Freds Dissonance

Day 14 of Black History — The Spectrum

The 2010s reminded the world that Blackness is not a monolith.
It stretched, expanded, contradicted, and created all at once.

The blerd rose in full color.
Black nerds claimed space in comics, coding, anime, science, and gaming.
Representation shifted from side character to storyteller.

The jerkin era gave us movement, style, and youth expression.
Skinny jeans, bright colors, dance crews, YouTube culture.
A generation creating its own stage without permission.

At the same time, a necessary awakening.
The formation of the Black Lives Matter movement after the killings of Trayvon Martin, Michael Brown, Eric Garner, Sandra Bland, and so many more.
We witnessed, in real time, what had always been true.
The camera didn’t create the violence.
It removed the ability to deny it (yet).

This decade held both joy and grief.
Innovation and protest.
Dance battles and marches in the streets.

Because Blackness is not one thing.
It is scholars and street poets.
Gamers and activists.
Designers, dancers, dreamers, and disruptors.

The 2010s taught us this truth:

We are a spectrum.
And every shade carries power

Creative Director & Vision
(Sydney Edwards)

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Day 11: When We Doo It

Today we honor the hypocrisy.

When we do it, it is a problem.
When they do it, it is innovation.

Our slang becomes marketing language.
Our edges become beauty trends.
Our bonnets become fashion statements.
African American Vernacular English becomes branding strategy.

But when we wear it, it is unprofessional.
When we build it, it is urban.
When we own it, it is too much.

In 1967, when Black Panthers legally carried fi****ms to monitor police brutality, California passed the Mulford Act with support from Ronald Reagan and the NRA. Open carry suddenly became dangerous when Black people exercised it.

In 1998, Surya Bonaly landed a one blade backflip at the Nagano Olympics. The arena erupted. The judges deducted her. The move had been banned since 1976 for being too dangerous and not fitting the sport’s image.

In 2024, the International Skating Union removed the ban. Same ice. Same risk. Different response.

When we do it, it is a problem.
When they do it, it becomes history.

Today we honor the ones who did it anyway.

Creative Director & Vision
(Sydney Edwards)

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Day 10 of Black History Month

The high top fade wasn’t just a haircut — it was elevation.
Sharp lines. Vertical ambition. A declaration that Black identity could take up space and reach higher.

Pop culture made it iconic — The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air, Juice, Tupac Shakur — but the fade carried meaning far beyond entertainment. It mirrored a decade where Black excellence rose in rooms long closed to us.

The 1990s were a height moment in real life:
• Mae Jemison became the first Black woman in space, expanding who we imagined among the stars.
• Carol Moseley Braun shattered barriers as the first Black woman elected to the U.S. Senate.
• Toni Morrison won the Nobel Prize, proving Black stories are world literature.

At the same time, the country was forced to confront its contradictions. The beating of Rodney King, the L.A. uprisings, the O.J. Simpson trial, and the Million Man March exposed how justice, visibility, and power were still uneven.

The high top fade held all of that.
Precision and protest. Style and survival.
A reminder that even when the world tried to cut us down, we kept growing upward.

Day 10 honors the height — of our hair, our history, and our refusal to stay small.

Creative Director & Vision
(Sydney Edwards)

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