My skin color is not a fetish
I grew up bottled-fed on romantic novels. From Mills & Boons to Barbara Cartland to Danielle Steele, I read them all. The narratives were simple, boy meets girl, they hate each other in the beginning and then they fall madly in love, get married, have children, and live happily ever after. The couples were attracted to each other for genuine reasons and not because either one wanted to have sex with someone of a different skin color.
When I started dating at age 16, I yearned for a love story like one in the many novels that I had read…
How unconscious bias plays a pivotal role in therapy’s effectiveness
Her office was always draped in heavy, dark curtains. The air was musty, perhaps because the emotional support dog frequently napped in the corner.
Where I come from, animals aren’t kept indoors, so the scent of wet dog clinging to the linens was new. The room, however, felt familiar. Maybe because it was filled with antiques, like British West Indian homes in the ’90s which were outfitted with Syrian rugs and Chinese porcelain figurines. Unfamiliar were the European-esque paintings, reminiscent of my therapist’s upbringing. …
Society focuses on one thing, but I see all the intersections
I’m a radio producer. I’m a stand-up comic. I’m an aunt, sister, and friend. But lately, it feels as though my identity as a Black transgender woman is all anyone can think about.
I knew coming out as a Black trans woman wouldn’t be easy. Three years ago, the world had to say goodbye to the child my parents raised. I was named after my dad, and Sherm was the shorthand version, which I kept. I chose a new first name, Morgan, because it is beautiful and bold. Selecting a name, however, was one of the easier parts of my…
What the controversial reactions can teach us about listening to and respecting Black women
Twenty-one years ago, when an ultrasound revealed I was carrying a baby boy, I cried. I knew his life in America would be hard. I knew this nation could chew Black men up and spit them out. I didn’t want him to experience that sort of mutilation. Eighteen years later, pregnant for the second time, I learned I was carrying a daughter and rejoiced. But perhaps I should have cried as well. Because the world isn’t any easier for a Black woman.
If you ever wondered whether Black women are treated more harshly than others, consider the recent treatment of…
Too often the unity we seek comes with conditions
In January 2017, while I was covering the inaugural protests and the Women’s March in Washington, DC for a small Black newspaper, I ran into three women I’d known in my Navy-wife days, decades earlier. White, liberal, and decidedly feminist, they embraced me like a long-lost friend.
We met for dinner and spent hours catching up about our kids, railing about Trump, and predicting the future of America. I wasn’t soul-sick yet about the election; I was still in fight mode, still resolutely optimistic. …
ZORA
Bold, yet refined. A publication from Medium for Black women.
