culture
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Dancing Through the Pain and Joy of Comedy
Three days before choreographer Camille A. Brown presents her electrifying dance-theater work Mr. TOL E. RAncE at the Lincoln Center Out of Doors Festival in New York City, she and seven members of her company, plus composer-pianist Scott Patterson, gather around a laptop computer in a studio at the City Center before a rehearsal. Amid hearty laughter,…
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Calif. Playhouse Struggles to Cast Black Male Roles for Ragtime
If you have stellar vocal ability, experience with period pieces, a passion for community theater, are willing to work for free—oh, and you are a black man—a Southern California playhouse may have a spot for you, the Los Angeles Times reports. The Costa Mesa Playhouse in Orange County, Calif., has hit a roadblock in its…
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Theodore Wafer’s Defense Team Calls Medical Examiner in Murder Trial
The controversial trial of Theodore Wafer, the Dearborn Heights, Mich., man charged with manslaughter and second-degree murder in the fatal shooting of unarmed black teen Renisha McBride, continued in Michigan Wednesday, with the defense taking the forefront on Day 5 of the trial as the prosecution rested its case, the Detroit Free Press reports. Calling…
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Upstate NY Police Label Alleged Shooting Suspect a ‘Dark Negro’
Lockport, N.Y., police apparently thought it would be OK to label the complexion of 19-year-old Shamir Allen as “dark Negro” on his mug shot in the police department’s database, WGRZ-TV reports. Allen was detained for alleged involvement in a string of shootings that have hit the city this year, according to WGRZ. The Lockport Police…
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Dear Men: It’s Not Hip-Hop’s Body, It’s Nicki Minaj’s Body
There was a time, not long ago when I—shrouded in groupthink and male privilege—would have reacted to the promo cover art for Nicki Minaj’s latest single, “Anaconda,” in pretty much the same vein as AllHipHop.com’s founder and CEO, Chuck Creekmur. His response to Minaj—who poses for her cover photo with legs agape, backside to the…
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Transgender Teen Stabbed on DC Metro
Reginald Anthony Klaiber is facing hate crime charges after stabbing a 15-year-old transgender girl in the back while riding the Washington, D.C., Metro, according to BuzzFeed. The girl and her friends were riding the Metro’s Green Line on Wednesday when they were approached by Klaiber around 4:30 p.m. “He came to my friend and said…
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Tell Me More About the Return of the White-Guy Era in Broadcast Media
Though we often ridicule those who find themselves on the wrong side of a racial controversy and fall back on the “but I have a black friend” defense, this time I figured it actually might not be a bad idea for me to start this piece with a similar disclaimer: Some of my best friends…
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Black Community Leaders in Calif. Protest White Cultural-Studies Teacher
Local black leaders in Fresno, Calif., aren’t happy that a white man is going to be teaching African-American studies, Latino studies and Southeast Asian studies to students at the soon-to-open Rutherford B. Gaston Middle School, the Fresno Bee reports. The middle school, named in honor of Fresno’s first black principal, is scheduled to open in…
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US’ Oldest Private Black University Is in Trouble
Ohio’s Wilberforce University, the nation’s oldest black private university, founded in 1856, is in dire straits amid plummeting student enrollment, a financial deficit of $9.7 million and its accreditation hanging perilously in the balance, the Associated Press reports. Alumni have rallied together in an effort to raise $2 million in cash donations that includes $400,000…
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Get on Up: The Rage and Genius of James Brown
The life story of legendary soul singer James Brown is a complicated one. Brown is as well-known for being a musical genius as he is for being a tyrannical, abusive bandleader and spouse. The man who grew up in abject poverty in South Carolina and Georgia danced, sang and shouted his way into a world…