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Crosscurrents
Crosscurrents is our award-winning radio news magazine, broadcasting Mondays through Thursdays at 11 a.m. on 91.7 FM. We make joyful, informative stories that engage people across the economic, social, and cultural divides in our community. Listen to full episodes at kalw.org/crosscurrents

Artist Ajuan Mance shows the beauty and complexities of 'Living While Black'

Artist Ajuan Mance
Photo provided by Ajuan Mance
Artist Ajuan Mance

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In 2018, a white woman called the police on an eight-year-old Black girl for selling bottled water in San Francisco. That same year, a similar situation happened to Black men barbequing at Oakland’s Lake Merritt. There are many stories throughout American history of Black people subjected to racial violence for doing everyday activities.

We need more of us out there writing Blackness or drawing Blackness as we see it. We each see it and experience it a little bit differently, but almost all of us see it with love and appreciation.
Ajuan Mance

In Ajuan Mance's "Living While Black," the Oakland-based artist creates humanizing portraits that celebrate Black people while also providing a timeline to show when Black people have been arrested, attacked or murdered while doing everyday, ordinary things. Ajuan Mance is a professor of English and Ethnic studies at Mills College and is an instructor in the Illustration and Comics programs at California College of the Arts.

Click the play button above to listen to this interview.

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Jeneé Darden is an award-winning journalist, author, public speaker and proud Oakland native. She is the executive producer and host of the weekly arts segment Sights & Sounds as well as the series Sights + Sounds Magazine. Jeneé also covers East Oakland for KALW. Jeneé has reported for NPR, Marketplace, KQED, KPCC, The Los Angeles Times, Ebony magazine, Refinery29 and other outlets. In 2005, she reported on the London transit bombings for Time magazine. Prior to coming to KALW, she hosted the podcast Mental Health and Wellness Radio.