culture

From the New York Times (via the AP): “The Supreme Court has ruled narrowly in a challenge to the landmark Voting Rights Act, exempting a small Texas governing authority from a key provision of the civil rights law. The court, with only one justice in partial dissent, avoided the major constitutional questions raised in the…

By now you’ve seen Do the Right Thing more times than you can count. But are you really “Bed-stuy Do or Die”? How well do you know Da Mayor, Sal, Buggin’ Out and Pino, Tina and Mother Sister? One way to find out. Take The Root’s trivia challenge and relive your favorite DTRT moments. Only…

Yep, it’s been 20 years since we all headed to theaters to check out Do the Right Thing. Back then Spike Lee movies were Events, almost sacred rituals that united all corners of the black community. On June 30, 1989, whether you lived in a big city or small one, down South or in the…

Soccer teams from all over the world are playing right now in South Africa in the Confederations Cup—the group of matches leading up to next year’s World Cup in South Africa. But as teams prepare for 2010’s historic World Cup, the first on the African continent, an important legal case is unfolding in a courtroom…

“1989, a number, another summer, sound of the funky drummer” —Public Enemy, “Fight the Power” One of the most unforgettable images from the summer of 1989 was the video for “Fight the Power,” the theme song for Spike Lee’s classic film Do the Right Thing, which is celebrating its 20th anniversary this month. Spike Lee…

My father went home to his glory months before the election of Barack Obama as the first black president. In the difficult days before his death, there was little opportunity to even consider such a possibility, but I have vivid memories of his reaction to another black first. It was the fall of 1974, when…

Blacks native to America—or JBs are we are sometimes wont to call them—are not well-represented in the Ivy League. Black immigrant student or those who parents are immigrants are, by contrast, overrepresented in relative to their figures in the general population. Few are aware of this fact because both groups are ostensibly Black. On the…

Black men need their swagger and their game, but on Fathers’ Day it is worth remembering a little vulnerability is not the worst thing in the world.  In spite of the compelling TCBY promotion that offers a free yogurt for dad on Father’s Day, many of us are in search of a more  substantive and…

Al Jefferson are you ready for your closeup? That question is premature, but probably not by much. Jefferson is the all-star-caliber power forward for the Minnesota Timberwolves, and if you know his game well, then your Basketball Jones is certifiable. To casual basketball fans, he’s just another good player on a team that is going…

Ben Cartwright. That’s who I’m picking for fittest TV dad. Lorne Greene was the embodiment of the athletic, rugged dad ridin’ ‘round the Ponderosa with his strapping sons. On the other end of the spectrum is Tony Soprano, inhaling meatball sandwiches while terrorizing his kids and having his enemies whacked (too lazy to do it…