culture
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Nicki Minaj to Giuseppe Zanotti: Quit Being Racist and #RunMeMyCHECK
Never one to back down from a good fight (see “Miley, what’s good?”), Nicki Minaj took to Twitter to get in Giuseppe Zanotti’s ass after the Italian designer debuted a new sneaker collection with her name but didn’t pay the curvy rapper any coins. Zanotti’s new “Nicki” sneakers retail for $675 and are “pink python-printed…
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Obama Commuted Evans Ray’s Life Sentence; Now Ray Wants to Help Others Like Himself
Evans Ray knew he’d made a horrible mistake when he was caught distributing some 60 grams of crack cocaine. He also didn’t believe that the punishment should have been life in prison. But two prior low-level drug convictions ensured that in 2004, Ray would get the max with no possibility of parole. Even the judge…
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Please Stop Your Whiny Diatribes; Academic Achievement Is Not ‘Acting White’
Midway through reading Boluwaji Ogunyemi’s New York Times essay “When ‘Black Like Me’ Means ‘White Like Them,’” I needed to find a napkin. I had to wipe the drool from my mouth after falling asleep from reading yet another essay that centered on the age-old myth that black people are betraying their cultural identities when…
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Unique Views, Episode 29: Tony Rock Throws Stones at Everyone
There are certain guests who we don’t want to overshadow with our foolishness. Tony Rock is one of those guests. He’s brutally honest and his commentary is dead on. For one, well before President Trump ushered out “his” blacks and shouted out Fredrick Douglass like he was still alive, Rock urged Patti LaDanielle aka Danielle…
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Birthing My Half-Black, Half-Pakistani, Full-Muslim Son in the Era of Trump
I went into labor 30 minutes after Donald Trump’s election night speech. I have the worries that any new mother would have about raising a child in the era of Trump, where ugliness is out in the open and civility no longer exists. My son was born pink. Not mocha, like his daddy. I really…
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Scandal Recap: Mellie Gets Rocked by That Good-Good and Olivia Is Having None of It
This week’s Scandal episode flashed back and forth enough times to make your head spin, but here’s what we learned: If Mellie and Marcus had a super-couple nickname, it would sound like “malarkey,” which means “nonsense,” which is exactly what Olivia deemed their relationship when she found out about it. It looks like that light…
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Everything You Wanted to Know About the Beyoncé Babies but Were Afraid to Ask
The entire world got a case of the vapors yesterday when word spread that Beyoncé is pregnant with twins. However, there are still some people who are clueless about this situation. If we are to come together as a nation—as the Declaration of Independence states—there are some truths we must find to be self-evident. And…
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Underground Reveals Key Art for Season 2; Get a 1st Look at Harriet Tubman
With John Legend as its executive producer, WGN’s Underground series had an enormous first season, and next month’s season 2 premiere is sure to have fans talking. Especially when gun-toting Harriet Tubman, played by Aisha Hinds, makes her debut. The series released key art for the second season Wednesday, and as you can see, Hinds’…
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#PenceBlackHistory Was Inevitable
After Vice President Mike Pence praised Abraham Lincoln for his contributions to Black History Month, it was inevitable that black Twitter would take Pence’s version of history and run with it. And voilà, #PenceBlackHistory was born. And at this morning’s prayer breakfast, I’m quite sure Pence thanked Aunt Jemima for passing down her bomb-ass pancake…