The holiday season is often portrayed as a time of laughter, love, and togetherness. Yet, for many African Americans, it can also be a season shadowed by unique stressors—including racial trauma, financial strain, and the emotional weight of systemic injustice (U.S. Department of Health and Human Services [HHS], 2025). Scholars […]
Introduction This article will share some of the lessons learned from those who surf and teach surfing from a Black perspective and also identify what is beneficial for people to know about surfing. For many Black surfers in the USA, individual surfers from Hawaii, the East Coast and the […]
December is a season rich with reflection across the African diaspora. It is a time when memory feels closer, when ancestors feel present, and when ritual helps us mark not only the end of a year, but the beginning of a new one—and the continuation of our people. While celebrations […]
As I sit here at the close of 2025, wrapped in the energy of the winter solstice—that sacred moment when darkness yields to returning light—I find myself thinking about the challenges Black women have faced this year. Recent data shows our unemployment rate increased from 6.7% to 7.5% between August […]
For many Black communities, the holiday season carries layered meanings. While often framed as a time of joy and togetherness, it can also heighten grief, stress, and emotional fatigue, particularly for those navigating systemic inequities that persist year-round. African-centered traditions, however, offer culturally rooted pathways to psychological healing and resilience. […]
Reflection is a powerful tool for fostering self-love and restoring power to our minds. It offers us an opportunity to appreciate progress, express gratitude, explore mistakes, and identify areas for improvement. In the spirit of reflection and in honor of our Ancestors, I offer this reflection on a visit to […]
Gratitude is medicine for the nervous system. It softens contraction and opens the heart’s portal—the place where ancestors whisper and future generations listen.
We live in an anti-Black/African society. Every week, we learn of cuts to educational services in the US and conflicts throughout the diaspora that threaten our existence. Despite challenges, we must remain grateful for Blackness. From the textures of our hair to the soles of our feet, being Black is […]
Gratitude is often spoken of in fleeting terms, an emotion reserved for the dinner table or a holiday toast. But for many post-incarcerated Black men and women, gratitude carries a weight far greater than a polite “thank you.” It becomes a radical act of healing, a form of resistance, and […]
Nakumbuka is a Kiswahili word that means I remember. Nakumbuka is the name given to the annual day of observance for the Maafa (The African slavery holocaust). Jomo Nkombe, a Tanzanian who lived in Canada, pioneered the idea of nakumbuka as a public ritual in 1990. From early youth, Nkombe […]
