culture

(The Root) — Like an incurable and recurring infection, blackface just never seems to go away. This disease rages throughout the nation and in other places around the world. What is it about blackface? What is it that attracts people to do it? Could blackface be the equivalent of smoking crack for some people? You know that…

(The Root) — 12 Years a Slave, Steve McQueen’s critically acclaimed movie opening nationwide on Nov. 8, is the most powerful cinematic depiction of slavery ever seen on-screen. The critical buzz surrounding the film has rightfully focused on the combination of its astonishing performances, nuanced script and unflinching examination of antebellum slavery’s impact on a…

In light of Sheryl Sandberg’s campus initiative to promote her best-seller, Lean In, bell hooks, in a piece at the Feminist Wire, is critical of Sandberg’s “simplistic description of the feminist movement.” Sandberg’s brand of feminism, she argues, flies in the face of the work that so many scholars have done to clarify and strengthen the equality for women movement. …

In a piece at Ebony magazine, Jamilah Lemieux says she’s finally getting the message that some white people have been sending black people for years regarding racially insensitive Halloween costumes: They don’t care about the history; they just want to do what they want to do. So stop trying to create a teachable moment — or…

New York Attorney General Eric Schneiderman has heard enough about Barneys and Macy’s and is launching a probe into both upscale retail giants after four complaints detailing racial profiling surfaced in the past week, the Daily News reports. Letters were sent to executives of both companies asking for their practices when determining whom to stop, detain…