culture
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Everything You Wanted to Know About the Umar Johnson Memes but Were Afraid to Ask
Umar Johnson is back in the news again, blowing up black Twitter after his recent appearance on Power 105.1’s The Breakfast Club with DJ Envy, Angela Yee and Charlamagne tha God. During a wide-ranging interview, the king of the “ankh-right” (because the word “Hotep” deserves better) railed against interracial marriage while dropping some jewels (pronounced…
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Boomerang at 25 Isn’t Just a ’90s Eddie Murphy Flick; It’s a World We Want to Live In
It is a Friday night on the set of 1992’s romantic comedy Boomerang. In between shooting takes for the now classic Thanksgiving-dinner scene, Eddie Murphy and cast trade jokes about what would happen if Mr. and Mrs. Jackson (John Witherspoon and BeBe Drake) had sex in the bathroom of his character Marcus’s luxurious New York…
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John Singleton on How Crack Overtook L.A. in the New FX Series, Snowfall
Snowfall is proof that, more than 25 years after breaking through with his Oscar-nominated debut film, Boyz n the Hood, John Singleton hasn’t forgotten his roots or, most importantly, his responsibility. Different from Rebel, Singleton’s first scripted television show as an executive producer for BET earlier this year, Snowfall digs deep, very deep. Whereas Rebel,…
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I’m Just Here for the Ribs
I love any excuse for a cookout. My father is from Texas, lives in St. Louis (two places famous for ribs), and was raised on barbecue. He probably has St. Louis’ own Maull’s BBQ sauce in his veins instead of blood. During the spring and summer, he typically hauls out the grill for a series…
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Anxiety Is All in Your Head
The last few weeks had been good; the fog that spent the last year following me had risen back into the clouds, and the unsteadiness of anxiety seemed less promise and more memory. I was lulled into a comfort. Good news had begun to flood my life, and instead of questioning my worthiness or turning…
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Rock Music Doesn’t Have an Age Limit; Neither Should Hip-Hop
It took 47 years for Jay-Z to take his mask off. On his newly released 13th studio album, 4:44, he speaks to us as Shawn Corey Carter instead of Jay-Z for the first time. He speaks to us as a father and a husband. He speaks to us about the guilt, fear and regret he…
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Fighting for Black Lives in Colombia: At War’s End, the Search for a Seat at the Table
Editor’s note: This story is the third in a three-part series looking at the fight for rights of black people in Colombia. The first story explored the history of Afro-Colombians and the impact of the recently ended war with the FARC. The second looked at radicalized violence against blacks in Colombia. This final story looks…
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#NeverForget: 100 Years Ago, East St. Louis Was on Fire
On July 1, 1917, a car full of white men drove into East St. Louis, Ill., and opened fire, shooting into homes while black men, women and children slept in their beds. Troubled by this assault on their humanity, black citizens took up arms just in case these “joy riders” returned. Not long after, white,…
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Fighting for Black Lives in Colombia: The Violent Pushout of Blacks in Buenaventura
Editor’s note: This story is the second in a three-part series looking at the fight for rights of black people in Colombia. The first story explored the history of Afro-Colombians and the impact of the recently ended war with the FARC. This story examines the plight of blacks in Buenaventura, caught between booming industry and…
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Fighting for Black Lives in Colombia: ‘The People Do Not Give Up, Damn It’
Editor’s note: This story is the first in a three-part series looking at the fight for rights of black people in Colombia. This first piece explores the history of Afro-Colombians and the impact of the recently ended war with the FARC. Subsequent stories will examine the current political environment. Black activism started in Colombia when…