Megan Piphus, an upperclassman at Vanderbilt University in Nashville, Tennessee, recently appeared on The Tonight Show with Jay Leno. She’s using music, ventriloquism, and puppetry, to inspire youth to dream big and in color!
It’s sad that it takes a tragedy so horrifying it’s beyond belief to get us to recognize a problem that’s been staring us in the face for decades. The culture of violence that this country was founded on is as American as apple pie. Sadly innocent children and brave teachers were murdered in Newtown, CT, and we can only […]
I attend Temple University in Philadelphia, and almost every time I mention that I am from Chicago I get 2 questions: “Do you know Chief Keef?” and “Have you ever been shot?” When did Chief Keef become the poster-boy for Chicago? What does this say about our society’s obsession with violence?
In the LGBTQ community there is something called “throwing shade.” A colloquial term used to describe instances when one individual verbally and offensively altercates another. I am not interested in the shade itself, but moreso the reasoning as to why this experience is so common among interactions between youth of color in the LGBTQ community. […]
A few weeks ago I threatened to record an album of me performing Christmas carols as spoken word pieces. It seemed like a genius idea at the time until: 1. While trying it in the privacy of my own home I realized that although initially funny, it gets annoying really quickly, and 2. DMX performed […]
Malissa Williams & Timothy Russell, killed by Cleveland Police Officers Many of us were already reeling from the news of another unarmed Black teenager killed in Florida. 17 year old Jordan Davis was killed when 45 year old Michael Dunn objected to the loud music Jordan’s friends were playing from their car at a local gas station. Michael Dunn […]
For many, today marks the beginnings of finals week, a slew of tests given at the end of the semester wherein students attempt to coherently regurgitate everything they learned last night while cramming. In this tradition, I’d like to assign several essay questions to a few folks who have some explaining to do. You know […]
Every week, the Black Youth Project collects the top news stories about black youth from across the country. Click here to check out our archive of weekly news round-ups, and check back every Monday for a new roundup of headlines about young black America
Irony is the very people that always claim they do everything by the book and never make mistakes, are the same ones that want to make it illegal to film them. Yes, I’m talking about the police department. In some states the police were trying to use existing wiretapping or eavesdropping laws to arrest citizens […]
Last month, the State Board of Education in Florida approved a new set of student achievement guidelines that sets lower standards for Black youth. Rather than closing the achievement gaps between students of different races, the guidelines simply accept them.
Kevin Clash, the longtime voice and puppeteer behind Sesame Street’s Elmo character, has resigned. According to the NY Daily News, a second accuser has now come forward, alleging that he and Clash engaged in a sexual relationship while he was a teenager.
According to Gawker, the young man who accused Elmo puppeteer Kevin Clash of having a sexual relationship with him when he was 16 – and then recanted that story and received $125,000 – has now recanted his recantation. Is this about the truth, or a bigger settlement?
