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Stay in Your Lane, Beyoncé
When I saw that Nia Long was a trending topic on Twitter, I thought either A) she died or B) she and Larenz Tate were going to do a sequel to Love Jones. Neither was true. But what was happening was even more compelling. Beyoncé was getting called out for her “acting” skills. In an…
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Studying War Some More
The Hurt Locker is not a great war film. It doesn’t glorify combat or condemn battle. It does not try to explain why conflict exists. It does not salute the dead or mourn their deaths. It’s an explosive and honest rendering of what happens in war zones. The film, directed by Kathryn Bigelow, focuses on…
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Now He's Home
In a tribute to his status as a global icon, Michael Jackson’s memorial was streamed all over the world, but if there was ever any doubt, we know with absolute certainty that he was, in the end, a black man. The memorial turned the Staples Center into a home-going like the world has never seen,…
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America’s Sarah Palin Dilemma
America has a love-hate relationship with Gov. Sarah Palin. Ever since she burst onto the scene in August 2008 as the most unlikely vice-presidential nominee, Gov. Palin has been the victim of some of the most elitist, vicious and downright sexist attacks I have ever seen leveled against an American political candidate. Say what you like…
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Palin's New Jack Pity
Maybe Sarah Palin is just tired of it all in a “stop the bus, I want to get off” kind of way. Probably not. Yesterday, Double X’s Emily Bazelon took a charitable stab at taking Palin at face value by asking, “does Sarah Palin have a point?”—maybe there’s no way she can push a legislative…
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Obama's Russian Drive-By on the Public Health Plan
As anyone following the health care debate knows, the next several decades of interaction between patients, doctors, insurers, and the government are being hashed out furiously behind the scenes in Washington. In this volatile environment, the slightest hint of a weakness or a concession among congresspeople, or a new study on savings, is treated as…
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Mulatto Lit: Asking the Hard Questions on Race in America
Starting with “Dreams from my Father”, the president’s 1995 memoir, and perhaps before, bookstores have embraced a literature of interracial family mysteries that explore both America and identity—and frequently return to race. I recently sat down with Ralph Eubanks, a fantastic writer and a great wit, about this phenomenon, and his new book “The House…
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Bailin’ Palin
For now, the great Republican joke of 2008 has decided to step off the public stage. At least that’s how I read this weekend’s announcement from Alaska governor and former Republican vice-presidential candidate Sarah Palin. What will late-night comedians do? Will Tina Fey still have a job? Of course, some time ago, I concluded that…
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The Untouchable Michael Jackson
I met Michael Jackson in 1984. We were both guests of Quincy Jones and Steven Spielberg at Amblin, Spielberg’s production company on the Universal film lot. Whoopi Goldberg was preparing to play Celie, the protagonist in the film version of The Color Purple, a book written by my mother, and was giving a private stand-up…
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To the Michael in All of Us
I never got the joke. Not the Wacko Jacko puns I was supposed to riff on as a tabloid headline writer. Not the corny late-night TV gags I was supposed to sneer along with. Certainly not the glee with which everyone gawked and cackled at Michael’s grotesque appearance and Peter Pan fantasies. I never found…
Black News and Black Views with a Whole Lotta Attitude
