560 Search results for "named"

Last week, it was reported in the press that Aretha Franklin was to undergo a mysterious surgery. Her released statement on the matter was upbeat yet vague, leaving fans and admirers guessing as to the seriousness of the situation. Well apparently the situation is indeed quite serious. Sources are telling the media that the Queen […]

By Daniel Johnson Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson, the first Black woman appointed to the Supreme Court and an appointee of former President Joe Biden, has been consistently and sharply breaking with the conservative Supreme Court, utilizing the power afforded through her dissents to issue missives, aiming those arguments at not only the conservative Supreme Court […]

by Amber Butts Immigration policy in the United States has always enforced racial hierarchy, and the Trump administration further developed an aggressive removal process against Black immigrants. Expanded policing partnerships, broader detention authority, and rhetoric that cast immigrants as criminals and predators created conditions that pushed Black immigrants into detention and deportation at strikingly disproportionate […]

by Juahl Ganaway In a scene ripped from The Sugar Shack, the character Pearline (played by the stunning Jayme Lawson) stalks across the stage purring the lyrics to “Pale, Pale, Moon,” the Brittany Howard-penned song that feels more like an invocation than a performance.  “I wanna sing Like I hear the crickets do I wanna […]

by DeLisha Tapscott, Ed.D. I learned to be useful long before I understood what labor was. Long before I had language for work, worth, or expectation, I understood that being helpful mattered. Being capable mattered. Being low-maintenance mattered. Those traits were praised early, offered as signs of maturity and goodness, folded into what it meant […]

The Price of Presence: Notes From Atlanta’s Strip Economy Notes From An Urban Feminist A year ago I landed in Atlanta, Georgia without my three children, my husband or community. I arrived with four luggages in tow, and although I considered myself a fully realized feminist whose identity could stand alone, I felt like something […]

by Christian M. Ivey “What We Carry” is a powerful coming-of-age story that follows Drew, a young Black college student grappling with grief, anxiety, and the long shadow of racial trauma.  Get yo ass up, Drew! My alarm rang, a nasty, raggedy rang, almost soundin’ like it was yellin’ at me. Get yo ass up, […]

By Cai Thomas   Trina Reynolds-Tyler and the Labor of Uncovering There is a kind of story that lives in silence. These are stories deliberately hidden inside systems, obscured by bureaucratic language, mislabeled in public records, or buried deep within data sets that were never meant to be read closely. They do not reveal themselves […]

By Johnae Strong  A film by Johnaé Strong Some works capture the beauty of Black life.Others hold its tension, its memory, its muscle.This one does all of that—and then breathes into it. Black Things Today, directed by Johnaé Strong, is a cinematic offering rooted in presence, ritual, and return. Told through the lives of three […]

Kendrick Lamar dominated the news cycle in 2024 not only with his ongoing feud with Aubrey “Drake” Graham, but also with the announcement that he would be headlining the Super Bowl LIX Halftime Show. With the Kansas City Chiefs vying for a record-breaking three consecutive Super Bowl victories and Philadelphia Eagles’ running back Saquon Barkley […]

This week, as a part of our features series, we have a film review of Nickel Boys, directed by RaMell Ross. The review, by the Chicago-based Associate Editor at Roger Ebert, Robert Daniels, can be found here; read about why the film deserved a 4/4 star review and check it out when it hits theaters […]

by Alycia Kamil We Speak Our City Back On Language, Gentrification, and Black Presence in Chicago There are stories that arrive already smoothed out. Made digestible for funders, developers, and media outlets. The kind that trades in progress narratives and polished soundbites. This is not that kind of story. This piece opens differently. The voice […]