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Make It Plain •

The Guardian’s apology and proposal are unacceptable

“The Guardian / King’s Place” by asvensson is licensed under CC BY 2.0. The three-century-old Guardian, “one of the leading [Whitestream media] high-quality digital news organizations in the world” that reaches “hundreds of millions of people” is the latest institution to formally (and awkwardly) apologize for its editorial support for, wealth drawn from and links to slavery. Specifically for the roles of the founding editor, John Edward Taylor, and his funders and associates, many of them infl
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Make It Plain •

The Guardian’s apology and proposal are unacceptable

“The Guardian / King’s Place” by asvensson is licensed under CC BY 2.0. The three-century-old Guardian, “one of the leading [Whitestream media] high-quality digital news organizations in the world” that reaches “hundreds of millions of people” is the latest institution to formally (and awkwardly) apologize for its editorial support for, wealth drawn from and links to slavery. Specifically for the roles of the founding editor, John Edward Taylor, and his funders and associates, many of them infl
Make It Plain •

Assata’s Chant and Other Histories: EP 12 December 4th 1969

This article is based on the episode “December 4th 1969” from Assata’s Chant and Other Histories anthology and the first original series by multipurpose production house Nello, founded by MIP contributor Weyland McKenzie-Witter. The series can be found on all podcast streaming apps (Apple, Spotify, Google, and YouTube via Black Power Media) and for more background on the anthology, read the editor’s introduction on MIP or visit Nello’s website. Originally pupblished on December 4th 2021, we’ve b
Make It Plain •

Slavery & the Bank

The “Slavery & the Bank” exhibition at the Bank of England claims to “explore[s] the history of transatlantic slavery through its connections with the Bank of England.” While it was better than expected (and expectations were low), it is not an exhibition by Black people, for Black people. The team responsible for curating the exhibition are not Black, including the exhibition researcher Dr. Michael Bennett. The only input from Black people was via consultation with an external group. The facts
Make It Plain •

Assata’s Chant and Other Histories: EP8 Women of the Black Panther Party Mural (Side A)

This article is based on the episode “Women of the Black Panther Party Mural (Side A)” from Assata’s Chant and Other Histories anthology and the first original series by multipurpose production house Nello, founded by MIP contributor Weyland McKenzie-Witter. The series can be found on all podcast streaming apps (Apple, Spotify, Google, and YouTube via black power media) and for more background on the anthology, read the editor’s introduction on MIP or visit Nello’s website. In this episode of A
Make It Plain •

Assata’s Chant and Other Histories: Assata’s Chant (ep. 1)

This article is based on episode 1, “Assata’s Chant,” from Assata’s Chant and Other Histories audio anthology by production company Nello, founded by MIP contributor Weyland McKenzie-Witter. The first episode, “Assata’s Chant,” will be released weekly from August 4, 2022, across all podcast streaming apps (Apple, Spotify, Google, YouTube). For more background on the anthology, read the editor’s introduction on MIP. Assata Shakur, formerly JoAnne Chesimard, was a member of the Black Panther Part
Make It Plain •

The struggle of Afrikans in Ukraine is the struggle of our people across the world

Black volunteers, organizations, and countries have stepped up helping, fundraising, and working to protect, support, and rescue thousands of Afrikan nationals (other nationals) including students, graduates, and their families in Ukraine who have found themselves caught in the middle of this brutal conflict. Afrikan students went to Ukraine to further their studies at affordable costs, advance their careers, and in some cases marry Ukraine nationals and have children. Since the invasion, many A
Make It Plain •

Fred Hampton’s assassination 52 years on: the story continues

The following piece includes an extract from a more extended interview to be featured in an upcoming series by the multidisciplinary audio artist, creative producer, and broadcaster Weyland McKenzie Witter in 2022. In 1969 on December 3, at the age of 21, Fred Hampton was a radical organizer, leader, and chairman of the Black Panther Party (BPP) in Illinois and deputy chairman of the national BPP. On December 4, Fred was assassinated along with BPP leader Mark Clark, double-tapped in the dome b
Make It Plain •

Kill this world for a revolutionary rebirth

In different Afrikan spiritual beliefs, the end and death are not actual states but rather cyclic successions of events. After death, there is always rebirth. After the end, a new beginning. The past few years have felt wildly apocalyptic: from the 2006 Pangandaran earthquake and tsunami to the more recent pandemic and the age-old discourse on White supremacist capitalist-induced climate change. There’s a mixed sense of angst, hopelessness, urgency, and injustice. As Oliver wrote in an article
Make It Plain •

Black is king, but the green dollar is God

A little more than a year after an aesthetically pleasing, empowering, and moving film, arresting us with the ancestral glory and depths of various continental Afrikan beliefs and cultures was released on the streaming platform owned by the rat corporation, I mean Disney+, Beyoncé, and Jay-Z made their appearance in Tiffany’s flashy ABOUT LOVE campaign with Knowles-Carter wearing the famous Tiffany yellow stone. Black may be king ,but that mighty green dollar is god. Before looking at how stark
Make It Plain •

The Imperialistic toddler: America puts down a toy and costs millions of lives

The events of the last month have been utterly heartbreaking but not surprising. Afghanistan has fallen to the Taliban. While America’s presence in Afghanistan has been a completely unnecessary, violent, and greedy venture, how they are withdrawing with no regard to refugees, civilians, and issues such as data handling, can tell us a lot about the tyrannical fickleness of colonialism, Western capitalism, and American exceptionalism. America stands on the world stage as a toddler, picking up coun
Make It Plain •

Climate change: it’s not all “our” fault

This week the UN’s Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) dropped its landmark climate change (6th) assessment. It’s the verdict: global warming will hit 1.5°C by 2040 without radical intervention. In the IPCC’s most up-to-date special report on climate science, AR6 Climate Change 2021: The Physical Science Basis, scientists have written that “it is unequivocal that human influence has warmed the atmosphere, ocean, and land.” Looking back, scientists found that human activity has i
Make It Plain •

Emancipation Day? We’ll never be free under this current system

August 1st, unofficially Augirst (a play on the day, like Juneteenth, the US equivalent of Emancipation Day celebrated June 19th) marks Emancipation Day across some of the Commonwealth of “Colonial” Nations. Earlier this year, Canada’s House of Commons voted unanimously to designate August 1st Emancipation Day officially. It’s official. Now for all the symbolism in our refusal to accept enslavement and recognition that the enslavers could no longer continue slavery without consequences, the pas
Make It Plain •

It’s coming home? Racism is home

Three Black England players, Marcus Rashford, Buyako Saka and Jordan Sancho (23, 19, 21 respectively) took penalties in the EURO Finals 3-2 shoot-out against Italy, they all missed and England lost. What happened next? RACISM! Post-game, within the hour, videos of Black and Brown people being violently assaulted began circulating on social media; and emojis of monkeys left in the comments of the Blacks players’ social media posts. Hardly a post-racial moment, eh? And where are the clips of “d
Medium •

Is Britain’s Nostalgia for Whites Only?

We thought the days of ‘No Blacks, No Irish, No Dogs’ pubs were a thing of the past, think again! A search for The Venue* online, a thriving, growing bar and restaurant venue, reads: “The Venue provides you with a sense of being somewhere special with a hint of nostalgia.” What White people want in a pub, Black people have historically unable to access. A staff member’s former Black colleague also asked when he visited, “Is this legit? It’s reminiscent of the days when we could not get served
Make It Plain •

Before he passed – an interview with Menelik Shabazz

Pioneering filmmaker, educator and writer Menelik Shabazz has passed on at the age of 67. Let’s keep his loved ones in our thoughts and his powerful legacy living on. In this unheard interview with the legend, six months before his death, Kehinde Andrews discusses Blood Ah Go Run, a film about the response to the New Cross Fire, being part of the moment then and now, and other historical works of the Black British experience.
Skin Deep Mag •

Skin Deep Meets: Black Fly Zine

Earlier this year, the collective behind Black Fly Zine announced their manifesto: an exciting pledge, full of energy and idealism, to support the wellness of Black and Brown bodies past, present and future. Their aim is to centre the sexual lives of Black and Brown people, recognising the colonial legacies of sexual trauma, and honouring intergenerational experience. Using each other as inspiration, they collectively unpack binaries, embrace the complexity of desire and see the journey to sexua
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