culture

  • Black Professors Speak Out After Trump Victory About the Routine Racism of Academia

    Editor’s note: Once a month, this column will tackle broader questions about what the country should do to increase educational opportunities for black youths. “You don’t pray for an easy road; you pray for a strong back.” This is how one professor responded to the question, “What has it been like to be a black…

  • Unique Views Podcast, Episode 18: Not My President

    On Tuesday the world as we knew it changed. The orange-tanned man, with the viciously thin comb-over, became the president-elect. On Wednesday it rained, proving that even God wasn’t cool with this. Are we in for it? Of course we are. During his candidacy, Donald Trump offended everyone who wasn’t a white male, and somehow…

  • HTGAWM: 5 WTF Moments That Almost Trumped Trump’s Election

    This week’s episode of How to Get Away With Murder took us back to the week before the fateful fire. Annalise’s gang reached new levels of dysfunction, leaving us like, “WTF?!” When Annalise found out that Frank was back in town, she told Laurel, “You tell that bastard that if he comes anywhere near me,…

  • 'Push Through': A 3rd-Grade Teacher's Lesson to Her Students in the Midst of Election Unrest 

    There have been a lot of mixed emotions since the announcement of Donald Trump’s presidential-election win Tuesday. People have expressed outrage, despair, denial and just a general sense of hopelessness, even after Trump had a cordial meeting with President Barack Obama at the White House on Thursday to discuss the transition. In the midst of all this,…

  • For Black People Who Have to Work With White People in the Age of Trump

    Listen, I know this has been a tough few days. The morning after election night, you probably went to work shocked, stunned and disappointed in America, like when George Zimmerman was acquitted for killing Trayvon Martin, or the first time you heard of the Luther Burger. Such is life for black people in America. It’s…

  • Police Brutality Meets the Mannequin Challenge and the Result Is Epic

    By now you should have heard about the latest trend sweeping the internet: the mannequin challenge. This is when a group of people get together to pose in various ways without moving as someone makes their way through the room, videotaping the entire mannequin group. Everybody and their mommas are taking part: Kevin Hart, Beyoncé (well,…

  • Empire Recap: Lyons Put Their Family Business in the Streets

    It’s been a craptacular week. After a few days of plotting how we will rise up and form a resistance movement, it’s good to kick back with some mindless TV. Thank God for Empire. Still stinging from a beatdown by Andre, Shyne goes Lyon-hunting, ready to settle things the American way: with bullets. As Shyne…

  • Sex, Lies and Murder: Why Oliver Is the True Hero of HTGAWM

    Last week’s episode of How to Get Away With Murder gave us hope that both Oliver (Conrad Ricamora) and Connor (Jack Falahee) would get back together. Since the beginning of their relationship, many viewers have been rooting for the two of them to stay together because their relationship shows us what it is like to…

  • My Son’s Only President: Obama Let Black Children See Their Own Possibilities

    This past Halloween, my son Robeson met President Barack Obama face-to-face at Trick or Treat at the White House. Ditching the mask of his Transformers costume, Roby approached Obama with waves and a wide, gapped-tooth smile that exposed his glee inside. While handing presidential candy to Roby, President Obama asked, “Where’s your teeth?” Roby continued…

  • The Movement for Black Lives Is Standing Up for HBCUs

    Of the 4,726 degree-granting institutions, 100 institutions educate and train almost 10 percent of black college students. Yet since their inception, HBCUs have been in a war for their very existence, whether facing Congress or state legislatures. HBCUs have even found themselves repeatedly at odds with President Barack Obama. As economist and author Julianne Malveaux,…