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14 Films That Matter at Sundance
The Sundance Film Festival kicks off Thursday in Park City, Utah, with a respectable slate of movies that either deal with black subject matters or star some of Hollywood’s top black actors. While at first look the lineup does not seem as abundant as in years past, it’s quality, not quantity, that the festival prides…
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Where Art Stars Were the Rock Stars
(The Root) — Fiscal cliff or not, collectors at this year’s Art Basel Miami Beach — which concluded on Dec. 9 — snapped up artwork like bargain hunters at a sample sale. In the early hours of the VIP opening on Dec. 5, Sean “P. Diddy” Combs expanded his art collection with a $15,000 piece…
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Hank Willis Thomas on His Text-Based Artwork
(The Root) — Hank Willis Thomas tackles aspects of race, identity, history and pop culture in his conceptual visual art and photographic work. The New Jersey native has had a breakout year, with an exhibit at the Brooklyn Museum in New York City that featured Question Bridge: Black Males, a video installation co-created with artist…
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Directors Defend Venus and Serena Doc
(The Root) — Despite published reports that tennis’s famously private sisters Venus and Serena Williams were unhappy with a revealing new documentary, aptly titled Venus and Serena, filmmakers Maiken Baird and Michelle Major have said that they think the sisters are actually behind the film. The film’s unapologetic portrayal of Richard Williams, the sisters’ hard-driving…
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15 Works From Black Artists at Art Basel 2012
Let the art viewing and the party hopping begin. Art Basel Miami Beach, which runs from Dec. 6 to 9 and is now in its 11th year, is arguably America’s most prestigious art fair. From the start, it has been a haven for art lovers and has routinely included some of the world’s most respected…
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Revisiting the Central Park Jogger Case
(The Root) — In one of New York City’s highest-profile criminal cases, a group of five black and Latino teenagers (all 16 or younger) — Antron McCray, Kevin Richardson, Raymond Santana, Kharey Wise and Yusef Salaam — were arrested and convicted for the brutal rape of a white jogger that occurred in Central Park on…
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Will Black Friday Be Blue for Wal-Mart?
(The Root) — Walking off the job on Black Friday is not something Wal-Mart associate Colby Harris takes lightly, but that is exactly what he says he plans to do on what has traditionally been considered the busiest shopping day of the year. On Wednesday, Harris, along with other organizers of Wal-Mart’s non-unionized employees known…
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Akon: Oil Battles Corrupt African Lands
(The Root) — Akon and Wyclef Jean are hoping that the upcoming film they’re in, Black November, does for the Niger Delta what Kanye West’s song “Diamonds From Sierra Leone” did for blood diamonds. Black November, by writer and director Jeta Amata, tells the story of how big oil has devastated his homeland of Nigeria.…
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Can Liberia Ditch Foreign Aid by 2022?
(The Root) — Liberian President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf has a vision for her country: to be off foreign aid in 10 years and “middle income” by 2030. She also sees a role for African Americans, to whom her people are linked by a shared history, in that vision. Africa’s first elected female head of state…
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Black News and Black Views with a Whole Lotta Attitude
