culture

Claire Danes won the Emmy Award on Sunday for best drama series actress for her role as a troubled CIA agent on Homeland, beating out Kerry Washington for top actress honors, the Associated Press reports.  Fans of ABC’s Scandal had hoped Washington would win for her role as Olivia Pope. Indeed, it would have been a historic…

Howard professor Gilbert Newman Perkins, in a piece at the Washington Post, tackles America’s foundering perceptions about hip-hop, arguing that it’s largely pundits who know nothing about the art — or how to groove to it! — who shape opinion about it. If I were a betting man, I’d wager that neither Bill O’Reilly nor…

In a piece at the Atlantic, Ta-Nehisi Coates argues that what Brad Paisley, of “Accidental Racist” fame, fails to understand about blacks and the Confederate flag is that it is far worse than “offensive.” He tackles the politics of offense and offense-taking. New York’s Jody Rosen has an interview up with Brad Paisley that’s worth checking out. When…

Parents in Hartford, Conn., should be applauded for complaining about a school system’s American history lesson that forced middle schoolers to re-enact slavery scenes, writes Gene Denby at NPR‘s blog Code Switch. But it does raise the question, he says, of how parents should talk to children about race. The parents are suing the school,…

(The Root) — In a strange turn of events, it appears that no one knows exactly where George Zimmerman is, and therefore he can’t be served divorce papers, a lawyer representing his estranged wife, Shellie, tells TMZ. Until Zimmerman is served with papers, the lawyer says, the divorce cannot move forward. Sources close to George’s family…

The Root’s editor-in-chief, Henry Louis Gates Jr., lamented the loss of 78-year-old Kofi Awoonor, a noted literary figure, who was among 39 people killed during a militant attack on a shopping mall in Nairobi, Kenya, according to news reports. “Kofi Awoonor was one of the pioneering figures in the history of African literature,” Gates said in…

(The Root) — On Friday, there was music in the message at the Congressional Black Caucus Foundation’s 43rd annual legislative conference. During a panel entitled “Hip-Hop and Politics,” hosted by Radio One personality Amos Brown, the Rev. Lennox Yearwood of the Hip-Hop Caucus, Global Grind’s Michael Skolnik, IMPACT’s Angela Rye, Public Enemy’s Hank Shocklee, MC…

(The Root) — In hip-hop, the DJ has always been heralded as the most important member of a rap group. For years, artists have written odes to their mix masters, whether it was Run-DMC showering Jam Master Jay with praise or Rakim proclaiming that “Eric B Is President.” But recently a group of Atlanta-based DJs…

In a piece at BlackAmericaWeb, Don Lemon takes lawmakers to task on gun violence in America in the aftermath of recent mass shootings. He says they must make significant changes to gun laws if things are going to change. Well, first let’s remove the politics and truthfully talk about gun laws, about gun violence.  After the Newtown…

“There is no glory in this,” the New York Times‘ Charles M. Blow writes in a strong reprimand to House Republicans who have threatened to “wreak havoc on the economy” in a last-ditch effort to block implementation of the Affordable Care Act. “This is petty and small.” Delay and defund. And default. That is the…