culture
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What About Rodney King? Spike Lee and Roger Guenveur Smith Speak on Their Netflix Film
Footage of four Los Angeles Police Department officers beating Rodney King kicked off Spike Lee’s great 1992 film, Malcolm X, months after the Los Angeles riots had died down. Now, 25 years later, he has directed Roger Guenveur Smith’s one-man show, Rodney King. Interestingly, Rodney King premieres on Netflix the day before the one on…
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I, a White, Rode the Train With Blacks 1 Day, and It Was Crazy: An Atlanta-Newspaper Reader Writes on Race
Melton Bennett is a resident of Cumming, Ga., a suburb of Atlanta. As a white man living in the metropolitan Atlanta area, Melton had some thoughts to share on the topic of race—specifically the ones he had as he rode the Metropolitan Atlanta Rapid Transit Authority, or MARTA, train from his mostly white neighborhood in…
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Why SHE Is the Epitome of Black Women’s Radical Self-Care
It’s no secret that black women are caught in the crosshairs of violence—not just when encountering the police but also in our own communities and homes. But how often do we really talk about it? While the Black Lives Matter Network was co-founded by three black women—two of whom identify as queer—police brutality continues to…
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SheaMoisture and Being Black-Owned: Is That Enough?
SheaMoisture had a serious mea culpa this week after it released an ad campaign featuring women talking about learning to love their natural hair—except none of those women were black. Black women are the core audience of SheaMoisture and the brands that exist under its parent company, Sundial Brands. And not just the silky-hair-textured, “They…
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Ebony Responds to #EbonyOwes as Writers Reveal Their Stories
Ebony has responded to the growing criticism that it doesn’t pay the mostly black freelance writers whose works actually make the magazine. On Wednesday, Jagger Blaec penned an article for The Root that followed up on a piece she’d written for The Establishment. A number of writers have since stepped out of the shadows and…
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Layoffs Weren’t Invented Yesterday
ESPN laid off about 100 people Wednesday, in what seemed like the end of the world, if you followed the news unfolding on social media. These 100 people, who probably had over-six-figure salaries, were on-air commentators with huge followings and probably even bigger severances. Sure, it’s horrible when one loses a job he or she…
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From A Different World to Dear White People: Meet the Black-TV-Series Whisperer, Yvette Lee Bowser
“We’re all storytellers,” Yvette Lee Bowser said to me during our chat after I asked her how she battles creative blockages. She went on: “Writer’s block only exists when trying to figure out specifically how you’re going to tell the story. I never feel a dearth of stories to tell or characters of whom to…
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Meet the Supernova Women, Trailblazers for Equity in the Cannabis Industry
Although diverse communities in cannabis are growing, for black and brown women, the old adage rings true: “All the women are white, all the blacks are men, but some of us are brave.” Supernova Women is turning that reality on its head. Founded in 2015 by three black and one multiracial woman, the Oakland, Calif.-based…
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6-Year-Old Creates Coloring Book Series to Teach About Black Indigenous Cultures Around the World
A 6-year-old girl and her mother have created a coloring book that educates young children about black indigenous cultures around the world while exploring the histories of native-born black people in Africa and America. Vanae James-Bey and her mother, Veronica Bey, are originally from Florida but now live in St. Thomas, Virgin Islands. They told…