The Work of Racial Policing
Black freedom study with dr. Yaba Blay, author of ONE DROP: SHIFTING THE LENS ON RACE
It was a great privilege to be able to spend Juneteenth of 2021 in serious and joyful study of Black freedom for the Schomburg Center Literary Festival with dr. Yaba Blay. We discussed the value of books as the “slowed-down, tepid take,” colorism, diaspora, knowing ourselves, and remaining curious. I invite you to watch our brief discussion and then buy or borrow the book. Reading it is The Work!
dr. Blay is a scholar-activist, cultural creative, and consultant whose scholarship, work and practice centers on the lived experiences of Black women and girls, with a particular interest in body, identity, and beauty politics. She can be seen in “A Changing America: 1968 and Beyond,” a permanent installation exhibited in the National Museum of African American History and Culture (NMAAHC) and recently on Kamau Bell’s CNN broadcast, United Shades of America. Her book One Drop: Shifting the Lens on Race (2021) is a gorgeous visual testimony and collective memoir of how Black people have gloried in limitless ways in relation to a racial classification system that sought to contain us.