Black Reads: Issue 025

Do y'all be reading each other's posts and engaging or is this newsletter a waste of my time every week? I'm curious...let me know in the comments.

I’d like to take this moment to reintroduce myself and the mission of Blackstack because we are growing at lightning speed nowadays. The person behind this account is Jacquie Verbal, and I started Blackstack on Juneteenth 2024 to bridge the gap for Black authors and readers on this platform. What started as a corner of Substack created for us by us to lend our pens for cultural enjoyment has now turned into a mission much greater than just you and me.

Blackstack operates outside of Substack as a grassroots nonprofit print publishing house for Black authors to have the traditional publishing experience, but with a Black team that gets it without you having to explain it. The Blackstack Magazine was my passion project to see if this was something I could do, and with the support, grace, and patience of the community, I’m confident that this is the path for me to be a service to us.

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Community Events

1. The Blackstack Book Club is meeting this Sunday, February 15th, from 10am until 12pm PT to wrap up Playing the Game, written by community member Gary F. Green II, PhD, via Zoom. I’d love to have as many people attend as possible, whether you finished the book or not. The conversation is going to be enriching.

2. Dr. Green and I will be speaking on a panel together on Friday, February 27th, hosted by Black Modern Mystic with lunch provided from 12-5pm PT, and I need all my Bay Area people to show me love for my first speaking gig!

3. If you are in the Bay Area and would like to attend Dr. Green’s Author Talk at Kinfolx Coffee Shop on Saturday, February 28th, from 12-2pm PT, the RSVP link is below. He will be signing copies of his book, and I’ll be signing titties, Sharpie provided. :)

4. The Blackstack Family Reunion is the weekend of Juneteenth in Oakland, California. Here’s the original post with all the details about that weekend; updates to come later this month.

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Now that I got all my announcements out of the way, let’s get into this week’s Black Reads, y’all were writing ya ass off this week!

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Perspective is everything, that’s something I think we can all agree on. But it’s something about the way Rachael T broke it down in this new essay that just really struck a nerve within me. As I continued reading, the tears just flowed from my eyes; this is that innerconnection I often talk about.

This is most definitely a 10/10 Highly Recommend Black Read!

We Choosing Perspective

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My sister Nubia Lateefa sent me this article to read, and by the time I finished it, I knew it was going to be a feature in this week’s lineup because of the topic. One of the things I love most about being Black is our ability to make something magical out of nothing. And we do this with ease and grace most times. In this essay, Anwulika Okonjo gives us something to hold on to and gives me a reason to keep going with Blackstack as a grassroots print publishing house.

This one’s for the culture, a for sure 10/10 Highly Recommended Black Read!

Field Note #2: There is a cost to waiting for legitimacy to arrive

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Because I did all that yapping in the beginning and our attention span is trash, I’m going to end this here, but y’all still have plenty more Black Reads to go through this week. I told y’all it goes down in the DMs around here.

Feel free to share your own published piece also, but you betta answer my question…or else. :)

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