”A man who is working toward wholeness has to be a strong man because he is swimming against a strong current. He is building a safe space to ask himself difficult questions. He is looking beneath the anger he feels and moving toward hope. He is chipping away at the shackles of racism and sexism and homophobia. A man working toward wholeness might love the feel of his hand on the small of a woman’s back, cherish the sound of her voice, and value her words. A man working toward wholeness appreciates the survivor in a black woman. A man working toward wholeness can love lingerie and long talks. I know men like this. I thank God/des for them. It is easy to be a woman around such men. A woman- not a pinup, not remote-control flesh, not a nameless/faceless hole -a thinking, breathing, living, complex being. There is a grace to true manhood.”
- Mariahdessa Ekere Tallie, “On Solace”
Posts tagged black feminist.
Black Manhood: Moving Toward Wholeness
”Remember the smoldering sensuality of Sade? On stages she can give us an entire night’s worth of pleasure without revealing much more than her midriff. Remember when Janet worked the hell out her tight black jeans and loose T-shirt in “The Pleasure Principle”? Remember how so many men lost their heads over Lauryn Hill (pre Fugees reunion) and Erykah Badu with their mysterious beauty and tasteful sexiness? The ladies in the music business do have a choice.”
- Mariahdessa Ekere Tallie, “On Solace”
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Those of us who are concerned about the high rates of gender violence in our communities must be troubled by the possible connections between these images and tolerance for violence against women. Children and teenagers are listening to this music, and I am concerned that the range of acceptable behavior is being broadened by the constant propagation of anti-women imagery. I’m concerned too, about young Black women who, like young men, are learning that their value lies between their legs. Unlike men, however, their sexual value is a depletable commodity; by expending it, girls become whores and boys become men.
— Kimberle Crenshaw, from “Beyond Racism and MIsogyny: Black Feminism and 2 Live Crew”
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We, black women have always been supportive of black men in the struggle against racism, even while we were being raped. Even while rape and assault has been going on in our communities. This is important because so many react as if talking about rape and assault in our communities is somehow not being supportive of black men, or as if it were not being loyal to black men.
— Aishah Shahidah Simmons, ( Film Director of NO! The Rape Documentary)
Resting between her legs was a tulip, and I kissed her (tu)lips, ready to receive the taste of her nectar. Sweet.
- Dean Steed, (Creator of daughtersofzami.tumblr.com)
Kathleen Cleaver, “Why we wear our hair like this”
Via: roropcoldchain
Source: unapproachableblackchicks
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We slipped off the cotton shifts we had worn and moved against each other’s damp breasts in the shadow of the roof’s chimney, making moon, honor, love, while the ghostly vague light drifting upward from the street competed with the silver hard sweetness of the full moon, reflected in the shiny mirrors of our sweat-slippery dark bodies, sacred as the ocean at high tide.
— Audre Lorde, Zami
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… I silently witnessed the sacred ritual as they took turns waxing many variations of one sermon: “Ain’t no ass better than new ass.” The congregation was mostly the brothas on athletic scholarship, imported like pandas to Liberal Arts USA from concrete jungles. Their WASP jock teammates and hippie “trouble men” hallmates brought offerings to the pews as well, and all kept the King James remix of Snoop’s Doggystyle on their nightstands. Every man prayed to pimp like brothas, even the brothas themselves. The communion hymn was “We Don’t Love Them Hos” and when Pastor got good and right he’d holler: “Show me a fine-assed woman and I’ll show you a man who’s tired of fucking her.” Let the church say Amen.
— Lisa Pregram, “Remote Control: Romance vs. Promiscuity in Mainstream Hip-Hop”
