culture

  • Black Woman Alleges That Popular NY Club Is Racist 

    A former Stanford student-athlete has alleged that 1 OAK, a New York City nightclub that has played host to a slew of celebrities, refused her entry July 26 because she’s black, Radar Online reports. The woman, who spoke to Radar Online anonymously, said she visited the club because she knew the promoter. When she and…

  • I’m Devastated by the News That My Son Isn’t Mine. What Do I Do?

    Yesterday I appeared in court to have a DNA test result read. It turns out the boy I have been taking care of for the last four years isn’t mine. The mother—my girlfriend—has to back-pay me, yet that doesn’t make me feel any better. I know men aren’t supposed to cry, but everything is hurting,…

  • 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,…

  • 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…

  • 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…

  • 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…

  • 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…

  • 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…

  • 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…

  • 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…