“Black folk don’t get lice. That’s something nasty white folk who don’t wash and live in trailers get.” – Some African American woman I met once when I was a kid living in Labone. And yet there I was: a Black child, in Africa, with lice. I had caught lice from a cousin who’d gone […]
Becoming a parent should be a joyous event in everyone’s life; however circumstances surrounding a birth are not always ideal. Some of us are products of rape or incest. Some of us were born into poverty or dysfunctional families. No matter what our circumstances, if you’re reading this blog today, it’s safe to assume you’re […]
I wasn’t going to discuss this story because it hits so close to home, but now I feel like I have to. Before I became a parent I was extremely judgmental. I never knew why people with kids houses and cars were so dirty, and why moms couldn’t make themselves look better when they went […]
First of all, let me give praise and honor to Friday, whose sweet elixir I’ve been waiting to taste has come at last. Though you tarry, Friday, you come faithfully every week, and I just want to thank ya! Happy Friday, one and all! Caution: Rant Ahead Life is interesting. I never imagined in […]
Hey MOM Squad! Guess who has a new best buddy? Go and get yourself a cookie if you said “You”! And that’s “you” as in me, not YOU. Wiyaala, my latest music crush, granted me an interview this morning, and it was absolutely brilliant. The sound was garbage, but the content is amazing. I think […]
My job as a recruiter demands hours of sitting and staring, dreaming up searching strings and praying that they unearth the candidate(s) that I’m on the hunt for. Oftentimes, a bad string can introduce you to the most unlikely of resumes. My co-worker Darrin knitted her eyebrows together and with concern, blurted out the title […]
Someone copied me on an article written by Ghanaian President John Mahama which was posted on the online version of Ebony magazine. The title is bold, empathetic and pleading: Slaughtered Boys, Missing Girls: Who Stands Up for African Children? I read the article without knowing who the author was. My heart swelled with […]
It’s a myth, you know? This whole business about African’s being divided, unable and unwilling to cooperate. That we can’t think beyond ourselves. Who does this myth benefit? Certainly not WE the People. The Myth of African Disconnection only serves those groups and individuals, both foreign and home bred, who seek to dominate over our […]
Education. Education, education, education! Every African who has been fortunate to attend school at any level knows the burden of this single word. Our parents would wantonly hurl it at us like a gauntlet in the face of any infraction, whether real or perceived. “Heh? You won’t go and sit down and learn your books […]
“Before you think of adopting someone else’s child, you need to think of giving birth to your own!” – My father, 1990-something. There’s something in an African father who cannot abide the thought of his daughter raising another man’s child, I swear. Adoption. It’s a need and a passion that has lived inside of me […]
There are few things Marshall and I enjoy more than watching our little ones turn off the TV, unplug from the computer, putting down their hand held gaming devices, and picking up some dolls (or “real life action figures” in the boy’s case) in order to let their imaginations roam free. Under the right conditions […]
This Sunday was unseasonably pleasant; or maybe it was seasonably pleasant. You never can tell what season we’re supposed to be in in Georgia outside of the summer months. This Sunday it was spring. On Thursday we’re going back to winter. The sunshine had put my kids in a particularly good mood, which was fortunate […]
By all means, you’ve heard of Rachel Canning. You may not know her name, but you certainly know her story. She is the 18 year old high school student from New Jersey who is suing her parents for failing/refusing to pay her college tuition and weekly child support. The details come right out of a […]
It’s a joke in the Black community: giving your child a “resume acceptable” name at birth. Failure to do so will almost ensure that he or she will end up in prison, or worse, reduced to a lifelong career in field during which the highlights consist of inquiring if a patron “wants fries with that?” […]
I don’t know how you guys do it – you single parents out there. I’m not just referring to single moms. There are plenty of fathers who have been left in the sole care of their children for the same reasons women do, albeit less frequently. Perhaps you’ve suffered the pain of losing a spouse/partner […]
The English are fierce bulwarks when it comes to preserving the authenticity of their history, particularly when that history is portrayed on television or in film. That’s why there was such a fierce outcry when Richard Gere (an American) took on the role of Lancelot in First Knight; why the country nearly went up in […]
A common theme in the conversations I’ve had with my mixed race/biracial friends is the pressure they feel to “pick sides”. Some have likened it to being a child of divorce, questioning if they are being true enough to one parent, and if in doing so, is it at the expense of the heritage of […]
“There ain’t no black, there ain’t no black, there ain’t no black in the Union Jack!” When Bevis first moved to England from Ghana, this is what the kids would chant at her on the school yard. Bevis, now 40, is of Irish and Ghanaian heritage and spends her time divided between England and Ghana. […]
I spend a lot of time thinking about people, and I know that in our modern society that’s not considered a “good thing”. The general feeling is that we all need to concern ourselves with ourselves and let “me do me”. I can’t help it though, so there you have it. I’m about to take […]
Amy Chua, author of Battle Hymn of the Tiger Mother, has a new book coming out on February 4th. If Americans didn’t like Tiger Mother, they are REALLY going to hate her latest offering The Triple Package: Why Groups Rise and Fall in America. The book, which claims that certain ethnicities are superior to others […]
Ever since our kids have matured enough to grasp the concept of the holidays and the roles required of all the characters therein, we’ve had a hard time contending with the subject of Halloween. By “we”, I really mean “me”, because my husband doesn’t have difficulty dealing with the subject at all. As a devout […]