culture
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Earth Day 2017: 3 Environmental-Justice Groups That Are Putting Up a Good Fight in Trump’s America
In the United States, race is the dominant factor when it comes to living in a toxic environment because black, brown and poor people are more likely to live in polluted communities with contaminated water, dirty air and toxic waste. Seeing that our 45th president is indifferent to climate change and thinks that shutting down…
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Assigning Value to Black Stories: Minority Art and the Racist Mountain
Comedian, writer and filmmaker Jordan Peele recently offered the hope that the success of his low-budget but high-profit film, Get Out, would convince Hollywood producers that “black voices … tell good stories like anyone else.” It is, frankly, startling that after two centuries of the African-American presence in theater, film, television and music, black artists…
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Unique Views, Episode 39: Shaolin Fantastic Came to Get Down
I don’t like to brag, but during the ’80s I was quite the break-dancer, so having The Get Down star Shameik Moore, who played Shaolin Fantastic, on the show this week was right in my wheelhouse. I am a hip-hop aficionado. Don’t believe me? Just go back and listen to the episodes with me and…
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Nothing Can Prepare You for How Powerful The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks Is
Writers tell stories in hopes that not only are they read but they also come to life. This is what has happened to Rebecca Skloot’s book The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks, which chronicles the tragic tale of Lacks, a 31-year-old black woman from Clover, Va., whose terminal-cancer diagnosis and undying cells ended up changing…
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Bill O’Reilly’s Most Outrageous Black Moments
After more than 20 years, Fox News forced Bill O’Reilly out after a series of sexual harassment allegations came to light. What’s worse, after an internal investigation of O’Reilly’s behavior, the company apparently found more. It all came to a head after an April 1 New York Times article revealed that Fox News and Twenty-First…
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Wherever 2 or 3 Black Girls and Oprah Are Gathered Together, Magic Is in the Midst
Earlier this week, journalists were called to a swanky hotel in New York City to sit with the (majority-black) cast and director (George C. Wolfe) of HBO’s The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks. We weren’t given many details—just where to be and at what time. With Oprah Winfrey leading the star-studded cast, we could only…
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Scandal Recap: Who Died and Made Mellie President?
I’m so tired of Sarah and Peus and the stink they’re leaving all over this show that I’m going to spell “Payus” differently every time I type it. No respect intended. The good news is that this week’s Scandal episode appears to bring us one step closer to getting rid of these two clowns once…
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Burn Motherf*cker, Burn!: Sacha Jenkins Digs Deep to Find the Root Causes of the L.A. Riots
In 1992, Los Angeles erupted in violent opposition to the not guilty verdict for four police officers captured on video brutally beating Rodney King within an inch of his life. Twenty-five years later, there is no shortage of documentaries examining the Los Angeles riots. A&E aired South Central native John Singleton’s L.A. Burning Tuesday. ABC…
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Fox News Has Replaced Its Most Popular Racist Misogynist With Its Sexist, Racist Rising Star
Ding, dong, the grand wizard is gone. Sadly, the baby grand wizard is already on deck. After much speculation over Bill O’Reilly’s fate at Fox News in the wake of numerous allegations of sexual harassment leveled against him sparking an advertiser mass exodus, the network announced Wednesday that The O’Reilly Factor would be canceled. In…
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‘I Am Something That You’ll Never Comprehend’: Defining the Legacy of Prince
I still have a hard time processing the idea that Prince is no longer here. Now, I was never a super fan. I never made a pilgrimage to Paisley Park. I only saw him in concert once. And that was only because my bestie followed Prince around the country and insisted that I see him…