-
Not-So-Great Expectations: Teachers Expect Less of Black and Brown Students
A recent study by the Center for American Progress released this month highlighted what some might call the “soft bigotry of low expectations” if there was a way to take a jug of Downy fabric softener and make old-fashioned implicit bias gentler. The study found that teachers can have a bit of a Pygmalion effect…
-
How to Get Away With Dressing to Kill
Last week 12 million tuned in for TV producer Shonda Rhimes’ new addictive hit, How to Get Away With Murder, starring Viola Davis. Some of those viewers were immersed in the whodunit drama and murderous legal clientele; some were just in it for the clothes: For good … https://twitter.com/andreanaclay/status/517903029811425280https://twitter.com/mstraciemorris/status/518180364381339650 And for bad … https://twitter.com/mellyville/status/518145713650552832https://twitter.com/remylekun/status/518075579791208448 But we…
-
How The Cosby Show Changed the Game for Blacks on TV
Thirty years ago The Cosby Show changed what was possible if you were black and on television, that you didn’t have to play to type and there truly was a universality of the human experience. You could finally be anything—a doctor, a lawyer, a homeboy in outer space. With the right talent and support, any TV…
-
Before Social Media, Black Celebs Could Avoid the Ray Rice Treatment
Everyone wants to forgive the favorite child, the prodigal son, the hometown hero. It’s why, despite the overwhelming evidence, suspended Baltimore Ravens player Ray Rice still has his online defenders. It’s why it took a video on TMZ to get the NFL to do the right thing. The mindset? Everyone knows who he is, but…
-
Youth Groups Working for Ferguson’s Future
Why hold out for a hero when you can save yourself? When protests erupted in Ferguson, Mo., after the police shooting of unarmed black teenager Michael Brown, it wasn’t the black establishment of the St. Louis bedroom community taking it to the streets; it was Brown’s peers. Kids in their teens. Young adults in their…
-
Killing in Self-Defense: You Better Be White
(The Root) — It doesn’t hurt to have a little white privilege on your side. If you can get it. And George Zimmerman got the most out of what privilege he had after being found not guilty in the murder of Florida teen Trayvon Martin. After the verdict, Zimmerman’s attorneys held a press conference, and…
-
Death to All Panels
Operating on no coffee and five hours of sleep, I attempted to survive a three-and-a-half hour series of panels on new media during the Congressional Black Caucus’ annual conference and failed. It wasn’t for a lack of effort on the panel members’ part. Robert Townsend bounded around the room trying to sell me on his…
Black News and Black Views with a Whole Lotta Attitude
