My piece on my own personal encounters with the Confederate flag and why it's time to take it down
The Confederate Flag and Me
Author: odeliay
(Insert Assault on Black Lives) (Insert Year)
"You rape our women and you're taking over our country" I read these words and my palms become dirty and calloused from the hands of those who tried to hold fast to red dirt in our native countries, clawing to hold on dreams and lives that can now be found at the bottom of the… Continue reading (Insert Assault on Black Lives) (Insert Year)
“Oh, There Must Be Something in the Water”
They said come down to the water You can bathe in the cool drops of the water Water that washes away all the uncleanliness and sin But there is a sin of being in these parts Those who the call to join in the water Was not a real invitation Not a real welcoming As… Continue reading “Oh, There Must Be Something in the Water”
How We Speak About Rape
There's a phrase I had never heard before--whether being out of touch or something my students never used while I was teaching--called "frape," which I heard for the first time when I moved to Cambridge in the UK. The first time I heard it I was really taken aback. 'Frape'? I asked. As in...? And… Continue reading How We Speak About Rape
Josh Duggar and the “Christian Response”: A Comment on the Hypocrisy of ‘Anti-LGBTQ’ Rhetoric and the Demonizing of Black Youth
This is not a 'throw Josh Duggar in the fire' piece, but rather a comment on how we speak about these issues, the hypocrisy I find rampant in anti-gay rhetoric and legislation, and the hands we stretch out to some and not others. I will begin by saying that the real tragedy in the entire… Continue reading Josh Duggar and the “Christian Response”: A Comment on the Hypocrisy of ‘Anti-LGBTQ’ Rhetoric and the Demonizing of Black Youth
From Overwhelmed to Empowered
But the horror of that moment stays with me, the realization that being smart and working hard might never be enough. I wasn’t sure how I could survive a world that would constantly question my abilities, give me more obstacles than my peers, and then downplay my achievements when I somehow managed to deliver. I… Continue reading From Overwhelmed to Empowered
Winter Reflections
We live in a world of strong beliefs, whether religious or secular. There are those willing to die, and even kill, for what they believe. While those are extremes, it does make me think about what we are willing to sacrifice of ourselves on the way to wherever it is we are trying to go.… Continue reading Winter Reflections
Dr. King, Selma, and the Search for a Legacy
Over the holidays I took a walk along the calm rivers of the White River in Indianapolis. I thought of its name and its literal representation of the line between white and black in my state. I looked out over the river, and I thought that in this great nation the one thing that we… Continue reading Dr. King, Selma, and the Search for a Legacy
The Year of Becoming
My girl is holy, is sacred, is pure is clean, is loved, is whole, is beautiful is worthy, is okay, is alone, is just fine just the way you are girl just the way you look babe with that dirty mouth and those hands, wherever they have been and that sadness, whatever caused it and… Continue reading The Year of Becoming
“And what shall we do, we who did not die?”
"And what shall we do, we who did not die? What shall we do now? How shall we grieve, and cry out loud, and face down despair? Is there an honorable, non-violent means towards mourning and remembering who and what we loved?" -June Jordan I will always remember when I was talking to a friend… Continue reading “And what shall we do, we who did not die?”
Odelia Younge 