culture
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Why Bingo Love Is the Black Queer Graphic Novel You Need on Your Bookshelf
While one hopes that a Best Picture win for Barry Jenkins’ Moonlight will translate into more stories about black queer men, it cannot be denied that representations of lesbians and queer women of color are sadly lagging behind in pretty much every medium, from film to literature. But Tee Franklin, a queer black, disabled emerging writer,…
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Forget That White Lady’s Emmett Till Painting; These Black Artists Are Truly Representing at the Whitney Biennial
At this year’s Whitney Biennial, the award for the most discussed and divisive piece of art easily goes to white artist Dana Schutz’s painting of the dead body of Emmett Till called Open Casket. The painting has provoked protests and sparked debates about white exploitation of black trauma, freedom of expression and censorship. As a…
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100 Years a US Territory: Danish Government Attempts to Atone for Slavery as US Virgin Islands Celebrate Transfer Day
In 1493, Christopher Columbus “discovered” four islands that were already inhabited by the Ciboney, Caribs and Arawaks. But as we all know, this didn’t matter to good ole Columbus, and in honor of St. Ursula and her group of holy virgins, Columbus named the islands “the Virgins.” We now call them St. Croix, St. Thomas,…
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9 Times Michelle Obama Texture-Teased Us
Around this time five years ago, the natural-hair-blog streets went into a full tailspin when a photo of Lady Obama wearing a kinky, curly, asymmetrical style circulated the internets. Twitter detectives soon discovered that the image had been photoshopped, and our textured-black-hair-in-the-White House dreams were dimmed. But Sunday evening, we got a glimpse of that…
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Without Question, 1997 Was (Maybe, Possibly) the Best Year in Black Music
1997 was the best year in black music. Let me rephrase: 1997 was probably the best year in black music. I know. You think I’m crazy. Hear me out—but first, a caveat. I admit that, as a child of the ’90s, my musical tastes are deeply influenced by my proclivity for hip-hop and ’90s…
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Ann Coulter Is Dating Jimmie Walker. Are Your Eyes Burning, Too?
Old people love to tell other people’s business without a single care in the world. And why should they care? They’re old as hell, so there has to be a certain reverence from anyone their junior. Well, if you were raised right, you show respect to the AARP demo, but even if you don’t, they…
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Started From the Blog, Now We’re Here: When Shonda Rhimes Wants to Turn Your Book Into a TV Show, Let Her
We’re living in a DIY culture, and there’s no one more do-it-yourself than bloggers. Blogging is a means of communication, self-expression, culture, news and so much more. And the people who create blogs are typically ridiculously talented and effortlessly wear the responsibility of being a voice for their culture. Bloggers are inspiring, to say the…
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Samuel L. Jackson, Spike Lee, Jeh Johnson Respond to The Root’s Morehouse Investigation
As Morehouse College’s alumni, students and faculty discover the years of obfuscation by the board of trustees revealed in The Root’s investigative piece “The War at Morehouse,” three of the college’s most distinguished and successful alumni weighed in on the revelations exposed in our probe. Academy Award-nominated actor Samuel. L Jackson (Class of ’72), former…