culture
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White Mandela Painting: 'Not Suitable'?
A painting by artist Kobus Myburgh was scheduled to be displayed as part of South African municipality’s celebration of World Art Day, but that plan has been scrapped, and the piece of art is locked up in a storeroom. Why? It depicted Nelson Mandela and Jacob Zuma as white, and former heads of state Hendrik…
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How Corporate Hip-Hop Profits From Rape Culture
Clutch magazine‘s Kirsten West Savali says that “pimps masquerading as corporations” are proud stakeholders in the degradation and endangerment of women and must be held accountable. When the laser sharp backlash finally grew too intense to ignore, Reebok severed ties with spokesperson Rick Ross for his failure to sincerely apologize for glorifying rape in the…
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Abortion-Doctor Coverage and the 'Poor Black Victim' Theory
According to the Atlantic‘s Conor Friedersdorf, this is just one of 14 explanations circulating for the sparse coverage of the abortion provider charged with killing babies and neglecting women in his care. Journalists, news junkies, and casual news consumers are all offering theories of what drives the media. Wildly divergent theories. And every last one…
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Why Do Black Women Still Support Tyrese?
(The Root) — I have a friend who looks similar to Tyrese. He has the same complexion and chiseled features, and a fondness for wearing plaid shirts, which Ty wore in a pivotal scene as Jody in John Singleton’s Baby Boy. Last year, that friend and I were standing backstage at a music festival when…
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An Image of Inclusion or Colonialism?
(The Root) — This image is part of a weekly series that The Root is presenting in conjunction with the Image of the Black in Western Art Archive at Harvard University’s W.E.B. Du Bois Institute for African and African American Research. Within the multitude of pages contained within an early modern prayer book is found a powerful image of inclusion,…
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Who Was the Real Jackie Robinson?
Colorlines‘ Jamilah King points out that the baseball legend’s fight for racial justice was always tempered by a degree of pessimism about the realities faced by black people in America. Almost 66 years to the day that Robinson made his Major League Baseball debut, the new biopic, “42,” offers an opportunity to examine the racial…
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CNN Diversity: A Picture's Worth a Thousand Words
(The Root) — In the wake of Roland Martin’s firing and CNN’s announcement of new hire Jake Tapper as “the face” of the network, there’s been plenty of conversation about the network’s diversity (or lack thereof). But sometimes a picture — like this “Allow us to reintroduce ourselves” ad — is worth a thousand words.
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Racist Reactions to Jamie Foxx's Trayvon Shirt
The shirt Jamie Foxx wore to Sunday’s MTV Movie Awards displayed the phrase “kNOw Justice” above photos of Trayvon Martin and the children killed in the Newtown, Conn., school shooting. The reference to victims of gun violence was certainly designed to attract attention and start conversation, but probably not of this variety. Public Shaming has…
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MHP: Tax Day and the Gender Pay Gap
On her MSNBC show on Sunday, host Melissa Harris-Perry dedicated a segment to a Tax Day-inspired discussion of the gender pay gap, highlighting statistics on unequal pay and the additional strain that the gap puts on minority women: Just one example: “Seventy-seven is how many cents women working full-time currently make for every dollar men…
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Paris Jackson's Plans for Neverland
Michael Jackson’s daughter, Paris, is only 15 years old, but she already has plans for a project to honor her father’s legacy and help sick and underprivileged kids in the process. Essence reports that she wants to restore Jackson’s Neverland Ranch when she becomes an adult. In the meantime, she’ll make her film debut in…