Every year like clockwork, the ultimate young black reunion takes place on the lawns of Commodore Barry Park in Brooklyn, as all the stylish friends you wish you had come out stunting in their bright, bold, and very unapologetically black street style, ready to mosh and sway the hot evenings away.

I was watching Set It Off the other day because there’s never not a good time to watch Set It Off. Watching Vivica, Jada, Kimberly Elise (looking as homely as they could possibly make her) and Queen Latifah rob banks and be overly dramatic is one of my favorite pastimes.

The news has lately been inundated with examples of white folks (and even some nonwhite folks) doing the ultimate white-folkin’ of calling the police for no reason on black folks who were doing nothing but existing and living their everyday lives.

Much has been said of the government responses to the opioid epidemic—specifically that it is leniently and sympathetically called an epidemic (I agree with that assessment), with sights set on healing and treatment. While necessary to combat the issue, the sympathy with which our nation views the current drug…

I recently got back from attending a race and policy symposium sponsored by the Students of Color in Public Policy from the University of California, Berkeley’s Goldman School of Public Policy. I had the distinct pleasure of being the keynote speaker for their conference, titled, “Reclaiming Our Time: The Importance…

All my life I had to fight. That’s not true, but you can’t say “all my life” and NOT add “I had to fight” if you’re black and over a certain age. Shoutouts to The Color Purple and Miss Sophia. Hey, Oprah, boo.

Black Panther premieres to the general public this week. And as we all already know, it will be the blackity, black, black, black, black, black, blackest thing that will ever happen in the history of black people, blackness and people. So black that instead of ticket stubs, the box office will give you a reparations…

Last night, the Yara Shahidi-led vehicle Grown-ish debuted. For those not in the know, it’s a spinoff from hit ABC show Black-ish that focuses on Shahidi’s character, Zoey, and her journey from super-sheltered private school student to college freshman in this millennial world. Comparisons to A Different World will…

A few weeks ago, the fashion world swooned upon learning that Rihanna would be a host of the 2018 Met Gala, themed to coincide with the Costume Institute’s upcoming exhibit, “Heavenly Bodies: Fashion and the Catholic Imagination.”

“I’m rooting for everybody black.”

Ah, #TheCookout. That grand bastion of blackness where nobody ever reneges during spades, and the brown liquor, Popeyes chicken and red Kool-Aid or McDonald’s sweet tea never runs out. The cookout is a mythical place where all are gathered in both Jesus’ (and Allah’s and ... well you get the point) and blackness’s…

One truism in life, my brother, is that white people do not believe in personal space. Another, my brother, is that white people love to speak to black people (not sure how the other colored communities fare) about lots of random shit that we probably don’t feel like talking about ’PACIFICALLY when we don’t feel like…

Warning: There will be spoilers. You have been warned. If you haven’t seen it yet, get your life.

In the 16 years that I’ve lived in the Washington, D.C., area, I’ve witnessed it go from Chocolate City to Latte City. Sure, the blackness for which the city is known is still present symbolically, but ain’t nothin’ but white folks at the Brixton, living in the Ellington and hangin’ at Marvin on every other day but…

Dear L.J.,

Deon Cole had something in his heart that he needed to get out. See, he came to Atlanta during Spelhouse and Clark Atlanta homecoming this past weekend (it really was, or felt like, every damn school in the metro Atlanta area’s homecoming this weekend) and came to a very stark but important realization.

So Waka Flocka took to Instagram over the weekend to double down on comments in which he insisted that he is not black.

Is it a cop? Is it a cab? Is it just some bamas from Suitland, Md.? We don’t know. We just know they’re in the rearview and we’re just gonna do the speed limit and obey all the traffic laws until they pass us.

Hi. I’m black and I’m a man. That makes me a black man (by default), and that means I’m paranoid as fuck. Like, I’m pretty sure you’re plotting against me right now, so I’m looking at you crazy. Or at least you might could be. In fact, who is you? Is you is or is you ain’t my constituency?

I am not afraid of stereotypes. I know that many of them are rooted in racism and false perception, but I do not concern myself with that. I embrace them. They are funny to me.