culture

Last week, in response to the lynching photo found at a Joe’s Crab Shack in Minnesota, I wrote a piece explaining “post-racial racism” (which has also been referred to as “Chad Crow”—Jim Crow’s laid-back cousin): In post-racial 21st-century America, no one actually wants to admit to being racist. They’ll do racist things, say racist words,…

What do Prince, fine food and Soul Train have in common? All three are major obsessions of the Roots’ Ahmir “Questlove” Thompson. The Philadelphia-born drummer wrote about one of his passions in 2013’s Soul Train: The Music, Dance, and Style of a Generation. Now he’s dishing on his love of eating well with his new…

HBCUs have come under fire in recent years as questions abound as to whether these academic institutions are doing enough to equip black students for careers in high-growth industries and fields related to science, technology, engineering and math. Despite research showing that HBCUs produce the majority of black science and engineering graduates who pursue advanced…

Scathing diversity reports from major tech companies revealed that women make up less than 30 percent of employees. For minority employees, this number staggers as low as 4 percent. The culprit? Unconscious bias in an industry largely dominated by white men. “We need to have transparent discussions on what bias is and own it. Then…

Bob Shapiro is at the courthouse offering a “Good morning” to Gil Garcetti, who is not here for any of Shapiro’s shenanigans. “We barely recovered from the Rodney King riots of two years ago, and now you and Johnnie are standing in a damn pool of gasoline playing with matches,” Garcetti snaps.  Shapiro insists that…

Four years ago a petite, timid Gabby Douglas made her national media debut in front of hundreds of reporters at the Olympic Media Summit. At the time, she was unknown to everyone except gymnastics insiders, but that changed when, two months later, she captured the all-around gold medal at the 2012 London Olympic Games.  “Before,…

You can say many things about Ben Carson, the back-ordered, decaffeinated coffee machine who recently dropped out of the presidential race. Iconic surgeon. Popeyes enthusiast. Vigilante. Black History Month book-report muse. Delusional motherf—ker. But one thing you cannot do is doubt his blackness bona fides. Yes, his actual politics, if enacted, would have put America back to 1953.…

Daylight saving has run up and kicked all of our collective asses, which means spring is finally coming around the corner and it’s time to rub what little coins I have together and start planning out my excursions for the rest of the year. Not only do I need the occasional respite from New York…