Shayla Lawson is an author and poet, with a fierce and humorous new voice. She stops by First Gen Burden to discuss her new book This Is Major: Notes on Diana Ross, Dark Girls, and Being Dope, a relevant, insightful, and riveting collection of personal essays on the richness and resilience of black girl culture. Rich and Shayla talk about her upbringing in Kentucky and her creative journey, all the reasons why All American Girl's "Addy Walker" doll is a terrible idea, and the challenges of creating narratives that are free of the influence of white supremacy. Also, they ponder comic books, and whether X-Men's attempt at a civil rights' metaphor actually does more damage than good?

LINKS

• Check out FirstGenBurden.com for all the episodes.
• Follow us @firstgenburden and Rich Tu / @rich_tu
• Thanks to Listening Party and DesGin for their support.

Some recommendations for donations are: 

• American Civil Liberties Union: https://www.aclu.org
• NAACP Legal Defense Fund: https://www.naacpldf.org
• Equal Justice Initiative: eji.org
• The Bail Project: bailproject.org/donate