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Not Safe for White People
In much the same way that February is an important, border-crossing season for many black media workers (it’s BEM, or Black Employment Month), the weekend that a Tyler Perry movie opens has quickly become a special, border-crossing time for many white film writers. The flicks written, directed, produced and acted in by Perry tend not…
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Lest We Forget: An open letter to my sisters who are brave.
I HAVE COME home from a long stay in Mexico to find – because of the presidential campaign, and especially because of the Obama/Clinton race for the Democratic nomination – a new country existing alongside the old. On any given day we, collectively, become the Goddess of the Three Directions and can look back into…
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A Nash'nul Conversashun 'Bout Race? O-Tay
From the blog of Patrick J. Buchanan: Barack says we need to have a conversation about race in America. Fair enough. But this time, it has to be a two-way conversation. White America needs to be heard from, not just lectured to. This time, the Silent Majority needs to have its convictions, grievances and demands…
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On Any Given Sunday, Rev. Wright is Wrong
In the wake of Barack Obama’s impassioned and eloquent speech on race, forced by his pastor’s hateful rants, the black church, the historic back-bone of the movement for equality of opportunity, has gotten a bad rap. It has been alleged that the fire-breathing oratory — dripping with hate-America themes, bigoted racial messages and all sorts…
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Clash of The Waves: Feminism in Crisis
This exchange followed a blog post by Rebecca Walker on The Huffington Post. Anonymous: I disagree with your assessment of this election. I think you are really diminishing how much of a threat Hillary is to the male power structure in America. I have never seen the media make the kind of brazen, non-stop sexist…
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Tyler Perry's Conservative Tent Revival
I accept that Tyler Perry is a pop culture phenomenon. His new film, Meet the Browns, took in more than $20 million its opening weekend and his TV sitcom, House of Payne, won three NAACP image awards. But I find myself wondering how thoughtful folks are supposed to respond to the retrograde spirituality and formulaic…
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Hair Tactics: Why I Cut my Dreadlocks
It was Good Friday, when barbershops are notoriously busy, and there I waswaiting alongside grandfathers and school-age boys.My last visit to a barber had been in 1995, and it showed; locks flowing well past my shoulders.The decision to cut them was a long time coming. But every time I thought about it, I remembered how…
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The Perilous Politics of Hair
A strange and sad thing happened to me on my job search this year. I missed out on an opportunity not because of my skills, but because of my hair. I was looking for a little extra money for college this past February, so I applied for a job at my old place of employment,…
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Just to Recap: Ridiculous War, Monumental Mistake
Five years ago, the United States invaded Iraq and set in motion a chain of events that most Americans wish had never been unleashed. While President Bush and Vice President Cheney have been making the rounds to convince a skeptical public that the war has been critical for America’s national security interests, their words ring…
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Is Nas Hip-Hop's Randall Kennedy?
Browsing books at a Barnes & Noble in south San Francisco before dinner the other night, I saw a book called Sellout between the aisles, obviously positioned to be noticed. I saw the title of the hardcover, but it was the author’s name that drew my attention: Randall Kennedy, a Harvard Law professor who also…