Why There is So Much Bullying, Abuse, and Harassment in Academia and What to do About It

This is funny (in an ironic way) because I had been meaning to write something (anything) here concerning academia, and here we are. It's a tough one, but aren't they all? This is a post about bullying, hazing, abuse, harassment in academia. I have countless stories to tell personally and I have begun to tell my stories in a lot of ways. It is important to me that I document some of what I went through because I don’t want to forget. I want it to be a reminder for me to always do better. ALWAYS. My friend even suggested I write a book about all I went through. Books are tedious and hard but blogs, not so much. So I will tell my story but today is not about me.

This past weekend, #academictwitter was ablaze. You may ask, "what is academic twitter"? It's simple, my friends. It's a part of Twitter where lots of academics (people with PhDs and/or who do academic research) share their research and work, resources, banter, stories, network and once in a while go batshit crazy. So it's basically analogous to Nigerian Twitter, Black Twitter, Astrology Twitter, Christian Twitter...look I'm making this up as I go but you get the point.  I should mention that I have not been particularly fond of nor was I really a part of academic twitter. If I do Tweet in that Twittersphere (please tell me we still use words like this) it's mostly to criticize the institution of academia. I also would like to assume that even within academic twitter, there are subcomponents, no? I mean, political science is a different beast from those monsters in Economics. I mean, both are about equally monstrous but some would argue that Economics more so than others. Anyway, moving on. Where was I? Yes, Academic Twitter this past weekend.

Stories had come out about a woman, Mia Bloom (Yes we are naming names) and all she had done to colleagues and graduate students. Once, she called a junior colleague a whore (in the junior colleague's native language) and a bitch for constructive criticism of her work.  This junior colleague is, of course, a woman of color* (something about us makes them want to shit their pants even more than usual).  Another time, she called journals to bad mouth people who had submitted their works to said journals. Stories and stories. Someone my friend knows left the phd program where Mia taught at (GSU) halfway through her program because she could no longer take it and she went to start afresh at a new program. For the longest time, when asked why she left, she lied that she needed a change of scenery. In reality, she left for her wellbeing and safety.

Mia then made a ridiculous non-apology apology claiming that she had no idea hEr WoRdS hAd HuRt So MaNy PeOpLe. Anyway, so furor erupted on Twitter.

And so all weekend, people told their stories. Other [mostly white] people with all the power in academia pledged their support and promised to do better. Yawn.

Except, how did it get so bad? How did so few people get to have so much power? How did academia become such a tyrannical system of oppression and abuse?  How is it that women of color find so little support and often have to leave their programs? I don’t have all the answers. I do know that this is not an unsolvable problem.

To start with, Mia had friends, colleagues, collaborators...people she published with, bosses, deans. They must have KNOWN she was like this. Believe me when I say, people often KNOW. But as with most situations of abuse, it must have been hush hush. People would probably have turned their faces away. No one dealt with it.  Even people with power who could have stopped this and nipped this at the bud did nothing.  As is often said, the only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is for good men to do nothing. I'm looking especially at people who already had tenure and were working with her and literally had nothing to lose but still stayed quiet. I hope this is a reminder for all of us that no matter where we find ourselves, if we have been entrusted with power, we must wield it with our highest sense of morals. We must look out for those around us with little or no power and must always, always advocate for the marginalized.  

While in academia, the "marginalized" are not always people of color, it is still true that so many people of color especially immigrants, due to cultural backgrounds and a perennial sense of gratitude, are more likely to endure abuse and harassment. If all the time, you are just grateful to have even been given such an immense opportunity; if you are from a culture where the authority/superior/older person has the final say and you dare not challenge them else you would be termed disrespectful, rude, and void of home training (cough Nigerians cough); if you're from a culture where you're told to just put your head down and work, you are more likely to stay quiet in the most oppressive system. And let me tell y'all, the oppressors milk this. You would watch them literally accord more respect to your white counterparts and treat you (the person of color) like you’re not worthy of respect. Talk down at you, put you down, and underestimate you. When you dare to dream big, they call you "too ambitious", and not as a compliment but as a "how dare you think you—of  all people—can do xyz". 

"My problem with you Ife, is that you are too ambitious." said with such irritation and exasperation. 

As if. As if. 

Now when all of this brouhaha started on Twitter, I had been particularly quiet cos ya know, ain't none of my business. I was minding my business offline. And then something caught my eye: someone who is notoriously (NOTORIOUSLY) also quite the bully started to tweet against Mia Bloom.  *blinks* I refreshed the page, nah this can't be. It was. This person was also tweeting about love, support, and the campaign to end evil once and for all in academia. I literally burst out laughing. Ladies and gentlemen, this is why Academic Twitter is a whole load of BS. 

So I tweeted,

"Hmm I think that as the conversation around abuse and harassment continues on academic twitter, if you're guilty of this (making life hell for grad students) maybe sit this one out? Except of course, to apologize?"

I was both amused and confused. On the one hand, they might have just been deliberately obtuse (or obnoxious?) and wanted to tweet for the heck of it. But on the other, I realized there was a slight (VERY slight chance) that indeed they didn't know they were part of the problem. So I asked, "is it really possible that people don't know that they are part of the problem?" Is it? Maybe that is exactly the problem then: that everyone dances around people like that and no one actually confronts the problem; “so & so is like that. just avoid them at all cost,” people often say instead of having adult conversations like “hey, treating people like that is wrong”. People could have easily said , “hey, how about we treat people with respect?” But abuse  continues as long as good people (maybe even well-meaning) remain quiet even though they have the power to stop it. Instead, they turn to Twitter to offer "support" and "love" or all the other forms of virtue signaling you can think of. Except, we don't need platitudes. We need action. We don't need platitudes. We need action. We need consequences. I said all of this as someone whose grad school experience was difficult too. Though no one called me a bitch or an ashewo (whore); certainly not to my face. If you did, well, one of us would have left that department and best believe it would not be me. 

Departments are not oblivious to the problems either. They know who the problematic people are and the transgressions these people commit. They even, in so many ways, allow it to thrive; they create hostile environments for this to occur. So as you see apologies and pledges to be better, either take it with a grain of salt or realize that they are only sorry because they got caught. 

I am no longer afraid because frankly I’m not embedded in all of this mess anymore. And I waited till I could not suffer from retaliation to speak out too (yes, I did!) and sometimes I worry if that makes me a coward. I worry that I did not and/or I have not warned enough people. So now maybe people (with no power to stand up to abusers) need to be more frank. Maybe people need to say directly [especially to women of color]: so and so made my life hell. Or at the very least, let them know to watch out because things can get very complex.  

The point is I am sick of  Ph.D. students getting hurt. I am sick of them becoming suicidal. I am sick of people popping anxiety pills because...grad school. It's a devastating mental health crisis among grad students.

Till this moment, new emails on my work email terrify me a little (used to be much worse). My chest beats very fast at every new work email because it was via email someone told me—nay, threatened me that—I would never have a career without them on my side. They thought they had that much power. And frankly, maybe they do. The point being, my brain has been programmed to see official emails as a sign of some form of impending doom. 

There are parts of my confidence and self-esteem that have been chipped off and if God doesn’t do a miracle, I may never get them back. 

That’s not a system that can (or even should) survive.

So many others still can’t share their trauma not even because of retaliation but because it’s just so fresh, so raw.

It would be remiss of me if I did not mention that there is support too in grad school.  There is. You will find friends you can vent to. You may even find faculty in your corner to advocate for you. I know that I did. 

At the same time, in addition to being kind, I am imploring people [with power] to not be neutral and to take action wherever necessary. 

I’m also inclined to  say that I don't know if this is a general academia problem or if it's just specific disciplines. No matter the case, if you're considering grad school, make sure you try to do your homework. Speak with current students. Do they feel seen, valued, supported?** Do faculty invest in them and work with them? That professor you are dying to work with, do they even care about grad students much less want to work with them? Or are they too self-absorbed to even think about collaborating with a Ph.D. student? When they do work with students, how do they behave? I hope you are lucky enough that people are honest with you.

But even if you aren't and you get in and it's hell, then do all you can to survive. Document everything and seek help. Almost every campus will have some form of psychological and counseling services and it's usually free, use it. Build a network and a community outside of your work. Have friends, nurture your family, find hobbies (hi blogging! haha). There is so so much to life than a degree, literally. It's not that deep. If it's so much that you can't bear it, then it's okay to leave too or take a break. You will be fine. If all else fails and you need someone to vent to, then message me. I'm getting good at listening to people vent. 

I don't know what happens to Mia; I don't care, frankly. There are so many Mias...so many that what we need is both systemic change and more active allies. Till then, no amount of fury on Twitter will solve the problem. 

Love,

I

P:S: I tweeted this and I will reiterate: except you are a grad student, non-academic, my friend, or my acquaintance, please please don't message me privately to offer "support" or "love". I don't want to "share my story".

*Although I quite dislike the term "woman of color" or "person/people of color" because it's (quite frankly) a lazy way of just lumping non-white people together, I still use it in this post. I use it to mean non-white people, to be honest. I am sorry about that and I acknowledge that our experiences are wildly diverse in so many ways. We are not a monolith. But I am lazy and wanted a smoother flow for your reading pleasure. See, am I not kind?

**Fun fact: once I was in a department event that Ph.D. students were meant to attend and I think I was literally the only Ph.D. student to show up (I know!). So of course, faculty members were furious. One of them (WHO KNEW ME) started screaming "why is there no Ph.D. student here? Where is X? Where is Y? I can't believe they didn't come" all the while looking over me. Basically this person refused to acknowledge my existence; as far as they were concerned, I wasn't even a Ph.D. student. I didn't exist. It's how they try to erase you. I think it might have been in the middle of other crap going on involving this person so this was how this person chose to fight me that moment.  Or maybe not? Maybe they just chose violence for no darn reason. I had never felt so small. Actually, I had lmao. Oh well, I still finished. 

Book of the Month: His Only Wife by Peace Adzo Medie

Hello folks and welcome to another juicy book of the month post. Let me start by saying I loooveeee this book. It's so rare for something to live up to its hype the way this book does. 

Friday Reflections

 1.) Hello and welcome, welcome, welcome.

2.) People keep flocking to this blog for two reasons: this post about Kofi Awoonor from 8(!) years ago and this post about lessons on life and grief from Grey's Anatomy, of all things. It is very interesting because they are so old but also my writing style and topic have evolved significantly from that (or okay, just from the former. I still write things like the latter pretty frequently). What to do about it?

3) That's bound to happen if you've been blogging for so long. 

4.) There is a Medium page for the blog, which is admittedly not too far off from the blog. But hey, it's a writing platform. And I write.

5.) From Prison to Ph.D: the fascinating story of a woman determined to change her life even though society is not willing to let her. That's an old story that I'm bumping up because I recently attended a small event she was invited to speak. This is one of those complexities that require nuance so let me know what you think. 

6.) In thinking about two women who have had to grief publicly, Lauren London and Vanessa Bryant, this brilliant piece explains why their worth should not be determined by their proximity to the incredibly famous men they were partnered with—Nipsey Hussle and Kobe Bryant; two giants whose untimely deaths continue to be tragic. 

7.) I just found out the legendary Jane Fonda has a Blog (!!!!) anyway, here's an old post about her post-election thoughts.

8.) Scott Galloway, on recasting American individualism and institutions. Americans are among the most selfish people on this planet and this pandemic continues to reinforce that. But then again, there might be some foreign place with even more selfish people. 

9.) The three biggest  regrets people have at the end of their lives. 

10.) Juicy, meaty topics today, huh? Have a great weekend and watch out next week for either a post on food or book of the month. Heyy, look, we are getting fed one way or another haha.

International Women's Day 2021

I recently [virtually] attended an event where Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala and Julia Gillard had spoken. They wrote a book about women leaders all over the world and what is different for them. Fantastic idea behind the book. But anyway, they both emphasized the double standards women are often held up to and judged by. Particularly important is women’s appearance, both literally and figuratively. Literally, as in, what are we wearing? Is our hair too big? Do we have make up? Do we not? Also figuratively,  as in are we smiling enough? Are we likable? Are we warm? Are we nasty? Are we too emotional? Or too stern? Are we maternal? Or too independent?

I don’t know the solution to solving gender inequality. I do know though that every single one of us has a role to play in this fight. The world is better when both men and women participate in a world that both men and women inhabit. And such a fight must be inclusive; it must be intersectional; it must understand that although to be a woman is challenging in this world, to be a black woman is even more challenging. To be a black woman is to be termed aggressive when you dare speak up for yourself. To be a black woman is to have the media of an entire country including the twerp that is piers morgan harass you consistently for years and be expected to take it all in good grace. To be a black woman is to be called nasty. Yet, to be a black woman is to be expected to be everyone’s savior. It’s exhausting.

What is also exhausting in slow progress in this regard. I think it’s why more than ever when on just one day of the year—March 8—I see all these platitudes, I find myself getting irritated. Everyone is affirming nice things about women today but what happens tomorrow? What happens when you walk into your boardroom or executive meetings, and there is not a single woman? What happens when you silence and visibly disrespect the voice of women on your team? What happens when you as a doctor continue to gaslight and ignore your women patients and their accompanying pain? What happens when you see a woman being consistently harassed whether at work or all over social media and you choose to willingly ignore? What happens when you lowball a woman and pay her less than her counterparts even when she deserves more? What happens when women run for office and are called shrill, nasty, unlikeable? What happens when women are termed hysterical?

I leave you with these important questions to ponder. This year, #choosetochallenge yourself to do better by women in your life, at work, and in every space your occupy. Institutions need to be reformed but more often than not, there’s work to be done in the hearts of people. I continue to, on this blog and where I can, challenge tropes that have wielded the bible as their weapon to oppress them. 

Let me be clear, IWD is not about being nice to women or remind us how “strong we are”; or how we should be “revered”; or about emphasizing all the super accomplished women leaders championing important causes; or the few that are Fortune 500 CEOs. Please. It’s not that those things are not nice. But even women who are not badass prime ministers or superstar creatives  deserve worth and value. Ordinary, everyday women deserve worth and value. 

In fact, your favorite bad ass “girl boss” who crawled her way to the boardroom of a fortune 500 company might have internalized misogyny so much she thinks there is only room for one of her and therefore becomes openly hostile to other women. We must call out such vitriol. That's why I don’t believe in the feminism that says women must be nice to all women. I don’t owe all women my niceness. As a matter of fact, I despise some women and there's nothing you can do about it. I still think they should be treated equally as men. I just hate how they contribute to misogyny and how they deliberately hinder other women from greatness. This is also why more than filling your office spaces with the XX chromosome, enact policies that benefit women: have good healthcare; fund scientific research that reduce the occurrence of female cancers or just I don't know figure out basic ish that cripple women?; have generous maternity leave policies that allow women to progress at work while doing the noble job of populating our society (through childbirth); establish transparent pay practices; protect women from sexual harassment, and when there are allegations, don’t gaslight them into silence.

Paving to road to more equality is not rocket science. Some oppressors just have a vested interest in the status quo. This year #choosetochallenge them.

I will leave you with IWD posts from previous years: 2020. 2019. 2018. 2017. 2016. 2015.

Selah.

And yes, yes, it was my birthday yesterday. It was great in so many ways.  And I'm really happy to be a year older.  

Love,

I

P:S: If you enjoyed this post or got some value from it whatever, you will definitely like this one. 

Demanding Accountability From Pastors and ... Tackling Greed

I promised a second part to this post and here I am fulfilling that promise.

Greed.

This component will focus mainly on greed. For a vice as destructive as greed, it, quite interestingly, does not seem to garner much attention. But if you evaluate the root of a lot of issues in the Church, in our society, you can trace it back to greed. Or quite simply, the ardent desire for more and more, for excessiveness, for gain, for obscene wealth. It is why we have societies that continue to exploit the poor so that a few rich can continue to amass wealth they have no use of. It is why men in political offices refuse to stand for principles and values because they crave political power and would rather cower and retain that power than speak truth to power and lose it. 

In the last post, I hinted about the allegations against the Lindseys. I want to reiterate that this is not about any one pastor or any one couple. It is about the body of Christ and our responsibility while here on earth. It is about our role as ambassadors of Christ if that's what we claim we are. It is why I want to draw specifically on the excessiveness among Christians. There is too much obsession with materialism and fame. One of the people I have talked about throughout this series for instance would post vague things on Instagram, deliberately disguising the fact that they were paid to advertise that product. Isn't that unethical? But that's just the beginning.

To be more specific, ask yourself this very important question. Why do pastors own private jets? I don't get angry easily. Okay, that's a lie. I do. But few things anger me as much as pastors owning private jet. NO NO NO NO NO NO. Why? Forget the debilitating harm it causes the environment, you would never be able to justify that manner of excessiveness to me. Closely related to that, I have heard people complain about pastors wearing watches that cost tens of thousands of dollars.  It is a complicated conversation for sure. Because I don't want us to police what people wear. I will say though that I am strongly averse to greed. And there is no way to convince me that materialism has no correlation with greed. By themselves, these things have no moral value—they are not inherently good or bad. I don't even think owning things make pastors terrible people. But it speaks to their character. If the "stuff"; the blings, jets, fast lifestyle matter to you as much as the word of God, something is wrong. 

Even as a regular person who is not in any way a Christian leader or pastor or anything like that, I think we should all be averse to getting stuff just because; just as a status symbol; just to acquire meaningless things every single day. It is why I expect that as someone with any modicum of anointing, you should be called or you should assume a bigger responsibility of decency. Because decency is not about the hypocrisy of not wearing short skirts but about character and good deeds. I am worried about a need to just continue to acquire more and more and more and more. 

Nothing people in these positions love more than using the Bible to tell you why you should mInD yOuR bUsInEsS [when you demand accountability!] or why fEmInIsM iS eViL [it's not!] or why you should not wear short skirts [wear what you want! No, really.]  or why the man is tHe HeAd Of ThE hOuSe [ridiculous, I call BS!] or why certain people will go to hell fire [some probably won't or maybe they will, who even really knows?!], so let's also take a good look at what that same bible says about greed.  Christ admonished the Pharisees and teachers of the law as filthy, not literally unclean but filled with greed and self-indulgence [Matthew 23: 25]. To be greedy, to be so self-indulgent [synonyms: luxurious, excessive, extravagant] was to be filthy according to Christ. He wasn't even saying this about the regular joes, he was saying it about the leaders, those who held (or who should have held) themselves to higher standards. 

In Micah 6 (10-16), when God was laying out the accusations against Israelites, you know what he mentioned? The "obscene wealth they have piled up by cheating and fraud". Unlike your faves, I will not take this verses out of context. So let's do context. The running theme across the Matthew 23 chapter and Micah 6 is justice, compassion, matters of the heart.  God continued in Micah 6 with, "No matter how much you get, it will never be enough—hollow  stomachs, empty hearts". In Ephesians 5:5, Paul wrote that we can be sure no immoral, impure, or greedy person will inherit the  Kingdom of God because, he continues, placing emphasis on the greedy part, a greedy person is an idolater who worships the things of the world. It is that simple. 

To be fair, even apart from greedy pastors who want the fanciest cars and most lavish houses, I am getting increasingly uncomfortable with the greed that remains pervasive in our culture. This is not the model Jesus or any of his disciples or Paul left for us. Why do we never know when to say enough? Why must we keep acquiring more and more. We want more money. We want private jets. We want obscene wealth. And frankly, on some level, this signifies a lack of trust in God. 

I remember listening to Chelsea Fagan, who definitely isn't a Christian, but she once said the opportunity to increase her salary (she is the CEO and co-founder of a personal finance company, The Financial Diet) came up and she declined because well, she just had enough. She said she would rather have other members of staff and maybe even the company receive the money or grow or whatever. I thought, how many people can ever have this level of contentment? How many? It is almost impossible to see this sort of contentment among Christians.  Now granted, Chelsea’s husband earns pretty well too and maybe that’s part of the equation. I don’t know. But I aspire to that level of contentment, where I can truly say "enough", and give to someone else. I need Christian leaders to model this level of contentment and modesty. 

I remember John Gray and his recent headline from a year or two ago where he bought this lavish car or something, and there was backlash. His response was he did not use the church's money to buy this six-figure value car. That's all good and dandy but it's not about that. It's about more than that. I really think (and I am open to counterarguments) that as a pastor, it is your responsibility to model modesty—again  not the type of modesty obsessed with women's bodies and what they wear—but the type that is focused on shunning materialism and showing off. 

What Christ wants for us, is to invest in the kingdom of heaven; is to not be so obsessed with money or fame or material things.  Don't get me wrong: wealth, money, those things are not inherently bad.  Let me repeat for y'all at the back: money is NOT inherently bad. Being financially and materially successful is not necessarily always a bad thing. After all, even John prayed that we  proper in all things and be in health just as our soul prospers (3 John 1:2).  There is so much good you can do with it: such as taking care of your family, friends, strangers, or I don't know, just living fully.  But we have to remember to question our desires, our wants,  and we must search our hearts. This is not just about money even; it's about things, fame, attention, pride, showing off, arrogance. It's about our hearts. And yes, I still think there is such a thing as too much money. I really do.  The weird part is, while more money can make us happy, there is a plateau where any more than that and it doesn't really matter anymore. And TRUST me, that figure is NOT as much as you think. In fact, you get to a particular figure and happiness begins to decrease. I am in fact quoting scientific studies. 

I don't want to be so smug as to claim I don't deal with my own share of greed or that I don't like the finer things of live; oh you bet I do. But that's the difference, I recognize our collective problem and everyday try to deal with it. And more importantly, I want our Christian leaders to deal with it. I want them to model something better for the rest of us. I want them to do better. 

I want Christians to be open to more accountability, transparency, and oversight. There is nothing like Christian leaders and defensiveness when accused of something. Instead, that is exactly the time to model Christ. To be gentle, patient, humble, and quite frankly filled with repentance. 

There is a phenomenal prayer in Proverbs (30:7-9) that I think pastors (we all, really) need to constantly remember:

O God, I beg two favors from you;

Let me have them before I die.

First, help me never to tell a lie

Second, give me neither poverty nor riches!

Give me just enough to satisfy my needs

For if I grow rich, I may deny you and say

'Who is the Lord?'

And if I am too poor, I may steal and thus insult God's holy name. 

JUST ENOUGH. 

Love,

I

Book of the Month: The Tower of Mammon by Femi Olawole

Hello *she screams excitedly* and welcome to another book of the month. I can't believe ( I actually can) that this is only the second thing posted on this blog this month. Why does it feel like I have been posting stuff?  Weird. Anywayyyy, welcome to another book of the month. I am absolutely okay with only talking about books at this point LOL. That's how much bandwidth I have right now. Let's get right to it, shall we?

The book of this month is *drumrolls* The Tower of Mammon  by Femi Olawole (if you know, you know!). If you don't, let's keep it moving haha. Let me just say before going on that yes I may be a little biased. But no, that has not skewed my objectivity at all (I promise) and that should certainly not keep you from enjoying this book :). Okay, for real now, let's get right to it.

Friday Reflections

1.) Shout out to everyone in Texas right now! It's a complete nightmare there and I can't believe people have to go through that craziness. 

2.) I had an insanely busy week and kept pushing off washing my hair, which was long overdue for some TLC. I pre-pood, washed, deep conditioned, and took a really warm shower (fit for this perpetual winter storm) all in less than 2 hours. I remember when wash day used to be a WHOLE DAY. And there is something about time that helps you get better; that helps you know yourself better. That I know and understand my hair enough to just do...I love it. It's second nature, effortless. 

3.) It's why I love growing older too. I just become more comfortable with who I am and it's fun. I KNOW myself.

4.) Speaking of doing my hair, while doing it I finally had time to watch The Social Dilemma; the documentary that explores the dangerous impact of social networking on human beings. The situation IS BAD. My God. Basically, tech experts and the people who created these things sound the alarm on its dangers. It's terrifying. I'm weaning myself off these things anyway but it' s SCARY for society as a whole and I hope we all rethink our usage. A whole post is necessary for this. But please please if you watch one thing this weekend, let it be this. 

5.) "There are only two industries that call their customers 'users': illegal drugs and software." - Edward Tufte

6.) Seriously, I can't sound the alarm enough: social media is toxic! It's addicting. What it does to our brains and psyche is unimaginable.

7.) The myth and magic of deliberate practice. It turns out our genes play a lot more role in our success than we admit.

8.) How to build confidence by the amazing Brittany Packnett

9.) Kathryn Joosten gave this interview a few days before she died and woah it's the most honest interview ever. I think she knew she was going to die soon so it was no holds barred haha.  There was also a lot of dynamics about Desperate Housewives she revealed, especially the numerous lies that lots of the cast members have propagated over the years. 

10.) "You can murder a liberator but you can't murder liberation. You can murder a revolutionary but you can't murder a revolution. You can murder a freedom fighter but you can't murder freedom."  Damnnnnnnnn Judas and the Black Messiah is an AHMazing film. I had been looking forward to that film for so long and it did NOT disappoint me. It's powerful. 

11.) Daniel Kaluuya poured his soul into that role and film. To be sooo dedicated  to your craft, to you work. I LOVE it.