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  • Top Model Needs to Do More Than Just Bring Tyra Banks Back

    I conducted an informal poll of trusted homies about the state of America’s Next Top Model by asking one simple question: What’s the first thing that comes to mind when I mention Top Model? Most answered “Tyra Banks,” while a few mentioned infamous phrases from the show, like, “We were rooting for you! We were…

    By

    Michael Arceneaux

    Published

  • No Romance Without … Resistance?

    “People have to start respecting the vagina. Until every man is fighting for our rights, we should consider stopping having sex.” —Janelle Monáe text Come again? In a recent interview with Marie Claire, singer Janelle Monáe discussed her ideas when it comes to participating in resistance. I’m not going to lie: As a hot-blooded, fully…

    By

    Maiysha Kai

    Published

  • Can We Please Stop Listening to Athletes Who Talk About Race?

    My mother is blind in both eyes. When she was 19 years old, she received a cornea transplant, which restored her eyesight … kinda. Although she is still legally blind, she stubbornly refuses to allow her disability to affect her life because she doesn’t consider the small amount of eyesight she now has to be…

    By

    Michael Harriot

    Published

  • Unique Views, Episode 38: Where Do You Even Go to Buy a Prison, Damian Marley?!

    Stephen A. Crockett Jr. and I finally did something we never do: No, we didn’t get along. We’ll never do that. We did a minisode of our podcast! Every week, when I grow weary of Stephen’s voice and personality, I say, “Ugh, let’s just make this a minisode so that we can just get in and…

    By

    Danielle Young

    Published

  • 3 Companies That Are Taking Pepsi (and the United States of Advertising) to School

    First, let me say that I ain’t mad at Pepsi for trying to capitalize on millennials’ activism. They do, after all, have shareholders to report to. I’m mad that Pepsi didn’t pour consumerism down our throats (pun intended) in a way that made us want to drink the proverbial Kool-Aid. I’m mad that they weren’t…

    By

    Chanté Griffin

    Published

  • Yes, You Can Measure White Privilege

    Whenever anyone slips the words “white privilege” into a conversation, it immediately builds an impenetrable wall. For some white people, the words elicit an uneasy feeling because, for them, the term is accusatory without being specific. It is a nebulous concept that seemingly reduces the complex mishmash of history, racism and social phenomena to a…

    By

    Michael Harriot

    Published

  • Watch: Chicago’s Love Letter to Chance the Rapper

    Chance the Rapper is just days shy of his 24th birthday, and he’s already regarded as one of the most important figures to ever come out of Chicago. “He’s a true role model,” says Emily Jones, a Chicago native. “It’s kind of like what Barack was for us in 2008.” The love is reciprocal. Chancelor…

    By

    Ashley Velez

    Published

  • Scandal Recap: What if Fitz Never Became President?

    To commemorate Scandal’s 100th episode, ShondaLand treated us to an alternate timeline that answered the question, “What if Fitz never became president?” At the top of the episode, Jake Ballard posits to Olivia Pope that her life and Fitz Grant’s life would be “a million times worse” if she hadn’t rigged Fitz’s election. From Olivia’s…

    By

    Akilah Green

    Published

  • Control+Assault+Delete: When Cops Destroy Video Evidence

    Out of the rise of #BlackLivesMatter and the intense media scrutiny of police killings came a narrative about a brand-new, magical tool that could miraculously end police brutality by shining a light on law-enforcement misconduct. Somehow, as the public watched the endless stream of cop killings on video, everyone unquestioningly accepted the theory that more…

    By

    Michael Harriot

    Published

  • For Those Considering Blaxit, I Present to You: Stockholm

    It’s been nearly a year since Ulysses Burley III first coined the term “Blaxit,” a tongue-in-cheek hypothetical response to the hypothetical question: What if black people decided to blaxodus their black asses elsewhere? The question of what would be exported began with the NBA, Beyoncé and Neil deGrasse Tyson, but then Awesomely Luvvie got on…

    By

    Jennifer Neal

    Published