culture
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Golden Krust Is a Major Part of the Caribbean New Yorker Identity
Golden Krust CEO Lowell Hawthorne’s unabashed capitalist optimism feels out of step in a time of emboldened anti-black resentment. Still, when the businessman spoke to the Jamaican Observer as recently as October, he echoed the belief of many West Indian transplants—the blind hope that the American dream can be manifested through sheer will. “In my…
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Black Women, Don’t Throw Up Hands—Call the Bank of Hysteria to Vent
Sexual harassment got you down? Microaggressions become too much? Poverty a pain in the ass? Racism got you fucked up? Well, black women, there’s now a place to place all of your justifiable but sometimes “problematic” anger, an actual depository to just vent, let loose and scream (or text) your ass off like Nola Darling…
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The Bizarre Case of Meek Mill’s Incarceration, Explained
Let me make this clear: I’m not team #FreeMeekMill, but I am team #FreeRobertRihmeekWilliams. There is a difference. Meek Mill is a highly touted street dude-turned-rapper from Philly. Robert Rihmeek Williams is a Philadelphia man who many believe has been wrongly incarcerated by an overzealous judge who is using her influence and judicial power to…
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These Shirts Are Every Thought People of Color Have Refrained From Saying to White People
I recently recounted for some friends an incident that occurred on a Los Angeles train where a white woman sitting next to me could not resist the urge to try to touch my hair. She had not spoken a word to me after sitting next to me, but I could feel her burning a hole…
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Lubaina Himid Makes History as 1st Nonwhite Woman to Win Prestigious Turner Prize
Lubaina Himid is a visual artist whose drawings, paintings and installations reflect the African Diaspora, and on Tuesday she became the first nonwhite woman to win the prestigious Turner Prize, a British contemporary-art award. According to the New York Times, this year’s award was the first since 1991 to be open to artists over the…
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Miguel’s War & Leisure Is Not as Political as Initially Advertised, but It’s a Near-Perfect Listen
In the lead-up to Miguel’s fourth album, the newly released War & Leisure, fans were teased about a project that would ostensibly feature the singer-songwriter leaning into subject matter that was more outwardly political. That is not to say the discussion of sex, a topic Miguel has covered extensively in his career, cannot in and…
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Did Cornel West Come for Ta-Nehisi Coates?
A few months ago, I was at a Bernie Sanders rally in Birmingham, Ala., surrounded by white people excited to see their democratic socialist Santa Claus. After a mixtape filled with tunes by James Taylor, the Beatles and Bob Marley, a performance by a gospel choir and a short speech by the dynamic Nina Turner,…
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LaVar Ball Is Out of His Mind: He’s Sent Sneakers to Trump and He May Have Just Ruined LiAngelo’s Career
LaVar Ball may have really done it now. On Monday the senior-most Ball announced that he was pulling his middle son, LiAngelo, from UCLA. Big Ball was upset that the school had placed his son and two other students—Cody Riley and Jalen Hill—on indefinite suspension after the three student-athletes were caught shoplifting in China. “I’m…