If I called JillisBlack an Instagram revolutionary, she would probably roll her eyes. She’s not into labels, titles, or pigeonholes. But labels do seem to like Jill. Militant. Racist. Truth Speaker. Activist. People don’t know what to make of her. About a month ago, The Echoes Blog featured an article title "Revolutionary Honesty" based on my interview with JillisBlack. I took a journalistic approach-- impartial, un-biased, and neutral. But I promised to write another article

Posted on 07/12/2016 It was a swipe right, a short convo, a debate over the best Old Fashions and Black Russians, and a meeting downtown with every intention to be out of our minds then her polka dot panties and my Superman boxer briefs long before the bars closed. This town is small and made for bowlers and girls who wear side ponytails and Reebok Classics. Neither of us fit and found comfort in our sheepy behavior, however black it got. Drunk, though I could argue we were t

This video is going to step on your toes. You may feel uncomfortable. You might not like it. But growth comes from opposition. So, if you don’t like what it says, I challenge you to watch it all the way through and not tap out on this article. I challenge you to look up @jillisblack on Instagram and watch several of her videos. I had a difficult time writing this article. I’ve decided to explain why in a separate article to be shared later this month. But for now I want to fo

“He shot an unarmed kid” was the first comment I heard regarding the murder of Trayvon Martin. It was a discussion between two people at a neighborhood bar. It was actually 2 days after the shooting and I had no idea what they were talking about. Then I looked up at the television and saw the news story. I remember thinking, “Why had there been no arrest so far? Why was this man still walking free?” As the days passed and more of the story unfolded, I found myself with many,

Scanning television channels at my grandmother’s home, I stopped on Boyz n the Hood. My grandmother asked me to turn off the, “black violence.” A few days ago, my mom and I had a conversation about race. She probed the question, “Who kills black people?” Expecting me to reply, “Black people.” As a white woman in my mid-twenties brought up by a single mother and grandmother in a lower-middle income household, I do not know how to respond to my mother and grandmother’s assumpti