Hello!

Welcome to Melanated Thoughts! We are so happy to finally get this blog up and running for you all to see!

So, about us? We are two sisters (related yes): Jamila, the older sis and Me, Ashleigh the younger sis. We wanted to start a blog touching upon the issues within society and topics that we are both interested and passionate about. As we are from the African Diaspora, we wanted to touch on things that have an impact on our everyday lives, that are not really being spoken about in wider social discourses, such as, Mental Health in the black community. We noticed there are few mainstream forums which provide a space for the black community to discuss these topics and so, like many other “bloggers” we are creating our own space.

Being that we are both from different professions and academic backgrounds – Jamila studied BSc Sociology and MA Culture, Ethnicity, Diaspora, and I study Adult Nursing, we wanted to utilise our knowledge to help empower, educate and enlighten the community about issues and interests pertaining to black people.

Our main goal is to provide alternative insight and perspective into social issues, showing that we as a black community do not have homogenous ideas, and in fact, may have varied opinions regarding some social issues within society. However, there is space for us all to articulate these ideas constructively. And Melanated Thoughts provides this space.

We hope you enjoy and engage with us on this journey. We are open to any suggestions on topics to discuss and we look forward to you all seeing what we have to offer every week.

So, tell your Mothers, Fathers, Brothers, Sisters, Grandfolks, Aunties, Uncles, Cousins, Friends, Neighbours, postman (or woman) – tell everyone that Melanated Thoughts has arrived!

#Cheese LOL

Jamila & Ashleigh