I recently recounted for some friends an incident that occurred on a Los Angeles train where a white woman sitting next to me could not resist the urge to try to touch my hair. She had not spoken a word to me after sitting next to me, but I could feel her burning a hole in the side of my face with her stare. Out of the corner of my eye, I saw a skinny wrist reaching toward my ’fro—and with ninjalike skill, I caught her arm in midair and stopped her from touching my gotdamn hair.
This is not an isolated situation. If only there were a shirt I could wear that would warn people that I am neither their Negro tour guide nor their black-people museum exhibit. Oh, wait. There is.
Olatiwa Karade, a 19-year-old in Orange, N.J., has created her own line of sweatshirts with pro-black political slogans on them. Her company and Etsy shop, SplendidRainCo, sells “clothing for the modern activist.”
Karade told Dazed that her designs were influenced by the current political climate in the United States following the election of Donald Trump.
“The current political climate, my coming of age as a young black woman and my personal experiences with racial discrimination really nudged me to do something,” Karade said. “Digging through my clothes to find something to wear to Afropunk Brooklyn 2017, I decided on a politically charged T-shirt my mother had handed down to me. I loved how I felt wearing it, with my ideas and beliefs proudly on display and desperately wanted more. Thus, the sweaters were born!”
Karade really does seem to have a shirt for every mood.
Educate people who refer to Africa like it is one singular place:
Remind people of the true meaning behind “Black Lives Matter”:
No further explanation needed:
I mean …
We still waiting for payback:
And finally:
Items in her Etsy shop sell out often, so check back frequently. You need these shirts in your life.
Read more at Dazed.