realities of immigrant life in Canada and countries of the West. The title of his latest spoken-word video, Green Card - commissioned for the Mayworks Festival of Canada - tells a powerful tale of the unjust and silent truths of immigrant hardships in countries where getting papers is like “winning the lottery”. Watch the video for a little slice of this narrator’s pointed perspective.