My cousin died at the age of 56 about a month ago. My siblings and I went up to Detroit for the funeral, where we had a chance to reconnect with childhood friends and old folk who remembered us fondly. My aunt Cynthia, who outlived her firstborn child, was cooling herself with a fan and […]
“Look at me! Look at my arm! I have ploughed, and planted , and gathered into barns, and no man could head me! And arn’t I woman? I could work as much and eat as much as a man—when I could get it—and bear the lash as well! And arn’t I a woman? I […]
The only person I’ve confessed this to is my BFFFL: Going to the beach makes me sick. One night, when we were sitting on the veranda of some James Town dive overlooking the ocean, I felt myself getting restless and queasy. Soon, I was just downright sick to my stomach. “I don’t like coming to […]
“Being a strong woman isn’t remarkable, it’s normal.” – Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie, in her address to the graduating class of 2015 at Wellesley College. As she often does, Chimamanda drops these pearls of wisdom and leaves us sorting through the sand to figure out their true meaning or at least to determine if they have […]
I have lived a pretty good life, by most accounts. In fact, i wouldn’t have known (or thought) I was “poor” if I hadn’t gone to school with or lived in close proximity to so many people who were “rich”. Because of those factors, I have been labelled a dadaba (literal translation: Daddy’s girl; or […]
In September, 2014, a New York Times report highlighted how the influx of African immigrants is shifting the demographics of New York and the USA at large. The article’s author, Sam Roberts wrote: “Between 2000 and 2010, the number of legal black African immigrants in the United States about doubled, to around one million. During […]
On January 23, 1963, Malcolm X gave a speech at Michigan State University in which he described two camps of Negro: the house Negro and the field Negro. In that speech, he goes on to lay out the differences in the characteristics of the two. The house Negro presumably loves and adores his master. They […]
On Saturday morning I decided to take a break from my social media networks because I felt overwhelmed by all the news and opinions that were being flung from all angles. Mary, Kareem and Joseph, were there ONLY two issues going on in the world? Gayness and racism, gayness and racism. Ahmba! As one user […]
I have officially reached the breaking point. I knew I had gotten there when I told a Swedish woman that white people just need to leave us the f*** alone if they can’t find it within themselves to treat Black people humanely and with some common, human decency. There was no imploring for discourse, no […]
What if your dad was so awesome that someone tried to steal him from you? ****** “What is going on here?!?” Two pair of saucer shaped eyes stared back into mine. I had caught them off guard. “Malaka…look. It’s not what it looks like…” “It’s exactly what it looks like! The two of you are […]
Today is Juneteenth, the day some of us in the Black community celebrate – or at least recognize – the ending of slavery and the beginning of emancipation. What hopes and dreams those newly freed Negroes must have harbored in their hearts on the day the news was read to them (two years after emancipation […]
On the rare occasions that my sister and I find ourselves in dire economic straits, we typically joke about finding a pole and working it to make some quick money. “I can be flexible when I need to be.” “I can make this jelly roll.” “I bet you dudes would pay us NOT to dance […]
My phone rang. It was an unknown number. I answered it anyway. You never know if that call is going to be a publisher or an agent ready to discuss a new book deal, or someone who had borrowed money in the past calling with an apology and a check. I answered the call eagerly. […]
The concert tomorrow, May 29th at 8pm at Alliance Française in Accra. Tsewww. Google the details yourself. I ain’t here to talk about no daggum concert. I’m here to talk about my angsty emotions about missing said concert. On May 29th, my one and only son turns six years old. But please believe that if […]
“Who gave you the right to judge who is fit to be a Negro, and who is not?” – Captain Davenport, A Soldier’s Story. Have you ever seen A Soldier’s Story? I LOVE that movie. It came out in 1984. I saw it when I was on summer holiday in Detroit at my cousin Cookie’s […]
When Michael Kwame Gbordzoe composed the lyrics to our national anthem, ‘God Bless Our Homeland, Ghana’ culminating the first stanza with the refrain: And help us to resist oppressor’s rule, with all our will and might forevermore I wonder if he ever imagined that the government elected by the people, for the people, would eventually […]
Sweet shegge! Every once in a while in the barrage of perpetual angst, vitriol and anger, Facebook delivers a nugget so precious that you grab a hold of it and flee. You never want to lose the light and joy this precious thing has delivered unto you. Yesterday, one such gem filtered onto my newsfeed […]
Blogging rules dictate the I say something witty and pithy prior to advising you to click on the video below, but I don’t want to rob you of the opportunity of discovering the magic of Negrotown for yourself. I will tell you that I’d love to move to Negrotown for the following reasons: So I […]
I wasn’t going to tell this story because it didn’t become relevant until I got hit on by a crackhead in Midtown last night. I met my boo Obaa Boni for a farewell dinner last night. Yes, my fair atheist, feminist maiden is leaving the Georgia’s hinterland for other shores and I wanted to fete […]
Rape? What sort of absurdity was this accusation? Rape The word swirled around in Kwafo Danso’s consciousness like a sour note…a bad tune. The tall girl had accused him of rape! How dare she…she who made no fight to push him off. If she didn’t fight, it meant she was willing. Everyone knows that Ghanaian […]
The air at the African Regent Hotel is distinctive. Perhaps it was the combination of exotic colognes – of Jimmy Choo and Burberry – carried on the bodies of Accra’s elite and transient residents that gives it that quality. All Kwafo Danso knew was that he loved being there and loved that he was the […]