REFLECTION & REASON

Authenticity resonates with me, and even though I haven't always been an avid listener of trap music (and I'm proudly stuck in the 1990s when it comes to hip hop) I have always liked Gucci Mane. Before I came to appreciate Gucci Mane the artist, I was actually just drawn to Radric Delantic Davis the man. Something about him. He was real. He was grimy...but he was real. Full disclosure: I was also quite drawn to his wife  Keyshia Ka'oir , and their story. Their connection intrigued me. As an entertainment news buff, admittedly, the main narrative I took in over the years was about Gucci and Keyshia, how she held him down, how Gucci lost all that weight, and of course how she maintained and "flipped" his millions while incarcerated. That was a part of the story that was fascinating. But there was so much more to Gucci than sitting courtside at NBA games in matching furs with his beautiful (and extremely entrepreneurial ) Jamaican boo. The story was deeper t

BY GUEST BLOGGER, AUTHOR KAMILAH HAYWOOD In 2017 there I was, a third generation African-Jamaican-Canadian woman in the ice cold of winter, downtown Winnipeg at Tim Horton's, standing in the busy morning rush line up waiting to order breakfast. Our team had taken a trip from Toronto to do some research on bridging the literary gap, while comparing the commonalities between Urban Indigenous communities across Canada and the Urban Toronto communities we were familiar with.  An older white woman at the cash register was kicking out a disheveled (possibly homeless) Indigenous woman. “You are not allowed in here. I already told you that this morning! I don’t care how much money you have! Miss, how can I help YOU?” Me. I was surprised at her disdain for the lady, and warmth toward me. “It’s OK to serve the woman," I said to her. "I can wait.” Her response. “We don’t serve her kind in here.” Just like that. That was just one of MANY particularly eye-opening, and d