Being Black and maintaining professionalism in Western society has always been a sort of catch-22. It’s generally understood that as a Black person achieving a professional look is the equivalent adopting as many white looking characteristics as possible. For Black women this means sacrificing the unique beauty of our naturally kinky textured hair to straightening. […]
The following poem was written as a part of my mentoring position in Pongo Poetry Project’s King County Juvenile Detention Center. Each week in preparation for working with students in juvenile detention, mentors write a poem inspired by a specific theme. The week of January 17th we wrote along the theme of Civil Disobedience, I […]