culture

Miles Davis made many great records like Nefertiti, Walkin’ and A Tribute to Jack Johnson. He also made landmark records like Sketches of Spain, Birth of the Cool and Bitches Brew. But Kind of Blue remains in a class by itself. The recording’s unique and elegantly subdued sound, probing improvisations and extraordinary musicianship make it…

My in-laws, Mr. and Mrs. Walter Chiles, cut a fine portrait last month, walking down the aisle of a candle-lit room at The W Hotel in Atlanta—she in a stunning champagne gown, with an armful of calla lilies; he in a sharp tux, his fingers interlocked with hers. Brian McKnight’s ballad “Never Felt This Way”…

That reception was in a few hours, and I was in a rush. I had just showered, sprayed perfume and was ready to slip into my sheer pantyhose. The phone rang as I opened the package. An advertisement on an insert inside caught my eye, but I was about to disregard it and throw it…

With the conviction and likely long-term incarceration of O.J. Simpson, the United States penal system is putting together one heck of a football squad. The team behind bars could rival the Arizona Cardinals in the NFC West on any given Sunday. Imagine Michael Vick at quarterback, Rae Carruth at wide receiver, Lawrence Phillips and Maurice…

Black radio was once among the most influential engines of political and economic power for African Americans. Today it remains an important source  of news and inspiration for black audiences. But thanks to new ratings technology being introduced this week, black-owned radio may be embarking on a fierce fight for its very survival. For decades,…

The offensive new vogue in cable TV talking points goes something like this: Wall Street is melting down because the government forced banks to make loans to poor people—especially poor minorities. They claim that the entire weight of the global financial collapse rests on the shoulders of unqualified poor, minority borrowers who got loans as…

Growing up in Chicago then Dallas in the ’60s and ’70s, I always wondered why New Yorkers felt some sort of “claim” on basketball. Yes, the New York Knicks won the title in ’70 and ’73 with a rare display of savvy and teamwork, but even as an adolescent I knew that the sport was…

The South is the bathroom of American history. Saturating the otherwise picturesque rolling landscapes is the oppressive stench of a history of lynching, bloodcurdling beatings and African-American bodies burned and ruthlessly mutilated. This is the room that America doesn’t want visitors to see. Keep this door shut because if opened, threatening to spill out is…

Oct. 1, 2008—For the past month, I have been dragging myself out of bed at 4 a.m. for a pre-dawn meal, usually yogurt and granola, to prepare for an all-day fast. At each sunset, I have been breaking my fast in the lively, and lovely, company of my fellow Muslim sisters and brothers fasting for…

For the past month, I have been dragging myself out of bed at 4 a.m. for a pre-dawn meal, usually yogurt and granola, to prepare for an all-day fast. At each sunset, I have been breaking my fast in the lively, and lovely, company of my fellow Muslim sisters and brothers fasting for Ramadan. Before…