The Cypher

The Weekly Roundup + Allow Us to Re-Introduce Ourselves

Hey fam!

Below, we’re sharing what we’re watching, listening to and reading! Plus, we have two more weeks of CF re-introductions. Chanel is reintroducing herself below.  

Watch:

Watch the clip from CF Chanel's daughter Cori's Feminism Party. Read her essay "Why and How I Threw My Daughter a 'Welcome to Feminism' Party" first, but this video took us TF out--after we read the essay and knew what was coming. This is what black feminist parenting looks like.

Brittney will be featured in this new documentary on Black mothers and daughters debuting on Netflix on May 6. It’s directed by Shantrelle P. Lewis and distributed by Ava DuVernay’s ARRAY. Check out the trailer here. 

Check out this clip of Brittney, Dr. Treva Lindsey and Dr. Monique Morris talking about Ma’Khia Bryant and the adultification of Black girls.

Listen:

The United States of Anxiety is a weekly podcast "about the unfinished business of our history and its grip on our future." Dope content overall (shout out to Veralyn Williams, the first Black woman executive producer of the show), but definitely check out the latest episode Do We Need the Police At All?

This week's episode of ‎Real Black News with Raqiyah Mays features, Rosa Clemente talking about the journey to associate producing Judas and the Black Messiah  and how her co-sign and connection to Fred Hampton’s family was the key to the film finally getting made

The episode of Eat The Rich - Invisibilia | Podcast tells an origin story of Black women's organizing for reparations from the US government.

Soul duo Kindred the Family Soul is back with their new album, Auntie and Unc. The album has their signature soulful ballads plus several political bops that you’ll want to play at your socially distanced cookout. 

Read:

This was a good piece on rewarding yourself for your accomplishments How I Practice Self-Care as a Black Woman in Academia | Time

Check out this piece from Darnell Moore Between Relaxed Shoulders and Raised Fists: After Derek Chauvin’s Conviction, What Comes Next?

Arundhati Roy wrote on the catastrophe in India in We are Witnessing a Crime Against Humanity

For folks trying to figure out the new normal in this panoramic With New CDC Mask Rules, Uncertainty on How to Proceed

A powerful interview with Tricia Hersey of the Nap Ministry on the radical transformative power of rest and how it can disrupt capitalism and white supremacy Resting on and for the Earth | Atmos

Tarana Burke and Brené Brown released the anthology You Are Your Best Thing: Vulnerability, Shame Resilience, and the Black Experience (Hardcover)

We are anticipating the May 18th release of Sparked: George Floyd, Racism, and the Progressive Illusion edited by Walter R. Jacobs, Wendy Thompson, and Amy August available for pre-order now. 

Look:

Cartoon Network honored flint water activist Mari Copeny @littlemissflint and turned her into a PowerPuff Girl. We love this! 

April is Sexual Assault Awareness month. ‘me too’ International helped launch “We, As Ourselves” in February and this week held the first-ever Black Survivor Week of Action.  Check out the great toolkit and resources.

Also check out Voices in Action-- an independent platform for documenting and timestamping incidents of sexual misconduct and violence while tracking serial perpetrators and providing trauma-informed support.  

Now….Allow Me to Reintroduce Myself

How it Started

Me (Chanel) with baby Cori at our 2013 Crunk Feminist Collective Retreat

How it’s going

Robin, Susana, Me (Chanel), and Sheri after a talk Sheri keynoted at the Center for Women at Emory

The Fam (Cairo, Cordero, Cori and Me)

Hey. I’m Chanel. When we started the Crunk Feminist Collective, I was 24-year-old, 2nd year, women’s studies doctoral student at Emory University. Course work was hard and I was struggling to find my voice and my way. The CFC was a safe haven for me then and now and it wet my appetite for the power of collectivity.  It gave me a crew of big sisters who hyped up and offered me countless strategic planning sessions about school, organizing, and life.  It was also a place where I was assured that not only were Black and women of color feminists rigorous and theoretical, the work they were producing was life-saving. I would not have finished my PhD without the CFC. In fact, I don’t think any of this possible without a crew, for community is the antidote to despair. 

Today, I am the director of the Center for Women at Emory providing executive leadership for the Center and strategic guidance across the enterprise. But really what I am is a creator of vibes! I am constantly creating dope programs and initiatives that bring Crunk feminism to practice. I get to work with incredible young feminists who make me feel so hopeful about the future of feminism and the world. In fact, they were my inspiration while co-writing our forthcoming book Feminist AF with Brittney and Susana. 

I call two places home—Brooklyn, NY and Danville, VA. So, I see myself as a city girl with some country sensibilities. I love 90s gangsta rap (especially stuff that came out in 1994) and I’m always down for a good gangster movie or RomCom.  I have a wonderful husband and two amazing kids. Cori is my eight-year-old feminist repping daughter and Cairo is my Sonic, Spiderman loving son (who is going to need some convincing on this feminism thing. lol). When my family is not planning epic quarantine house parties, you can probably find us on a baseball field. 

I am so grateful for the feminist, woman, mother, and person I have become in this collective and from being in this community. I am excited about remixing this next chapter with all of you!