culture
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Film Classics Reimagined With African Leading Ladies
We wish that the film remakes featured in the exhibit ONOMOllywood, the brainchild of Dakar, Senegal-based photographers Omar Victor Diop and Antoine Tempé, were real. The duo was approached by hotel group Onomo International to create a photo series that used Onomo’s hotels as a backdrop. Diop and Tempé decided to create a 20-photo exhibit…
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You Should Watch the Winter Olympics, and Here’s Why
For most of the 90 years that the Winter Olympics Games have been staged, snow and ice was not only the competitive landscape but also the perfect racial metaphor for the games and their athletes. While the colorful, five-ringed Olympic flag symbolized the games’ global reach, there was little color to be seen in the…
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6 Tips for Interracial Couples Who Get Stares and Weird Comments
“I wonder if you’ve addressed the interracial-couple dilemma: the questions, side glances, comments (‘You’re such a cute couple’), etc. I’m a black woman and have been with my boyfriend for five years. While I’ve inoculated myself against the stares and comments, I still struggle with the knowledge that our skin is all some people see.…
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Black Beauty Standards Can Be Just as Unhealthy as White Ones
Last week, there were plenty of reactions to an XO Jane story in which a self-described “skinny white girl” in a yoga class assumed that a “heavyset” black woman, who never said a word to her, coveted her lithe form. Whatever. That misguided essay launched hundreds of responses, including one of my own, which pointed…
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MLK Sons Want to Sell Nobel Peace Prize, Claims Bernice King
A shocking statement released by Bernice King, the daughter of Martin Luther King Jr., claims that her brothers want to sell his Nobel Peace Prize and his Bible, which President Obama used to take the oath of office at his second inauguration. She claims that the two items are in her possession and when she…
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Stars of Color Dominate Vanity Fair 2014 Hollywood Issue Cover
Something is different about this year’s Vanity Fair Hollywood issue cover, and it may have a lot to do with the array of brown faces staring out from the glossy pages. This year, six black stars share the cover alongside six of their white counterparts, all stylishly attired and flawlessly done up. Up-and-coming idols Lupita…
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Dissecting the Chocolatey Cover of Vanity Fair’s Hollywood Issue
The cover of Vanity Fair’s 2014 Hollywood issue is just oozing chocolate goodness: Idris Elba, Lupita Nyong’o, Michael B. Jordan and Naomie Harris—just to name a few. Below is an impromptu interview, in the form of a Gchat conversation, with Elizabeth Ozemebhoya, a former staffer at a Los Angeles entertainment agency. She waxes about who’s…
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Alleged Aaron Hernandez Shooting Victim Shot Again Outside Connecticut Club
Alexander Bradley, who was allegedly shot in the face by former football star Aaron Hernandez, was shot again—this time in the right thigh—Sunday night at Vevo Lounge Bar and Grill in Hartford, Conn., New York’s Daily News reports. The wounded man then left the building, retrieved a .45-caliber gun from a car and fired 11…
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Black Quarterback Wins Super Bowl: Where’s the Fuss?
Disney couldn’t write a better story: A short kid, much too short to play quarterback, won’t let that fighting spirit in him die. So he plays in high school, both ways: quarterback on offense and cornerback on defense. Hell, he even punted the ball. His high school coach called him a one-man wrecking crew. He…
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Study: Frequent Discrimination Leaves Young African Americans at Risk for Disease
Frequent discrimination during youth puts African Americans at risk for heart disease, high blood pressure, diabetes and even stroke later in life, a new study has found, EurekAlert reports. According to the study, conducted by researchers at the University of Georgia and Emory University, 20-year-old African Americans who had reported repeated discrimination during their childhood…