Hundreds packed the funeral of 15 year-old Hadiya Pendleton on Saturday. Attendees heard remarks from her loved ones that painted a heartfelt, deeply personal portrait of the young lady; a loving daughter, and great best friend, a normal teenager.
The search for Christopher Dorner, a former LAPD office and member of the US Armed Forces who had allegedly killed three people, continues. Dorner feels that he was wrongfully terminated from the LAPD in 2008 for reporting another officer’s brutality against a disabled suspect.
I had originally intended to spend this post-Super Bowl morning’s blog either talking about Beyonce’s halftime performance or pitching my latest idea: an edition of the Bible inspired by NFL players. (Think: the Book of Deion Sanders aka Leon Sandcastle or the Gospel according to St. Ray Lewis.) I imagine someone else is already stoking […]
54 year-old Shirley Chambers never expected to outlive all four of her children. On January 26th, her fourth child – 33 year-old Ronnie Chambers – was shot to death while sitting in a parked car.
The Black Youth Project has launched a petition, asking that President Obama come to Chicago and deliver a major speech that addresses the crisis of gun violence in Black and Latino communities. Please stand up for and with Black and Latino youth by signing this petition!
A new year brings a new start, and offers us the temporal metaphor to leave our failings and mistakes “behind us,” and march boldly into a reality of opportunity, reconciliation, and love. In this effort, I offer that we leave many of the detrimental narratives surrounding Black youth in its rightful place—in the past. Let […]
Activists in Brazil have launched a campaign to impeach the governor of Sao Paulo amid allegations of a campaign of police violence that specifically targets black youth.
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!
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 […]
Yesterday we told you about the shooting of 17 year-old Jordan Davis, who was gunned down in an SUV by 45 year-old Michael Dunn after an argument about loud music. Dunn’s attorney says this case is nothing like Trayvon Martin, and that Dunn is no vigilante. What do you think?
The People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) is yet again requesting that the President end the rather silly Thanksgiving tradition of turkey pardoning. In the letter, PETA president Ingrid Newkirk said the act trivializes the mass slaughter of a gentle animal. But that’s not all. Newkirk went on to liken turkeys to people […]
A 19-year-old South African lesbian was fatally stabbed several days ago. Sihle Skotshi is the latest victim in a wave of anti-gay violence that has plagued South Africa. This is another unfortunate reminder of the ways that black LBGTQ youth are frequently in danger in their communities.
