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The Defiance of Black Joy in an Especially Anti-Black Year | LEVEL

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The Defiance of Black Joy in an Especially Anti-Black Year | LEVEL

Sometimes you have to laugh to keep from crying

 

David Dennis, Jr., LEVEL

I’ve been thinking a lot about joy lately.

Maybe it’s the Thanksgiving trip I recently canceled. Maybe it’s the constant despair we’ve experienced throughout 2020 — the feeling that we’ve spent a year of our lives suspended between moments of tragedy. Either way, I can’t help but wonder where joy has manifested in our lives, and why, when it finally does, it feels so weighed down and muddy. I’ve been thinking about why joy feels like more than joy and less than joy at the same time. I’ve been thinking about who joy is for and who it’s against. I haven’t felt joyful in my thoughts.

 


Featured Image, Franco Égalité
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