culture
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Watch: LeBron Makes the Most Important Block of His Career
For a brief moment, it looked as though the Golden State Warriors were about to take the lead at a crucial point in Game 7 of the NBA Finals. With just over two minutes left in the fourth quarter, Warriors swingman Andre Iguodala rebounded a wild shot by Cavs guard Kyrie Irving. He then passed…
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5 Ways the Game of Thrones Pre-Finale Was More Satisfying Than the NBA Finals
Sunday night was a tough decision for me. Two major television events, overlapping each other; each with huge consequences that would drive social media conversation for days. Would I go to a bar with friends and yell at the TV for two-and-a-half hours watching the NBA Finals Game 7 between the Cleveland LeBrons and the…
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When It Comes to What’s Best for Black Folks, It’s Time for White People to Mind Their Business
I was an inquisitive child. My grandmother called me nosy, but I like to think I had an insatiable thirst for knowledge. I would often ask questions that were answered with, “It’s none of your business.” “Why did he never marry?” “It’s none of your business.” “Why does she have so many friends?” “It’s none…
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The Top 10 Black TV Fathers of All Time
As we celebrate Father’s Day, the men who shaped our lives deserve much praise and applause. As such, we also want to honor the talented men who shaped our cultural ideal of black fatherhood. We gathered an esteemed panel of tastemakers, experts and women who made a 2 o’clock hair salon appointment but are still…
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#BlackDadsMatter: Mass Incarceration Is Robbing Children of Their Fathers. Here’s How to Fix That
While some kids will spend Sunday tossing a ball with their dads and enjoying family cookouts, far too many will be separated from the love and care of their incarcerated fathers. Around 5.1 million children in the United States have had a parent in jail or prison at some point, according to research from the…
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Living With Sickle Cell: ‘I Don’t Know What It Means to Be Without Pain’
Nikki Peterson, like approximately 100,000 other Americans, was born with sickle cell anemia. The 43-year-old lives in Upper Marlboro, Md., and ends up in the hospital about four times during what she calls a good year. Once a month, she undergoes a grueling process called hemapheresis. All of the blood is removed from her body,…
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What My Father and Juneteenth Taught Me About Having ‘Expectations’
I wouldn’t know Juneteenth without my father. He’s the Texan. He grew up celebrating the holiday that started on June 19, 1865, when slaves on Galveston Island, Texas, finally learned they’d been freed under the Emancipation Proclamation two years prior. Even though he now lived in St. Louis, he’d always make the same jokey reference…
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Imma Let You Finish, Hamilton, but Donald Trump Is the Best Politician-Rapper of All Time
The musical Hamilton goes hard. But the Donald Trump Mixtape goes harder. My review: 1. He spits bars. Trump doesn’t give speeches; he freestyles. The Washington Post wrote, “Donald Trump says a lot of things twice.” But he’s not repeating himself. That’s just the hook. He invents whole new parts of speech: the past-tense clueless (“When…
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4 Columbused Hairstyles That Have Made Headlines
In these very uncertain times, there are few things of which we can be absolutely sure. At the top of this short list are taxes, birth, death and cultural appropriation. As long as there are people walking this earth, dominant groups will find a way to “borrow” (read: steal) stuff from minority cultures and Columbus…