culture
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We Were 8 Years in Power Moves Ta-Nehisi Coates to Top of Black America’s Draft Board
On Jan. 21, 2004, Comedy Central’s groundbreaking Chappelle’s Show debuted the iconic “Racial Draft” sketch. In it, comedian Dave Chappelle imagined a draft in which each race selected and traded individuals to represent the race. The Asians drafted the Wu-Tang Clan, and Jews picked Lenny Kravitz. The concept quickly became an inside joke that still…
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‘Darkness Cannot Drive Out Darkness’: An Interview With a Former Racist on Reforming Neo-Nazis With Empathy
There’s a reason that I love Inglourious Basterds and Wolfenstein, and that we’ve joked about a neo-Nazi getting rocked. Nazis are the universal assholes. Few spectacles are more cathartic than seeing them get knocked the hell out. Nevertheless, when Martin Luther King Jr. said, “Darkness cannot drive out darkness; only light can do that. Hate…
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To the ‘Unapologetically Black’ Beth Pearson of This Is Us, With Love
Editor’s note: Season 1 spoilers throughout! This Is Us has wrecked me. I hopped aboard the hype train later than most, but when I did … I bought a season (or series?) pass immediately. There’s an uncanny moment in life when you’re introduced to something that you never knew you needed until you experience it.…
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Burning Jerseys: The Distant Cousin of Lynching
There is something cleansing about fire. It marks at once both an ending and a beginning. There are two sides to fire: There’s violence and destruction, and there’s the reassurance and protection—each one as powerful as the other. We burn things: wood, garbage, forests, food. It signals the end of one cycle and the restart…
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Jaimee Foxworth Speaks Out About Not Being Invited to Entertainment Weekly’s Family Matters Reunion Photo Shoot
In 1989, five years after The Cosby Show aired, a new black-family sitcom made its way to prime-time television, and the world was introduced to the Winslows on Family Matters. The Winslows were a family from Chicago, and the series started out with patriarch Carl (Reginald VelJohnson); his wife, Harriette (Jo Marie Payton); his son,…
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Watch: Bringing John Coltrane Back to North Philadelphia
North Philadelphia is home to a new John Coltrane mural. But this isn’t the first mural of the legendary saxophonist to go up in the Strawberry Mansion neighborhood of North Philly. The first mural, which sat near Coltrane’s former Strawberry Mansion home, was torn down in 2014 to make way for a new development. “The…
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Mary Mary’s Tina Campbell Talks Stumping for Trump and Husband’s Infidelity
Ask Tina Campbell if she’s sad about her popular reality show Mary Mary ending after six seasons, and the Grammy Award-winning gospel powerhouse will flat out tell you, “No.” “Actually, I’m not. I’m ready to move on,” the colorfully coiffed and outspoken member of platinum-selling duo Mary Mary recently told The Root. “You know, doing…
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Please Stop Defending Colin Kaepernick. You’re Doing It Wrong
Now that former San Francisco 49er Colin Kaepernick’s protest has been gentrified by arm locking, kneeling before the anthem and praying (OK, that last one was just one guy, but still … ), everyone has been trying to explain the logic behind “taking a knee.” They say it brings awareness to injustice and inequality. Some…
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An Open Letter From Black America to White People’s Pets
This message is not intended solely for white pet owners. There are a few black pet owners who do this, too. Don’t act like you don’t know who you are. We see you, too. Hey, Chauncey! I’m sorry about the frown, but it’s just weird for me when white people name their pets human names…