culture

In the The New York Times last Sunday, Jill Nelson dismissed the idea that black people ever really wondered whether Sen. Barack Obama was “black enough.” My memory of how Obama was being discussed a year ago is different from Nelson’s. Today, however, black people who question Obama’s authenticity are indeed a fringe. So what’s…

As she observes the racial dynamics at play in the Democratic presidential contest, Toni Morrison must be somewhere biting her nails. The Pulitzer Prize-winning writer never struck me as the nervous type, but if ever there was a case for the jitters, it is now. In recent months, Morrison has had to stand back and…

Tucked away at the edge of a ramshackle strip mall on the black side of town in Montgomery, Ala., there’s an AIDS clinic. When I was last there, in 2005, the mall featured just a couple of weather-beaten shops—a dollar store, a beauty parlor—and this nondescript clinic, quietly declaring its presence without using the word…

Every black writer I know complains about it. “Street lit” has taken over as the de facto literature of our time. We’ve all seen it — the teeming shelves at Borders and Barnes & Noble full of raunchy books beckoning the generic black reader. Meanwhile, serious fiction is hidden behind come hither covers, presumably because…

As Americans observe Black History Month, Russians will celebrate their own link to black history. This year marks the 171st anniversary of the death of their greatest national poet, Alexander Pushkin. Yes, Pushkin, who died on Feb 10, 1837, was part black. Pushkin’s great-grandfather, Abram Gannibal, was born in Sub-Saharan Africa, probably on the territory…

How does your daughter learn about her body? From magazines that feature nipped, tucked and airbrushed size-2 celebrity cover models? From X-rated authors like Karrine Steffans and Zane, and the “Gossip Girls”? From music videos? From her boyfriend? Or from you? This is a rhetorical question. Of course it should be you. Starting around school-age,…

The first time I got a deep glimpse into my family history, I had to leave the room to gather myself. It was around seven years ago, and a genealogist, Rafi Guber, and the comedian Billy Crystal had come to my home to present me with previously unknown information about my great-grandmother, a steely woman…

It was “Hot Ice” night at Sugar Hill Lounge in Atlanta’s Underground entertainment district, but the usual Saturday offering of live R&B and reggae music gave way to a more urgent purpose: Drumming up black voter turnout for today’s Georgia’s presidential primary. Billed as a non-partisan, multi-generational Wake Up Call/Town Hall Party for Hope, Change…

I’ve been trying to get black folks to pay attention to the AIDS epidemic in our community for over twenty years. In the last few months I’ve learned everything I need to know about mobilizing black folk, and I owe it all to Barack Obama. In October, polls showed that black voters backed Hillary Clinton…