culture
-
How Black Lives Matter Saved Colin Kaepernick’s Career
America has a history of taking black athletes who stand up for black rights and blackballing them. See 1968 Olympians Tommie Smith and John Carlos, whose black-gloved fists set off a butterfly effect of good ole down-home racism and death threats against both of their families. See former NBA players Craig Hodges and Mahmoud Abdul…
-
Airbnb Tackles Its Discrimination Allegations Head-On, Establishes New Policies
Earlier this year, home-rental site Airbnb came under heavy scrutiny after black users of the platform took to social media to describe the discrimination they faced. Most noted that after renters saw their photos, which were included in the booking request, they were denied accommodations. The hashtag #AirbnbWhileBlack popped up on Twitter and went viral.…
-
Are We Misappropriating the Term ‘Hotep’?
“Hotep” has taken on new meaning as social media escalates the evolution of words. Language is fluid, and with cultural shifts, words can fall in and out of use or morph into new definitions. What was the term “social media” 20 years ago? “Hotep” is not as new a word, but it has come into…
-
With Atlanta and Queen Sugar, TV Gets a Dose of Real Southern Blackness
“I’m criminally Northern,” from black Twitter stalwart and cultural critic Jamilah Lemieux about the epic Tuesday night of black Southern intensity fueled by new TV shows Atlanta and Queen Sugar. Clearly, the Chicago native, who now calls New York City home, was not alone, as similar sentiments also showed up on Twitter. Those from the…
-
Protest This: The NFL Is a Shelter for Violence
After we applaud Colin Kaepernick’s protesting of police brutality, don’t let the spectacle of demonstration distract us from the crooked stage of the American football field, where social ills are churned into entertainment. When the commencing whistle is blown, cheers for the game and its heroes drown out screaming acts of domestic violence, racism, sexism,…
-
Dragon Con: Where Black Nerds Come Out to Play
Most people spend their Labor Day weekend cooking, shopping or just getting the heck out of town. Other people spend Labor Day weekend cooking up plans for world domination, shopping for rare-action-figure collectibles and finding ways to fly to another galaxy. At least that’s the main explanation for most black folks who attended Dragon Con…
-
Hidden Figures: Meet the Black Female Math Geniuses Who Helped Win the Space Race
Even before the publication of Margot Lee Shetterly’s Hidden Figures: The American Dream and the Untold Story of the Black Women Mathematicians Who Helped Win the Space Race, the rights to the film version of the book—starring Octavia Spencer, Taraji P. Henson and Janelle Monáe—had been sold. This comes as no surprise: The story of…
-
How Police Fail to 'Protect and Serve' LGBTQ Communities of Color
Police killings of unarmed black men and women—such as this summer’s shootings of Alton Sterling and Philando Castile—have highlighted the need, long recognized by racial-justice advocates, for a more critical examination of the ways in which police fail to “protect and serve” some of our country’s most marginalized communities. These killings have forwarded a national…
-
Are Blacks Missing Out on the Medical Benefits of Weed?
Editor’s note: This article is part of an ongoing series that looks at the growing legal marijuana industry and its effect on the black community. If you search “babies cured with cannabis” on YouTube, you come up with a plethora of emotional videos. There’s California’s Dr. William Courtney from 2013, using X-rays to show what…
-
Professional Black Girl: Video Series Celebrates ‘Everyday Excellence’ of Black Women and Girls
Dr. Yaba Blay, a leading voice on beauty politics and the creator of Professional Black Girl, has been in the game for a minute, loving on black women and girls from the top of their heads to the bottom of their feet. A sister’s sister, Blay has tackled everything from colorism—with her (1)ne Drop project—to affirming melanin as black and…