culture
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Growing Up White Until a Family Secret Revealed She Was Not
Lacey Schwartz grew up as a white, Jewish girl in the predominantly white community of Woodstock, N.Y., raised by Peggy and Robert Schwartz. But what she didn’t know at the time was that her biological father was black. The idea of “passing” for white has long been a part of African-American culture. But Schwartz’s story…
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You’re Gonna Love What Taraji P. Henson Did After Her Son Was Racially Profiled on Campus
Taraji P. Henson apparently protects her son in real life just as Cookie, her engaging character on Fox’s Empire series, fiercely protects her sons. In the February/March issue of Uptown magazine, Henson recalls how her 20-year-old son was once profiled by police at the University of Southern California. After that, she says, she found a…
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‘I Go to UVA,’ Martese Johnson’s Cry of Millennial Disbelief
Earlier this week I participated in a PBS NewsHour Twitter chat on race and millennials. We discussed members of the University of Oklahoma’s Sigma Alpha Epsilon chapter, a white fraternity founded in the antebellum South, being caught on video singing one of their traditional songs about hanging “niggers” from trees. The chat was partially built…
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Jazz in the Gardens? More Like Jazz in a Stadium
For the 10th consecutive year, Miami Gardens, Fla., will draw in swarms of people like moths to a flame—or music heads to a festival—this weekend for the annual Jazz in the Gardens Music Festival, held at Sun Life Stadium and co-hosted by D.L. Hughley and Rickey Smiley. But before the festival boasted legendary names such…
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Spending His Birthday With His Boys Instead of Her Proves She’s an Option, Not a Priority
I’ve been with my boyfriend for almost a year. It’s our first time spending our birthdays with each other. I was planning something for his birthday, but he told me he might go out of town with his friends. I told him it was fine because it’s his birthday and he can spend it how…
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American Crime Recap: Regina King Finally Makes an Appearance
Over at the Gutierrez house, Jenny is still giving her dad, Alonzo, the silent treatment for allowing her brother to get thrown into juvenile hall. As he’s leaving the house one morning, Alonzo is approached by a TV news reporter about his son’s involvement in Matt’s murder. He tells the reporter that they should be…
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Scandal Recap: 50 Shades of Everybody
This week’s episode of Scandal introduced us to different sides of Olivia Pope and friends. 1. Leo Bergen Has a Kinky Side Sue, a 26-year-old played by Lena Dunham, has written a tell-all memoir about her kinky sexcapades with 17 of D.C.’s power players—ambassadors, senators … and Abby’s boyfriend, Leo Bergen (or “the Dustbuster,” as he’s called in…
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Award-Winning Poet Explores How We Look and See
In 2010 Terrance Hayes won the National Book Award for his fourth poetry collection, Lighthead. His first book, Muscular Music, won both a Whiting Award and the Kate Tufts Discovery Award. Hayes has also received awards from the Guggenheim Foundation, the National Endowment for the Arts and the MacArthur Foundation as well as a Pushcart…
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What I Learned From Mo’ne Davis About Girls, Sports and Success
When I worked with Mo’ne Davis to write her new book, Mo’ne Davis: Remember My Name: My Story From First Pitch to Game Changer, I met a 13-year-old who epitomizes the benefits of girls’ involvement in sports. Of course, I already knew about Mo’ne’s women’s-history-making Little League pitching performances, when she struck out scores of…
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The Powerhouse Effect of Empire
Fox’s megahit Empire brought its first season to a close last night with a two-part finale. It’s no secret that the series has stirred up controversy, inspired fierce devotion, garnered record-breaking ratings and changed the face of television. The show has made an impact in other ways, too: In just one short season, the Lyons…