1632 Search results for "old school"

httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b5FYahzVU44 Precious: Based on the Novel Push by Sapphire is a film about an obese, sixteen year-old black girl growing up in Harlem. She is illiterate, has a really mean mama who beats, rapes, and berates her. She has two children by her father, who also infected her with HIV. Think Color Purple. After getting […]

I am my mother’s daughter and my mother is the daughter of my grandmother. And both their stories and silences speak through me. I begin with this mantra because spiritually and mentally I desperately need to understand why tears stained and wrinkled my cheeks as I watched the movie Precious. Yes, I am a Cancer […]

Oprah Winfrey and Tyler Perry said Precious was awesome and that everyone should go see it. Since I am the most obedient of Negroes, I saw it last Friday. If Flavor Flav is the world’s greatest hype man, this duo is officially the world’s greatest hype machine. I found Precious slightly underwhelming, uninspiring, and lacking […]

  httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=55FpBt6jJc0 “Where were the cops?” asks Letzbeforreal in his mini-video.  His question is not new. He, like everyone else, is looking to hold some bigger entity accountable for the murder of Derrion Albert.  He wants to lay blame where it does “the most good.”  Others assign blame to the administration of Fenger High School.   Despite […]

Growing up in a fairly religious household, I was never allowed to trick or treat. I never got to dress up as a ghost, goblin, or display any type of cute themed cartoon— the innocent ones like Winnie the Pooh or Mighty Morphing Power Rangers (The originals). Unlike my story, most little kids growing up […]

“Spelman thou name we praise STANDARDS and honor raise we’ll ever faithful be throughout eternity . . .” Reflecting on my twenty some years of existence, I must say the best decision I’ve made thus far was to attend Spelman College in Atlanta, Georgia. Not because it was the blue print for the show, A […]

I’m having trouble embedding the video in question.  Please view it here. Remember last year when all the white gay people were mad at black people because Prop 8 passed in California?  Well, it wasn’t a fluke.  We’re still their whipping boys (er, bois?).  Last week, my internet boyfriend AC (again, the only man I’d […]

http://www.iviewtube.com/videos/89320/16-year-old-derrion-albert-beaten-to-death-in-chicago Derrion Albert’s murder was something like a blood sport event. As you watch in this clip, you can hear the man and woman, the camera crew, filming with their phone.  Starting at 36 seconds, the man says “Let me see that shawty,” to which the female responds presumably as she hands over the phone, […]

Here’s your daily dose of hate-filled pessimism. Dear Vh1, Guess who’s having the best year ever.  Hope.  That’s right, Hope–a four-letter word I find no reason to use unless it’s accompanied by a “-less.”  Yet, in retrospect, I totally should’ve kept the little bit of Hope stock I had.  Instead, I panicked when the economy […]

Inner-city L.A. hungers for good grocery stores Daniel B. Wood, The Christian Science Monitor, October 10, 2009 Merit of Stop-Frisk Law at Issue Colleen Long, Pittsburgh Tribune-Review, October 9, 2009 Schools Cited on Discipline of Minority Special-Ed Students Holly Prestidge, Richmond Times-Dispatch, October 9, 2009 Two ways Chicago can curb its youth violence epidemic Amanda […]

Campus Magnet standout Nmesoma Okafor wrongly arrested for murder in case of mistaken identity Mark Lelinwalla, Mitch Abramson and Larry McShane, Daily News,  October 3, 2009 Iowa City Council puts juvenile curfew on hold Gregg Hennigan, The Gazette (Cedar Rapids, Iowa), September 30, 2009 Honor student beaten to death: Can Chicago curb youth violence? Amanda […]

Many people have told me that I have an old soul. This may be true. I tend to retire early for bed, listen to NPR, and have a strong affinity for Motown music. Yesterday, I was listening to Donnie Hathaway’s song “Someday We’ll All Be Free”. The poignant ballad made really think about the concept […]