culture
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I Bought Legal Recreational Weed in California for the 1st Time
Like most Californians, I have been waiting for the day I could walk into a dispensary and buy marijuana without the required medical recommendation. Mine expired nearly four years ago, and I have been relying on other means to get my stash as of late. On Jan. 1, weed went mainstream in my state, but…
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Oprah Is Not America’s Mammy; Please Don’t Ask Her to Clean Up This White President’s Mess
On Sunday, in her best presidentially coiffed hair and geek-chic specs, Oprah Winfrey delivered the speech at the Golden Globes as she took home the Cecil B. DeMille Award for lifetime achievement. While her speech touched on historical racism and sexism, which are woven into the fabric of Hollywood’s ethos, her speech transcended the moment,…
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Rosa Parks, Recy Taylor and Gertrude Perkins Are Mothers of the #MeToo Movement
In 2016, former Oklahoma City Police Officer and rapist Daniel Holtzclaw was sentenced to 263 years in prison for the rapes and sexual assaults of seven black women and one black girl, ranging in age from 17 to 58. He was found guilty of 18 of 36 charges, including four charges of first-degree rape, one…
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A Firsthand Account of the Legal Hearing, Support Rally, Church Service—and Attack—of Umar Johnson
Two things can be true at the same time. It is possible to believe that Oprah Winfrey might be the transformational black woman of our generation while simultaneously believing that she is not qualified to be president. One can believe that Kanye West is an attention whore who exists somewhere on the fuckboy spectrum and…
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Idris Elba Talks Molly’s Game and Working With Aaron Sorkin
Idris Elba has had a very busy year when it comes to movies. From starring in The Dark Tower, The Mountain Between Us and Thor: Ragnarok, not to mention getting a chance to become a kickboxer, downtime is something he’s had very little of. But he’s most proud of his role in the Jessica Chastain-led film…
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Black Mirror: ‘Black Museum’ Reckons With America’s History of Commodifying Black Pain
Who could have imagined that Black Mirror, a British science fiction series, would conclude its fourth season with an analogy that reckons with America’s sordid past? In the episode “Black Museum,” which employs the same format as Black Mirror’s “White Christmas” episode, the anthology within an anthology gives us brief tours into the horrors of…
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Judge of Characters: What Happens When White People Go Back to Their Roots?
As a fan of Justin Timberlake’s music (not his life choices), I must say that I am perplexed by how casual he was about sharing with the world that he’s going “back to his roots” with his new album, Man of the Woods. White people wanting to go back to their roots makes me nervous.…
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Lena Waithe’s The Chi Expertly Gives the People of Chicago Humanity and Backstories
The Chi is the type of TV show Chicago deserves. If you leave it to the media, the limited picture that’s painted of Chicago turns anyone who’s never been there away from ever coming to Chi-town because of the seemingly limitless examples of violence that plague the city. But we can’t allow the media to…