culture
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Black, Gay, Southern Men Embodied in Sweet Tea
Left of Black host Mark Anthony Neal sits down with professor E. Patrick Johnson to talk about his play Sweet Tea. Professor Johnson is the Carlos Montezuma Professor of Performance Studies and African American Studies at Northwestern University. Sweet Tea was published as a book in 2011. At the time, Amazon described it this way:…
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Melissa Harris-Perry Shows Her Natural Hair Sans Braids and Her New Baby
Melissa Harris-Perry, the MSNBC host who recently chronicled on the news channel’s website her fertility issues and the difficulty she and her husband had in choosing to go the surrogate route, is now sharing another side of herself with viewers: her natural hair. Harris-Perry, the host of the Melissa Harris-Perry show (MHP for those in…
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An Ex Can’t Be a ‘Friend’ If He’s Trying to Get Back With You
My ex and I remained friends after our breakup. He has a girlfriend now, but he’s constantly telling me he wants to be with me and the only reason he’s with her is because we’re not together. I think he told me he’s thinking about marrying her to get a reaction from me. How do…
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Running Back Ray Rice and Fiancee to Attend Couples Seminar
Baltimore Ravens running back Ray Rice and his fiancee, who were involved in a brutal domestic dispute at a casino in Atlantic City, N.J., that ended with Rice allegedly knocking his bride-to-be unconscious, are attending a couples’ seminar, coach John Harbaugh told reporters Wednesday. According to ESPN, Harbaugh told reporters that Rice is “doing everything…
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Jean-Michel Basquiat’s Sisters File Lawsuit Against Christie’s
The sister of famed graffiti artist turned art icon Jean-Michel Basquiat are claiming that art works currently listed at Christie’s auction house are phonies, and they have filed a $1 million false endorsement and false advertising lawsuit, the New York Daily News reports. Jeanine Basquiat Heriveaux and Lisan Basquiat claim that the famed auction house,…
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Biker Paralyzed in NY Highway Incident Says He Doesn’t Blame SUV Driver
Edwin Mieses, a New York motorcyclist who was severely injured during a violent West Side Highway altercation involving his group of biker friends and the driver of an SUV, said he doesn’t blame the man who ran him over, the New York Post reports. The 32-year-old was paralyzed from the waist down in the September…
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Remembering Chokwe Lumumba: A Revolutionary Politician
Editor’s note: Chokwe Lumumba died suddenly of heart failure last week at the age of 66. The black nationalist, who at one time advocated for a separate nation for blacks inside the U.S., was elected mayor of Jackson, Miss., last year. His funeral will be held this Saturday. Three years ago, Amiri Baraka delivered the…
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Seriously, Chelsea Handler? You’re Going With the ‘Black Boyfriend’ Defense?
Though Chelsea Handler’s real sin may be the fact that she’s painfully unfunny, she managed to offend this week for another reason. While guest live-tweeting for the Huffington Post during Sunday’s Academy Awards broadcast, she provoked cries of racism at worst and racial insensitivity at best when, after Lupita Nyong’o was named the winner of…
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Florida KKK Recruiter: ‘We Don’t Beat Up on Blacks or Burn Crosses’
There’s a red Ku Klux Klan flag flying somewhere in Boca Raton, Fla., because one resident is trying to recruit people to join the organization. The man, who identified himself only as “Mr. Hayes,” said he’s flying the flag above a “Members Wanted” sign because it’s “what this country is all about—freedom of speech.” He…
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Lupita Nyong’o’s Lip Balm Sells Out After Grabbing Social Media Fame
Who needs expensive marketing strategies when you’ve got Lupita Nyong’o as a customer? As it turns out, French cosmetics brand Clarins struck luck on Sunday when Oscar winner Lupita Nyong’o jokingly pulled out one of their lip balms to offer host Ellen DeGeneres as a tip for the pizza guy, the New York Daily News…