BEING: Jaime Lee Lewis RSS

    On Monday, June 18th, XXX Tentacion is shot in Miami Florida. A person, if not people, in the surrounding area takes out their phone, but they don't call the police. No, they walk closer to the dying body, to record 15-60 seconds worth of spectacle for social media - for all to see.   The lifeless Black body has long been sensationalized amongst American audiences, for generations. Growing up I often wondered who those heartless people were, who angled their cameras at the brown corpses decorating Southern trees like holiday ornaments. Years later I have my answer. Those...

    I'm known to compliment and criticize in the same breath. It's confusing for some and I can understand their frustration - it's the myth of good and bad. We are taught that there are good people and bad people (not people with good and bad qualities, who make both good and bad decisions). We are taught that good things happen and bad things happen, when in reality your bad fortune is another person's good fortune. If you lose money in the street someone finds money in the street. It is a seemingly more complex way of looking at...

The issue of Kanye-Trump is that we as a people hate White Supremacists but we love the luxuries of White Supremacy. For Kanye West to side with a White man who promotes the White Supremacist agenda is fair reason to generate backlash from the Black community, understandably. However, misogynistic lyrics including the (at one time) constant public shaming of his ex-girlfriend Amber Rose; the large glorification of Victorian aesthetics throughout much of his Art Direction; his disproportionate celebration of women of lighter hue (note, Kanye's only publicized relationships where with women of lighter skin, while his darker girlfriends of earlier...

  It was an untimely death. Then again, it's always or never a good time to die. One thing for sure is that it was unexpected. Death came for him swiftly, leaving in its shadow that signature reminder of how tempral and momentary this life is. If the Universe is a stage, this life is indeed our 15 minutes of fame. No matter how grand the performace, the spot light will eventually go dim, and the curtains will inevitably close. This funeral was in many ways a standing ovation - and encore. He was always cracking jokes, making wise remarks,...

  The Black life is largely an interrupted one. Many white children grow up pursuing their interests. They choose Schools based on what they like, they choose friends and date based on who they like. But for Black children, specifically those that are members of low-income neighborhoods mostly occupied by African-Americans and Immigrants of color, daily decisions are dictated by survival.Growing up, whether it was in the home, in the school, or in the church, we are told and taught what to pursue. It's important to understand that I'm not speaking about Tradition. We are taught to achieve a set...