Whilst only really mentioned in passing during our discussions, one of the things that was eye-opening to me was the contextualization of the militarized police as a foreign invading power. Up until then, in my ignorance, I had struggled to separate the indigenous struggles at Standing Rock and elsewhere from environmental protests and whilst I…[Read more]

For the photo share this week I decided to take a still from the  highly publicized #MeToo inspired Gillette ad campaign. Whilst much of the criticism that was leveled at the advert came from men claiming it to be a perpetuation of “anti-male stereotypes”, I do believe there is room for criticism from a progressive perspective too.

In a way that…[Read more]

One of the things that stood out to me most about our discussion of the #BlackLivesMatter movement was the degree of internationalism that I was, admittedly, previously unaware of. In this internationalist stance, that the M4BL describe as knowing “our liberation is tied up in the liberation of all oppressed people here and around the world”, we…[Read more]

For this week’s discussion, I wanted to centre so-called gangster rap that was mentioned a few times in class. For this purpose I chose an image of MC Schoolly D – the original gangster rapper. His 1985 release “P.S.K What Does It Mean?” is widely considered the blueprint of gangster rap and this is why I have chosen this picture when it could so…[Read more]

With the Black Against Empire reading in mind, I have chosen a photo of the iconic Free Derry Corner located in Derry in the north of Ireland. The mural seen in the foreground of the photo has historically been, and remains to this day, a literal embodiment to people the world over of the need and value of not negotiating with oppressive states…[Read more]

My photo for this week pertains to a very specific part of the Black Against Empire reading and, in turn, the questions we came to discuss on Friday.

I have chosen an image of the iconic Free Derry Corner located in Derry in the occupied north of Ireland. The mural in the foreground always was, and remains to this day, a rather literal e…[Read more]

While perhaps diverting from the theme of the week, I have chosen a picture that I feel relates to the concepts of being an adjacent figure to, or perhaps rather a non-conventional manifestation of, the civil rights movement as we assume it to be. In attempting to do so, I felt that Chester Himes is a figure that embodies that role as someone we…[Read more]

Beyond the personal sentiment I may have for any photograph of Malcolm X in the country of my birth, I feel that this particular photo is a rather powerful one when we view it through the lens of the Black Nationalism and Pan-Africanism that Malcolm X came to embody in his final years. The very fact that Malcolm X travelled to a small town west of…[Read more]