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My own interest in the study of black food culture field began innocently enough as a child at the tables of my mother and grandmother where I savored hot water bread, oxtails and chess pie all the while pondering the logic of pig feet, stewed okra and banana pudding. My interest in the Diaspora grew…

“Cause anytime we mention our condition, our history or existence/They calling it reverse racism.” —Nas’ “N.I.G.G.E.R. (The Slave & The Master)” Contrary to the recent flurry of reports regarding the name change of Nas’ ninth studio album from Nigger to Nas , Nas himself confirms a change, but sets the record straight about the record’s…

The Words I Manifest: Is Conscious Rap Different? And you will find that this perspective is best –-check it out/ These are the words that I manifest. Gang Starr, “Manifest,” No More Mr. Nice Guy A typical take on rap is that whatever Paul Wall and Busta Rhymes are pulling, there is a whole body…

This article and poem was written in the come-up to the 2008 presidential election. The poem, titled “The Obama Hour” was written by Thomas Sayers-Ellis and is reprinted below. Pundits say Obama has a “problem” with white voters. These “hard-working” white folks, in contrast to the lazy, resource-draining, criminally prone black folk, just won’t vote…

Things are pretty calm in India. Its recent election of Prime Minister Manmohan Singh means that the world’s largest democracy will once again be led by a seasoned economist. And it all happened peacefully, fairly and relatively without incident. By contrast, in Pakistan, the army is fighting to recapture territory from the Taliban and shore…

It’s March of 1850 when James McBride’s new novel, “Song Yet Sung,” opens. That’s when Liz Spocott has the dream that makes her decide she’d rather be a 19th century slave than a 21st century black American. “She dreamed of Negroes driving horseless carriages on shiny rubber wheels with music booming throughout, and fat black…

The news, this weekend, that the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People, after a prolonged search, has finally selected a new president brought to mind an old philosophical conundrum: If a tree falls in the forest and no one is there to hear it, does anyone give a hoot? The sad fact is…

Last year, when I gave birth to my daughter and then experienced a range of complications that rivaled a plot line from the television show “House,” I was shocked that such a thing was possible. Upon my release from the hospital, my doctor came to me and said, “Half a million women die every year…