157 Search results for "stigma"

Uni Ball’s latest ad is among the most racist ever, featuring a black male prison inmate reading a letter from one of his “homies”: “What up, homie. It’s wack that 5-0 bust you shifting bricks of da funky buddha. And I ain’t just spitting, yo. Everyday we be respecting wit a 40 on da floor for our peeps in lockdown.” Seriously.

When I was a little kid everyone would tell me “you are called” or “you have a calling on your life” (mostly older church folks who were overly excited to see an articulate church going black boy). Essentially what they meant was that I would be one of the next “leaders in the black community.” […]

This past week I was asked by a group of middle school students “what do you believe in”? Even though the question was light hearted and blameless, I think as a black male twenty-two year old constantly challenged by the power and privilege dynamics of this society, it is important to rigorously interrogate my own […]

Dr. West believes that that invoking Dr. King’s legacy during the inauguration was pure political calculation, since Dr. King would probably disagree with much of Obama’s foreign and domestic policy. Do you agree? Would Dr. King approve of Obama’s conduct as President?

We can discuss the etymology of ‘ratchet’ all we want, but long story  short, it is  one of the few words in the English language that can equally serve as an adjective (“That club is pretty ratchet.”), verb (“We need play some Fat Trel  so we can ratchet it up in here.”), and noun (“This […]

Mayor Cory Booker has vowed to spend the week on food stamps to combat stigma associated with gov. assistance. Will Booker’s efforts shed light on the lives of those who depend on things like food stamps to eat? Is this just the latest in Booker’s social media shenanigans?

 Resolving the complex layers of marginalization and oppression in our society requires that we continually be willing to challenge many of the presuppositions that we hold near and dear to our hearts. Often times, systems such as racism and sexism are inextricably linked to one another, and we cannot hope to solve these issues one-by-one, […]

by Dr. Fay Payton Recently, I was asked by a group of Black male college students to present at one of their meetings to discuss HIV in the Black Community.  The topic directly aligns with the work of  www.myhealthimpactnetwork.org.  As the founding director of the @myhealthimpact brand, I am adamant that we remain supportive of […]

According to the results of a study, 14 percent of teens nationwide are disconnected. “Disconnectedness” is defined as not working and not being in school. Black youth accounted for the largest share of disconnected young people; a whopping 22.2 percent.

I was in lower parel, the first time I saw a policeman harassing a family who was homeless. This was the first time I felt the familiarity of invisible walls built up in the center of a city that stretched just as far as the wallets of those willing to pay just enough to not […]

It’s no secret that the mainstream rap industry has become almost synonymous with misogyny, violence, materialism, homophobia, and in some cases, just downright foolishness. The pervasiveness of these themes within the industry is what makes little gems like Frank Ocean’s “coming out” so extraordinary. Yet nevertheless, the ever-present reality is that the current orientation of […]

httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LzPhnVaw874 It is always amazing to me when organizations find interventions that can radically change the way young people view their place in the world. As you can see in the video, this is an example of how Chicago Freedom School uses music and chants to build the self-efficacy of young people. There is something […]