culture

So, I’ve heard this term “white tears” used before. What exactly does it mean? As I’ve written before, “white tears” is a phrase to describe what happens when certain types of white people either complain about a nonexistent racial injustice or are upset by a nonwhite person’s success at the supposed expense of a white person.…

Bomani Jones is a familiar face to sports fans. At ESPN he pulls double duty, and double mediums, as one-third of the hip-hop-friendly Highly Questionable and then holds down the fort on his own radio show, The Right Time With Bomani Jones. Sports guru is not the typical career path for the son of two…

k

Since picking up a crochet hook in the 1980s, Harlem-based fiber artist and cultural activist Xenobia Bailey has created sculptural marvels in the unexpected medium of yarn, moving from works of wearable art to large-scale installations celebrating the uniquely African-American aesthetic of funk. Now her first public-art commission, Funktional Vibrations, is on permanent view at…

In the last few months, we have seen substantial growth in media coverage of trans people, and especially black trans people. From Orange Is the New Black star Laverne Cox to brilliant writer and advocate Janet Mock, black trans women are breaking out. Black trans men have also gained exposure for their achievements, from filmmaker Kortney Ryan Ziegler to artist and athlete Kye Allums.…

After seeing the success of the first season of Empire, I knew that Cookie Lyon, the show’s stylish star character, would inspire a fashion line. Cookie (played by Taraji P. Henson) set Twitter ablaze each week as viewers commented on everything from her quick, no-nonsense wit to her animal-print dresses, three-finger rings and fur coats.…