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Jennifer Hudson Honors Aretha Franklin's Legacy at Pulitzer Prize Ceremony With 'Amazing Grace'
An icon. A legend. A superstar. Aretha Franklin racked up plenty of honors when she was still with us, throughout her many years in the entertainment industry. Even her homegoing—her funeral—was more a soulful, celebratory concert than a dour ceremony. And in the middle of that homegoing concert was Oscar-Award winning singer Jennifer Hudson. Hudson,…
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I Won an Award, but Who's the Real MVP?
Last week, on Monday night, was the 19th annual Women’s eNews 21 Leaders for the 21st Century gala at Club 101 in Manhattan, N.Y. There was some revelry, but there was a lot more talk about how we can advance our cause as women, and ultimately, not just save ourselves, but save the world. As…
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Being ‘The Black Snob’ Was a Joke, Until the Day I Actually Became One
“I don’t know how you ended up so bougie when we came out of the same family,” said my baby sister, one day over the phone. I was taken aback. Me? Bougie? And yet, I was. Painfully so. And had been, at this point, for several years. But I was still offended. At the time…
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So, What's Marijuana Got to Do With It?
In a search affidavit that we apparently know all the contents of, we now know that the police apparently found some marijuana—about .37 ounces—in Botham Jean’s apartment after he was shot by Dallas police officer Amber Guyger. My response: So what? Marijuana, a substance that is legal, either recreationally or medically, in nine states, and…
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From Get-Out-the-Vote to Respectability Politics, Aretha Franklin's Homegoing Was a Dramatic, Political Affair
DETROIT—A stage is a stage, even when it’s a church and the performance is a marathon of a funeral. Clocking in at more than nine hours long for those who showed up at 8:30 a.m. Friday morning to view her body, perhaps Aretha Franklin, the Queen of Soul and daughter of Detroit, wouldn’t have had…
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Dear Mariah and Shades on Luke Cage … I Love You, but 'OMG Please Stop!'
Unlike everyone else in the world, I didn’t watch all of season 2 of Luke Cage until this weekend. So that meant I didn’t get to be thoroughly and properly freaked out by this season’s “It” couple, Mariah Stokes Dillard (Alfre Woodard) and Hernan “Shades” Alvarez (Theo Rossi), until June 30, a full week after…
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A List of Every Stress-Related Illness I’ve Ever Had, Ranked From Horrible to ‘I Think I’m Dying’
When you don’t listen to your body, your body has a way of forcing you to listen. Or at least that’s what my body does, over and over again, from annoying to terrifying effect. When you suffer from stress-induced anxiety, as I do and have since I was a child, you get a host of…
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Marvel’s Luke Cage Premiere Party Was Cool and I Was Cool, Too, for Once
Before I headed to Los Angeles for the BET Awards this weekend, I decided to test my old-person “stay awake” abilities by going to the premiere party for Netflix and Marvel’s Luke Cage series Thursday night before my flight. While I succeeded in turning all the way up at this party, I failed at staying…
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Our Hotel Is for the Birds (Literally). Cuh-CAAAAW!
There are literal birds chirping, tweeting and running around our hotel for the BET Awards—the vast Westin Bonaventure in downtown Los Angeles, where scenes from the film True Lies were shot. These birds, however, are not just of the feathered kind but of these kinds, too. Yes, birds. Birds of the “Pick me, choose me,…
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The Root Is in Los Angeles for the BET Awards and Has No Idea What to Wear
What to wear? What to wear? First things first: I’m not cool. I’ve never been cool. Not gonna be cool. Couldn’t be cool if I tried. And the BET Awards—as well as the various colorfully dressed, still flat-and-tight-stomached young people who attend it—are cool. (Even when I was a young-’n’-flat-stomached little thing, I wasn’t cool.)…
Black News and Black Views with a Whole Lotta Attitude
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Jennifer Hudson Honors Aretha Franklin's Legacy at Pulitzer Prize Ceremony With 'Amazing Grace'
An icon. A legend. A superstar. Aretha Franklin racked up plenty of honors when she was still with us, throughout her many years in the entertainment industry. Even her homegoing—her funeral—was more a soulful, celebratory concert than a dour ceremony. And in the middle of that homegoing concert was Oscar-Award winning singer Jennifer Hudson. Hudson,…
-
Being ‘The Black Snob’ Was a Joke, Until the Day I Actually Became One
“I don’t know how you ended up so bougie when we came out of the same family,” said my baby sister, one day over the phone. I was taken aback. Me? Bougie? And yet, I was. Painfully so. And had been, at this point, for several years. But I was still offended. At the time…
-
So, What's Marijuana Got to Do With It?
In a search affidavit that we apparently know all the contents of, we now know that the police apparently found some marijuana—about .37 ounces—in Botham Jean’s apartment after he was shot by Dallas police officer Amber Guyger. My response: So what? Marijuana, a substance that is legal, either recreationally or medically, in nine states, and…
-
Dear Mariah and Shades on Luke Cage … I Love You, but 'OMG Please Stop!'
Unlike everyone else in the world, I didn’t watch all of season 2 of Luke Cage until this weekend. So that meant I didn’t get to be thoroughly and properly freaked out by this season’s “It” couple, Mariah Stokes Dillard (Alfre Woodard) and Hernan “Shades” Alvarez (Theo Rossi), until June 30, a full week after…
