The National Women’s March: Sisters, What Are You Willing To Destroy?

Posted on January 27, 2017January 27, 2017 by treasureshieldsredmond

What follows are the remarks and the poem (“Oath: 1957”) I delivered on Saturday, January 21, 2017 at the St. Louis arm of the National Women’s March. When I was first asked to participate in the national women’s March, I declined because I thought it was just another example in the long line of...

The TOP 5 Ways Faculty Can Support Student Activists

Posted on September 9, 2016September 10, 2016 by treasureshieldsredmond

You want to jump up and shout because the students on your campus or the individuals in your community are calling out structural bias and even protesting, organizing, and making real headway against it. Or you’re wondering what the hell is going on. Either way the young people need to be supp...

Here’s Why Anger is the Ultimate Glow Up. Oh, and #StrikeForBlackLives

Posted on July 31, 2016August 1, 2016 by treasureshieldsredmond

One of my favorite podcasts is Another Round, featuring a writer for Buzzfeed, Tracy Clayton and a writer for the Stephen Colbert Show, Heben Nigatu. The show features guests of color talking about a wide range of subjects, but with a keen eye on culture. One part drunken conversation and one par...

“Labor Pains” and the #StrikeForBlackLives

Posted on July 20, 2016July 20, 2016 by treasureshieldsredmond

When Africans were enslaved, one popular narrative used to justify their enslavement, was that they were “lazy.” “If we don’t enslave them they won’t work” was one of the fears expressed pre-emancipation. In fact, black men found without a job could be remanded to forced labor post-slaver...

Why Don’t We Crave to See the Families of the Murdered Policemen in Dallas Forgive Micah Johnson?

Posted on July 13, 2016July 13, 2016 by treasureshieldsredmond

As the country continues to grapple with the racialized gun violence of the past weeks, several issues of comparison can be explored and discussed. This is a thought experiment. I have taken an article titled, “Families of Charleston Shooting Victims: “We Forgive You” written by Inae Oh ...

#StrikeForBlackLives: A Nationwide Job Walk-Off By Black Labor

Posted on July 8, 2016July 19, 2016 by treasureshieldsredmond

“Hamilton” isn’t the first play written by a writer of color that casts black and brown Americans in the roles of white Americans. 50 years earlier, Douglas Turner Ward wrote “A Day of Absence.” The play, with a role made famous by Ossie Davis, features a black cast playing white people in whit...

From the South Bronx to Southeast Europe

Posted on July 5, 2016 by treasureshieldsredmond

Today was the final day of the international debate education association (IDEA) program in Macedonia. The two tracks– visual art (graffiti)/comics and hip-hop/poetry – were responsible for presenting their final projects. Prior to DJ Goce’s arrival, I had taken the students through a series of...

Your Blues is Like Mine

Posted on June 29, 2016June 29, 2016 by treasureshieldsredmond

I have been collaborating with a Macedonian hiphop Dj and producer named Goce (pronounced GO SEE AH). He began to talk about why hip hop was resonant with him and Macedonian people. He sees hip hop as a dissident art, as he came into consciousness of it in 1989 when socially conscious groups like...

The Global Reach of Blackness

Posted on June 25, 2016June 25, 2016 by treasureshieldsredmond

Today I presented about Fannie Lou Hamer. This is a presentation I’ve done many times now, but because of the audience it was quite different. Because the audience was European and specifically people from the Balkan Peninsula, I stopped much more frequently to explain terms. I spent time on “sha...

“Friend is Worth More than a Dollar”