culture

  • My Friend Wouldn’t Get Off My Case After I Told Her I Was Having Unsafe Sex

    Dear Demetria:  My friend scolded me because I choose to engage in unprotected sex more often than not. I agreed with her, but she kept going. I know she means well, but I can’t help feelilng judged, even after seeing her point. She told me I won’t stop until I get AIDS. What do I…

  • #AltonSterling: Black People and Our Collective Hustle to Survive

    The police killed another black man on Tuesday. His name was Alton Sterling, and he lived in Baton Rouge, La. For most black folks, trying to make it from paycheck to paycheck is a hard reality. The perils of poverty, anti-black racism, intergenerational traumas and compounding structural inequalities make the day-to-day hustles—whatever they might be—necessary.…

  • Stop Punishing Black Children Just Because They’re Black

    Editor’s note: Once a month, this column will tackle broader questions about what the country should do about gaps in achievement and opportunity, especially for boys of color. Schools should be held to higher standards than students. If schools irresponsibly impose discipline practices, then those rules (or leaders) should be expelled. However, when it comes to…

  • Oklahoma City Fans Need to Check Their History Before They Try to Check Kevin Durant

    It’s a thin line between love and hate. If you don’t believe me, ask Kevin Durant. On the morning of July 4, KD declared his independence from the Oklahoma City Thunder. Explaining his decision in the Players Tribune, Durant said: The primary mandate I had for myself in making this decision was to have it…

  • #AltonSterling: 37-Year-Old Man Killed by Baton Rouge Police

    Another black body on hot asphalt, heartbeat colliding with bullets in his chest, breathing becoming labored as an executioner in a uniform steals his life from him. This time, his name was Alton Sterling. This time, he was 37 years old. This time, he was a father of five. This time, he was selling CDs…

  • Wale: The Patron Saint of Diva Dudes Who Pretend They Actually Care About Women

    I been listening to Wale for years. I am a stan, and as much as his flow and style have changed, several things have remained consistent: This man knows how to talk to women, he knows how to pour his ain’t-s—tness into a track and he knows how to get women to love these tracks.…

  • The Iconoclast Dinner Experience Celebrates the Best Black Chefs in the Business

    On June 4, black chefs Joseph “J.J.” Johnson, Nyesha Arrington, Paul Carmichael, Preston Clark, Ebow Dadzie and Kwame Onwuachi, along with prolific sommelier Luvo Ntezo and Bacardi’s Colin Asare-Appiah, brought together their incredible palate-pleasing talents to honor the late legendary chef Patrick Clark with the Iconoclast Dinner Experience at the historic James Beard House in New…

  • #ReesesRoadtoRio: Brittney Reese Sets Record With US Olympic Trials Long Jump Win

    Not only did Brittney Reese secure her spot on Team USA during this weekend’s Olympic trials, but she also set an Olympic-trials long jump record. With a jump of 23 feet, 11 3/4 inches Saturday at the U.S. Olympic track-and-field trials, Reese won her seventh national outdoor title and third trip to the Olympics. And with that jump,…

  • Chance the Rapper Is Making Avant-Garde Gospel Music Under the Guise of Rap, and It's Divine

    There is a Dorothy Norwood song I first heard in 1994 that deeply impacted me. The song, “Somebody Prayed for Me,” goes as follows: Somebody prayed for me, had me on their mind.Took the time to pray for me.  The song speaks to the selfless nature of communing with a divine being on behalf of another.…

  • Beyond Carnival: This Caribbean Cruise Helps People of Color

    Lynda and Harry Taylor of Palmdale, Calif., stood under a thatched roof in El Cupey, surrounded by smiling Dominicans and their children. They’d just finished helping teach people in this mountain village in the Dominican Republic to speak English—a skill that’s vital to their chances of getting a job in a nation where 40 percent…