quirky black girls zine

For surviving thru every lie they put into us now
The world is yours and I swear I will stand focused
Black girls, raise up your hands; the world should clap for us

-Jean Grae (on Black Girl Pain by Talib Kweli feat. Jean Grae)

To love a black girl is a radical act. In a society that says black girls are ugly, useless, laughable, difficult and expendable loving ourselves and loving each other is revolutionary, dangerous, a delicious risk. On the heels of yet another study about how black girls are ohso hopelessly lonely and unwanted we want to think about how we as black girls can critique the images, the stereotypes, the one dimensional representation of black women in the mainstream media. How do we create a vibrant black girl loving culture in the face of that mis- representation? As black girls who love black girls and the brilliant universe transforming potential that we represent we are creating an online zine that we really see as a big ‘ol collaborative love letter to black girls from black girls. We are seeking collages, poems, letters, comix, images, short essays, games, worksheets, puzzles, playlists and shout outs that respond to the following questions:

What do you want to say to black girls? What do you wish someone said to you when you were younger?

Can you write a letter to a specific black girl you know? What would you like to say to her?

Can we talk about and to black girls as complex, different, loving, strong, beautiful?

Can we write about black girl sexuality and innocence? Can we imagine a world where black girls can be sexual and innocent simultaneously?

Are there black girls who inspire you? Who are they?

Can we talk about black girls’ styles? Not only how it is appropriated and vanilla’ed by mainstream media, but also how we take our style back.

What are the questions that we want our daughters and mothers asking each other?

What is the future that we are envisioning? What specifically do we mean when we talk about loving black girls as themselves?

How do we re/define beauty, love, faith, courage, survival, life, expression, freedom so that we are centering black girls?

Who are we? Who do we love? How do we love them? And why?

Can we write a love letter to black girls in general? Can we love ourselves enough to love each other?

Please send your contribution to quirkyblackgirls@gmail.com.

love,
QBG
http://www.quirkyblackgirls.ning.com