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China's Long March Across Africa
By now, we’re used to seeing foreign fingers in the African pot. For the latest act of this timeless drama, one need look no further than the Chinatown in Lagos, Nigeria. For years, a small community of Chinese workers ran restaurants or sold textiles in the city; today, however, a walled-off square is brimming with…
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Can Black Journalists Be Trusted to Cover Obama?
When a weary and jet-lagged Barack Obama took the stage on the last day of the UNITY Journalists of Color convention in Chicago last month, most of the attendees had already left. But there was still a healthy crowd of over 2,500 there to hear the presumptive Democratic presidential nominee. That is when, according to…
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A Cocktail for Prevention
Before we begin this discussion of HIV prevention, a few questions: · More than a handful of studies show that any American adult who’s made it past seventh grade knows how AIDS is transmitted and how to prevent it. So why do we still need to raise awareness about the disease? · How many of…
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Dog Lovers for McCain
As much as I hate that the poster children for Valtrex and Child Protective Services (Paris Hilton and Britney Spears) have been injected into our political debate, a practical part of me recognizes that any campaign staffer paying attention to the election coverage would be forced to craft voter appeals aimed at the lowest common…
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Popeyes Didn't Do It
People-watching in the United States can be a taxing endeavor. Besides the unfavorable ratio of plants to concrete and pollutants, the West Philadelphia, Central Harlem and East Baltimore neighborhoods that I have called home over the last decade are filled with legions of morbidly obese, diabetic and hypertensive adults and children who struggle daily with…
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Swimming in the Nile
When I was about five, my mother spent lots of money on swimming lessons at the local YMCA near my hometown of Yeadon, Pa. Sadly, most of the money went down the drain. At the end of my first session, my progress was so stunted that the instructor asked my mom to join the class.…
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Do Not Disturb
Summer means different things to different people. And it can mean different things depending upon the region of the country you’re in as well. I grew up in California but now reside in the Northeast. My understanding of summer has changed enormously, and how I measure a good one versus a bad one has never…
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Bourgie 'R Us
Forget Black Voices, The YBF or the sadly outmoded Black Planet. For young, upwardly-mobile people of color who are in-the-know, there’s one Web site that trumps all of the above—Stuff Educated Black People Like. Notice the qualifier, “Educated.” It’s so very necessary. You see, we so often have to remind others (and ourselves) that we’re…
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Hip-Hop's Magical Year
Twenty years ago, hip-hop music was in its Golden Age. Recently Rolling Stone listed the “15 Albums that Made Rap Explode.” All were works released in ’88, and all laid the seeds for hip-hop’s dominance of popular music years later. From the political and sonic boom of Public Enemy’s It Takes a Nation of Millions…
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The Unending Plague
America likes to consider itself exceptional, a nation blessed with unshakeable good fortune and driven by unyielding ambition. I think that sentiment explains why we so often get caught with our pants down. Our self-absorbed exceptionalism breeds a lazy arrogance that consistently confuses just getting started with finishing the job: Iraq. Al Qaeda. Katrina. It’s…