culture
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How to Fix Will Smith’s Career
I know, I know, I know. You don’t have to say anything. I realize that writing a piece about “fixing” Will Smith’s career implies that there’s something wrong with Will Smith’s career. And I also realize how ridiculous it is to imply that anything is wrong with Will Smith’s career. I cannot think of anyone—no,…
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Janet ‘Aunt Viv’ Hubert’s Video Rant Misses the Point About #OscarsSoWhite
Martin Luther King Jr. Day turned out to be quite eventful for Hollywood. Jada Pinkett Smith announced via video that she would be boycotting this year’s Academy Awards because of the exclusion of black performances in the four major acting categories. This is the second year in a row that black actors have been shut…
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Want to Make Hollywood Pay Attention to Diversity? Boycott the Box Office, Not the Oscars
Spike Lee and Jada Pinkett Smith are planning to boycott this year’s Oscars ceremony because of the lack of diversity among this year’s nominees. Cheryl Boone Isaacs, who is the first black woman to head the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, issued a statement saying that she was “heartbroken and frustrated about the…
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African American Policy Forum Demands Justice for Holtzclaw Survivors
Daniel Holtzclaw, the former Oklahoma City police officer convicted on 18 of 36 charges of rape and sexual assault against seven black women and one underage black girl, will be sentenced Jan. 21. Holtzclaw was found not guilty of similarly horrific crimes against five black women who were not given even the possibility of justice.…
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Why I Will Never Spank My Daughter
I’m typing these words in fear, my fingers softly brushing the keys on my laptop so I don’t make too much sound. I’m also eating my breakfast quickly, furiously, madly and quietly, like a prisoner in solitary just given a pack of saltines. I’m shoeless because my Tims make too much noise on the hardwood…
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#ReclaimMLK: My Apology to the ‘Most Dangerous Negro’ in America
I practiced for weeks, and when the big day came I was ready. My hair was styled in the way that Southern mamas do their daughters’ hair for special occasions—a pressed, puffy ponytail on top, with the rest hanging and curled beneath a large part, some ribbon probably lost to memory. I felt special in…
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30 Years of MLK Day: What We’ve Gained and What We’ve Lost
As the United States celebrates the 30th anniversary of Martin Luther King Jr. Day, we take a look at some of the gains and losses of the civil rights movement since the holiday’s enactment. America elected its first black president in 2008, but the assailment of unarmed blacks, and efforts to repeal voting rights and…
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Finding Your Roots: Shonda Rhimes, Maya Rudolph and Keenen Ivory Wayans Learn Shocking Facts About Their Families
Finding Your Roots With Henry Louis Gates, Jr., the PBS series that takes a very deep dive into the ancestry of famous people, never fails to surprise, but in the third episode this season, which airs Tuesday, it shocks. The show focuses on the family histories of actress Maya Rudolph, TV showrunner Shonda Rhimes and…
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A Call For African Americans to Join a Study on Inflammatory Bowel Diseases
Scientists recognize that a person’s gender and ancestry play a large role in determining risk for certain diseases. For instance, Inflammatory Bowel Disease (IBD), including both Crohn’s Disease and Ulcerative Colitis, affects about 1.6 million Americans, and a recent study suggests 36% of those are African American – and the number of diagnosed African Americans…
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After Outrage, Publisher Pulls Happy-Slaves Children’s Book
Editor’s note: Amid growing criticism of this children’s book depicting happy slaves baking a cake for George Washington, publisher Scholastic announced late Jan. 17 that it is pulling the book from retailers. In a statement to the Associated Press, Scholastic said this: While we have great respect for the integrity and scholarship of the author,…