The Village
The Village is a curated selection of Ebony Tomatoes content exploring stories across the Black Diaspora. Featuring interviews, political writing and journalistic reporting, these decolonial narratives push the culture forward and offer a fresh perspective on world events.
The Beauty Salon: Truths From a Tender Head
By Payton Selby
At a hair salon on the east side of Atlanta, I sat for the first time in the throne we call a styling chair. My feet dangled above the shaggy ground as my mom and sister awaited my transformation. This was my first acquaintance with the enchanting milieu of a black beauty salon…
Even A Worm Will Turn: Devaney Sparrow Uncensored
By Ava Emilione
“I’m so scared to be seen. To be witnessed. It feels pathetic and cowardly, like a child hiding between her mother’s legs,” reads a TikTok from Devaney Sparrow, 25, an Aries, sitting in the bathtub. They wrap their arms around their knees, eyes wandering, their dark curls damp and elongated, as a sorrowful dirge plays above the text. “It hurts more when I let people see me in my entirety and they don’t want me anymore,” they write. “Can’t you hear me? Can’t you see the human in me?”
“Sparrow’s story felt deeply personal but expansive and universal at the same time — I will be thinking and feeling the impact of our conversation for a while to come.
When I started Ebony Tomatoes Collective, these were the types of stories I dreamed of telling. I hope you will take the time to read, share and engage with Devaney’s story and reflect on some of their insights for Black History Month and beyond.” -Ava Emilione
#BlackGirlMagic to Black Woman Magnificence: The Melanated Millenial Guide to Community
By Cheyenne Edwards
Black women are one of the most significant pillars of our community. And who else got Black women like other Black women? Connecting with other Black women and femmes is vital to developing and understanding one’s identity. Nevertheless, building this sisterhood proves difficult for those raised in predominantly white spaces or who grew up without many Black girls and women in their families….
“I like to believe that resilience and revolution runs in our blood. I do have hope for a new and brighter Sudan…”
In an interview with Douha Abbasher and Souad Hassan, writer and Ebony Tomatoes team member Yumna Elhdari, delves into the history of Sudan leading up to the ongoing war. The article explores further than what analytics can offer, it also dives into the collective emotional rollercoaster that
Sudanese people have been on for more than a year. This article has been edited with the careful attention of our Edior-in-Chief, Ava Emilione.
“This article is near and dear to my hear, as is my home country” – Yumna Elhdari
Black Study, Community, Media, and Memory: An Interview with Taylor Dews
By Cecilia Innis
Adama Delphine Fawundu: In the Spirit of Àṣẹ ” (source: The Newark Museum of Art)
Taylor Dews describes herself as a bit of a nomad. She’s lived in Detroit, Michigan, Blacksburg, Virginia, and Chesapeake, Virginia; attended undergrad in Atlanta, Georgia; and currently lives in Brooklyn, New York. She graduated from Spelman College last spring and now attends NYU as a PhD student studying media and anthropology. A long-time childhood friend and fellow virgo of mine, Taylor joined me to talk about school, research, community, media and the ways that Blackness—both the study of Blackness and the existence within it—define her work and purpose in the world.
Why The Riddler Should've Been a Black Woman
By Ava Emilione
In discussions surrounding representation, we often hear the exasperated cry from the black community: Let black women be heroes, the good guys. Let them be redeemable, nuanced characters. However, in superhero franchises such as The Batman, heroism and good characters don’t equate to compelling representation. In many ways, The Batman’s The Riddler is one of the most nuanced and interesting portrayals of a superhero villain we’ve seen in recent years. Shunned by society and abused in Gotham’s City orphanage system, The Riddler, Edward Nashton, is angry at the world and the system that neglected him. Proceeding to torture and murder high-ranking and corrupt individuals in Gotham City, The Riddler is established as a sociopathic genius who forms an online terrorist group that almost ruins Gotham City before he is arrested. Intriguing, autonomous, and mysterious, The Riddler sans balaclava calls to mind outcasted and mentally ill villains such as The Joker — pale, thin-lipped, and of course, white. But he should’ve been a black woman.