Blackflix
April Joyner | Marie Claire
“Just because I’m black—and even though I am keen to support black filmmakers—doesn’t mean every single movie or show I watch needs to feature black actors or be about ‘black stories.’ There are plenty of reasons I might want to watch Beyond the Lights.”
Zoe Saldana as Nina Simone Is What Happens When Diversity Doesn’t
Damon Young | Very Smart Brothas
“Much of Simone’s work was specifically centered in her specific experience as a dark-skinned black woman who existed outside of America’s—white America’s and, sadly, black America’s—general standard of what’s considered beautiful. Zoe Saldana, on the other hand, doesn’t just exist within the standard. For many, she is the standard.”
The Weight of James Arthur Baldwin
Rachel Kaadzi Ghansah | Buzzfeed
“Baldwin’s people have an old-world, sophisticated manner. They offer you three types of tea, whiskey, and their time. They’re patient and generous. They never ask me what I’m doing there. They are tolerant of my desire to find the quiet bibliography that he left behind in the small notations, brushes, and ephemera of his life.”
On Poverty
Alison Stine | Kenyon Review
“Making art is more than a leisure activity exclusively for the well-off. For some, including the poor, it’s a calling that cannot be denied. There is no stronger motivation than that. There is no brighter fire. There are other voices beyond professors. Other kinds of lives, other struggles that are real, vividly imagined, and deserving of time.”