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Melanin Queens and Sunscreen

By: Comrade Brianna

It’s a common misconception that our African and other melanated  people don’t have to protect ourselves against the sun.You often hear things like “I’m black I don’t need sunscreen” when in all actually that’s not the case! 

The sun can be one of the main factors for premature aging and skin damage so all skin no matter of race needs to be protected from the sun. 

As summer is approaching I wanted to give some helpful skincare tips to keep your skin nice and glowing but also protected the skin is the biggest organ on the body and needs lots of TLC.

 As an esthetician I often get asked ”what’s best for my skin or  what I should be using?” and I always l say…… keep it simple. I don’t know where you from but where I’m from we like to also keep it affordable .

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A Collective Call for Black Power!

By: Comrade Z

Should non-black activists participate in saying “Black Power” with fellow Black activists? The short answer is no. But I am sure you did not come here for the short answer. So let me try to break down my answer a bit…. We live in quite a politically shallow-minded country. A country where most of our ‘political’ perspective is obtained from the same propagandist machinery that has direct material investments in our enslavement, exploitation, and genocide. In other words, we tend to repeat what we hear from the mouths of our oppressors. So in 600 words or less, I’m going to try and give a not so short answer. 

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The clinical contradictions of colonialism.

 

By: Comrade Rachel

I am writing this article as a medical professional to share the ins and outs of the medical industry from my experience.

After witnessing the birth of my grandchild and the lack of autonomy and attention my daughter received, I’ve gained even more perspective.

We all know and understand that Black men don’t like to go to the doctor let alone to a hospital. Black people are led to believe that we can’t and shouldn’t get sick. Consequently, Black people rarely go and get their ass checked out. And unless you have been hiding under a rock or got your head up colonizer ass you would know that, although Black women have less of an issue getting to a doctor than Black men, neither are not treated well at all.  

It was during my daughter’s pregnancy I noticed small things that would be said or done to my daughter or other patients that I found to be fucked up and unprofessional.

I will not speak on my title because I know that white power exists and so we are supposed to play dumb and pretend to not know anything about what they are doing. But we see y’all. We all know about that black girl magic! And I love when the time is just right to show them how this shit works!

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Who’s really REAL?!

By Diakiesse Lungisanni Chief of Political Education and Culture

Fem Queen performance has been and will ALWAYS be one of my fave’ categories when it comes to the Ballroom scene. For those of you who have been living under a rock during the era of the FX show Pose, a fem queen is basically a transgender woman who competes in the Ballroom scene. Fem Queen Performance is a category where Fem Queens compete against each other through voguing.

The sensuality, THE HAIR! Most importantly the pure, raw, uncut creativity CANNOT be matched anywhere else! 

“What in the entire f*ck?” was my reaction when I was watching some recent clips of the Fem Queen Performance category at The Last Time to Shine Ball, Old School Edition, via Youtube, where this Icon, a supposed leader within the Ballroom scene, criticized and CHOPPED a young transgender woman because she was wearing padding. This clip alone has started a conversation, not only within the Ballroom scene but in the GSNA/Black Queer sector of our nation as a whole. What became overwhelmingly clear was the divide between GSNA men and African transgender women, and the disgusting, vile ideals of gender “normality” forced upon us by wyt power!

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The Significance of Colonized Children’s Stories

By: Chief Nyah Akerele

How many African’s and Indigenous individuals can recall our colonial education offering a true perspective on how this country, the United States of America, was founded? How many of us can remember the books we were read as children that offered affirmations of who we were as African or Indigenous people? Who were our childhood heroes or heroines? Who did we aspire to grow up and emulate? What were the causes we adopted so early in life as “noble”, “honorable”, or “brave”? What types of behavior did we view as “criminal”? What types of stores did we find comical? To what did we cling that paralleled to our indigenous cultures? What did we see in the media and read in our children’s books that made us love being us?

Many of us that were born in the late 70s and 80s make up the millennial generation and grew up with Disney, Nickelodeon, Dr. Sues, Marvel superheroes and so forth. Very few of those characters, if any, were African or Indigenous and even if they were, the narrative was skewed to such a degree that it made the oppressor look like the hero, such as in the Disney version of Pocahontas. 

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Implementing Our Mission

By: Chief Nyah Akerele

Black Hammer’s mission orbits the need to build self-determining power for our own community. When it comes to the colonized homeless community of Atlanta, many would simply surmise that this issue is nothing new. Homelessness has been plaguing the African and Colonized community since our presence in this U.S. colony, but the way Black Hammer analyzes and politicizes this problem is unique compared to how other bourgeois organizations respond to the contradiction. 

On November 30, 2019, 13 Comrades gathered at Woodruff Park in Downtown Atlanta and handed out food to 100 African and colonized people in under 30 minutes! The menu included curry chicken, sweet potatoes, rice, cornbread, and granola bars. Bean soup was also given as an alternative for those individuals who do not consume meat. A pair of socks and a Black Hammer pamphlet was placed in each bag given so that the individual could become mobilized to overturn the contradiction of poverty created by colonialism. 

After the food drive, Comrades gathered and united that this would be the beginning of a monthly food drive done in the Atlanta area! Comrades voiced their unity to feed African and colonized individuals and families. 

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Thanksgiving and the African Revolutionary

By: Chief Gazi Kodzo

Well, it’s that time of the year, comrades when we are gravitated by guilt back towards our family for the Colonizer’s Holiday Season. The first Holiday is Thanksgiving, where the resources of the working class are pocketed by farmers and airlines.

Thanksgiving has a special place in the hearts of Colonized Revolutionaries. It either speaks to a time where you witnessed a family member exposing the colonial holiday for its brutal genocidal nature or you were that family member that did the exposing. I remember I learned about the natives being the first people of this land in first grade. No matter how nice my teacher tried to make the story about them three ships sound, I was very clear on who the bad guys and good guys were. I made an announcement on that Thanksgiving how disgusted I was by this story.

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