In what I imagine will eventually be a very regretful decision on her part, Angela Rye—noted #BlackGirlMagic trumpeter, public speaker, CNN contributor and women’s empowerment scion—decided to jump out the window in defense of her “brother,” Charlamagne Tha God (CTG).
Set It Off is a movie I love watching. It’s such a nonsensical movie for so many reasons that it all blends perfectly, if you let the liquor tell it. It’s one of the greatest mediocre movies in the African-American Cinematic Theater canon. Once you add in the soundtrack, it really is iconic for so many reasons. But in…
There’s this odd confusion that exists among people with “unpopular opinions.” They believe that people aren’t allowing them the freedom of their thoughts and that if others disagree with them, vehemently, then they are being persecuted for exercising their right to free speech. This is, of course, not true.
You know what conversation is confusing? This one: Bill Cosby has now been convicted of doing exactly what he said he did—please go read the deposition again—and there is a legion of people who want to make sure that we still acknowledge that Cosby has done a lot for the black community. I don’t know how else to say…
Have you ever been right for the wrong reason? I’m sure you have. We all have. Well, when it comes to Starbucks, I’ve been right for both the right and wrong reasons. Starbucks has always represented gentrification to me (yep) and has been representative of the Man stepping on the necks of black folks near and far,…
If you are related to black people, there’s a better-than-100 percent chance that somebody in your family has gone to at least one chitlin circuit play (but more likely several). My parents have been to multiple Tyler Perry plays, something I’m sad to say that I’ve never had the pleasure (?) of doing myself.
My name is not Panama Jackson. I mean, it’s my name, but it’s not my name, ya know. It’s a pseudonym—a nickname created through some happenstance while I was trying to write and stay gainfully employed. Because of what I do for a living, Panama Jackson has significantly overtaken my real name in terms of personal…
Common is killing the game; or, in today’s parlance, Common has secured the bag. I’m almost 40 years old, which means that I grew up in the ’80s and ’90s listening to Common (née Lonnie Rashid Lynn Jr.) when he was rapping about watermelons and communism and asking to borrow a dollar. I still own a copy of his classic…
In the black American community, there are a few cultural items revered historically and across regions of blackness without question: the Afro pick with the black fist on it, plastic coverings on furniture, pictures in Grandma’s house of white Jesus, and the Crown Royal bag.
Anna Holmes, the founder of Jezebel and editorial director at Topic.com, recently wrote an op-ed for the New York Times titled, “Black With (Some) White Privilege.” Full disclosure: I’m part of a currently running, very interesting and insightful documentary series she executive-produced called The Loving Generation, …
The story of Leigh Bishop (recent #WCW at The Glow Up), the pre-K teacher at Lakeview Elementary School in Sugar Land, Texas, who told her student August that she loved her hairstyle and then showed up the next day wearing it, actually brought a tear to my eye. But just one. OK, both. Maybe I cried a little. Not a…
I think it’s time that I come clean about something that’s been eating at my soul food for the past, I don’t know, six months.
Chicagoans are protective of their city, and for good reason. Over the past few years, the City of the Big Shoulders has been the go-to dog whistle for Republicans and what-about-black-on-black-crime enthusiasts alike. The city’s spot on America’s Wheel of Sensationalism has dominated the larger national media gaze as…
On a recent trip to buy some gifts for my own and other children for Christmas, I decided to venture to the beads-and-bracelets-and-shit aisle of a Toys R Us near my home. This is my go-to aisle when I need a random gift for my daughter or her classmates when we’re on the way to a birthday party. My daughter in…
So it turns out that the NFL’s Carolina Panthers franchise is about to be up for sale. The current owner, Jerry Richardson, is going to put the club up for sale after reports of several payouts being made to victims of sexual misconduct came out via Sports Illustrated.
Editor’s note: This piece speaks from the perspective of being biracial with black and white parents. I realize that other biracial ethnic mixes may or may not share any of these experiences.
According to Andy Williams and everybody who has covered his famous song, it’s currently the most wonderful time of the year. For many of us, that means lots of gatherings of friends and family as we make our way to Christmas and New Year’s Eve.
For the better part of most of the time I’ve known he’s existed, Don Lemon has been a fuckboy. Or at least that’s how he’s presented. From telling black folks to stop littering and stop using the n-word as part of a sort of five-point plan for getting niggas together to even being lazy in his discussion about Black…
Threat level: Minor
1. I didn’t love the title, either. The substance of the piece itself was perfectly fine—to argue and debate that would be stupid (more on this later). It’s no different from conversations many of us have in any number of spaces we congregate when sober, perhaps not wrapped up in as neat a bow as Damon presented, but…
