culture
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$65,000,000 for a New Private Jet, Creflo Dollar? Negro, Please
On the streets of any hood in the United States, Creflo Dollar, the kingpin behind World Changers Church International, would be called a hustler. Behind the pulpit, however, he’s called pastor, and if that’s not a sin, I don’t know what else to call it. Dollar, who made headlines in 2012 for allegedly assaulting his…
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Fiance’s Questioning Your Sexuality Over a New Short, Natural Do Is Truly Hair-Raising
I did a big chop yesterday. I sent a picture to my live-in fiance, who is the father to my 2-year-old daughter. He responded that I looked crazy and that he doesn’t like short hair. When I got home, he asked me if I was going for the lesbian look. I asked him if I…
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Yeah, OU’s Prez Shut Down Those Frat Guys’ Racist Chant, but He Has the Wrong Rationale for Kicking Them Out
I won’t deny it. It was sort of refreshing to hear former U.S. senator and current University of Oklahoma President David Boren step to the microphone Monday and denounce members of the Sigma Alpha Epsilon fraternity after they were caught on video gleefully singing “There will never be a n—ger SAE.” In contrast with the…
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Empire Recap: Mama’s Baby, Papa’s Maybe
Everyone, except Lucious, shows up to support Andre, who’s at a posh clinic, recuperating from his breakdown. The psychiatrist makes a few comments, but it’s Michelle White, the music therapist, who talks the most. That’s because Michelle is portrayed by Jennifer Hudson. At first Cookie gives side eye to this bipolar diagnosis. She thinks it’s…
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The Celebration Is Over, and Selma Is Still Poor
The world saw a magnificent celebration last weekend in Selma, Ala., of the 50th anniversary of the Selma-to-Montgomery marches. The racially mixed crowds were huge, exciting and orderly. More than 120,000 attended the two days of commemorative events. Foot soldiers mingled with dignitaries from the public and private sectors. President Barack Obama gave one of…
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Blame It on Hip-Hop: Why Morning Joe Came to SAE’s Rescue
As MSNBC continues its obvious attempts to draw conservatives away from Fox News, Morning Joe co-hosts Joe Scarborough and Mika Brzezinski have fully embraced their roles as the Rush Limbaugh and Sarah Palin of the network. Mocking rapper Waka Flocka Flame for canceling a scheduled performance at the Sigma Alpha Epsilon frat house at the…
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Being Mary Jane: Who Is Left to Love the Black Woman?
First things first: Pauletta “Mary Jane” Patterson needs to get her key back from David. David drops by M.J.’s unannounced (again!) to vent about his baby-mama woes. He feels trapped with a woman he barely knows for the sake of the baby-to-be. M.J. doesn’t want to participate in his pity-party therapy session because what woman…
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At SXSW Interactive, Making Diversity in Tech the Next Civil Rights Fight
It isn’t exactly news that the tech world has a diversity problem. At this year’s South by Southwest Interactive—the tech portion of the annual music, film and interactive festival known as SXSW, which begins Thursday in Austin, Texas—black tech leaders will be looking at ways to address it. MVMT50 helped SXSW land the Rev. Jesse…
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A Mother Chooses to Rewrite the Narrative for Her Daughter in the Black Church
Moses couriered 10 commandments for every Christian to honor, but women in the black church have always operated under an additional set of implicit rules. The learning of them starts when we’re little girls: Don’t sit with your legs crossed because that’s grown, but don’t sit with them too far apart because that’s loose. Don’t…
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Ferguson Is America and the Time to Act Is Now
Last week the Department of Justice released its report documenting the racial discrimination and bias that is endemic to policing in Ferguson, Mo. The deep problems unveiled by the DOJ’s investigation reflect a harsh reality that exists in many places across the country—not just Ferguson: At every level of our criminal-justice system, African Americans are…