culture
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#Attica45: Muhammad Ali Recites His Powerful Poem About the Attica Prison Uprising
In 1972, one year after the Attica prison uprising, Muhammad Ali traveled to Ireland to fight Alvin Lewis. While there, he was interviewed by Cathal O’Shannon. Just as pretty as ever, “the Greatest” spoke on his boxing career, the importance of being Black (with a capital B), getting rid of our “slave” names, the Nation of Islam, racism,…
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'Educational Choice' Is a Slogan Slick Enough for Donald Trump
Donald Trump outlined his policy and philosophy for K-12 education in a speech Thursday at Cleveland Arts and Social Sciences Academy or CASSA, a for-profit charter school in the largest city of the battleground state of Ohio. The Republican presidential nominee and founder of Trump University accused Democrats of trapping black and Hispanic youths in…
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The Half-Woke CliffsNotes to Homophobia and Misogyny
I never used CliffsNotes. Not because I believed in some uncompromising code of ethics that made me reject shortcuts in favor of hard work and discipline. My mother just wouldn’t let me use them. When I was a rising 10th-grader, I tried to get her to purchase a copy of the CliffsNotes for Albert Camus’…
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If This Father-Son Photo Makes You Uncomfortable, You're the Problem
I have no idea why these images, posted on Facebook eight months ago of Eric Owens and his son, are going viral now, but they are—and some of the comments are disturbing. While Owens has received a lot of love and support, some people seem to think that this is too intimate and “emasculating” a…
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Unique Views Podcast, Episode 10: Odd Couples and Flashy Pastors
And then there were two—and almost one, until Patti LaDanielle, aka Danielle Young, got her act together. That’s right; I almost had to Mathew Knowles her from the group after an off-air argument that we hashed out on-air. I won’t drag you through the details, but just know that I was right and apologized the…
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About That Michelle Obama Essence Photo …
I said I wasn’t going to write about it. But I have to. I. Have. To. On Wednesday evening, I was practicing my ritual of procrastinating by browsing through Instagram. A friend, an Essence editor, posted a new image of the first couple that will run in the upcoming October issue. The Obamas are on…
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Atlanta and the Black Millennial Experience—in GIFs
So by now you’ve heard of Donald Glover’s Atlanta and its Southern blackness. The series premiered on FX Tuesday and was Glover’s TV directorial debut. We’re here for it. The 32-year-old cleverly explores issues like parenthood, relationships, police brutality and sexuality in a comedic light. The situations faced by the Atlanta cast are super relatable to…
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Tracing Your Roots: I Want to Find a Slave’s Descendants and Apologize
I’m Australian, and hoping to trace living relatives of a slave owned by a relative of my uncle in Trinidad. I want to apologize for my ancestor’s actions. What I know is as follows: William Preston Galloway (born May 30, 1798, in Edinburgh, Scotland) landed in Trinidad in 1821 and by 1825 was the owner…
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#GenForward: Majority of White Millennials Believe Black Lives Matter Encourages Violence Against Police
The majority of black millennials in the United States wanted Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) to be their next president, but since he’s out of the race, 60 percent of black millennials said they would vote for Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Rodham Clinton if the general election were held today. Why? Because 78 percent of black millennials believe Clinton to be qualified to hold…