I don’t read a lot of newspapers. It’s kinda ridiculous, considering I grew up in a household where my mother read the newspaper EVERYDAY, and still does. A good friend of mine told me about a Black woman fashion critic for the Washington Post won the Pulitzer Prize for criticism! When I began reading her work, I realized I have been missing her work, which is super smart and well written, and you don’t even have to be into fashion to appreciate. Check out her profile and read the stories that she was judged on in the Washington Post.

Also, here’s a book that the Prize for non-fiction that sounds interesting. It’s called Imperial Reckoning: The Untold Story of Britain’s Gulag in Kenya.

This is an essay I just published in The NonViolent Activist, a publication of the War Resisters League.

“The question that often underlies the discussion about getting people “most affected” involved is: “Why are Blacks these days so complacent or unwilling to stick their necks out for a ‘good cause’?” Does their lack of involvement mean Blacks aren’t doing their part to end the war in Iraq? What does their ambivalence about antiwar activism say about the Left?
To read the entire piece, click here.

Hey folks -

Thank you so much for supporting Letters From Young Activists. It continues to do very well, and after only 5 months in print, is already in its third printing. I want to give thanks to PINK for giving us props in the new issue of Blender Magazine, and to the writer, Ann Powers, for specifically mentioning the book. It was quite a shock to us, but we totally appreciate it.

I also want to thank SUNY Geneseo for assigning the book as the Summer Reading Book for the school.

All that, and still haven’t made the NYTimes Bestseller’s list. Proves it don’t mean much, if you know how to market your own shit to the right audience.

Yesterday I met with some of my favorite people in Brooklyn to talk about a Black radical response to the rape of a Black North Carolinian woman by several White Duke University students. I am really happy about the work we have proposed to take on this issue (which I’ll share when it’s appropriate).

In the meantime, I thought I’d pass along some screenings coming up for Black Lesbian Filmmaker Aishah Shahidah Simmons groundbreaking documentary, NO! The Rape Documentary.

With the recent gang rape atrocity of the Black woman North Carolina Central Student by the almost all White Duke University LaCrosse Team; and the grotesque racist/sexist verbal assault of Congresswoman Cynthia McKinney, it’s very, very clear that IT IS HARD OUT HERE FOR BLACK WOMEN.

On Friday, April 21, 2006 at 7:30pm, the Blackout Arts Collective will host a screening of NO! in New York City. NO! is a feature length documentary, which unveils the reality of rape, other forms of sexual violence, and healing in African-American communities.

Location: 520 8th Ave 22nd Floor (btwn 36th St and 37th St) Cost:$5
Please RSVP to secure your seat at 212-594-4482 Ext 17 or via e-mail at blackoutarts@yahoo.com www.blackoutartscollective.com

Following is a detailed list of national and international screenings of NO! from April through June 2006. Please spread the word.

Harvard University (Cambridge, MA)
Monday, April 10, 2006, 5:30pm
Harvard Yard, Emerson room 305
AIDS Task Force of Greater Cleveland
Friday, April 14, 2006

AIDS Taskforce of Greater Cleveland
Friday, April 14, 2006 12:00pm

*GULF COAST PREMIERE*
New Orleans International Human Rights Film Festival
Friday, April 14, 2006, 7:00pm

University of California, Santa Barbara
Monday, April 17, 2006

University of Illinois, Chicago
Tuesday, April 18, 2006
African American Cultural Center, 3pm

Drexel University, (Philadelphia)
Thursday, April 20, 2006
Bossone Research Auditorium
32nd Market Streets

Blackout Arts Collective (NYC)
Friday, April 21, 2006
520 Eight Avenue, 22nd floor (between 36th & 37th Streets)
Please RSVP to secure your seat at 212-594-4482 Ext 17 or via e-mail at blackoutarts@yahoo.com

Claremont Colleges
Thursday, April 27, 2006
Balch Auditorium, Scripps College

University of California, Riverside
Tuesday, May 2, 2006

Solidarity Work: An Organizing Retreat
For Internationalist and Anti-Racist Women’s Human Rights
May 4-7, 2006

EUROPEAN PREMIERE
TekFestival
Rome, Italy
May 4-9, 2006

Wisconsin Coalition Against Sexual Assault
Thursday, June 9, 2006

National Women’s Studies Association
June 15-18, 2006

*AFRICAN PREMIERE*
27th Durban International Film Festival
Durban, South Africa
June 14-25,2006

For the most up-to-date information on NO!, please visit,
www.NOtheRapeDocumentary.org

Through intimate testimonies from Black women victim/survivors,commentaries from acclaimed African-American scholars and community leaders including Johnnetta B. Cole, Ulester Douglas, Farah Jasmine Griffin, Sulaiman Nuriddin, Beverly Guy-Sheftall, and Elaine Brown, impacting archival footage, spirited music, dance, and performance poetry, NO! unveils the reality of rape, other forms of sexual violence, and healing in African-American communities. Eleven years in the making this ground-breaking documentary explores how the collective silence about acts of rape and other forms of sexual assault adversely affects African-Americans, while simultaneously encouraging dialogue to bring about healing and reconciliation between all men and women.