culture
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My Daughter Is Not the Best Dancer in Hip-Hop Class and I Feel a Way About It
I’m a dance dad. While I’m not standing outside the studio yelling at my daughter to get in formation or tighten up those pirouettes, I do find myself at dance class at least once a week and, on special occasions, twice a week. See, my daughter has been taking dance lessons since, I believe, she…
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#FitTheDescription: The Dehumanizing Brutality of Mass Incarceration
Mass incarceration is a crisis. It is a capitalist and racist endeavor that has purposely targeted black and Latinx communities through discriminatory policing, bigotry framed as legislation, and a deep-seated fear of blackness and “otherness.” This system is, in large part, fueled by mainstream media for the sole purpose of pathologizing black and Latinx people until trapping them…
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Black Children Deserve the Stability That Neighborhood Schools Offer
School closure is a tactic we don’t have to take. Under the new national education law, the Every Student Succeeds Act, states have been freed to employ strategies they deem fit just as long as they act on the bottom 5 percent. When we’re talking about improving urban districts, though, we always seem to land…
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An Intervention Letter for America
Dear America, I know you’re wondering why we brought you here today. First, I want you to understand that this is not an ambush. We are here because we love you. I’m sure that the somber look on everyone’s face makes you think we have bad news, but don’t worry—you’re America; there’s always bad news.…
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Just Wondering Why Wonder Woman's a UN Ambassador, but Real Women of Color Are Not
The first 20 times I saw Rocky III (the one with Mr. T as Clubber Lang, that bad n-word that sullied the championship so bad, the “respectable” black, retired champion Apollo Creed joined forces with Rocky to take him down), I didn’t know that the Rocky Balboa statue in that 1982 film actually existed in…
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NBA Veteran and Drug-Policy Advocate Al Harrington: 'Marijuana Healed My Grandmother' [Retracted]
RETRACTED (6/12/18): This story has been removed because we have discovered it was in breach of our editorial standards. If you’d like to know more, you can read an editor’s note here. A cached version of the story is available here for transparency.
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Media Mogul Cathy Hughes Is in It for the Long Run
Media icon Cathy Hughes is always looking on the bright side. As a 16-year-old teen mom, married at 17 and eventually divorced, she saw her son as a blessing and an inspiration to work harder. In the early ’80s she purchased Washington, D.C., station WOL-AM with the help of a Chemical Bank loan at a 28…
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Hate Rising: Jorge Ramos Delves Deep Into Racial Hatred in America
Univision anchor Jorge Ramos has been thinking a lot about hate recently. Ever since Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump ejected the Mexican immigrant, who is also an American citizen, from a press conference in August 2015 with a dismissive “Go back to Univision,” the experience has been on his mind. “Just a few seconds later,…
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Where Are All the Black Atheists?
I am black. I am also an atheist. It’s understandable if that surprises you. You’ve probably heard that the number of religiously unaffiliated people is rising. According to the Pew Research Center’s Religious Landscape Study, the percentage of Americans who identify as “unaffiliated,” or “religious nones,” is currently 22.8 percent. That’s a huge increase from…
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9 Things to Consider When Starting Therapy
OK, so, look: I am not a mental-health professional yet. I am, however, starting my journey toward becoming a therapist next spring and am developing an ultradope mental-health nonprofit to address the unique mental-wellness needs of black folks. I am but a humble, grits-loving chile who loves some therapy, writes about mental health, and loves…