culture

David Paterson is gonna run for governor of New York. Why should he let objections from the leader of the free world—or supreme dictator for life, depending on how you voted in November—stop him? From Reuters: “I am running for office,” Paterson told reporters at a Manhattan parade. “I’m not going to discuss confidential conversations,”…

It was the sort of well-orchestrated send-off that was not at all shy about its intentions. On April 30, 1992, the last episode of NBC’s groundbreaking comedy The Cosby Show was aired, and it was clear the producers and writers of the landmark institution were aiming for a smile-inducing tear-jerker. After eight-years, Cosby was finally…

It’s not like this was the first time we got to see black folks, professional black folks, representing up there on the little screen. After all, in the late ‘60s, we had Diahann Carroll, all classy restraint as widowed nurse Julia. Even Bill Cosby played a Rhodes scholar in I Spy back in ’65. And…

Uh oh. A suit filed by the attorney general of Illinois claims Tavis Smiley and others were used to okey doke folks into high-risk Wells Fargo loans. From the Washington Independent: As the housing market began booming in mid-2000, Wells Fargo & Co. teamed up with prominent African American commentator and PBS talk show host…

Is Michael Crabtree the dumbest player in pro-football? Judging from how he has handled his contract negotiations so far, he might be. He’s left a $26.5 million contract with $16.5 million guaranteed on the table, and he’s not likely to get that kind of offer from any other team. The 49ers have requested a meeting with…

Trafigura wants a bit of a mulligan for toxic waste dumping in Ivory Coast and is willing to pay to get it. From Al Jazeera: Trafigura, an international oil company, could be close to offering compensation to 31,000 people who said they became ill from toxic waste dumped in the west African nation Ivory Coast, the company’s…

For eight television seasons (NBC, 1984-92), the Emmy Award-winning The Cosby Show, written by and starring comedian Bill Cosby, beamed an unflinching, yet humorous black family portrait into living rooms across America. Cosby, as Dr. Heathcliff Huxtable, presided over this historic foray into black upper-middle class life. The sitcom was a window into a certain,…