So I announced two weeks ago that Feministe is going to have a weekly feature highlighting a blog that we read and love, and of course I haven’t followed up on it beyond my initial linkage to Ms. Crip Chick. That all changes now, because I have a graphic. Check it:
Hot, right? So this is going to be a regular Wednesday feature (I’ve even marked it in my calendar). And the blog to be highlighted this week is Black Looks, an incredibly informative, often-updated site focusing on African and African Diaspora women. Sokari, the author of Black Looks, describes her site like this:
I started writing Black Looks back in June 2004 after a number of abandoned blog attempts under different names. At the time I only had a broad idea that I wanted to primarily focus on anything to do with African Women – a very broad term for a whole continent – and the African Diaspora that is socially, politically, racially, culturally, ethnically and sexually diverse. I also wanted to look at human rights, to challenge stereotypes and discuss issues such as gender, sexuality and racism and how these are constructed and manipulated by culture. These are areas that can make people feel uncomfortable because they reach to our core. They often reveal the hidden truths deep within ourselves. Talking about racism and ethnicity and sexuality can be threatening because they require people to consider the possibility that they may have racist or homophobic feelings and attitudes.
I have chosen to write about a range of issues that I have experienced directly or indirectly in my offline life such as gender violence, racism, sexuality, HIV/AIDS and cancer. I view the world as moving further and further to the right with American hegemony contaminating the global space. I wanted to write from a radical and progressive standpoint challenging not only the right but also the liberal community, the so capitalism with a friendly face which is an oxymoron to say the least.
She has tons of good stuff, and if Black Looks isn’t on your RSS feed, add it. In the past few days alone, she’s posted about sex workers from East Africa being denied entrance into a women’s conference in Uganda; class-based organizing in Britain turning racist; and a Cameroonian woman winning a lawsuit against the British government for her horrific treatment while seeking asylum.
Check out Sokari’s site. Next week we’ll highlight another must-read feminist blog, so stay tuned.