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Hell or High Water: How Racism Kept Black America From Swimming
Now, we’ve all heard the stereotype that black folks can’t swim. But, unfortunately, that cliché is based in haunting truths. The numbers speak for themselves: 64 percent of black kids have no or low swimming ability, versus 45 percent of Latinx children and 40 percent of white kids. A 2014 study also found that black…
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Natasha Rothwell’s Tweets to Donald Trump Are Petty and Perfect
Natasha Rothwell does Twitter phenomenally well. Aside from being the face of one of our favorite memes on Twitter, the Insecure star has tweeted (nearly every day since the 2016 election) that Trump is trash. Do y’all realize the level of commitment it takes to notify 45 (and the world), on the daily that he…
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City Girls' Yung Miami is Here to Coach You to the Hot Girl Summer Championship
ICYMI: Hot girl summer is on and popping. We’ve passed the Fourth of July holiday, and hot girls are up 100 to 0 at the half. We out here winning, y’all. Team fuckboi tried to co-opt the hot girl summer in an attempt to put a few measly points on the board, but the hot…
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Black Women Invented Style and Essence Fest 2019 Is Proof
It’s no secret that black women invented style. As the daughter of a black woman who stays dressed-down-to-the-ground, I have come to associate black women with elegance, grace and a lot of pizazz. We slay magazine covers and shut down runways, all while becoming fashion icons who have even used style to discuss larger social…
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Observations on the Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater From a Dancing Non-Dancer
I’ve always been a lover of dance. I am an avid consumer of dance, and an active participant in dance culture—I be dancing, y’all. To know me is to know that at one point or another, you will have to pull me off of a dance floor. In fact, a friend (who is a professional…
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Grabbing Feminism by the Mic: This Is How Women in Hip-Hop Are Making a Lane of Their Own
The terms “hip-hop” and “feminism” might seem like oil and water. After all, the culture of misogyny and straight disrespect of women throughout hip-hop culture could lead one to think otherwise. So can a feminist politic exist in a hyper-misogynistic space? The answer: It’s complicated. “Hip-hop feminism” was coined by author and scholar Joan Morgan…
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Shaft Is Still Black AF, So We Played 'Black Ass Game'
The Shaft franchise been black AF. After all, the first Shaft film was released in 1971, starring Richard Roundtree during the era of blaxploitation films. John Shaft “looked out for his brother man” and wore a huge ‘fro, turtleneck and a long leather jacket (a la the Black Panthers) while doing so. For any film…
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When Are Black Boys Allowed to be Boys? The Cast of When They See Us Says There's Still Work to Do
I’m asking myself what do I look like? Do I look like a criminal? — Jharrel Jerome text What do you see when you look at black boys? Perhaps you see a brother, a son or a nephew. Conversely, you might see a deep thinker, a creative, a leader or even our future. But for…
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Ava DuVernay on When They See Us and How the Press Failed the Central Park Five
There are few things more difficult to watch than the abuse, mistreatment and manipulation of innocent young black and brown people. In her four-part Netflix series, When They See Us, award-winning director Ava DuVernay takes us into the story of the Central Park Five—a case that had the media in a frenzy in the late…
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Better Than Ever: Actress Halle Berry Kicks Ageism in the Face
Halle Berry’s BEEN Hollywood. At 50-something years old, the woman is still #Goals. Halle is acting goals. She was introduced to the world in the early 1990s with Jungle Fever—fast forward to 2019, and she is drawing crowds for John Wick 3. Not to mention that Berry has won dozens of awards (including an Academy…
