culture
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For Americans of Color, Is Norway a Racism-Free Utopia?
It’s cold, with really short days in the winter. Like, sunset is at 3 p.m. And it’s white. Like, really white—as in the descendants of Vikings. But in the city center of Oslo, Norway, black American expats are living what seems to be the dream of Martin Luther King Jr.: being judged by the content…
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We Have Never Celebrated Christmas, but I’m Starting to Wish We Did
I’ve been having this Christmas fantasy for a few years now. Tonight my husband and I, along with our two daughters, should be putting the finishing touches on our Christmas tree, wrapping last-minute gifts and watching The Grinch Who Stole Christmas in matching brand-new pajamas while sipping hot chocolate. I never had that experience growing…
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If the Holidays Are Your Most Depressing Time of Year, This One’s for You
I’ve been fine all year, but the closer it gets to the holidays, the more depressed I get. I don’t think I have depression, I’m just not into Christmas. This happens every year. I look at all these people on social media at holiday parties, and see the couples being all lovey-dovey, and I just…
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An In-Depth Analysis of the Greatest Christmas Song of All Time
When the Temptations released Give Love at Christmas in 1980, they had already cemented their position as one of the greatest musical groups of all time. Now, I know that some Caucasian baby boomer who stumbled across this article is already guffawing at that statement, but I bet your 17-year-old nephew can summon the words…
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10 Stale, Tired and Tasteless Jokes About Kwanzaa so You Don’t Have to Create Your Own
It’s Dec. 23, which means we’re smack dab in the middle of the time of year when families across the country come together to celebrate Christmas. Or Hanukkah. Or Festivus. Or they have no religious affiliations but are grateful for the extra days off and the post-Christmas Nordstrom sales. It’s also the time of…
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Exposed: How Keanu Reeves’ Newest Film Got Whitewashed
In a world where people are taking to the streets, saying “Black lives matter”—where TV shows and films like Empire, Selma, Jane the Virgin, Straight Outta Compton, Fresh Off the Boat and Black-ish are getting high ratings and winning awards—one movie studio allegedly said no to all that diversity and instead chose to take us…
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Remember When Showing Black Women on the Silver Screen Was Revolutionary?
Like Star Wars, some movie releases are bigger than the actual film. They are touchstones. They are communal experiences. They are I-remember-exactly-where-I-was moments. And the opening night of the film Waiting to Exhale was exactly that. I can vividly remember, 20 years ago this week, rounding up my friends to hit the theater early because…
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Who Will Speak for Black Cubans on the Lack of Economic Opportunity?
Havana: If President Barack Obama comes here sometime next year, as he has hinted he will, he’ll be under great pressure to meet with Cubans who are widely seen in anti-Castro circles within the United States as the legitimate voices of dissent inside this communist nation. In fact, Obama has already made such meetings a…
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A Force to Be Reckoned With
A long time ago, in a galaxy far, far away, people of color were outnumbered by green characters, and the only important woman wound up a love slave. The latest sequel in the Star Wars franchise, Star Wars: The Force Awakens, released in the U.S. Friday, is light-years ahead in terms of cultural realism, and…
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Holiday Traditions Around the World: How We Celebrate the Season
Maybe it’s because Madison Avenue is in New York City, which, theoretically at least, is a place where December bristles with the chilly arrival of winter, and thus images of Frosty the Snowman and Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer have dominated our vision of the Christmas holiday. Yet Christmas is celebrated all over the world, though…