41 Search results for "optimism"

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, […]

By Monika Estrella Negra The majority of the Black punks I have talked to were drawn to (or got lost in) the Punk scene in order to escape the rigidity and heteronormative idealism of traditional Black political organizing. This is not to infer that all Black punks identify with far leftist views, nor does it […]

by JeCorey Holder As discourse bubbles over a white cosplayer winning first place at a Black Nerd convention (something that I, in my naive sliver of optimism, am still hoping was a misunderstanding), my mind falls upon the white allies who celebrate Black people having our own spaces… Only to swerve well out of their […]

by Tiffany Hobbs She has her eyes.  It was the first time I’d looked longer than a few seconds into the eyes of the woman in the photograph on my bookshelf. Looking longer introduced me to the inevitability of dying and death. I was hiding from her eyes, playing a game I was determined to […]

I’m sure my relationship to Bill Cosby and his brand is similar to that of millions of other people. Before I reached adolescence, he’d already taught me weekly life lessons as Cliff Huxtable on The Cosby Show and made me laugh with his G-rated comedy routines. To show how deep my family’s appreciation of the […]

For years, Rihanna has used the Clara Lionel Foundation to help make the world a better place for everyone by donating to charities and helping foster more community resources. As a result of all of her hard work, she was recently named Harvard’s 2017 Humanitarian of the Year Award.

Chance the Rapper recently sat down with ESPN’s The Undefeated for a joint interview with Chicago Bulls player Jimmy Butler. The two talked about the city and how they’re each leaving their own legacies, one being a hometown kid who just won three Grammys, the other being the centerpiece of an historic basketball franchise. During part […]

The Hollywood Reporter has confirmed that ABC is in early talks to create a spin-off from Black-ish. The series would star Yara Shahidi, who plays the oldest child in the Johnson family, and tell of her experiences going to college. 

2008 feels so long ago, and the feelings I had then are so foreign now. But I remember clearly how a handsome, brilliant, and charming Black man once convinced me and so many other Black folks to hope for the world to change. I remember how he assured me that the violence of anti-Blackness I […]

Although President Obama has very little time left in office, he still has plenty of opinions about the 2016 election and what would have happened if it had been his name on the ballot. In an interview with former senior advisor David Axelrod, President Obama claimed that, if he had run again, he could have won since […]

President-elect Donald Trump has nominated famed neurosurgeon and former Republican presidential hopeful Ben Carson to his cabinet. Specifically, Carson will potentially head the Department of Housing and Urban Development if he’s confirmed by the Senate.

I have always considered myself an optimist. This may come as a surprise to those who have heard me argue, sincerely, that “everything is anti-Black,” or who experience my total lack of faith in the idea of reform, or who witness me supporting unapologetic non-participation in the electoral system, having long lost confidence that it […]