You just have to love the brother of a slightly advanced age–maybe 40-something or 50-something–who is still holding it down in the style department. You know the men I’m talking about. They’re middle-aged, but steady working that fashion angle, partly because they just love to look sharp, and partly because they just want you to know that they still care about style. The brother in this drawing was looking oh-so-fashionable in his jaunty hat, stud earrings, and (if my eyes were not deceiving me) with his recently whitened teeth. His facial hair was trimmed to perfection, and his suit was–of course–tailored with precision and care.

I remember reading an interview in which the rapper Nelly, a fitness enthusiast, said that a good body is a gift you give to yourself. Expanded to include brothers like the one in this drawing, that means that taking care of yourself–or, more specifically, giving yourself the gift of feeling and looking beautiful–is form of self love … and on Black people, who have been discouraged from loving themselves throughout their entire history in the Americas, self love has a beauty all its own.

Ajuan Mance