Black Excellence Month is about Black Abundance; Black Bodies; Black Joy; Black Passions. Black Growth, Black Rest And Black Pleasure counteract Black Death as resistance. Black Excellence is about the blues, the soul, the rhythms and bass. Black Excellence is about the soul foods and medicines we conjure with our hands, histories, plants and pain. Black…
Category: Black Abundance
Remembering David Williams II (1948-2019)
This Friday, Vanderbilt was shaken up by the loss of trailblazer and former athletics director, David Williams. The loss of former Vanderbilt Vice Chancellor came as quite surprise to many in the community. Death is often surprising but the events of Friday, February 8, 2019 were shockingly heartbreaking. As a university, we prepared to lose…
Acknowledging Ancestry & The Roots of Reconciliation: The Story of Jacques
A lot of Black folks, especially in the Haitian community struggle under the structure of single-parent households. The roots of the separation and dismantling of minority families has historical and contemporary implications. The term “family separation” evokes images of slaves on the auction block and children being teargassed at the border. It’s an issue of…
Dis(embodiment).
I grew up in a community where I was repeatedly told that my body was not my own. My body belonged to my parents when I was unable to speak for myself. Once I had sense enough to understand, I was taught that my body belonged to another man, God; once married, my husband. I…