culture
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Why White Critics' Fear of Engaging Tyler Perry Is Stifling Debate
They’ve offered analyses that, while largely negative, skip across the surface and ignore the depth, Joshua Alston argues in a piece for A.V. Club. At the end of March, Temptation: Confessions Of A Marriage Counselor hit theaters, bringing the number of films written and directed by Tyler Perry to 13 in just over seven years.…
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Jada, Will and the Open Marriage?
(The Root) — Professor Jada Pinkett Smith is back in the building, and class is in session. Continuing her online university-esque lecture series disguised as Facebook posts on everything from haters and bullying to goddess energy and last-resort lesbianism, Pinkett Smith recently sort of addressed the persistent rumors of her alleged open marriage to fellow…
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Gun Violence: What Do We Tell Our Children?
The Rev. Al Sharpton writes in a piece for the Huffington Post that it’s up to each and every one of us to show more courage than the 46 political cowards in the U.S. Senate. Almost every single day, someone walks into one of National Action Network’s (NAN) offices around the country consumed with the…
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Black Male Teachers: Becoming Extinct?
(The Root) — Many media sources have propagated the view that black male teachers are “becoming extinct.” Currently, black males represent less than 2 percent of the nation’s teacher workforce. One article suggests that black males are underrepresented in the teaching profession because they prefer to pursue more lucrative careers. The article also postulated that…
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Whoopings Ain't Working, Y'all
Essence‘s Janelle Harris makes the case that corporal punishment that leaves welts and open sores is going to exacerbate the problems that exist and create some new ones, too. … Black folks believe in spankings. It’s a cultural norm, accented with funny anecdotes about picking your own switches and being mollywhopped with mama’s backhand from hell.…
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Robin Roberts on Her Hospitalization and Boston
Good Morning America host Robin Roberts, who underwent a bone marrow transplant in September 2012, used a Facebook post today to inform fans and viewers that she’d been briefly hospitalized after she fell ill during a trip to Key West, Fla., last week. She pointed out that it was “nothing serious.” Here is her message,…
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Jay-Z Gets a Time 100 Cover: 'He Even Put a Ring on Beyoncé'
On Thursday, Time magazine revealed the 10th annual Time 100, its list of the 100 most influential people in the world. No one will be shocked to learn that Barack Obama, Michelle Obama and Valerie Jarrett were among the African-American leaders honored from the political realm. We probably could have called Beyoncé, Jay-Z, Shonda Rhimes, Miguel, Frank…
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Iyanla and DMX: Entertainment or Exploitation?
In a piece for Clutch magazine, The Root’s contributing editor Demetria L. Lucas says the rapper clearly needs something, but it’s not for us to gawk and laugh at his situation. I don’t know exactly what is wrong with ol’ Earl “DMX” Simmons or what he needs. That’s over my head. But I know what…
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What Media Sex Appeal Means for Skylar Diggins
How things have changed in women’s basketball since the “nappy-headed hos” controversy. Colorlines‘ Jamilah King examines the media’s current fixation with the looks of the No. 3 pick in the WNBA draft. Six years ago, the biggest story in women’s basketball was about Don Imus calling the predominantly black Rutgers women’s basketball team “nappy headed…
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Letter to Terrible People Who Make Tragedies Worse
Writing at Ebony, Michael Arceneaux has a few choice words — and some requests — for “Boston Marathon tragedy pimps.” I. When Something Horrible Happens To Other People, Don’t Make It About You and Your Cause Conservative Washington Post blogger Jennifer Rubin used the Boston Marathon bombing to take a shot at her colleagues when…