culture

Dr. Boyce Watkins at Your Black World says it’s hypocritical for the U.S. to employ a military strike against Syria. Instead of going to war with Syria, he urges President Barack Obama to reconsider his foreign policy and shift his focus to domestic affairs. But after thinking about the situation long and hard, I’ve concluded…

While Nelson Mandela is recovering after a lengthy hospital stay in South Africa, his daughter Makaziwe Mandela and granddaughter Tukwini Mandela will be toasting him this weekend thousands of miles away at the two-day Toast of Brooklyn Wine and Food Festival in New York City. But they won’t have to raise just any old glass…

African-American supermodel Jessica White is used to sticking out wherever she goes. She is a model, after all, who has appeared on the cover of Sports Illustrated’s Swimsuit Edition and walks the runways for some of the world’s top designers. She is also one of a select few black women in her position, and in…

The Washington Post is reporting that with 97 percent of precincts recorded in Tuesday’s Democratic primary race for New York City mayor, Public Advocate Bill de Blasio captured about 40.2 percent of the total vote, which puts him slightly above the 40 percent threshold needed to avoid triggering a runoff on Oct. 1. The swirling, chaotic…

Police authorities in Arkansas are investigating circumstances surrounding the death of Monroe Isadore, 107, who was shot on Saturday in Pine Bluff, Ark., the Associated Press reports. He reportedly fired at police during a confrontation and was shot and killed by an officer. Authorities have said they tried using a camera, negotiating tactics and gas before shooting…

The gap between the wealthiest 1 percent and the rest of America is the biggest it’s been since the Roaring ’20s, the Washington Post reports. The very wealthiest Americans earned more than 19 percent of the country’s household income last year — their biggest share since 1928, the year before the stock market crash. And…

(The Root) — The Harriet Tubman role was the last straw. After recurring guest spots spanning slavery to the civil rights movement, actress Azie Dungey was over the days of old. “The future just seemed like more history,” said Dungey. When a friend forming a historical actors’ troupe asked Dungey, who’d just finished playing a…

Bill de Blasio is the early front-runner, garnering nearly 40 percent of the vote in the New York Democratic primary mayoral race, reports NY1. De Blasio, who is currently the city’s public advocate, made waves in the last few weeks, not only with his liberal take on issues like ending stop and frisk but also with…

Ramou Sarr went through a long process of ridding herself of thoughts that she was ugly and inferior as an African-American girl, especially growing up in predominantly white environments. At Black Girls Talking, Sarr describes how she once yearned for blond hair. The ways in which my self-hatred manifested itself slowly changed, however. It became…