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Black Girl Magic and Black Boy Joy Hit Platform 9 3/4, and #BlackHogwarts Was Born
Although we now have Black Panther, Black Mirror and A Wrinkle in Time—films that, in fact, employ black actors to play black characters—a few years back, black folks in mainstream sci-fi and fantasy were few and far between. As Ashley Nkadi recently wrote for The Root, we were usually “erased” from these genres, though rich racial…
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Eric Clapton Whitesplains His Racism. He Even Had a Black Girlfriend
I had no idea that Eric Clapton was once an avowed (rather than just a plain ole complicit) racist. In fact, I thought all those soulful white singers/rock ’n’ rollers from England loved black men, especially those who gave birth to their beloved (and quite fruitful—especially for white men) rock music. But, uh, not Eric…
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Mother of Woman ‘Disposed of’ in Freezing Cold Says Her Daughter Is Mentally Ill
The mother of the 22-year-old patient dumped in the street in subfreezing temperatures after being discharged from a Baltimore hospital has spoken out, saying that she wanted to clear the record about her daughter, whom she says has a mental illness diagnosis. (Sidenote: That an obviously mentally ill 22-year-old was dumped on a frigid sidewalk…
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Trump to the Poor: You Must Work for Your Medicaid, Even Though 60 Percent of You Already Do
In more of the president’s heartless-rich-white-man shtick (except it’s obvious that he’s really all of these things), the Trump administration on Thursday announced that it will allow state-run Medicaid programs to require “able-bodied” Medicaid recipients to work, an action already co-signed by 10 states. The new rules mandate that those who receive the health insurance…
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What’s Gucci? Dapper Dan and His New Harlem Atelier, That’s What
After what seems like years of waiting (though it turned out to be months), Harlem legend Dapper Dan has finally opened his Gucci-backed atelier. On Wednesday, Dapper Dan—born Daniel Day—posted on Twitter: “A sign of the times. For the 1st time in history, a major luxury brand store has opened in #Harlem: @Gucci by @DapperDanHarlem.…
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Michigan State University Receives Almost $1,500,000 to Create Online Slavery Database
Michigan State University will receive nearly $1.5 million to create a new online database that will allow folks to navigate the records of millions of enslaved people and their descendants, a boon for historians and African Americans who are interested in knowing more about their ancestry. Michigan State recently announced a $1.47 million grant from…
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Tavis Smiley Announces New TV Deal and 5-City Tour on ‘What Is Acceptable’ in the Workplace
After being unceremoniously canceled by PBS in December amid sexual-misconduct allegations, author and talk show host Tavis Smiley announced in a video and press release on Facebook Monday that he is going to debut a new inspirational show online and on the Word Network, which also features programs by Creflo Dollar, Joyce Meyer and others.…
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What’s Genius? The Making of Yeethoven II, the Kanye West, Beethoven Orchestral Mashup
“I personally don’t like that word and just avoid it in general,” says Johan, the co-creator and arranger of Yeethoven II, premiering at New York City’s Lincoln Center on Jan. 18. He’s talking about the word “genius” and whether it applies to Kanye West, a term the rapper-producer has bandied about—about himself—for years. “I think…
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Erica Garner’s Funeral Was Marred by a Family Dispute, but Her Unapologetic Warrior Spirit Could Not Be Diminished
Erica Garner’s short life was marked by her unbridled, studied passion for justice. And that passion, that pain, spilled over into her funeral service Monday evening. Her father was Eric Garner, whose last moments were captured on video as he sputtered, “I can’t breathe” 11 times on July 27, 2014. For Eric Garner, there was…
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And Just Like That, We Turned Pain Into Power
After seeing shots of the little boy in that heinous H&M shirt that declared him the “Coolest Monkey in the Jungle,” I almost immediately began to see images of him remixed and reimagined. All day, new looks came down my timeline—not of this little boy in a shirt that degraded him, but with spinning crowns…
