culture
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NY Teen Overcomes ‘Dark-Skinned’ Taunts to Earn $10,000 Scholarship
“Burnt toast.” “Dark as night.” “Your mother kept you in the oven too long.” These were the kinds of racially charged comments that Nosa Akol walked into on her very first day of middle school, which would mark the first time in her life she’d ever been subjected to bullying. The results were damaging. Nosa…
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Fruits, Nuts and Raw Food: An Extreme Solution to an Expanding Problem
On July 3, 2014, three weeks before my 48th birthday, I weighed in at 207 pounds. I hadn’t weighed myself for a few months. The number was shocking to me for a couple of reasons: 1) I was 27 pounds heavier than my ideal healthy weight. 2) I was a vegan (no meat, no eggs,…
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Caught on Camera Isn’t Enough
Does “caught on tape” mean a conviction? While cellphone video of Walter Scott’s death at the hands of Police Officer Michael Slager in North Charleston, S.C., is damning, the past has taught us that sometimes video isn’t enough. Yet without it, most cases turn into a dead man’s body versus an officer’s claim of justifiable…
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Was I Wrong to Ask My Husband to Move His Late Wife’s Urn?
My husband’s first wife died. They had two kids. We live in his house. He keeps his wife’s urn in the living room. I requested that “she” be moved, and he and the kids are upset. Am I wrong? —Anonymous So when it comes to relationships, it’s not always about right or wrong. Sometimes it’s…
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How Obama Is Addressing the Crisis Among Boys and Young Men of Color
It was easy to mistake Thursday’s gathering at a New York City hotel for a religious meeting. One panelist, who proudly proclaimed his Baptist-preacher lineage, issued the rallying cry in his opening remarks: “God is good all the time.” But the roughly 200 people in attendance had gathered at the National Action Committee’s panel discussion…
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Poverty Was the Crime in Walter Scott’s Slaying
When 50-year-old Walter Scott was pulled over by a police officer in North Charleston, S.C., Saturday, it was under the guise of a broken taillight. When he fled from that stop, his family said he possibly ran for fear of a warrant out for his arrest over child support. And when video revealed that Officer…
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An Artistic Feast: Jacob Lawrence’s 60-Piece Migration Series on Display in NYC
“If at times my artworks do not express the conventionally beautiful, there is always an effort to express the universal beauty of man’s continuous struggle to lift his social position and to add dimension to his spiritual being.” —Jacob Lawrence, 1970 The opening of the Museum of Modern Art’s exhibit “One-Way Ticket: Jacob Lawrence’s Migration…
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10 Times Scandal Played the Right Song at the Right Moment
In addition to monologues, mistresses and murder, Scandal’s stellar ability to pair a scene with the perfect song is also one of the show’s trademarks. Scandal’s DJs know that, much like the concept behind pairing certain foods with particular wines, pairing an excellent scene with just the right song will significantly enhance your viewing experience. As we…
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How Do We Fix a System That Thrives on Racial Oppression?
The killing of Walter Scott, an unarmed 50-year-old black man fleeing the police after a traffic stop, is the latest example of what appears to be a national assault on black bodies. We are living a national nightmare. The names and faces may change, but the bad dream remains the same. An unarmed black man,…
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Walter Scott’s Death and the Cycle of Contempt for Black Lives
By now, many in America have watched the obscene video showing the death of Walter Scott, shot in the back as he flees for his life from North Charleston, S.C., Police Officer Michael Slager. Seemingly in an instant, eight shots from Slager’s gun turned Scott from a man to a memory. Then the officer added insult to…