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Black Music Month Playlist No. 5: We Made America Great in the 1st Place
Editor’s note: Every Friday for the month of June, aka African-American Music Appreciation Month, aka Black Music Month, we created a Spotify playlist based on the news of the week. Check out the stories behind playlist No. 1, playlist No. 2, playlist No. 3 and playlist No. 4. How fortuitous that the end of Black…
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Flint, Mich., Water Crisis: How Much Is Gov. Snyder Responsible?
We knew the Flint, Mich., water crisis had poisoned people—now the investigation has reached the point of manslaughter charges. Along with several others, Nick Lyon, director of the Michigan Department of Health and Human Services, was charged June 14 with misconduct in office and involuntary manslaughter for his role in the crisis—specifically, for failing to…
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Black Music Month Playlist No. 4: Damn! Damn! Damn!
Editor’s note: Every Friday for the month of June, aka African-American Music Appreciation Month, aka Black Music Month, we’ll be creating a Spotify playlist based on the news of the week. Check out the stories behind playlist No. 1, playlist No. 2 and playlist No. 3. Real talk: This week was fucked up. There were…
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It’s Time to Revive the Heart of the Voting Rights Act
Fifty-three years ago today, James Chaney, Andrew Goodman and Michael Schwerner were murdered in Mississippi, where they had gathered to register black voters as part of Freedom Summer. Their murders, and the brutal treatment of voting rights marchers in Selma, Ala., less than a year later, galvanized support for the Voting Rights Act of 1965—one…
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Black Music Month Playlist No. 3: All Eyez on Me
Editor’s note: Every Friday for the month of June, aka African-American Music Appreciation Month, aka Black Music Month, we’ll be creating a Spotify playlist based on the news of the week. Check out the stories behind playlist No. 1 and playlist No. 2. This week began with Bill Cosby’s legal team delivering a six-minute defense…
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Police Training Should Start With a History Lesson on Slavery Laws
A recent study on police interactions shows what black Americans already know: Police interact in a less respectful manner toward them than they do white Americans. Based on police-camera audio from the Oakland, Calif., Police Department, this evidence is being used to support a change in police training regarding how to teach police to show…
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Black Music Month Playlist No. 2: Cosby Ain’t the God We Made Him
Editor’s note: Every Friday for the month of June, aka African-American Music Appreciation Month, aka Black Music Month, we’ll be creating a Spotify playlist based on the news of the week. Check out the story behind last week’s playlist here. Talk about trials and tribulations. I don’t think the country has seen this much testifying…
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Black Music Month Playlist No. 1: You Haven’t Done Nothin’
To paraphrase Bruno Mars, American music is black music. When you consider that black people had a hand in creating or influencing just about every music genre—rock, pop, blues, R&B and even country—Bruno ain’t wrong. In 1979, President Jimmy Carter declared June to be Black Music Month in order to recognize the contributions that black…
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The Killing of Richard Collins III Is Not a Hate Crime—It’s Terrorism
The death of a young student just reaching his prime is always tragic. The death of a young black man, especially one only days away from college graduation, is an enormous heartbreak. But the death of a young black man allegedly at the hands of a suspected white supremacist, brutally stabbed merely for being black,…
