If anything needs to "bow down" right now, it's King Bey's ego.
To understand the impact of Greg Tate, one need only consult the words of fellow critic Michael Gonzales, who on the occasion of Tate's 50th birthday.
While many do not see the harm in the "new" Harlem Shake internet meme, here are five reasons why Harlem doesn't want you to shake.
Over the course of its seven days of celebration, Kwanzaa endures the change from one calendar year to the next. Commemorating the first fruits of the harvest and pausing to reflect upon heritage, Kwanzaa teaches us about intersection of the past, the present, and the future.
Black films, actors and directors headed to the 37th annual Toronto International Film Festival this September and made their mark.
While Tyler Perry's Madea's Witness Protection brought in $25 million for its opening weekend and resurrected Perry's legion of loyal fans, it also drew what have quickly become the typical Perry critiques--he's an amateur, he lacks cinematic skill and is reinforcing racial stereotypes.
In the 1965 movie Olivier remained meticulous about the aesthetic preparation that would transform him into the Moor. Despite his studious approach, American critics balked at his blackface portrayal.
I recently visited an art exhibit chronicling the legacy of art in Black Los Angeles. The show is called "Now Dig This! Art & Black Los Angeles 1960-1980, " and I sat down to speak with the curator of the exhibit, Kellie Jones. Here's the second part of that conversation.
I recently visited an art exhibit chronicling the legacy of art in Black Los Angeles. The show is at the UCLA Hammer Museum and is called "Now Dig This! Art & Black Los Angeles 1960-1980." I sat down to speak with the curator of the exhibit, Kellie Jones.
In school, the lines were clearly drawn -- it was black and white. With what I wore, what I looked like and the fact that I had more white friends than black ones, I was straying too far from what it meant to "act black."
Mayor Bloomberg's Young Men's Initiative underplays the dire nationwide economic distress which has so many minorities ensnared in poverty -- including minority women and young girls who aren't eligible for the Initiative.
When people who look like you fill the influential roles in society, the heads of state, the judges, the doctors and the bankers, nothing feels impossible or out of reach.
Although the economic situation is pretty bleak for black Americans -- the economically vulnerable suffer the most when the economy tanks -- we are ushering in a time when black individual voices are paramount.
It's one thing when other African-Americans try to threaten my race card, but when people outside of my ethnicity have the audacity to question how "down" I am because of the bleak, stereotypical picture pop culture has painted for me, as a Black woman? Unacceptable.
Mark your calendars, because July 2011 is the official point in human history that the black Jewish community got their long-awaited anthem. Kali H...
Just so I'm clear: I like the people fine. It's their whiteness (or rather the privileges associated with it) that I'd rather do without.
Unashamedly aged, rough, ragged and under absolute control, Betty La Vette could find depths of longing and desperation in a lyric that the songwriters probably didn't even know existed.
Are you wistful for that old-time Harlem?
