White police officer with cornrows: No, it's not OK
Fri, 09/25/2009 - 11:12
Thomas Strain, a white police officer in the predominantly Black 35th district in Philadelphia, was ordered off the streets and made to take a desk job. Which clearly is an insult. He'd been on the force for five years, with a clean record, so naturally, people wondered why. Well, according to sources in the department who wanted to remain nameless, it was because he had cornrows. ...
If Oprah can love Jay-Z, so should you
Thu, 09/24/2009 - 16:23
People say Oprah's ratings are dropping but pulling guests like Whitney Houston and Jay- Z means she's capturing another demographic and essentially reinventing herself. It's yet to be seen if she'll continue on this pop culture kick.
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Ava Fredericks: Just call me an American
Wed, 07/29/2009 - 00:00
If you are white, you are considered American. But I am not. I always have the subtitle of African American, am always thought of as being dark first. Will I live to see the day I'll be thought of simply as an American? ...
A look back at black music rip-offs
Fri, 07/24/2009 - 00:00
Before black music erupted as a mainstream American staple, rock and roll was in the business of stealing of black music. 'Race records' weren't being played on the white radio stations so artists like Elvis Presley would steal a song, change the melody (or not) and record it as their own. ...
Hip-hop is killing R&B
07/23/2009
by eharris
The sex factor in black AIDS
Fri, 06/26/2009 - 00:00
One out of every two people living with HIV/AIDS in America is black. An array of complex issues, like high poverty rates, the already high prevalence of HIV and STDs and other socioeconomic factors, including discrimination, high incarceration rates, and lack of access to healthcare certainly are some causes of the elevated rates. But what about promiscuity? ...
Accepting black culture without accepting black people
06/11/2009
by eharris
Clearly, this is true of the American love affair with Mexican food and Cinco de Mayo for example, while at the same time Mexican people and immigrants are often looked at as second class citizens, if they are perceived as citizens as all. And of course this is true with African American culture.
Can Shaniqua ever be the CEO?
Tue, 08/12/2008 - 18:45
A prank at a high school in suburban Los Angeles has reawakened issues of black names, black identity and the ways they connect and collide with majority culture.
In June, a yearbook photo of members of the Black Student Union at Charter Oak High School in Covina, Calif., featured an array of phony "ghetto" names, such as "Tay Tay Shaniqua," "Laquan White" and "Crisphy Nanos," for those students.
School officials promised to discipline the student responsible, but the incident ...
