culture
-
Meet the Brave and Brilliant Playwright Katori Hall
From the moment Samuel L. Jackson made his Broadway debut as Martin Luther King Jr. in her play The Mountaintop, also starring Angela Bassett, back in 2011, Katori Hall, just 30 at the time, became a recognized player in contemporary American theater. In London, where the play was produced in 2009, the Columbia University grad…
-
Love & Basketball: 15 Years Later, the Movie Still Plays for Your Heart
Culture is the very thing that paints the fingerprints we leave upon all that we touch in the universe. As a person of African descent living in America and growing up in the ’80s, I can recall a time when films featuring predominantly black casts and helmed by black directors would bring out the community…
-
Dyson’s Cornel West Essay Was a Hit Piece Wrapped in Scholarly Words
I began reading Michael Eric Dyson’s lengthy essay for the New Republic, “The Ghost of Dr. Cornel West,” with some trepidation. By the time I finished it, I was sickened. Framed as an impartial assessment of West’s so-called steep decline as a scholar, public intellectual, thought leader and writer, Dyson backdoors into a scathing critique…
-
Poet Elizabeth Alexander on the Healing Power of Words
When asked how it felt to have President Barack Obama request she write a poem for his first inauguration, Elizabeth Alexander humbly responded: “I was just happy there was going to be a poem for the inaugural.” Alexander is a rarity—friend of presidents, daughter of civil rights leaders, Yale professor and Pulitzer Prize nominee. But above…
-
The New Killing Fields: How Police Tourism Sanctions the Lethal Pursuit of Black People
The April 2 shooting death of Eric Harris by 73-year-old Tulsa, Okla., Reserve Deputy Robert Bates is more than just the latest tragedy involving a black man’s execution on film. Grisly footage from the body camera of an officer shows Harris, a black man with a criminal record, fleeing deputies who targeted him in an…
-
The Real Lesson of the Atlanta Public Schools Cheating Scandal
The Atlanta Public Schools cheating scandal is almost over. A scandal that began in 2008 with reports of unusually high scores on mandatory standardized tests has come to a close with a sentencing hearing that looked more like the theater of the absurd than a meeting to determine sentences for those involved in a cheating…
-
Mayweather vs. Pacquiao: Boxing’s Last Big Bout?
Is this how boxing ends—not with a whimper but a bang? The May 2 bout between Floyd Mayweather and Manny Pacquiao has been six years in the making. In that time, there’s been a flirtation with retirement and a brush with the law for Mayweather, and political office and album-making for Pacquiao, while their teams…
-
Oprah’s Network Sues Man Accused of Posing as Celeb’s Nephew
The Oprah Winfrey Network on Friday filed a lawsuit against a Florida man who allegedly pretended to be the star’s nephew to win jobs and gifts, according to the Hollywood Reporter. Justin Jackson allegedly created OWN stationery to send letters that appeared to be from Winfrey in an effort to obtain jobs with Perry Ellis…
-
Scandal Recap: In the Pursuit of Justice
“Justice” is the buzzword for this week’s episode of Scandal, but the characters had puzzling ways of pursuing it. Here are five surprises from last night’s installment. 1. Papa Pope is back … and he’s playing stupid. Last week Papa Pope used Olivia Pope’s new lover, Russell, to trick her into opening her door for him.…
-
11 Reasons We Thank God It’s Friday (the Movie)
Craig Jones was fired—on his day off—and spent the next day with pothead Smokey in the 1995 film Friday. The movie cost $3.5 million, grossed $28,215,918 and spawned two sequels—and a third is reportedly in development. The “director’s cut” of the original gets a one-night-only re-release on April 20. To celebrate the 20th anniversary of…