It sounded like the crinkling of paper or the pitter-patter of rainfall. The staccato nature of the noise was just broken enough to disrupt my REM cycle. My eyes opened slowly and I groggily rolled over on my twin mattress trying to make out shapes and shadows in the dark.
Read MoreBlack Peace Corps Volunteer
Confessions of a Safe Black Friend: My First Time
in Reflections
Do I hold a grudge against an elementary-school-aged boy whose name I can’t even remember? Of course not. Because at the end of the day, what left the strongest impression on me wasn’t even the words that he said. It was how he said them. His self-assuredness chipped away at my own sense of security. His boldness made me feel intimidated. His aggression made me retreat.
Read MoreConfessions of a Safe Black Friend: Prologue
in Reflections
Confessions is my way of trying to shake off my old habits of appeasing white friends and peers. It is my way of liberating myself to become a more authentic version of myself. I’m sitting on my bed in Boston ready to post this, the beginning of a story, my story, the story of a black woman who is done being safe.
Read MoreHouse of Peace: A Poem and a Proclamation
in Reflections
This is the first piece of poetry that I am publishing on my blog. It is the culmination of years of pent up thoughts and emotions that finally demanded to be expressed. It is a lament, a resolution, a reckoning, and a battle cry.
Read MoreVolunteering While Black: Experiences from Peace Corps Rwanda
Even as the first Peace Corps volunteers were being sent abroad in 1961 to work in the newly independent African nations of Ghana and Tanzania, African-Americans were still waiting for our own second wave of independence at home. Now, nearly sixty years since the Peace Corps was founded, Black Americans have increasingly been among the cohorts of volunteers who go overseas to represent our country around the world, a task as exciting as it is daunting especially when we serve in African countries.
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