culture

In a piece for the Huffington Post, the Rev. Al Sharpton applauds the high court’s recent ruling striking down Arizona’s attempt at voter suppression, known as Prop 200. It’s a victory for voting equality and justice — and a blow against racial profiling. Voting is a right, not a privilege. Apparently some folks need a…

Jay-Z’s latest business deal with Android involving his upcoming album is a win for the company, the rapper and African Americans, writes Jamilah King for Colorlines. The business mogul clearly knows his audience: Young black consumers love their smartphones, and blacks are more likely than other groups to report favoring Android. Jay-Z is teaming up…

We’ve seen him as a professional bank robber in Takers, a working-class father in Daddy’s Girls, a demented but brilliant detective in Luther — and of course as Stringer Bell in HBO’s The Wire — but we’ve never seen Idris Elba as a historical figure. Until now. Check out the new poster for the upcoming…

Black and Latino children with autism and other disorders don’t have the same access to specialists and care as white children with the same diseases, a recent study in the journal Pediatrics suggests. According to CNN, minority children with autism are often misdiagnosed or not diagnosed as early as white children. Specifically, African-American children aren’t diagnosed until roughly…

Writer Jamilah Lemieux would prefer not to see your pants sagging off your behind. Writing at Clutch magazine, Lemieux complains about grown men who do not seem to have wardrobes that correspond with their age.  There’s no universal standard of style that all men or women can be held to, nor do I advocate for…

Shaun Ossei-Owusu at the Huffington Post parses Bill Cosby’s tough love toward the black community and finds areas of his argument that need improvement. Ossei-Owusu urges Cosby and others to distinguish between structural racism (prison industrial complex, underfunded public school schools, etc.) and the “cultural explanations” of inequality.   Critics are right when they point…

Imara Jones wants black and Latino people to pay close attention to reports about the government’s surveillance activities as of late. Writing at Colorlines, Jones describes a program called Prism that targets social media, which is used disproportionately by people of color. But particularly troubling for people of color is the program called Prism. With…

(The Root) — Early last week I breathed a sigh of relief when I stumbled across several black sites offering commentary on the findings of a report from the United Negro College Fund stating that black women were enrolling in college in record numbers — more so, in fact, than any other race, ethnic group…