UNV Magazine - Summer 2020

WE
SUPPORT
BLACK
AUTHORS
www.xoerika.com
Founder, The “Who Moved My Happy?” Mental Fitness Tour
Partner, Mental Fitness For Life
“creating safe spaces for life-saving conversations”

What does art mean to you?
What is your most memorable
response to your work?
What artists are you mostly
influenced or inspired by?
How do you set your
pricing?
How has COVID-19 affected
you?

What role do you think
art plays in society and on
culture?
Final words of encouragement

an end to this vicious cycle. My friends range in various shades;
though we have had our fair share of “oh you’re a stuck up
redbone,” or “you’re cute for a dark skin girl,” we refuse to let
ignorance invade our spaces. Many women are deeply affected
by colorism. It is unsettling that women have to endure this
amongst the many other burdens we face. I try every day to
bridge the gap–my kids know that melanin is beautiful in all
shades.
One of the most hurtful things told to me was, I am not seen as
a strong black woman because of my complexion. In a perfect
world, I want to be considered for my passion, work ethic, the
love that I offer and my inner beauty. I do not want to have
a feeling of guilt or shame, because of my complexion. I am
grossly annoyed by the segregation amongst black people because
of colorism… there is so much more in the world we need
to focus on–like the racism we all endure.

“For White People:
becoming an ally
is a process rather
than an identity, and
ongoing education
and listening are
necessary. “

Photo by Joan Villalon on Unsplash

Photos by Collyn Strother

FAYETTEVILLE, NC

“standing
their ground,”
while unjustly
murdering
an innocent
Black person”
july / 2020

u n v magazine

u n v magazine
Aped ut exceaquundae
rerorpos aligent
quatiusae re nam,
quam, conseculpa
numquodi cum dolenist
as es que ditasitia
volorernatet est aspeditios

“A CULTURE SHIFT CAN
ONLY HAPPEN WITH
REPARATIONS AND
TRUTH TELLING”
BY DAVID RAGLAND

The COVID-19 global pandemic
sent us to our homes in our
respective corners of the earth,
causing us to stop and take stock
of the material, spiritual, social,
and systemic violence imposed
on us all by the powers that
be: our local, state, and federal
governments.
No force, no other tragedy or
pandemic has ever made the
whole world stop all at once.
And now—with the COVID
pandemic still a threat to our very
lives—global uprisings, sparked
by the ruthless police killing of
George Floyd in Minneapolis,
have brought tens of thousands
of people to the streets.
Similarly, no other tragedy or act
of the pandemic that is anti-Black
racism has ever moved the world
all at once.
George Floyd’s death was the
proverbial straw. Before him
there were too many others.
Say their names: Breonna Taylor.
Ahmaud Arbery. Tony McDade.
Manuel Ellis. Emantic Fitzgerald
Bradford. Sandra Bland. Terence
Crutcher. Aiyana Stanley-Jones.
Renisha McBride. Philando
Castile. Michael Brown Jr. Eric
Garner. Tamir Rice. Charleena
Lyles. Jordan Davis. John
Crawford III. Walter Scott. Sean
Bell. Trayvon Martin. Freddie
Gray. Amadou Diallo. Oscar
Grant. Anton Sterling. Malice
Green. And countless others
whose names may escape me at
the moment, and whose names
we do not publicly know.
Some of us thought COVID was
the great equalizer. Everyone was
ordered to shelter in place and
social distance because people
of all races and ethnicities were
testing positive, many dying. In
three months, more than 100,000
people in the United States died
from the disease.

“The killings of unarmed
Black people and the rate
of COVID cases and deaths
among us are not anomalies.”
u n v magazine

8
minutes
and
46
seconds.

RAY THOMAS
AD

“Black
people
are tired
of trying
to explain
racism.”

Mike’s Xtie
7Artist Deggress.2014

COLLYN
STROTHER