culture
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Samba and Misogynoir: Will 2018 Be the Last Year of Blackface in Brazil’s Carnival?
The United States isn’t the only country with a bad case of “blackface.” Brazil has its own version of blackface, and it is most often on display during Carnival, when some revelers sometimes dress up as “Nega Maluca,” translated as “crazy black woman” in Portuguese. During this year’s Carnival in Brazil, blackface made an appearance…
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Celebrating the ‘Everyday Love’ in Your Life
The roses, chocolates and oversized teddy bears are all signs that Valentine’s Day is here. And for those of us who have aged out of the “Everyone at school passes out a Valentine to everybody” version—essentially, the “No Child Left Behind” of holidays—Valentine’s Day has become synonymous with celebrating the romance in our lives. The…
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The Wonder of Wakanda: How This Black Utopian Space Is a Game Changer for Artists and Audiences
On a rainy Friday afternoon in January, rivulets of black comic fans trickled through the halls of Harlem’s Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture. The occasion was the annual Black Comic Book Festival—an event that draws thousands of comic enthusiasts, creators, publishers and collectors. Black Panther tickets had just gone on sale days before,…
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Why I, a Survivor of Police Violence, Find Jeff Sessions’ Remarks So Disturbing
In 2012 I was shot five times by Pittsburgh police. Although I survived, I was paralyzed and, soon thereafter, charged with aggravated assault and resisting arrest, charges that were thrown out three years later. Since that fateful incident, which began as a “routine” traffic stop, I’ve chosen to use my platform as an activist and…
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Chiwetel Ejiofor Delivers Oscar-Worthy Performance in Come Sunday at Sundance
In 2005, NPR’s This American Life broadcast the story of Bishop Carlton Pearson’s struggles with his faith that divided a church during the late 1990s and put him in the crosshairs of religious folk after he questioned God’s intentions. Director Joshua Marston brilliantly reimagines this narrative with Come Sunday, which is heading to Netflix after…
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An Open Letter to the Mainstream Media Covering the Death of Black People by the Police
The presence of news media at Wednesday night’s Town Hall in South Los Angeles to address the deputy-involved killing of unarmed 16-year-old Anthony “A.J.” Weber could’ve been a blessing. The grieving family and community had an opportunity to be heard on a national level. An opportunity to say or do what they needed in front…
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Donald Trump: White Jesus
“The most dangerous madmen are those created by religion, and … people whose aim is to disrupt society always know how to make good use of them on occasion.” —Denis Diderot Any day now, the Robert Mueller investigation will end and everyone will read an FBI report about how President Donald J. Trump obstructed justice…