culture
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Love, Duty and Politics: Ta-Nehisi Coates Takes on Marvel’s Black Panther
Last week the first issue of Marvel’s new Black Panther comic broke sales records and sold 300,000 issues in the first printing. Meaning that a comic book about a black superhero sold more copies than the daily circulation of the Baltimore Sun, Washington Times or Boston Globe. Why? It probably has a lot to do…
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5 Black Alternative Candidates Black America Should Consider for President
As Barack Obama’s second presidential term winds to a close, black Americans are contemplating the sad prospect of holding their noses when they cast their votes for the next commander in chief. Instead of choosing the lesser of the remaining evils, here are five choices you should consider for the next black president of the…
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When R. Kelly Is Your ‘Brother,’ You Make Statements Like This
Erykah Badu, a musical genius who is one of my favorite artists, ignited a Twitter storm Monday night with her controversial statements on rape culture and sexuality, tweeting that she agreed with an article in which a school required girls to wear longer skirts so as not to serve as “distractions” for heterosexual male teachers.…
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Larenz Tate Talks Up His New TV Show and What It Would Take to Do a Love Jones Sequel
Whenever Larenz Tate is mentioned, it’s hard not to think of Menace II Society, Love Jones, Dead Presidents and The Inkwell. Throughout the 1990s he was a constant big-screen presence. In the 2000s he’s been a presence as well, just a slightly less brash one. On cable he most notably held his own in FX’s…
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The Paradox of Being a Black, Christian, Social Justice Advocate
I’m a black woman who loves hip-hop. And I don’t mean that in an “I have a gym playlist that includes a little Hov” kind of way. I mean it in the “At least once a day I use rap lyrics or their song titles to express myself” kind of way. Like when Hillary Clinton…
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The 72-10 Chicago Bulls: Where Are They Now?
The 1995-96 Chicago Bulls, greatly enhanced by Michael Jordan’s return after a two-year hiatus, won an NBA record 72 games en route to three consecutive titles. The Golden State Warriors, led by the incomparable Steph Curry, have tied Chicago’s mark and can break it Wednesday night against the Memphis Grizzles in the regular-season finale. There…
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Ken Burns Wipes Away the Myths to Reveal the Real Jackie Robinson in His New Documentary
It’s never too late to make amends, even 69 years after the fact. The Philadelphia City Council proved as much on March 31, when it unanimously passed a resolution honoring Jackie Robinson and officially apologizing for the treatment he endured while visiting in 1947, the year he broke Major League Baseball’s color line. “Unfortunately in…
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There Is No Justice Without Ending Money Bail
On any given day, roughly half a million unconvicted people sit in jail, at a cost to taxpayers of about $14 billion a year. Incarcerated defendants are more likely to be convicted and sentenced to jail or prison compared with those who are released—and for longer times. Pretrial detention can also cause defendants devastating personal…
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By Using Tech to Solve Social Issues, Black Innovators Have a Shot at Closing the Funding Gap
Fred Hutson isn’t one to miss an opportunity. Back in 2007, at age 24, he saw an opportunity to improve the distribution of marijuana to Florida by shipping it through FedEx, UPS and DHL from his mail store in Las Vegas. Unfortunately, that knocking sound he heard in October of that year wasn’t opportunity but…
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The Carmichael Show: Smart, Funny and Real
If you watched The Carmichael Show when it premiered this past summer, you know it doesn’t play it safe. Still, many who are now enjoying the show’s second season were surprised to see the comedy loosely based on comedian Jerrod Carmichael’s own life tackling charged issues like allegations of sexual assault against Bill Cosby and…