culture
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Enough With the Texting; Let's Talk!
Happily single Roxanne Jones, a founding editor of ESPN the Magazine, writes at CNN that while it may be cute for teenagers to text their sweethearts all day and night, that’s really no way for intelligent, confident adults to communicate. She says real men talk — they do not text. As a happily single woman,…
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Finding Bliss When You Don't Expect It
(The Root) — You can read this essay in its entirety — plus the thoughts of 40 other prominent African Americans from the worlds of the arts, medicine, religion and academia — in the anthology Where Did Our Love Go: Love and Relationships in the African American Community, available online and wherever books are sold.…
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Supreme Court's Voting-Rights Decision: Democracy Will Suffer
In a piece at NorthJersey.com, Mark C. Alexander, a professor at Seton Hall University School of Law, writes that by gutting the Voting Rights Act, the Supreme Court has spun a mythical America that is not representative of the world in which we live. He says “their foray into fantasy does damage that may not be…
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How Do I Research My Fulani Roots?
(The Root) — “I have both maternal and paternal DNA test done by African Ancestry.com. The two tribes indicated in the results point to my maternal roots being Fulani and my paternal roots Ibo, both from Nigeria. Can you suggest which records/archives I can continue my search? “My mother had a middle name she did…
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Black American Pride: Marcia Anderson
(The Root) — A lot has changed since 1903, when W.E.B. Du Bois described black Americans as possessing what he called a “double consciousness,” caught between a self-conception as Americans and as people of African descent. As he put it in The Souls of Black Folk: “The Negro ever feels his two-ness-an American, a Negro;…
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Therapists, Minorities and Discrimination
Most people would say a therapist’s office is a safe place to talk about anything. But what happens when discrimination and racism get in the way? A story in Psychology Today discusses how racism can influence mental trauma and how therapists can exacerbate the problem with their comments to clients. Insensitive remarks can be particularly…
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Tia and Tamera Have New Stretch Mark Cream
Twin actresses Tia Mowry-Hardrict and Tamera Mowry-Housley have a new product for eliminating stretch marks called Stretchy!, Clutch magazine reports. The product is an offering from their company Need Brands, which creates products for new moms. But writer Yesha Callahan says you can save money and make your own that works just as well. Nowadays,…
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Are Blacks More Racist Than Whites and Hispanics?
A new Rasmussen Reports poll shows that Americans consider blacks more likely to be racist than whites and Hispanics in this country. Really? Mind you, these results come on the heels of the Supreme Court decision that struck down the heart of the Voting Rights Act, which essentially was put into place in the 1960s to stop…
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Bill O'Reilly Suggests Jamie Foxx Is Racist for Trayvon Martin T-Shirt
When the BET Awards aired on Sunday, one of the more notable fashion choices was worn by Jamie Foxx. The Academy Award-winning actor wore a simple T-shirt with an image of Trayvon Martin in a hoodie emblazoned across it. Nothing flashy, but certainly powerful — and, apparently to the people at Fox News, controversial. Spotted…
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Essence Music Festival Still Going Strong After Nearly 2 Decades
Almost 19 years after Essence magazine launched its first festival in New Orleans to “party with a purpose” and celebrate black culture, music and people, the Associated Press reports that Essence Fest may be facing new competition. Like Essence this weekend, last weekend’s BET Experience, held in Los Angeles, had Beyonce as a headliner. It…