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Back to Black Wednesday: A Night of Jazz

by Faith Olaleye 03/31/2026

written by Faith Olaleye

Students sit huddled on couches in a dark room, red light pinging off the brass of a saxophone as a steady baseline echoes from the double bass. Drums couple with warm piano chords, leading the way for the blaring sax. This was the scene as students gathered in the Black Bruin Resource Center for Black Wednesday, a tradition started by the Afrikan Student Union at UCLA in the early nineties.

Started as a way to celebrate culture and foster the Black community on campus, events like this continue to unite students decades later. Joined for a night of live jazz and performances, dozens of people bustled into the BBRC, many there for different reasons. Some students expressed that they try to make an effort to engage with events held on campus by Black organizations as a way to further connect with their peers. Others, many of whom were transfers and freshmen, attended as an opportunity to become more involved with the Black community at UCLA and better acclimate to such a large environment.

Janiyah Williams, a third-year transfer student, said the BBRC was the first place she felt comfortable being herself on campus. Spaces like Black Wednesday are crucial for Black students at UCLA. At an institution where we make up less than 7% of the undergraduate population, it’s easy to feel alone and disconnected from the community.

We asked some students what they believe should be done to continue making spaces for Black students on campus. Many said events like movie nights, tailgates, and speaker sessions hosted by numerous Black organizations at UCLA have provided opportunities for them to connect with peers and find a sense of community. Others expressed that they often don’t know where to look for events or find fellow Black Bruins. Listed below are some orgs that prioritize uniting Black students on campus.

By attending events like Black Wednesday and utilizing spaces like the BBRC, students can better connect with the Black community at UCLA. Gathered for a night of jazz and camaraderie, students found a space to be themselves and meet fellow Black Bruins. We can’t wait to see what the next Black Wednesday has in store.

Resources:

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@uclabbrc

@uclablack365

@houseofbruin

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@ucla.cod

@uclaeastafricans

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@culturalaffairs

03/31/2026 0 comments

Arts & Entertainment Commentary Culture

Unearthing Black Authors: Expanding the Exploration of Black Literature in Western Media

by Samantha Talbot 02/22/2026

written by Samantha Talbot

There is much to be said about the current state of the Western literary canon, referring to a body of literature consolidated across time and continents that is considered highly influential or “great” to the Western world; in other words, books that we would call “classics.” Much of the discourse surrounding the Western literary canon centers on the prominence of white, male authors in this arbitrary grouping and how this preference for the works of this specific kind of author consequently affects which books (and, by extension, perspectives) are taught in schools. A lack of diversity impacts how students view the world and, beyond the classroom, the narratives being pushed and prioritized in our society. There has always been a call from students, educators, and avid readers alike for increased diversity in the literary canon, for the highlighting of varied racial, gendered, and queer literature. And these pushes have been mostly successful (though one cannot ignore the waves of book bans in public schools over the past few years), with many universities offering literature courses centered on authors of color, women, and queer authors.

However, I’d like to focus on the issue of which authors are being represented in this diversity. From my experience as a Black AP English Literature/Language/African American Studies student attending school in a white, suburban town, and as a current English major at UCLA, I encounter many of the same Black authors: usually a combination of Langston Hughes, Toni Morrison, Frederick Douglass, W.E.B. Du Bois, and Phillis Wheatley. Furthermore, schools always pull from the same few works: Hughes’ “Harlem,” Morrison’s Beloved, Douglass’ Narrative, and so on. Not only that, sometimes educators will cover the exact same excerpts from these works, with a relatively similar analysis that has been taught for decades.

I admit that this can be said about all authors to some degree. Usually, authors are known for a specific work, and specific parts of that work have more cultural prominence than others, such as a famous soliloquy or an especially notable last chapter. However, I believe this is far more frequent with Black and other marginalized authors than it is with white, male authors. I have never read the same Shakespeare play twice in any class, yet I will come across the same excerpt from Du Bois’ The Souls of Black Folk numerous times across different classes. I only just learned recently from a friend that Du Bois also wrote short stories (e.g., “The Comet”), rather poetic ones at that. From my experience, I am more likely to come across a white author that I have not heard of than a Black author. This extends even beyond the classroom, to where most people are exposed to only a select few Black authors and books, while knowing significantly more of their white counterparts.

This is not to say that authors like Hughes and Morrison are not worth engaging with, just because they are more prominent in popular culture. Their most famous works are famous for a reason, and it is always good to diversify your reading in any way that you can (and I personally believe everyone should read Morrison’s The Bluest Eye). However, by pushing the same few Black authors, it suggests that there are only a few Black authors worth engaging with, and that, of those, only a handful of their works are worth reading; thus, only a select few Black perspectives are worth listening to. It can also perpetuate the notion that there are only a small percentage of “great” Black authors out of an insinuated small pool of talented Black writers.

I strongly believe that the Western literary canon should encompass a broader range of Black experiences, and we should collectively make an effort to bring lesser-known Black (and other marginalized) authors into literary spaces. There is no shortage of excellent writing from Black authors, both from the past and in our contemporary era; we just need to make the effort to engage with them. There is a wealth of undiscovered works simply waiting to be unearthed, and in doing so, perhaps we can expand our understanding of Black literature as a whole.

02/22/2026 0 comments

Black History Commentary Culture Opinion

“The clothes do not make the man”: Changing the narrative on the perceptions of black men and boys

by Julia Elizabeth Perry & Mariah Yonique Strawder 02/12/2026

written by Julia Elizabeth Perry & Mariah Yonique Strawder

While Black boys and men share the experiences of racism, prejudice, and bias throughout their lives, there is often an evolution of how this discrimination presents itself. While in older age, Black men are often not taken seriously or treated as professionals, Black youth are taken too seriously and not allowed to act like children. In their youth, Black boys are disproportionately punished in academic settings and expected to mature much faster than their non-Black peers. They are treated with less patience and understanding of the concept that, as children, they will act playfully and make mistakes.

In a 2024 study, UC Berkeley Professors Sean Darling-Hammond and Eric Ho found that Black students were 2.5 times more likely to face suspension in school than their white counterparts. Of course, the impacts of this pattern go far beyond academics and create a troubling mindset for overpunished Black children. They go on to have poor self-esteem, little interest, and, in turn, success in school, and turn to paths outside of education, sometimes leading to incarceration or other illegal and dangerous activity.

While this problem is prominent, it is exacerbated by the media, which often shows the outcome of this overpunishment and racism faced by Black men, with violence and negative portrayals of them dominating the media. Rarely are positive stories of Black men succeeding despite the racism they faced and continue to face reported on. On the flip side of things, the violent acts and prejudice that Black men across the U.S. experience every day are underreported, as the attention usually goes to white people with similar experiences.

TikTok & Streaming Culture

TikTok and streaming culture as a whole contribute heavily to the way Black men are represented in the media, as most of the top creators like Kai Cenat, iShowSpeed, Duke Dennis, and more are Black men themselves.

When asking Black men at UCLA about streaming culture and its implications for Black youth, we got this response:

“I think there are a few positive role models for Black boys; however, a lot of positive role models are overshadowed by not-so-positive media personalities. With TikTok and streaming culture, so many people are chasing a clip. So Black boys see creators such as Kai Cenat, Rakai, or iShowSpeed, they mimic everything they do, the good and the bad. I believe Kai Cenat is a somewhat positive role model, but still has some work to do. At the same time, it is unfortunate that Black men choose to look up to these creators, but at the same time, we don’t have that many people leading us in the right direction,” – Orlando Johnson, first-year UCLA student.

If we as a community continue to label this type of content as entertaining rather than disreputable, it will be destructive for the development of Black boys. We must push content that allows Black boys to see that they can be more than what the media and content creators show them.

While streaming culture often promotes harmful content and behavior among young Black boys, it is ever-changing, and lately has been for the better. Recently, the two most popular streamers on Twitch, Kai Cenat and iShowSpeed, have pushed out content that influences young boys in an educational and positive way.

Kai Cenat shared a video of him doing 20 minutes of reading on January 1st, 2026, to “improve the way that he speaks.” While to some this appears as performative or a way to gain positive attention and offset backlash from controversies he’s been involved in, it is bound to have an influence on his young, impressionable audience and encourage them to read books.

iShowSpeed has recently begun a 28-day series in which he plans to visit 20 countries in Africa, immersing himself in the culture and activities of each place he visits. In doing so and publicizing his travels, he is debunking many of the stereotypes surrounding Africa and showcasing the diversity in culture, lifestyle, and people across the continent. For Black boys who are hearing about Africa at school only through the topic of slavery or if their peers bring up stereotypes, this publicity can be extremely influential and change the narrative.

The actions of Kai and iShowSpeed should not go unnoticed. We hope other creators will follow their wave and do the same in order to shed a more positive light on the way Black men are represented in entertainment and for impressionable Black boys.

Quarter Zips, Matcha, & Respectability Politics

When Black men exhibit behavior or participate in an activity that is viewed as unconventional and outside of the stereotype held for them, they tend to get a lot of attention, both online and in real-world settings. While some of this attention is positive or appears to be positive, much of it is sneakily negative. They continue to be labeled as “YNs,” and typically receive comments that are extremely backhanded and imply that what they are doing is outside of what is expected of them, even if it is something as simple as drinking matcha or wearing a certain type of shirt. Comments such as “professional YN,” “wholesome YN,” “cheerful YN,” etc., often flood the comment sections on these videos, with the abbreviation “YN” meaning “young n*gga.” Regardless of the word preceding YN.

In November, almost everyone opened TikTok to see the start of the “Quarter Zip Movement”. Black Men were shifting the narrative. They were no longer wearing Nike tech hoodie and sweatpants sets and ski masks; they were wearing quarter zips and drinking matcha. This movement has sparked conversation about Black men’s representation based on clothing and appearance.

“The Quarter Zip movement is a rapid surge of respectability politics that tells Black boys and men that if you drink matcha and wear a quarter zip, then you’re a respectable human being; if you don’t, you’re seen as a YN,” Tehilah Favour Ofumbi, UCLA Student.

Jason Gyamfi, Founder of the Quarter Zip Movement says that the entire point of the movement is to allow Black men to feel comfortable in “trying new things, expanding your palette, and expanding your horizons of what it is to live this life, coming from a neighborhood where I live these things [matcha and quarter zips] are not something you see on a day-to-day basis” He goes further by mentioning how beautiful it is to see Black Men who are often subjected to stereotypes feel good about themselves and do things such as putting on a suit for the first time. He ends the video on a powerful note, saying that: “The man makes the clothes. The clothes do not make the man. It was never about clothing.”

Black Suffering Goes Unnoticed

While the media is full of content that displays Black boys and men in negative ways, we almost never see when they suffer, especially at the hands of white rage. On December 31st, a Black man by the name of Keith Porter Jr. was murdered by an off-duty ICE agent. Porter was shot outside his home after firing one gunshot into the air, his way of ringing in the New Year. A resident in his apartment complex just so happened to be an ICE agent, and he decided to take matters into his own hands by murdering Porter.

What makes this situation worse is that Porter’s death was not uncovered until days later. Black Lives Matter Los Angeles Chapter reported this information to Instagram on January 2nd, when it should have been reported immediately after it happened. Additionally, Porter’s murder has not received any mainstream media coverage, unlike the murder of Renée Nicole Good, who was shot by ICE agents in Minneapolis. Porter is human just like Renée Good, but his Blackness creates a discrepancy in how their stories are reported and characterized.

Porter was a father, son, worker, and beloved community member. However, as a Black man, his suffering went unnoticed until Black Lives Matter Los Angeles brought it to light. We stand with BLM Los Angeles in their demands to “release the name of the agent who murdered Porter, arrest the agent, cease all character assistantion, and abolish ICE”. Furthermore, we demand accountability and action. We demand that Porter’s story and all those similar all be treated with the same attention and humility as others.

Black men and Black people in general are also underreported in cases where they are missing or in danger. The most recent example that we have seen of this, although new, and old cases are brought to the news every day, is the case of Sam Beal. Beal is 29 years old and a former player for the New York Giants and has been missing for seven months, although his story has only been publicized by major news pages as of January 12, 2026.

If Beal, a Black man in a profession with a lot of publicity, can have his case go unreported on for seven months, imagine how long it takes Black men who aren’t well known publicly to get their stories out and get the resources they need to be safe. For both Beal and every other Black man who is missing, we can only wish and make efforts to ensure that their stories are reported on in a timely manner to maximize the chance of them returning home safely.

Black Success Goes Unnoticed Too

Black men are not a monolith. We know there are Black boys and men doing great things in the world; we are not just aware or informed. Despite making up small percentages, we know that Black men are doctors, lawyers, and community activists. A Black man was president of the United States. However, these positive figures are overshadowed by society’s perceptions of Black men being only able to reach success as athletes or entertainers, or only being seen as a thug or criminal.

Mitchell Stevens, a 4th-year UCLA student and member of Alpha Phi Alpha Fraternity, Incorporated, Gamma Xi Chapter, gave Nommo his thoughts about Black men’s representation in the media and how Black men’s success is overshadowed by negative perceptions

“When I think of Black men’s representation in the media, I really just think of Black men being visible. What does it mean to see somebody who looks like you in spaces the world tells us we aren’t meant or fit to be in. Now I believe the problems themselves lie with the narrative written on centuries of perceptions built about our people. We can’t inherently change the structure of stereotypes that group Black Men in what seems like an impenetrable bubble. But we can change the nature of what we continue to do as Black men and more importantly how we show up for each other.

I think creating spaces, whether that’s in the media, on campus, in the community, where Black men SEE each other is where our power and strength are fostered. With the work of my organization, the Gamma Xi Chapter of Alpha Phi Alpha Fraternity, Incorporated, we work to build these spaces that otherwise weren’t there. That’s a part of the entire founding of my fraternity: a space created for and by Black Men.

To build upon our respective strengths. One of our notable programs, Barbershop Talks, does just that. A ‘Barbershop’ experience is tailored for Black men to come into a space with other Black men, contribute to meaningful dialogue related to our respective experiences and get a free haircut. And that’s only a glimpse honestly. We as Black Men are very powerful and have that much more unforeseen power together. When we see each other, we dismantle every narrative that said we wouldn’t. It’s living proof that the stereotypes never told the full story.”

As a community, we should be amplifying the stories of the groups and organizations that are putting in the hard work to give back and shift the narrative.

Algorithms

Nommo Newsmagazine created a survey to gauge UCLA students’ and the community’s opinions about how Black boys and men are represented in the media. We then shared this data with Dr. Tanksley, UCLA Education and Information Studies Graduate School Alumna, and a researcher who studies young people’s experiences and perceptions of artificial intelligence and its role in education and the media. Here are her thoughts:

“These student responses confirm what decades of scholarship in race and media studies have been saying: the media ecosystem is rife with anti-black misandry, not because these depictions of Black men and boys are true, but because the dissemination of these images plays a key role in the maintenance of the violent and inequitable racial status quo.

Importantly, the students’ responses overwhelmingly highlight the personal and individual level harms – that black boys can internalize and ‘buy in’ to these images, which can have a host of socioemotional, psychological and academic effects.

This, however, is just the beginning of the discussion. It’s important to recognize these micro level aberrations as canaries in the mines – the first warning signs that there is a deeper, more toxic, more far reaching threat lurking just beneath the surface. Images of black boys as unable, unwilling and uninterested in education; as inherently criminal and culturally deviant; and hyper sexual, hyper violent ‘super predators’ – is used to justify their horrific treatment in schools, in employment scenarios, in public spaces, and in society writ large. When we see our Black boys killed in the streets for laughing, playing, dancing, eating snacks, singing, its easier for the public to justify these as heinous and senseless acts of violence because ‘they probably deserved it.’

I also want to note that invisible apparatus that’s behind these images:

A contract was uncovered that showed the private prisons purchased by a company – Vanguard – required its prisons to maintain a 90% occupancy rate, regardless of what the crime rates were. So even though crime rates in the US have remained stagnant for years, Black people have been continually funneled into prison systems at exponential rates – at one point, the rates of incarceration had quadrupled despite flattened crime rates

How can rampant imprisonment be justified to the public if the public isn’t committing more crimes? Without a believable narrative, people would question these corrupt practices and perhaps even organize against mass incarceration on a national scale. This is where the stereotypes of Black people as aggressive, violent, and inherently criminal come in.

The same company that owns a majority of US private prisons as well as juvenile detention centers – all of which have an overrepresentation of Black inmates inside – also own the news stations and television channels depicting Black people as violent, aggressive, hostile. So they create and disseminate the narrative of Black aggression and criminality that allows them to corral and cage Black bodies into prisons.

Keep in mind that the 13th Amendment didn’t completely abolish slavery; it abolished slavery outside of US prisons. This means that Black folks can still be yoked, chained, and brutalized into completing free or low-wage labor for white-owned corporations – just like they were slaves on Antebellum plantations and as sharecroppers during reconstruction – as long as they are placed into US prisons.

Finally, private prisons are one of the leading sources of profit for the US. It’s where our ‘made in the US’ products are assembled. Because these products are assembled by inmates, they do not have to be paid livable wages. Inmates make a few dollars a day – if they are even paid – and then the companies sell these assembled products at retail price and make millions.

This is the prison industrial complex at work, and it is made possible – in large part – by stock narratives about Black people in general, and Black boys and men in particular – that society internalizes as fact.

I want to end by saying that, we know that Black youth constantly challenge, critique and struggle against racist depictions of themselves in the media. So it would be incorrect for readers of this article to assume that the reason black boys continue to struggle academically in school, enroll and attend college in lower rates, suffer stifling unemployment rates, are arrested and contacted by law enforcement at disproportionately high rates, etc. is simply because the boys buy into and subsequently embody these problematic tropes. Though tempting to assume, this rationale simply shifts blame away from the systems of white supremacy, patriarchy, capitalism and anti-blackness that creates and sustains this violence, and places it back on Black boys. We need to keep our eye on the true culprit: systemic racism.

And in order to do so, we must all continue to cultivate our critical media and digital literacies! We also need more positive, nuanced and expansive representations of Black boys/men in media – stories of joy, friendship, love, queerness, perseverance, etc. And even though we are constantly told that ‘there’s no audience for these stories’ or ‘Black boys and men don’t want those stories’ – the data in this study proves that wrong.”

Conclusion + Writer’s Opinion

The stories of Black people have long been warped by the media, whether it be in history books about the enslavement of Black people, movies and TV perpetuating harmful stereotypes, or news stories reporting inaccurately to promote a narrative. While it is greatly disappointing to see these patterns of misrepresentation still booming in 2026, it is unfortunately not shocking, and many have become desensitized to it. However, it is important that we reverse this desensitization to the best of our abilities, stay emotional, stay passionate, and stay active. Change cannot be made without the presence of passion and the emotion that motivates it. As exhausting as it is, we must remain sensitive to prevent the misrepresentation from being normalized further, and continue working toward efforts to accurately shed light on the stories of Black people.

CONSUMPTION

We curated another list of media outlets that focus on uplifting Black men and the community at large. This list was put together by Nommo Staff and recommendations from our survey.

Instagram

@blackwealthcrew
@becauseofthem
@capitalbnews
@ebonyarchival
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@thegrio
@wearepushblack
@afrotech
@goodblacknews
@essence
@thejaampod

YouTube Channels

In Class with Carr
NPR Code Switch

Misc

Grits & Eggs Podcast

02/12/2026 0 comments

Black History Commentary Culture Political Education

‘We Gon’ Be A’ight’: Hope and the Fight for What’s Owed

by Mariah Yonique Strawder 01/25/2026

written by Mariah Yonique Strawder

Kendrick Lamar’s “Alright” is the kind of track that hits you in the chest when the world feels heavy. When it dropped in 2015, it became an anthem for protests, for healing, for just making it through the day. And even now, years later, it still speaks to something deep in us. It’s something for Black folks navigating a world that constantly tries to dim our light.

At first listen, “Alright” sounds like a celebration. But when you really sit with the lyrics, you realize it’s not just about feeling good. It’s about surviving pain and still choosing joy. Kendrick talks about police violence, addiction, depression, and the weight of being Black in America. And yet, through all of that, he repeats: “We gon’ be alright.” The song is more than just optimism. It’s resistance.

Hope, in this song, isn’t soft. It’s not about ignoring what’s wrong. It’s about facing it head-on and still believing in something better. That kind of hope is powerful. It’s the kind that kept our ancestors going. It’s the kind that fuels movements. And it’s the kind that reminds us that even when we’re tired, we’re not done.

“Alright” also makes me think about reparations. Not just in the financial sense, but in the emotional and spiritual sense too. What does it mean to be owed something after generations of harm? Kendrick doesn’t say the word “reparations,” but the theme remains present. He’s talking about what’s been taken, our peace, our safety, our lives, and what it would mean to get some of that back. Not just through checks, but through healing, through justice, through being able to live without fear.

The road to that kind of future isn’t smooth. There are setbacks. Kendrick talks about feeling weak, about wanting to give up. And that’s real. We all have those moments. But what makes “Alright” so powerful is that it doesn’t end there. It reminds us that even when we fall, we rise. That our stories keep going despite the struggle.

So what does the future look like? If we really believe we’ll be alright, then it looks like more than just surviving. It looks like communities that are safe, schools that are funded, neighborhoods that aren’t being pushed out by gentrification. It looks like joy, like art, like Black kids growing up knowing they’re loved and protected.

01/25/2026 0 comments

Commentary News U.S.

Recounting the Flames: A Year Since the Los Angeles County Wildfires

by Mariah Yonique Strawder 01/15/2026

written by Mariah Yonique Strawder

On January 7th, 2025, wildfires broke out across Los Angeles County, devastating the Altadena, Pasadena, and Pacific Palisades areas. On social media, I saw “Pray for California” spread rapidly. My timeline was full of videos of people who were evacuating their homes, salvaging what they could, and families sobbing as they watched their homes be engulfed in flames and fall to ashes.

The Palisades Fire in Pacific Palisades started around 10:30 a.m. on January 7th. The Eaton Fire in Altadena began on the same date later in the evening around 6:00 p.m. The Palisades fire covered over 23,448 acres while the Eaton fire covered 14,021 acres. A rough estimate of 100,000 people were forced to evacuate, 16,000 structures were destroyed, the number of lives lost is up to an estimate of 31, and fires were active for about 24 days. According to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s February 2025 report, the Los Angeles January 2025 wildfires were the result of climate change, a record-level dry fall season in 2024, and Santa Ana winds from a near-hurricane event. With the help of firefighters from around California, Mexico, and Canada as well as incarcerated youth and adults from Los Angeles County jails and prisons, the fires were announced to be contained on January 31st.

I asked Eloheem Mahone, Altadena Native, 2nd year UCLA Student, and member of Kappa Alpha Psi Fraternity, Incorporated, Upsilon Chapter, about his and his family’s experience with the Eaton Fire, and what rebuilding has been like.

“My family’s roots in Altadena go way back,” Mahone says. His father is from Los Angeles and his mother is from Long Beach. His dad moved to Altadena while in high school. Later on, his parents would buy their own home in the area and begin building their family.

When the Eaton Fires broke out, Mahone was at UCLA, in his dorm, lying in bed, waking up from a nap. “I had missed more calls than I had ever seen before. My phone was flooded with messages from people asking if my house was okay or saying sorry. My heart dropped to my stomach as I read messages from my family members who were in our home as it burned down. My first reaction was to go home. My college friends and I went to Altadena to help fight the fire. We couldn’t lose both of the homes my family grew up in. My next-door neighbor was a retired firefighter and did everything in his power to help our neighborhood. He told us that our house was one of the first in the neighborhood to catch fire, and by the time he had retrieved all his equipment, it was too late.”

When asked about the aftermath of the Eaton Fires, Mahone says: “Rebuilding has been rough. My family currently stays in a trailer in my grandparents’ backyard. I give a lot of credit to my mom, dad, and sister. They spent a lot of time doing research and outreach to survive as our resources were so limited. Then and now, my sister works nonstop trying to find resources for sustainable and affordable living.” Mahone also highlighted the work of his friend and UCLA Alum, Fayola Obasi, who used her sorority, Delta Sigma Theta Sorority, Incorporated, Pi Chapter, to start a GoFundMe, raising over $30,000, to support his family. A year later, Mahone says that he is lucky. After putting the tragedy into perspective, he remains grateful for his support system and most importantly, his family still being here.

In tracking the 2025 LA fire recovery efforts, FEMA has helped about 35,093 people and distributed about $163.4 million in aid. Angelenos have also been vocal in critiquing Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass’s efforts in the Palisades fire recovery. LA Times writes that since the fires the mayor “Bass has been announcing recovery strategies with great fanfare, only for them to get bogged down in the details or abandoned altogether.” This has left many Angelenos feeling unconfident in the Mayor’s leadership.

It is also important to highlight that the Los Angeles fires affected two distinct communities. The Palisades Fires set the Pacific Palisades ablaze, home to business executives and Hollywood movie stars. The Eaton Fires ravaged the east side communities of Pasadena and Sierra Madre, reducing much of the Altadena community to ash. Altadena, a diverse middle-class neighborhood known for being a Black enclave since the 1950s, is home to many Black legends such as athlete Jackie Robinson, writer Octavia E. Butler, actor Sidney Poitier, and activist Seaborn B. Carr.

In October 2025, I visited California’s African American Museum in Exposition Park. I got to experience Ode to Dena: Black Artistic Legacies of Altadena, an exhibit that traces Altadena’s artistic history in light of the Eaton Fires. This CAAM exhibit is curated by Dominique Clayton, independent curator and founder of Dominique Gallery, in collaboration with Larry Earl, Kenturah Davis, Arianne Edmonds, Dylan Joner, and V. Joy Simmons, MD. The Exhibit highlights the Altadena community over the decades. It features over 20 Black artists who live in or have family ties to the neighborhood. It captures treasured moments like birthday celebrations, moments in the kitchen, and family pool time. While the exhibit stems from pain and loss, it is a beautiful reminder of Los Angeles’s cultural history.

In Harvard Kennedy’s School of Public Policy Student Policy Review on Racial Disparity in Disaster Response in the United States, Matt Plaus writes that “natural disasters strike Americans indiscriminately; unfortunately, relief does not reach them the same way”. From Hurricane Katrina in New Orleans, Louisiana (2005), to Flint, Michigan’s decade-long water crisis (which the Environmental Protection Agency’s 2016 emergency order for was lifted in May 2025), and Hurricane Melissa in Jamaica (2025), racial disparities in disaster response have resulted in Black Americans suffering from worse impacts, slower recovery efforts, less aid, and greater health risk. In the aftermath of destruction, Black communities also become increasingly vulnerable to exploitation and displacement.

As Altadena residents began to recover, A UCLA study done by the UCLA Ralph J. Bunche Center for African American Studies, the UCLA Center for Neighborhood Knowledge and the UCLA Latino Policy and Politics Institute found that “48% of Black households experiencing damage or destruction” faced disporportionate burdens of damage in the aftermath of the Los Angeles fires “compared to 37% for non-Black households”. The study also found that predatory insurance companies targeted families with “57%” of them being Black homeowners from Black Altadena, over the age of 65, and facing barriers to recovery.

The Los Angeles wildfires were most certainly a chaotic way to start the beginning of 2025. The impacts of the Eaton and Palisades fires were devastating and recovery will take years. Homes, possessions, businesses, families, friends, and pets were lost. The trauma is immeasurable. For Black communities, the loss is one of many. There is still so much work that needs to be done. We as a community must hold our elected officials accountable and continue working together to ensure the victims of the Los Angeles fire regain stability. Going into 2026, let us prioritize electing leaders who are committed to the safety and well-being of Black communities.

01/15/2026 0 comments

Culture News World

The Heart of Africa

by Orisha Lamon 01/08/2026

written by Orisha Lamon

The colonialists care nothing for Africa for her own sake. They are attracted by African riches and their actions are guided by the desire to preserve their interests in Africa against the wishes of the African people. For the colonialists all means are good if they help them to possess these riches.
– Patrice Lumumba, Speech at the All-African Conference in Leopoldville August, 1960.

Congo was described as the “heart of Africa” by Kwame Nkrumah, a leading figure in decolonial struggle and Pan-Afrikanism. Nkrumah was closely aligned with Patrice Lumumba and his dedication to Congolese independence, decolonization, and repatriation of resources and autonomy from western colonial violence and control. The current strain most consider to be on the “heart of Africa” is the mineral crisis which has existed since the imperialist scramble for pieces of the African continent. Monetarily, Congo is projected to have approximately $24 trillion in mineral wealth from natural resources including cobalt, uranium, coltan, copper, and the ecological richness that sustains earth’s carbon sink.

There lies the myth of Green Technology, drenched in the exploitation, blood, and sweat of Congolese laborers. Approximately 7 million people have been uprooted from their communities by Rwandan and Western backed Congolese militias under the guise of putting an end to any remnants of the Rwandan genocide that seeped into Congo. The needs of mass production and technological consumption have in turn created one of the worst humanitarian crises in the world. A crisis that, though sensationalized, is treated almost as an afterthought precisely because its victims are Afrikan people. Against the longstanding colonial legacy of dehumanization, the people of Congo have been left with no other choice but to survive and righteously struggle against the conditions induced by rapid capitalist and globalized needs. This is not a passive acceptance of colonial dispossession and structural genocide, but rather an internal resistance effort that has made its way into the continent and global sphere, and has generated solidarity movements and mutual efforts to materially support the displaced.

The problem in the Congo should not even be considered – “as a problem” ; it is a colonial and capitalist development by the imperial and colonial cores. The foreign hands in Congo are from the United States, South Africa, Belgium, the broader EU, China, Taiwan, and many other countries, contributing to the loss of wealth and autonomy for the Congolese people. This project of foreign extraction is built upon an establishment of Afrikan subjugation, violence, and chattelization, corroding any sense of humanity. Thinking of the mines of the Congo and the millions displaced, we must support the independence, nationalization, and ownership of resources and decisionmaking in the hands of governance reflective of the people of Congo, to fulfill its suppressed and stolen economic presence as the heart of Afrika and continue to struggle toward a liberated and unified continent.

Resources

URGENT Support Needed in Goma, DR Congo

Documentary: Lumumba: Death of a Prophet

Documentary: LWANZO (Cobalt) (paywalled)

Friends of the Congo

01/08/2026 0 comments

Arts & Entertainment Commentary Culture

Modern Day Minstrelsy: Natalie Nunn, Zeus Network, Anti-Blackness, Caricatures

by Mariah Yonique Strawder & Julia Elizabeth Perry 11/25/2025

written by Mariah Yonique Strawder & Julia Elizabeth Perry

“When characters enact stereotypes for the amusement of others.”

Natalie Nunn and Zeus Network have exacerbated conversation and controversy about the line between entertainment and exploitation.

Nunn is known for her appearances on seasons 4 and 13 of the reality TV show Bad Girls Club (2006-2017), as the executive producer of the Bad Girls Club spin-off, Baddies (2021-present), and for her viral clips and sound bites on TikTok. Zeus Network was founded in 2018 by social media personalities DeStorm Power, Amanda Cerny, King Bach, and television producer Lemuel Plummer (who currently serves as president and CEO). The streaming service produces social media personality-driven reality TV shows featuring creators such as Natalie Nunn, Joseline Hernandez, Tokyo Toni, and Blac Chyna.

When Black students living in the Afrikan diaspora Living Learning Community at UCLA were asked their thoughts on Nunn and Zeus Network, most were inclined to comment on the negative stereotype perpetuated by the network, the influence it has on Black culture, and the implications it has on how the world perceives the Black community within popular media.

Zeus Network & Exploitation

“Zeus Network promotes stigmas that surround Black women, men, and transgender people for the sake of entertainment.” Nazyrah Olubuah, first-year English student. In Maia Niguel Hoskin’s article “Black Folks Deserve Better: Lemuel Plummer’s Zeus Network Is Everything That Is Wrong With Portrayals Of Blackness On Television,” Hoskin highlights how CEO Plummer uses his platform to perpetuate stereotypes and inaccurately represent Blackness.

Content/Consumption

Hoskin’s article also emphasizes the demoralizing images of Black women that run rampant on Zeus Network. In almost every series the show produces, it depicts the women as sexually promiscuous, angry, aggressive, and intellectually inferior. “All they do is eat, drink, fight, smoke, have sex, and fight some more,” exclaimed Nazyrah Olubuah describing the content in many of the shows produced by the Zeus Network. Olubuah highlighted how this type of representation can be detrimental in shaping how individuals view the Black community, as well as how the Black community views itself.

Role models / Influence

Youth are consuming media at an all-time high through internet sites such as Instagram, X, TikTok, Snapchat, Facebook, YouTube and various other social media platforms. Often, the content youth engage with is not filtered to be age-appropriate, resulting in the fast-paced, mass consumption of information that can impact youth negatively. In Nunn’s case, she markets herself in a way that is entertaining and provoking. Through her behavior, she is often at the center of internet trends and/or memes that grow viral enough to reach youth. One of the most recent examples of this is a trend in which people created content lip-syncing and dancing to her song “Pose for Me.” Although the lyrics of this song were somewhat explicit, the trend was so viral that even children participated, most likely without realizing the meaning of the lyrics or Nunn’s fame. We spoke with students about Zeus Network’s representation of the Black community, and asked them how they felt about the content’s influence and its impact on Black youth.

“They’ll think that’s the box they have to fit in. They will feel pressure to conform to the stereotypes demonstrated in Baddies,” said Chidiogo Molokwu, a first-year biology student, emphasizing the potential risk of Black youth consuming the media produced by Natalie Nunn. Not only is the behavior that Nunn demonstrates highly questionable, but it has dangerous implications for the youth who consume it. Nunn’s use of her platform promotes the long-standing, harmful stereotypes that have been imposed on Black people for decades, showing Afrikan-American youth that this is the behavior that is expected of them. The content produced by Zeus Network also teaches the children who consume it that violence, screaming, or cursing is the right way to express emotions and solve conflicts, which can sabotage them in social contexts with their peers, as well as adults.

Jayla Ward, a first-year political science student, discussed Natalie Nunn’s identity as a parent. Ward contrasted Nunn’s identity as a mother with her role as a provocative and problematic media presence. “All kids deserve parents, not all parents deserve kids,” Ward says. Ward added this statement to highlight the hypocrisy of Nunn’s work. Considering that she is raising a Black daughter, should she not consider the implications for how Black women are projected in the media? The same media that her daughter may be consuming?

Accountability

Nunn was born in Concord, California, a middle and upper-middle-class city. She attended Aragon High School in San Mateo, California, a school that was nationally recognized for its academic excellence. Nunn later attended the University of Southern California, playing Division 1 soccer and receiving degrees in sociology and communications with minors in business and Spanish. Nunn is seen on social media flaunting her degrees. We asked students if they believed that Nunn’s educational background has any influence on her work and if she should be held accountable for the negative stereotypes that her work perpetuates.

“She does it on purpose. Her actions are calculated and manufactured to gain traction and profit off of the stereotypes that she perpetuates,” says Jayla Ward.

Writers’ Opinion + Moving forward

“Blacks are simultaneously underrepresented and overrepresented in American media culture,” claims S. Craig Watkins, an Assistant Professor of Sociology and Radio-Television-Film at the University of Texas at Austin. To contextualize this concept in the setting of the Zeus Network and Baddies, many of the shows within this network have casts that are dominated by Black people or people who have been influenced by elements of Black culture. At a surface level, having a Black-dominated cast would appear to be positive in terms of representation. However, since these Black people are predominantly represented in ways that are not accurate and are harmful, this portrayal aligns more with a consistent underrepresentation of Black people, a diverse and multifaceted population.

If continued, these portrayals are bound to influence generations of students consuming this media, including students at UCLA. The implications range from confining Black youth into stereotypes, teaching youth from other backgrounds that all Black people act ghetto or barbaric.

It is crucial to be intentional about the media we consume and the people that we give platforms to. While Zeus Network and Baddies represent Black people and culture in a way that is destructive, there is plenty of media that shows Afrikan-American culture in positive, authentic, and accurate contexts. Nommo staff have collaborated to compile a non-comprehensive list of shows, movies, books, and content creators by/about Black people to highlight narratives that represent our community ethically and responsibly!

TV SHOWS

Abbott Elementary
Raising Kanan
Black-ish
The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air
This is Us
Atlanta
Living Single
Insecure
Forever

MOVIES

Sinners
Green Book
Hidden Figures
Nickel Boys
Sing Sing
Entergalactic
Soul
Spider-man: Into the Spider-verse
Queen & Slim
Blackkklansman
If Beale Street Could Talk

BOOKS

The Poet X by Elizabeth Acevedo
Legendborn by Tracy Deonn
The Vanishing Half by Brit Bennett
Long After We Are Gone by Terah Shelton Harris
Nightcrawling by Leila Mottley
The Sun is Also a Star by Nicola Yoon
Born a Crime by Trevor Noah
The Blood Trials by N.E. Davenport
Sister Outsider by Audre Lorde
Homegoing by Yaa Gyasi
The Bluest Eye by Toni Morrison
Their Eyes Were Watching God by Zora Neale Hurston

SOCIAL MEDIA CREATORS

@keith_lee125 (TikTok, restaurant reviews)
@alexisnikole (TikTok, environmental educational)
@wisdm8 (TikTok, fashion)
@theconsciouslee (TikTok, politics/news)
@danessyauguste (TikTok, lifestyle)
@mariahcrose (TikTok, sports)
@skylarmarshai (TikTok, art/lifestyle)
@dasiadoesit (Instagram, rollerskating/lifestyle)
@KevinLangue (YouTube, comedy)
@debsmikle (Instagram, lifestyle)

11/25/2025 0 comments

Black History Commentary Culture News Opinion Political Education World

Sudan and the Reminders of Genocide

by Hanae Noirbent 11/09/2025

written by Hanae Noirbent

As satellites witness the crimson remains of massacred villages, so too does the world, slowly turning its sleep-crusted gaze to the horrors of Sudan. There, for the past two years, civilians have been at the mercy of a conflict between two military groups, the Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF) and the Rapid Support Forces (RSF).

In a brief article outlining the reasons behind the war, the BBC points to the 2019 deposition of former Sudanese dictator Omar al-Bashir as a key turning point. Following Bashir’s removal, the SAF sought to integrate the RSF, a paramilitary group founded by Bashir and funded by the United Arab Emirates, into its ranks. However, the proposition proved controversial as neither military party was interested in losing their power, resulting in escalating tensions starting in 2023 and the subsequent outbreak of the ongoing war, which is just as invested in attacking each side as it is in targeting and punishing civilians.

Pulling back the curtain of the military campaign reveals the full extent of the story, where the exploitation of natural resources and organized religion have become the primary motivations behind ethnic cleansing, gender-based violence, and famine. In recent years, the brutality of such war crimes has become more visible than ever, through the ease of online access and the repeated assertions of genocide echoing across the world, from Sudan to Palestine. What has escaped our attention, however, is the reasoning paving the bloodied ground, the persistent yet hidden “why” that continues to lay the foundation for mass atrocities. Finding our answer requires us to investigate another history, in the hills and rivers at the heart of Afrika.

In her collection of short stories titled Ce que murmurent les collines, which translates to “What the Hills Whisper,” Scholastique Mukasonga writes about the various daily lives and cultural practices unfolding in Rwanda prior to the 1994 genocide. Whereas most of the short stories are narrated from the perspective of native Rwandans and their experiences with religion, superstition, and colorism, the opening story follows the writings of German explorer Richard Kandt as he ventured onto the Rukarara River.

The river was no ordinary water source, however, having been called into question as a mythical sight in a country nearing paradise and inhabited by seemingly enchanted people. Under the sheen of orientalist fascination, Kandt encountered the Tutsi people and determined their physiques aligned with their presupposed superiority.

What started as a legend soon became the pedestal upon which German and Belgian authorities placed the Tutsi people. In a society that had long been aware of its demographic divides, from the Tutsi who were traditionally wealthier than their Hutu and Twa counterparts to the centuries of Tutsi monarchies implementing anti-Hutu policies, a colonial power decreeing which ethnic group held entitlements had devastating consequences.

Within the colonial trend of dividing and conquering, the act of threading mytho-histories to confirm pre-existing narratives was then a critical component to sustaining dominance. And as with most colonial practices, dominance came with the cost of violence. When narrowing this lens onto Sudan, we capture a mirror image.

Like Rwanda, Sudan is also home to multiple ethnic groups. In his article titled “Rethinking Identity, Citizenship, and Violence in Sudan,” Professor Amir Idris suggests this inability to contend with ethnic pluralism staged much of the conflict between the Northern region inhabited by people deemed Arab and Muslim, and the Western and Southern portions inhabited mainly by Afrikan and Black people. While racialization is one point of contention, another is the notion of civilization, exacerbating the differences that emerged in the 16th century with the rise of an Islamized and Arabized Sudanese population.

Following that period, much of the Afrikan population was reduced to enslavement, leaving room for supremacy to take form. Not only was bondage accepted as a norm by Northern Sudanese nationalist groups, but it also became a practice for British administrators and Christian missionaries, facilitating the repression of Afrikan bodies on all fronts. Without being accorded agency or humanity, Afrikan Sudanese people witnessed their stories sink from the annals of history under the guise of primitivity. The suggestion that Southern Sudanese bodies were lesser than Northern ones was then the foundation that would be used to justify multiple campaigns of ethnic cleansing, including the one unfolding at this very moment.

Last month, after a brutal siege of almost two years, El-Fasher fell to the RSF, precipitating another wave of mass displacement as an estimated 82,000 civilians fled from house searches, detentions, and executions. Like many of the campaigns the RSF has waged against Sudanese civilians, the violence witnessed in El-Fasher is targeted, notably against the Masalit, an indigenous Afrikan ethnic group native to Darfur, the western region of Sudan, and the site of the 2003 massacre. In both El-Fasher and Tawila, where many have fled to find shelter and safety, conditions continue to deteriorate as Sudanese civilians struggle to obtain basic aid, plunging them into a second wave of famine.

Against the current of war, the United States formed a mediation group involving Egypt, the United Arab Emirates, and Saudi Arabia. Yet as of right now, no concessions nor truces have been made, and a lack of pressure has been applied to the UAE for its human rights violations in supporting and arming a genocidal campaign.

History is then more than a date or a distant memory to be called upon in times of need. It is a promise and a protection insulating the most vulnerable people from a fate of silence. When we shine a light on the histories that oppressors have attempted to erase because they deemed them unworthy of remembering, we must commit to bringing back the humanity lost in the fray of atrocity.

11/09/2025 0 comments

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