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My Name Is Myeisha Is a Dramatic Hip-Hop Musical That Tells the Heartbreaking Story of Tyisha Miller’s 1998 Murder
On Dec. 28, 1998, police officers in Riverside, Calif., opened fire on Tyisha Miller as she lay unconscious in her Nissan Sentra. The 19-year-old was driving with her 15-year-old friend when the car’s tire went flat and the duo pulled off the side of the road. After a stranger drove Miller’s friend to get assistance…
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Are White Film Critics Grading Black Panther on a Curve?
At a recent media-only screening of Black Panther, I happened to be one of three African Americans in attendance. Although I sat right in the middle of the theater rocking a heather-gray sweatshirt with T’Challa emulating the 1968 Olympics Black Power salute, a couple of white film critics must not have noticed me and proceeded…
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Writer Bryan Edward Hill Explains Why Black Representation in Comics Matter and Why Michael Cray Is Out to Kill Aquaman and the Flash
Comic books have struggled with diversity since Famous Funnies was released in the United States in 1933. However, the past few years have finally seen some cracks in the proverbial glass ceiling as black culture has permeated into the mainstream of the comic book universe. From Marvel’s reimagining of classic rap album covers as comic…
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HBO’s Documentary King in the Wilderness Is a Chilling Portrait of Martin Luther King Jr.’s Final 18 Months on Earth
“Everything you thought you knew about Martin Luther King Jr. is wrong,” says Trey Ellis, producer of the upcoming HBO documentary on King’s final 18 months of life, titled King in the Wilderness. The title of the documentary, which premiered at Sundance, is fitting considering that the civil rights activist’s final chapter found him dealing with…
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Chiwetel Ejiofor Delivers Oscar-Worthy Performance in Come Sunday at Sundance
In 2005, NPR’s This American Life broadcast the story of Bishop Carlton Pearson’s struggles with his faith that divided a church during the late 1990s and put him in the crosshairs of religious folk after he questioned God’s intentions. Director Joshua Marston brilliantly reimagines this narrative with Come Sunday, which is heading to Netflix after…
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Sundance’s Tyrel Is Get Out Without Hypnosis or the Sunken Place
Tyrel may immediately draw comparisons to Get Out for its initial premise of an African American finding himself in an awkward situation during a weekend getaway surrounded by white people. But where Sebastian Silva’s Sundance flick differs from Jordan Peele’s Oscar-nominated movie is that Tyrel exists without hypnosis or the sunken place. It doesn’t pack…
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Ambitious, Thought-Provoking and Utterly Bizarre, Boots Riley’s Sorry to Bother You Was the Most Mind-Blowing Movie at Sundance
Before he received a rousing ovation at the Sundance Film Festival for his bizarrely brilliant social-critique film debut, Sorry to Bother You, Boots Riley was ruffling the feathers of corporate America as the frontman of political hip-hop group the Coup. The Oakland, Calif., collective is infamous for their 2001 album, Party Music, and its prophetic cover art,…
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Kelvin Harrison Jr.’s Breakout Performance Anchors Powerful Young-Adult Novel-Turned-Sundance Film Monster
It’s maddening that a book written in 1999 still carries so much relevance in 2018. Nearly two decades ago, Walter Dean Myers’ young-adult novel approached a racist court system that paints African-American men as guilty “monsters” before any evidence is presented. Sadly, this concept holds true as former music video director-turned-first-time filmmaker Anthony Mandler (Beyoncé…
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Omari Hardwick, Meagan Good Shine in the Promising Yet Flawed Sundance Film A Boy. A Girl. A Dream
There’s a particular scene in A Boy. A Girl. A Dream., directed by Qasim Basir (who also directed Mooz-lum), where Cass (Omari Hardwick) has an all-too-familiar run-in with the police. Without going into too much detail, the interaction leaves Cass broken, with only Frida (Meagan Good) there to pick up the pieces. In a film…
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Rapsody on Her Grammy Nominations Being ‘Good for the Culture,’ Her Unconventional Journey and Thoughts on Cardi B
When Marlanna “Rapsody” Evans stepped onstage in Oakland, Calif., for her Wisdom Is Power Tour, the tiny emcee with the commanding voice behind her lyrical wizardry was met with an ovation unlike any other she had ever experienced. “I tried to address the crowd before I started, and I couldn’t even talk because they were…
