1677 Search results for "past"

As I voted earlier this week in the presidential race (for only the second time in my life) I thought about all the critiques I have for the current president. I also thought about when we need to do this. And I think the appropriate day would be on November 7th, the day after the […]

Granted, the title of this article is a bit ambitious but it’s for good reason. On Monday  the 22nd, the debut studio album for Kendrick Lamar good kid m.A.A.d city is set to drop. Since today is Friday the 19th, that means, yes I downloaded the leak. Smh. But not to fear, because I will […]

So I’m sick and tired of conversations about the state of Black youth ending with the same played-out solutions—restoring strong family values. Now don’t get me wrong, of course family is important, but we are mistaken if we think that broken homes are the main factors fueling gang violence. If we should blame anything it should […]

Che “Rhymefest” Smith and Jasiri X outside 16th St Baptist Church in Birmingham (Photo by Paradise Gray) State Senator Scott Beason, one of the principle architects of Alabama’s anti-immigration bill HB56, is a racist. That’s not just my opinion, that’s what he was called by U.S. District Judge Myron Thompson. Beason was a key witness […]

D.C. Pastor Says MLK Jr. Would Champion LGBT Rights  Washington D.C. pastor Dr. Dennis W. Riley has made quite a few headlines this past week with an impassioned series of essays entitled “Gays R Us,” in which he argues for an inextricable link between the the LGBT and Black Civil Rights movements, and asserts emphatically […]

Black scholars reach into their own pasts to help beleaguered young black men Dawn Turner Trice, Chicago Tribune, December 13, 2010 When Waldo E. Johnson Jr., a University of Chicago social scientist, decided to put together a book on what’s hurting and helping young black men, he decided to collect the thoughts of several black scholars, many […]

This past Saturday I did what no child looks forward to. I attended my mother’s funeral. Upon returning home to Cleveland I wasn’t sure how I was going to react to the various situations: being in my mom’s old room, the one she died in, viewing her body for the first time at the funeral […]

As we cheer this summer for the impressive athletes competing in the World Cup in South Africa, let’s all try to keep in mind the country’s history and also the (unseen) realities of its present. Apartheid was a legalized, oppressive system of segregation in South Africa that lasted until just before Nelson Mandela became the […]

By Taylor Allyn On the apps, it is always the same choreography. I open the grid and feel my body enter a market, lit by the cold light of my phone. Faces slide past: white, light, maybe one or two Black men scattered like decoration across a page that was never designed for us. The […]

by Michael J. Ivory, Jr. The day I told my Pentecostal preacher parents I didn’t want to attend church with them anymore, I remember feeling a profound freedom. For once, I chose my Black queer body’s peace over witnessing my existence being raked over hellfire coals. No more shallowed breath at the altar. No more […]

by Dr. Ravynn K. Stringfield Social media is currently flooded with messages from people encouraging others online to “get into print media” or “go analog,” while simultaneously bemoaning the loss of politically aware print media that centered marginalized voices—RIP Bitch Media—and a dearth of media that represent our experiences. However, for Black artists, writers and […]

by Naiquan. Last summer, a friend and I realized we hadn’t seen children playing in the fire hydrant. No elder on the block with a key to unlock the “Johnny Pump”. As a child of the Brooklyn Spike Lee portrayed in “Crooklyn,” I know first-hand the feelings of protection and support from my neighbor’s grandfather, […]