Remember When: Khadija Mbowe

In celebration of our new pop culture segment, we thought we’d create a post all about our wonderful first guest: the cultural essayist and incredible millennial auntie, Khadija Mbowe. Their significant pop culture moment was Beyonce's release of Beyonce in 2013, changing not only the music world with her visual album, but also how this was a significant step to reach another level of Beyonce’s record-breaking career.

We came to Khadija’s work through their cultural essay YouTube channel, particularly their essay on Bridgerton. They discuss at length the issue of the producers' decision to appear radical through enacting colour-blind casting (where actors are cast regardless of race) as opposed to colour-conscious casting. Through colour-blind casting and a slapped on explanation for the lack of nuanced racial plotline, or Asian representation anywhere other than the background extras, they presented a false world where race doesn’t affect the lives of POC. This often ignores most of the racist struggles POC face in the real, racist world. Bridgerton’s many faults are so exceptionally covered by Khadija that, if you were tempted to watch the series because of the (in my opinion, over-promised) hype surrounding it, I would certainly recommend this video essay instead.

Their videos are so well nuanced that the educational content they provide is delivered with a personal, passionate and oftentimes, humourous asides. Their voice is an absolutely vital one in the education of learning anti-racism. Watching their content is the very beginning of the groundwork of what we, as white people benefitting from a racist society, can do to educate ourselves about the violences of the systems against POC in ways our privilege and ignorance has veiled us from. Their videos range from Colorism, to Kardashian cultural appropriation, to generally offering incredible life advice (and, on top of it all, they are an absolutely wonderful person). Khadija’s free resources on their channel are incredibly personal and open and honest, as well as educational. They offer such a vital resource and lens into the systems of cultural representation and, more importantly, misrepresentation that desperately needs to be addressed.

Our top three favourite videos (although we love them ALL):

• Why do all these influencers have the same face? | Khadija Mbowe

• Digital Blackface? | Khadija Mbowe

• Beauty in the eye of. . .the Colonizer? | Khadija Mbowe

Please show Khadija all the love on their main channel, singing channel, website, paypal and instagram!