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Lady Day
The way Billie Holiday was hounded by the government literally until the day she died is one of the biggest tragedies in Black history. When she sang “Strange Fruit,” that wasn’t just a song. It was an indictment. A slow, haunting autopsy of America. Written by Abel Meeropol, but carried into the bloodstream of the…
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Chatham — Quiet Power, Black Excellence, and Front-Porch Dignity
Chatham sits on Chicago’s South Side like a well-kept secret that refuses to beg for attention. It doesn’t shout. It doesn’t perform. It is. Tree-lined streets, sturdy brick bungalows, lawns edged like someone still believes in order and pride—that’s Chatham’s quiet language. Where it is (and why that matters) Chatham is roughly bounded by 75th…
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Pocket Town
Pocket Town in Chicago is a place name for a very specific little corner of the city’s South Side — it’s not a restaurant or bar, but a neighborhood identity in its own right. This pocket of Chicago life has a rich and complicated vibe, stitched into the larger fabric of Greater Grand Crossing neighborhood.…
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Sharpshooters of My Bloodline
Lately I’ve been thinking about my great-grandfather and his little brother. They were enslaved on the Barrow Plantation in Louisiana when they made the decision to run. How they did it, I will never know. At just eighteen and fifteen years old, they chose motion over fear, the unknown over the certainty of chains. They…
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A Dedication to My Great-Grandfather Hark Allen
Happy Memorial Day to my Great-Grandfather Hark Allen. Originally named Hark Barrow, he was a runaway slave from the Barrow Plantation who joined the Northern side of Civil War, gained his freedom, and changed his last name to Allen. Lived through the pandemic of 1918 and almost saw the Great Depression. Lived until he was…
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Collective Roots
Ten years ago, I took my cat Diddy to get neutered, which was a very interesting experience. I went to the Lurie Spray/Neuter Clinic and it is located in the Little Village, a predominantly Mexican neighborhood I had never visited before, and for me, it is always cool when I discover new places, people, and…
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If You Thought the Crack Era was Bad, Watch This Opioid Era That’s About to Kick Off
While cruising the Black social media streets, I’ve seen several folks sniggering over the opioid epidemic that’s currently plaguing White communities throughout America and while I understand the cynicism, some of us need to stop casting stones and look at what’s going on in our own backyards. Because it’s a whole lot of young drug…
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The Potty Mouth Granny 