The Nahmias Cipher Report

Ayanna Nahmias, Editor-in-Chief Last Modified: 22:46 PM EDT, 14 July 2010 WASHINGTON, DC – Among Attorney Julius W. Robertson many talents as an author, civil rights activist and lawyer, he was also the lead attorney on the case of Sarah Keys v. Carolina Coach Company, and he is my maternal grandfather. He graduated at the [...]

Famed Lena Horne died yesterday at age 92. An iconic figure in Hollywood and on stage, Lena Horne was a pioneer who forced the film industry to evaluate casting African-American women in roles other than stereotypically safe and culturally preferred maids and ‘mammies’. Blazing the trail in presegregration America, Ms. Horne used her intellect, talent and ambition to forge a career that spanned six-decades. Ms. Horne was an extremely talented and accomplished vocalist, and one of the first African-American actresses to sign a significant contract with a major studio. She continued to break barriers through her marriage to a Jewish conductor and bandleader Lennie Hayton in 1947. This was a bold move at a time when miscegenation laws were on the books in 30 states.

“In the United States, the various state laws prohibited the marriage of whites and blacks, and in many states also the intermarriage of whites with Native Americans or Asians. In the U.S., such laws were known as anti-miscegenation laws. From 1913 until 1948, 30 out of the then 48 states enforced such laws. Miscegenation was finally ruled unconstitutional 12 June 1967 through the case Loving vs. the State of Virginia effectively ending legal enforcement of this practice nationwide.

The strength of Parks’ work, resides in its perspicacity coupled with the power of the stories he tells through his photography. It is the reason why doors typically closed to African-Americans during the pre-Civil Rights era, were opened for him. These skills and talents allowed him to work for some of the most prestigious fashion magazines in America, at a time when most African-American photographers, journalist, and models were barred.

Parks’ association with the Civil Rights Movement, and in particular, the two photos of individuals associated with the Nation of Islam; Ethel Shariff, Daughter of Elijah Muhammad, and Malcolm X prompted this post.

Ayanna Nahmias, Editor-in-Chief Last Modified: 03:54 AM EDT, 24 November 2009 LAGOS, Nigeria – It was 1970 when my father announced that we would be moving to Ile Ife, Nigeria. The move was precipitated by an incident in which my father was unjustly arrested by a racist policeman while driving me and my siblings home [...]

He sits alone, lost and unloved, ramshackled eaves choked with dust, a scrawny hen pecks in baked earth, just beyond a porch, parched by African thirst.

Observations on the politics of wealth and American consumerism. How the system was constructed to ensure self-imposed slavery, indebtedness, through the illusion that one can catch the brass ring and “make it big!”