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Peace Is a Lifestyle: Erica Ford’s Peace Mobile Is Healing a Community Affected by Gun Violence, One Ride at a Time
Like fellow Queens, N.Y., native, L.L. Cool J, Erica Ford has been here for years. She’s been in these streets. Always a standout, with gray tresses since she was in her 20s, Ford has long been at the intersection of hip-hop and activism. At turns playful and stern, like a drill sergeant, sis is serious…
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At Least 100 Bahamians Forced Off Boat Headed to U.S. Because They Didn’t Have Visas
Adding to what is undoubtedly a deeply traumatic experience—losing one’s home and upending any sense of safety and normalcy—many evacuated Bahamians bound for Florida in the aftermath of Hurricane Dorian were told they could not enter the United States without proper paperwork, and reportedly as many as 130—women, men, children—disembarked a ship. WSVN reporter Brian…
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Decriminalizing Sex Work Makes the Entire Black Community Safer
I came out rather late, while I was serving in the military, hundreds of miles away from my parents, siblings and children. I was stationed in Fort Myers, Virginia, and I worked part-time in Washington, D.C. This was also the time when I started transitioning and doing sex work. Since then, I have seen thousands…
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Yeezus Returns: Kanye West Brings His Sunday Service Home to the Chi
If you blinked, you would have missed it; but if you didn’t, oh what a revelation! On Sunday, Kanye West brought his young, soaring choir back home, where his heart is, and it was chuuuuch, children. Black church, to be specific, complete with organs, synthesizer, horns, and, uh, Chance the Rapper, who blessed the crowd…
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Lizzo Gets Real About Her Blues in ‘I’m Listening,’ Kicking Off Suicide Prevention Week
In June, “Truth Hurts” singer Lizzo went on social media to share that she was going through a rough time, ending her Instagram post, “Life hurts.” The IG post, which has garnered more than two million views noted, “I’m depressed and there’s no one I can talk to because there’s nothing anyone can do about…
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A Black Woman Takes Us Into the Swirl of Bipolar Disorder in New Memoir, I’m Telling the Truth, But I’m Lying
Bassey Ikpi’s I’m Telling The Truth, But I’m Lying, the 43-year-old’s journey into her mental health struggle, is not a traditionally written memoir—neither in its structure nor in its nonchronological narrative. It is poetic, it is revelatory, it is distressing; it is, at times, exhausting. It is a literal entree into the mind of someone…
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Eddie Murphy Will Host SNL After 35 Years Away From the Stage That Spawned Him
After years, maybe decades, of family fare by the way of The Klumps, or Shrek’s donkey, genius comedian Eddie Murphy will be bringing that heat, and on the stage where he began as a 19-year-old, on a little show called Saturday Night Live. Murphy, who spent about four seasons on SNL in the early 1980s…
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Galveston Asks Texas AG to Block Release of Officers’ Body Cam Footage From Day Mentally Ill Black Man Paraded Through Streets
In the latest development in the deeply disturbing incident where Donald Neely was arrested on Aug. 3 for misdemeanor trespassing, the city of Galveston has asked the Texas attorney general’s office if it can stop the release of the officers’ body camera recordings. Also, the so-called “mounted patrol policy” that the city said the two…
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Suicides in Jails Are Preventable: How a Unique Approach May Help Curb Self-Harm in Confinement
Conspiracy theories aside, Jeffrey Epstein is one of the latest and most prominent of the hundreds that die by suicide yearly in America’s jails. His untimely death saw the Bureau of Prisons chief fired and caused heads to roll at the federal Metropolitan Correctional Center: the warden of the jail was reassigned, and two staffers…
