culture
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Trayvon Martin Did Not Tease Rachel Jeantel
Perhaps those who ridiculed Rachel Jeantel in the wake of her testimony during George Zimmerman’s second-degree-murder trial should borrow a page from her friend Trayvon Martin. In a touching interview with Roland Martin, Jeantel’s lawyer, Rod Vereen, describes Trayvon as one of the good guys who did not ridicule the teen because of her looks…
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Jay-Z Changes the Rules in the Recording Industry
When Jay-Z announced his new partnership with Samsung — in which his next album, Magna Carta Holy Grail, would be made available exclusively to the first million Samsung users who downloaded the app — there was lots of talk from him about new rules, along with many questions. Chief among them: Would those million downloads of…
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BET's 'Being Mary Jane': Relatable
(The Root) — I had coffee with Mara Brock Akil years ago. I was in Los Angeles “taking meetings” about the possibility of optioning the rights to my book to a production company. When my agent asked whose work in Hollywood I trusted — not just admired — the most, Mara’s name flew out of…
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Cornel West: Blacks 'Being Pushed to the Back of the Bus'
While speaking on Smiley & West, his radio show with co-host Tavis Smiley, Cornel West praised the Supreme Court’s ruling last week on gay marriage but complained that “we black folk are just being pushed to the back of the bus in terms of our visibility,” the Washington Times reports. “We’re living in an age…
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Zimmerman Trial: Prosecution Scores
(The Root) — If you’re keeping score in the second-degree-murder trial of George Zimmerman, mark Tuesday’s court proceedings as a narrow victory for the prosecution. The exercise has no bearing on Zimmerman’s fate for fatally shooting Florida teen Trayvon Martin, of course. But after a few days of arguments in which defense attorneys neutralized the…
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'Shark Tank' Wants Black-Owned Businesses
Like most mainstream reality-competition shows, Shark Tank on ABC seems to suffer from a lack of diversity, but the show’s producers, Mark Burnett and his company One Three Media, are determined to change that next season. On Aug. 23, casting directors will be on hand at the Kingonomics Innovation, Entrepreneurship & Investment Conference in Washington,…
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'The Butler' Ordered to Change Name
The Butler has been one of this year’s most buzzed-about films. Posters and advertisements with the film’s title can be seen in theaters and on billboards. A trailer has already been released as well. But now the Weinstein Co., the studio in charge of releasing the film, will have to rethink one part of its strategy:…
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No Props to Prada for Hiring 1 Black Model After 19 Years
Prada did something it hasn’t done in 19 years: cast a black model in one of its ads. Writing at Clutch magazine, Britni Danielle is not impressed and cautions fashion buyers and cultural critics against congratulating the fashion house for an occurrence that should happen more frequently, given the diversity that exists in the fashion consumer…
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Help, I'm a Racist and I Don't Want to Be
(The Root) — “I’m a racist, and I don’t want to be. I’m a white man in my very early 40s, and for years I’ve been extremely awkward and anxious around African Americans, especially men. At some point in my early teens, I became very self-conscious about the racial divide. And about that time, I…
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I'll Never Stop Saying the N-Word
Writing at Very Smart Brothas, Damon Young says that there is an appropriate time and place to say the word “nigga,” and determining one’s audience is an integral part of figuring out when that time is. Interestingly enough, my knowledge of and affinity for words could be an argument for not using some of them. Since there are…