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Daisha Simmons’ Story Is a Cautionary Tale for All Student Athletes
One of the biggest misconceptions about student athletes on the collegiate level is that they are being given something of worth (a free education) in exchange for their compliance in the classroom and their hard work on the playing field as well. But it’s a bit murkier than that. The NCAA loves to paint itself…
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Black Is the New Face of American Comic Book Heroes
For better or for worse, there has been an increased effort to diversify the comic book realms of Marvel Comics and DC Comics over the past five years. Superheroes, many of whom have spent decades being household names, have been reinterpreted and transformed in ways that many have celebrated, while others have criticized. In essence, many…
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How an NFL Referee Took a Stance Against a Team’s Racist Name
How do you judge a man with conviction? Not just one with beliefs, but one who supports his beliefs with action? Martin Luther King Jr., organizing followers who stood firm in their fight for civil rights, no matter the odds or violence they faced. Malcolm Little, evolving from “Detroit Red” to Malcolm X, preaching about…
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The James Brown Effect
From the vocal inflections of his soulful voice to the electrifying dance moves, stunning audience interaction and a theatrical flair for the dramatic, James Brown left a lasting influence that’s apparent to every student of American music. With the upcoming biopic Get on Up, old fans and younger ones alike will get a chance to immerse themselves…
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Ray Rice, Stephen A. Smith and the Hypocrisy of Sports
We all saw the video. It was clear as day. We shook our heads as we felt our emotions swirl. There was no hiding it. He did what no man should ever do, no matter the situation. Yet we took solace in knowing that justice would prevail, the hammer would be heavy, and Ray Rice…
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Comic Books and Sexism: A History of the 2nd-Class Caped Crusader
Back in 1975 the Wonder Woman television series gave thousands of imaginative girls and young women a superheroine that was a force to reckon with. She was faster and stronger than most men, more beautiful than most women and wiser than most kings. Though the version of Wonder Woman portrayed by Linda Carter was campy and tongue-in-cheek, it…
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Who Will Save Our Missing Children of Color?
A few weeks ago while attending the American Black Film Festival in New York City, I witnessed the short film Muted. Written by Brandi Ford, featuring Grey’s Anatomy star Chandra Wilson and Malcolm-Jamal Warner, and directed by Rachel Goldberg, Muted was only 20 minutes long, but the offering sat on my chest like a lump of steel for days afterward. In the…
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Black Music Month: Celebrating the Soulful ’70s
What makes the soul, funk and R&B music of the 1970s so unique and powerful? Beyond the fact that it creeps into, nourishes and elevates your mind, body and spirit, it’s the soundtrack of profound change embodying the most prolific and lush period of black cultural expression that we’ve ever experienced. Its beginning was like…
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Cheryl Miller Reveals How Tough It Was to Find a Coaching Job
Cheryl Miller spent a year and a half trying to get someone to return her phone calls, but no one wanted to take a chance on the Hall of Fame basketball star as their women’s basketball coach. That is until Langston University, a small HBCU in Oklahoma, decided to give her a shot. In a…
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The Racist Roots of the Black Comic Book Villain
In The Amazing Spider-Man 2, which opened Friday, actor Jamie Foxx plays Max Dillon, a dorky genius, uncomfortable in his own skin, locked out of enjoying the fruits of his own labor at science-technology company Oscorp by supervisors who belittle him. But after a horrific lab accident—as is often the case in comic books—Foxx’s body and…
Black News and Black Views with a Whole Lotta Attitude
