©opyright

Aliyah Curry

Ayanna Lloyd Banwo

Debra Stone

Deesha Philyaw

Kobena Ampofo

Leanne Francis

Nyasha Oliver

Phillip M. Campbell

Yasmeen Tajiddin

©ontents

Poetry Love, Foretold in Black and Bold”

by Phillip M. Campbell

ii Flash Scents

by Aliyah Curry

iii Flash8:59 at Accra Central”

by Kobena Ampofo

iv Poetryanti-capitalist poem

by Yasmeen Tajiddin

v Essay “What does it mean to be Black in Asia?

by Nyasha Oliver

vi Memoir “The Sign in the Restaurant Window

by Debra Stone

vii Poetry “who I carry

by Leanne Francis

iix Interview We are so old death begins here”:

Ayanna Lloyd Banwo in Conversation

with Leanne Francis

ix Script “Welcome to the 15-year reunion of The

Only Black People in Memoirs Written by White People

by Deesha Philyaw

EDITOR’S NOTE

“Love, Foretold in Black and Bold

by Phillip M. Campbell

© Painting: Marie-Josè

“Scents”

by Aliyah Curry

No one around her noticed, but she would think while staring at someone telling her about their day, “if I take my clothes off right now, I would smell exactly like him.”

© Photograph: CORBIS

“8:59 at Accra Central”

by Kobena Ampofo

I had first believed there was one God in three, as I was told, only to find many ancestral lineages masquerading under a single holy trench coat.

© Photograph: Shutterstock

“anti-capitalist poem”

by Yasmeen Tajiddin

© Painting: Marie-Josè

“What does it mean to be Black in Asia?”

by Nyasha Oliver

No matter how genuine, Black people—and other foreigners living in Asia—are slotted into three categories. I have been slotted into the second many times.

© Photograph: Nyasha Oliver

“The Sign in the Restaurant Window”

by Debra Stone

Growing up I never doubted how the world worked. We were three among the hordes of chocolate-colored children in 1960s northside Minneapolis.

© Photograph: William Underwood

“who I carry”

by Leanne Francis

© Painting: Marie-Josè

“We’re so old death begins here”: Ayanna Lloyd Banwo in Conversation

with Leanne Francis

“I’m not a climate change activist. I’m just a black Caribbean woman who knows this can’t be the way.”

© Photograph: Antonio Olmos

“The Only Black People in Memoirs Written By White People

by Deesha Philyaw

“Welcome, everyone, to The Only Black People in Memoirs Written by White People Reunion! I’m Jerica Bryant, your reunion founder and co-chair.”

© Photograph: Jared Wickerham