culture
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Dear Mike: Another Year Has Passed and We’re Still Fighting for You
I started my time at Advancement Project one year ago. My first big assignment came only three weeks after my first day: I was being sent to Ferguson, Mo. As the leader for our youth-criminalization work, I would manage the national media and communications efforts for the one-year commemoration of Mike Brown’s death. I hadn’t…
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‘It’s Powerful’: The State of the Movement Post-Ferguson in St. Louis
#Delrawn Small, #Alton Sterling, #Philando Castile, #Alva Braziel, #Korryn Gaines, #Paul O’Neal. These are just a few of the names of men and women killed during interactions with police over the last six weeks, but it all started two years ago with #MikeBrown. On Aug. 9, two summers ago, Michael Brown Jr. was shot and…
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2 Years After Ferguson, Mo., the Fight Grows, Goes On for Black Lives Matter
It’s been two years since the killing of an 18-year-old unarmed African-American teen named Michael Brown in Ferguson, Mo., who was Gunned down by a white police officer named Darren Wilson. The killing sparked two weeks of protest from unarmed Black Lives Matter demonstrators carrying signs proclaiming, “I am Mike Brown” and “Hands up, don’t…
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I Deserve More of Momma Dee’s Music, and I’m Not Kidding
Although the nucleus of Love & Hip Hop is supposed to be the dramas involved with the music industry and those who date within in it, each franchise largely shifts its focus toward the latter. Still, in the midst of all the madness that’s happening, there is music made that eventually floats into space. When…
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Brazil’s New Black Power Movement
The new black power movement in Brazil is big. Brazil is known for its beautiful beaches, beautiful women, samba, sun and celebration. For decades, millions have enjoyed the music, food, dance and culture of the fifth-largest country in the world, especially now as the nation has taken center stage as host of the 2016 Olympics…
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How to Survive, Be Safe and Thrive at a Predominantly White Institution
I experienced many firsts when I left home for college. First car, first full-time job, first time being racially profiled and first time being called n—ger. Life comes at you fast if you’re black at a predominantly white institution. No one prepared me for the multiple assaults on my humanity that I experienced at a…
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Simple Changes to Your Diet Can Help With Mental-Health Issues
The link between the immune system and the worsening of certain mental disorders, such as depression and anxiety, has been shown, though not fully understood. The link between the mind, the gut and your immune system has been long established. This is due to the presence of serotonin—the chemical found in the brain, decreased levels…
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5 Hot Takes From the Olympics’ Opening Ceremonies
Like, whoa. As other athletes in the Parade of Nations predictably wore dockers and sports blazers, Pita Nikolas Taufatofua from the island nation of Tonga came out bare-chested, slathered in oil and adorned in a ta’ovala, a traditional Tongan mat. The 32-year-old will compete in taekwondo for his country, but he won the gold for the…
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Rio Olympics: 11 Black Athletes in Less Popular Sports Who Are Worth Your Time
The Summer Olympics are more glamorous than their counterpart every four winters. And of all the competitions being held in Rio de Janeiro over the next two weeks, none are more familiar than basketball, gymnastics, swimming, and track and field. They are the Mount Rushmore of Summer Olympic sports. But athletes will compete in roughly…
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How Your Smartphone Can Help You Be the Boss You Are and Destress
Life can be hard enough just getting through your workday with your wits intact. Trying to juggle your business and personal life is hard without an assistant. And even if you’re lucky enough to have an assistant, if you’re a born perfectionist, then you know no one will get the job done better than you.…