Episode 2: WebSeries Staying Together: “Looking Towards The Roots Of Fractured Families”

By Team BLAM

VIDEO: Staying Together is a web series that takes place within the film, “Let’s Stay Together,” by Joshua Bee Alafia. In Episode Two, they reflect on the effects of slavery and the lost sense of identity through middle passage trauma. They begin the inquiry of the root of our departure from strong family units. Alafia asks Why are we having such a hard time staying together and raising these youth?”

Hats off to Joshua and his entire team for having the vision and courage to bring forth a webseries and upcoming film that looks at relationships, marriage, and family in the black community and throughout the African diaspora. We need more folks who are willing to stop playing and start pushing. We need more folks who are not afraid to create the much needed dialogue around our pain and our promise as a people so that true and authentic change can occur.

We will be sure to bring you each episode of this awesome webseries as it is released. Episode # 3 will be on the site next week.

Watch Episode 1 HERE.

Visit Joshua’s website HERE and subscribe to his YOUTUBE channel HERE.

BLAM Fam: Remember, we must support what we want to see! Stop Playing. Start Pushing.

Episode 1: New WebSeries “Staying Together” Examines Black Relationships, Marriage & Family

By Team BLAM

Have you ever seen something, heard something, or gotten a glimpse of something and just knew in your gut that it was…special….that it was going to be BIG? I have and it’s happened on more than a few occasions. The last time it happened was last night when one of my FB friends  dropped a video on my page—but it wasn’t just any video—rather it was an episode of a webseries called Staying Together.

Staying Together is a web series that takes place within the film, “Let’s Stay Together,” by Joshua Bee Alafia. In Episode One, they examine why it’s so hard for folks from the African Diaspora to stay together. Alafia asks “Are we defined by our first tragedy in life? Why are we having such a hard time staying together and raising these youth?”

Hats off to Joshua and his entire team for having the vision and courage to bring forth a webseries and upcoming film that looks at relationships, marriage, and family in the black community and throughout the African diaspora. We need more folks who are willing to stop playing and start pushing. We need more folks who are not afraid to create the much needed dialogue around our pain and our promise as a people so that true and authentic change can occur.

We will be sure to bring you each episode of this awesome webseries as it is released. Episode # 2 will be on the site next week.

Visit Joshua’s website HERE and subscribe to his YOUTUBE channel HERE. Fan the film on Facebook HERE.

BLAM Fam: Remember, we must support what we want to see! Stop Playing. Start Pushing.

VIDEO: Milk & Honey Web Show Exclusive Hosted By Idris Elba

By Team BLAM

We told you about the web series executive produced by Idris Elba, titled Milk & Honey, back in May (click here to see the trailer). It was created by Brown Paper Dolls (Dana Gills, Asha Kamali May, and Jeanette McDuffie – all Chicago natives (Spelman, Howard U & FAMU grads) who started their production company in LA.

The series, which is headlined by Lance Gross, Debbie Allen, Faune Chambers, Bryce Wilson, and Asha Kamali, centers on 4 black women living in Los Angeles, who are on “spiritual, professional and romantic journeys to make their dreams reality.”

Brown Paper Dolls have been working on the project for “over 3 years,” and say that it will be available on all platforms, not just the web (TV, mobile and more). They describe it as “a mix between HBO’s Entourage and Sex and the City.”

Here, Idris & the Brown Paper Dolls sit down & chat about their experience and the show. If you like it, spread the word–we’ve got to support the entertainment we want to see.

TRAILER: Black Fatherhood: Reconnecting With Our Legacy

FILM TRAILER: Hats off to filmmaker and author Dana Ross for making this film and shedding light on the reality that good, solid, strong, loving fathers do exist in our community. Ross utilized her own family history, research and interviews with hundreds of Black fathers, Educators and Historians such as Dr. Jawanza Kunjufu and Dr. Ira Berlin, to explore Black men in their roles as fathers from their time of enslavement to the present.

This ten year docu-journal, presented in both book and film formats, display very clear facts about the history of Black fatherhood, the many extraneous circumstances Black fathers face, how Black men became disenfranchised; how it affected the Black family structure and solutions to issues fathers face today.

We love the effort to show a positive black men loving and leading their children! #BlackFathersRock!

We MUST Put An End To Shadeism: Discrimination That Exists Between The Lighter-Skinned And Darker-Skinned Members Of The Same Community

By Aiyana Ma’at

VIDEO: I was struck with familiar feelings as I watched this short but powerful documentary.  5 women within the African, Carribean, and South Asian diasporas spoke candidly about skin color and the toll that discrimination from within their own race has taken on them and their communities. Woooow. I could have easily been listening to 5 women of color from NY, Georgia, Mississippi, Ohio, and Boston. My crystal clear revelation–our stories are all the same. This short film is needed more than we even realize. Watch and share with your daughters (blood and otherwise) and their daughters. If we ever stand to stop the devastating effects of Shadeism we have to begin with education. It is a huge key to our liberation.

This documentary short is an introduction to the issue of shadeism, the discrimination that exists between the lighter-skinned and darker-skinned members of the same community. This documentary short looks specifically at how it affects young womyn within the African, Caribbean, and South Asian diasporas. Through the eyes and words of 5 young women and 1 little girl – all females of colour – the film takes us into the thoughts and experiences of each. Overall, ‘Shadeism’ explores where shadeism comes from, how it directly affects us as womyn of colour, and ultimately, begins to explore how we can move forward through dialogue and discussion.