First Community Fridge Opens in St. Albans
By Kiara Thomas Dozens of Queens residents and community leaders gathered at the parking lot of the Robert Ross Johnson Family Life Center in St. Albans on April 24 to celebrate the opening of its first community fridge. Rows of 135 cloth bags and 146 cardboard boxes filled with lentils, cabbage, apples, non-perishables and other fruits and vegetables, free of […]
The History Behind Aunt Jemima’s Rebranding
By Maia Vines Last month, PepsiCo and its subsidiary, Quaker Oats Company, officially changed the name of the Aunt Jemima brand to the Pearl Milling Company, after 131 years. New packaging is set to hit stores this summer. This comes as part of PepsiCo’s Racial Equality Journey, a series of $400 million initiatives, spanning five years. “The promise of our […]
A Steady Diet of Change
By Kiara Thomas Fifteen patties sizzle on a blue Coleman propane grill in the backyard of a house in Queens Village. Two feet from the patties, on top of a black table cloth, eight aluminum pans of food heat up under warming fuel cans. With each new order, two masked brown-skinned girls with their hair in a bun and wearing […]
SBU NAACP & Black Student Athlete Huddle Lead Campus Protest
By Maia Vines On Wednesday, students and faculty gathered at the Staller Center’s steps for a Black Lives Matter protest, many donning black shirts that read “United We Stand, Together We Rise.” Students marched around the academic mall with signs and chants of “no justice no peace,” showing support for the movement. “It’s discouraging to constantly do this and still […]
Woke S1 Review
By Maia Vines Hulu’s new show, Woke, tells the story of Keef Knight, a black cartoonist living in the San Francisco-Bay Area who battles with issues of racial injustices and stereotypes that make up his everyday life. After an incident in which he is racially profiled and mistaken for a mugger, Keef, played by Lamorne Morris, has an awakening, eventually […]
The False Narrative for Progress
Photo Credits: Gordon Parks, Untitled, Washington DC (1963) By Esther Alatishe During this intense time in which Black Lives Matter protests and advocacy are sweeping through cities and social media, many are declaring that it is time for a change. At the macro-level, it is time for substantial changes in our criminal justice, economic, medical, and educational institutions. Without a […]
My hair was called a bird’s nest
By: Kiara Thomas “El diablo, pero mira a ese pajon,” said a Subway worker to her coworker at Stony Brook University as she cut my herb and cheese bread. I was with my boyfriend getting a sandwich after class last year. I didn’t notice her speak. I was fixated on my sandwich and what toppings I wanted. After he ordered […]