washington, d.c.
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As Coronavirus Spreads in Nation's Jails, Inmates Sue Correctional Systems for Soap and Paper Towels
It’s one of the most basic ways to fight the spread of the coronavirus: soap and clean towels. But on Monday, people locked behind bars in Washington, D.C. and Texas had to sue correctional facilities in order to get them. Filed in federal court, the D.C. and Texas lawsuits accuse their respective prison systems of…
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Housing as a Human Right: Movement Gains Steam in Los Angeles in Response to Pandemic
For years, a housing crisis in California has been coming to a head as skyrocketing rents have outpaced people’s wages. That crisis has led to a growing homeless population the state has struggled to assist. Now, with the coronavirus pandemic requiring Californians to “shelter-in-place,” homeless families find themselves running out of safe options. In response,…
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My Daughter Came Down With The Flu and I Learned All About My Family Medical History
The Washington, D.C. area has been hit particularly hard with the flu this season. At my daughter’s school, for instance, as many as 41 kids were out at one time. My boys’ school also felt like a ghost town on several separate days. All three of my children came down with the flu; my daughter…
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Gentrification Remains Undefeated: DC Cultural Landmark Horace & Dickies Closing After 30 Years
I am getting older. My memory is getting worse. I drive down streets that I don’t know anymore. The child I used to be is long gone and so are the places that held those memories. The touchstones of my life are getting harder to remember. I feel like at times I’m making up a…
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A White Nationalist Group Marches Through Washington and, Surprising to Nobody Black, Everyone Seems Perfectly Fine With It
America is white nationalism. Now just hear me out, because I know some of you are ready to call me hyperbolic (while the rest of you are side-eyeing me and thinking, “no shit, bro. How wet is the water where you live?”), but there’s got to be a reason that, even in 2020, American officials…
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NAACP Lawyer Sherrilyn Ifill Blasts Amtrak Conductor for Asking Her to Give Up Seat
They got the right one on the wrong day! The head of NAACP’s Legal Defense and Educational Fund went off on social media about an Amtrak employee who asked her to give up her seat on the train to accommodate someone else—on the weekend of Martin Luther King Jr. Day. WTF Is Really Going On?…
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Forever President Barack Obama Warns 2020 Democrats Voters 'Don't Want to See Crazy Stuff'
Will some of that old black magic work this time around? One can only hope it does. If any one can make it happen, it would be Barack Hussein Obama. Black America’s Forever President made an appearance at a Washington D.C. fundraiser Friday night. There, he doled out some advice to a room of well-heeled…
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It Turns Out, Hip-Hop Will Probably Always Be the Love of My Life
A few weeks back, I attended an album talk for noted hip-hop lyricist and producer Pharoahe Monch’s 1999 album, Internal Affairs (released on seminal label, Rawkus Records), at The REACH, the new arts and culture center that’s part of the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts in Washington, D.C. The talk, part of…
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Trump Organization Is Thinking of Selling the Lease to Its Controversial DC Hotel
Amid criticism that Donald Trump has been wrongly profiting from his swank Washington, D.C., hotel, the Trump Organization now is reportedly thinking of selling the lease it holds on it. “People are objecting to us making so much money on the hotel, and therefore we may be willing to sell,” Trump’s son Eric, an executive…