gradientlair:
So this was neat. I was asked to be included in the “Black Feminism Goes Viral” story in the March 2014 issue of Ebony. The story was written by @JamilahLemieux and is very good. Definitely get a copy; not saying this because I was included but because it’s definitely something to put with your materials on womanist/Black feminist history.
There is an excerpt of this story on Ebony’s blog and my part reads as:
Trudy, 34, whose blog, Gradient Lair, is known for razor-sharp cultural commentary, recognizes the web as a powerful part of the feminist toolbox. “While social media cannot unravel the most persistent hierarchies that oppression maintains,” she says, “it does allow small voices to gain traction … We’ve created important conversations and content and have altered the shape of modern social justice by letting people know that small voices still matter.”
I never think that social media alone or any one tool alone will change all oppression. But I duly note the relevance of social media for the oppressed and did so in a previous widely shared post.
Also, my actual blog link www.gradientlair.com is included in the Web section of the Black Feminist Tool Box in the article. The hashtag section mentions a few hashtags that I was a part of; #solidarityisforwhitewomen (started by @Karnythia), #fasttailedgirls (started by @Karnythia), #blackpowerisforblackmen (started by@JamilahLemieux) and #blackfemmusic (started by @graceishuman).
This is cool to me, not because I always like “everything” in Ebony (I don’t with any publication, that’s silly and impossible) or because I seek fame; you know that I don’t. I think it’s neat because I remember a poor Black girl waiting in the salon to get her hair done for 8th grade graduation and flipping through an Ebony issue—a 69 year old Black publication—looking at these distant but notable Black people and though their experiences were relatable (for some) or just glamorous (for others), it still had a sense of…distance. Poverty can feel that way. Guess I never thought that I would ever be in that same magazine some 20 years later.
Wish my mom was alive to see. ❤