United States
I write about culture and politics through an intersectional feminist lens.
Dave Chappelle's latest special 'Sticks & Stones' finds the once-great comedian punching down yet again.
The film adaptation of Tomi Adeyemi's tremendously popular YA novel is underway!
While some historically Black institutions are making strides towards inclusivity, Zeta Phi Beta has taken a step backward.
For some naively optimistic reasons, I find myself once again surprised and disgusted by the hypocritical anti-black criticisms over former President Obama's paid speaking engagements that are being made by media outlets and politicians like Sen. Elizabeth Warren. Criticism that scarcely seems relevant compared to issues surrounding our current President who is also being investigated [...]
The coronavirus pandemic has brought the insufficiencies of our health care infrastructure on full display. And, as the pandemic continues to unfold, we are finding out that the system we know is not only ultra-expensive, but absurdly inefficient and under-equipped to do the job we need it do.
Poly Styrene was a braces-wearing, singer/songwriter, and frontwoman of X-Ray Spex. Styrene was born in 1957 in the UK to Irish and Somali parents. By the time she turned 16, Styrene had run away from home and was already (unofficially) on the road, following bands and hitchhiking from one music festival to the next.
The one goes out to the Black girls who don't socialize anymore, because of their anxious, intrusive thoughts. To the spoonies rationing energy to make it through the day, and the spectrum babes who monitor minutiae to make others more comfortable. You're not alone.
DecolonizingBeauty is an ongoing photography project by visual artist Saddi Khali and yesterday when we posted one of his gorgeous images on Instagram, it was really clear that some of y'all really hate seeing fat bodies. A strange thing to focus on when we're celebrating black love. "Being fat is unhealthy!"
I'm not here to tell you that your family is trash and can't tell you to want to do. I'm here to help you set healthy boundaries so you can be the best, truest version of yourself. To get us started, let it be known that you don't belong to your family.
Fat Girl Sex is a weekly sex column devoted to the celebration of the sexual empowerment of women, body and sex positivity featuring personal meandering about all the nasty things we do in the dark. Boy, oh, boy, the orgasms I have faked.
Royalty in her own right, 'Black Panther' costume designer Ruth E. Cater, Academy Award-nominated costume designer, is the mastermind behind some of the greatest fashion moments in cinema over the last 30 years. Her big break happened when a friend and fellow alumni of Hampton University connected her with soon-to-be legend Spike Lee, who hired ...
Visual artist Yung Yemi aka Adeyemi Adegbesan is a beast. Known for his fantastical images of Black people, he pays homage to the African diaspora and African iconography and the result is fucking brilliant. Playing with themes of afrofuturism, sci-fi and fantasy, Yung Yemi, who is based in Toronto, creates the most otherworldy portraits.
Immerse yourself in the afro-futuristic world of RET-CON, the newest comic book series from Glyph Award-winning indie comic imprint 133art. Written by Robert Jeffrey (DC Comic Writers Workshop) and illustrated by Jordi Perez (Top Cow's Grand Theft Astro), the 20-page book is a first-class lesson in indie comic book storytelling.
If you've been blessed enough to catch British rock duo Nova Twins at an AFROPUNK festival then you already know these chicks raise hell. And their latest single and video "Devil's Face" is no exception. It's an electric blitzkrieg of dueling guitars battling it out with a cosmic griminess that blasts you into outer space.
As a Black bisexual woman with a cocktail of learning disabilities and mental illness disorders, I can say first-hand it's hard AF to find a quality therapist who I can trust, who understands my diasporic perspective, respects my sexual agency judgment-free, and recognizes the interconnectedness of all these components of who I am without issuing [...]
It's no secret that the so-called Green Rush is largely taking place with the absence of Black and brown people. Those who were largely targeted and subsequently incarcerated during the War on Drugs are being cut out of legalized profit altogether. But there are a few groups and businesses aiming to change all that.
I'd argue that Black female sexuality wasn't claimable until Pam Grier made it so. Standing tall at about 5 foot 8 inches, the statuesque actress is known best for her roles in Blaxploitation films like Foxy Brown where she played an ass-kicking girlfriend embittered after her government agent boyfriend is slain by drug dealers.
The jail cell in Monaco overlooked the Mediterranean. She had been arrested, again, on suspicions of stealing the ring she was now disassembling. Doris Payne had hidden the ring from the authorities and was now sewing it into the lining of her griddle, ensuring that it would never be found.
Documentary junkies and curious watchers alike, there are some real finds available across streaming platforms this month that you should really check out. Even if documentaries aren't your thing, if you're interested in music (and we know you are) or just Black history, there are a bunch of docs just waiting for you!
27 years after coming forward with claims of sexual harassment against then-Supreme Court nominee Clarence Thomas, Anita Hill is more than just a symbolic voice in the era of #MeToo. Now, her story is set to be re-examined once more.
I love a good children's book! And this one is informative and celebratory. Written by Brazilian author Waldete Tristão, " Conhecendo os Orixás - De Exu a Oxalá (Knowing the Orixás - From Exu to Oxalá)" is a glorious book aimed at educating youngsters on the beauty and vibrancy of West African culture and heritage.
Jean-Michel Basquiat's 1983 painting "Defacement (The Death of Michael Stewart)" was inspired by an early-morning encounter that Michael Stewart, 25, had with NYPD. Stewart was accused of spraying graffiti at a First Avenue subway station in the East Village. It was here where Stewart was kicked and beaten by as many as 11 police officers.
Really excited for today's first premiere, the jubilant cover of Talking Heads "Once In A Lifetime" by the fantastic Angelique Kidjo. The surrealistic video opens in a world of workplace monotony that's quickly broken up by blasting horns, an intense West African groove, and the ecstatic vocals of Angelique, transforming the lifeless scene into a [...]
Opening this weekend at the Brooklyn Museum is the exhibition, 'Soul of a Nation: Art in the Age of Black Power', an introspective and critical examination of the broad spectrum of Black artistry from 1963 to 1983-some of the most politically charged and socially revolutionary years in America's history.
Check out this awesome photo series by UK babe The Hot Cocoa and friends Dean and Luna! Fierce, fearless, and bad AF, the trio shows off their IDGAF attitudes and fashion aesthetics in a world that so desperately tries to cram black people into tightly bound boxes.
Nearly 40 years after the "SAMO© IS DEAD" pieces went up, friend and collaborator Al Diaz, aka graffiti art pioneer Bomb-One, has revived the legendary moniker, posting new messages through the streets and subway stations of New York City. SAMO©'s timely resurgence comes in this time which perhaps most closely parallels the socioeconomic and political ...
Miss Velvet is a dominatrix with a mission. And a whole curriculum. Taking her passion for BDSM and her love of black thought and mixing them together, the Chicago-based master's graduate explores racial dynamics through her punishing, consensual, domination of white men as a dominatrix.
Among all the vile and problematic behavior of grown-up men in our society, I'm most troubled by this reluctance and refusal to hold famous black men accountable for their actions. And few men have skirted accountability like R. Kelly. Until now. The R.Kelly situation is mostly confusing given how many stories and allegations the singer [...]
Rock-n-Roll was invented by a queer Black woman born in 1915 Arkansas. Your disordered hardcore punk rock was sanctioned by a kinky-haired Black girl born to two cotton pickers in the Jim Crow South. The electric guitar was first played in ways very few people could have ever imagined by a woman who wasn't even allowed to play at music venues around the country.
If you're late as f*ck, you'll need to know that some time in the last week an old video of Drake resurfaced showing the 6 God kissing and groping a 17-year-old girl on stage at a concert in 2010.
Like, tap-dancing on people's graves isn't exactly the nicest thing to do. Noted. That's somebody's baby. Now, it's cool if XXXTentacion's murder at age 20 doesn't put a smug smile on your face, but can we please not demand that everyone deify someone who, by many accounts, violated and abused women because they made a [...]
If you weren't plugged into the world of comic book geekery back in 2017, then congratulations - you're getting a second chance with Harriet Tubman: Demon Slayer! An epic story if ever there was one, David Crownson's hit 'book is back for a second, expanded run.
Ariell Johnson, the owner of Amalgam Comics & Coffeehouse, was the first black woman to own a comic book store on the East Coast in December 2015. This year, the inclusionary entrepreneur was chosen out of more than 4,500 applicants by the Knight Foundation to win a $50,000 grant.
Swoon-city over the incredible neon-colored artwork of Paris-based graphic artist, Aurélia Durand. The Uber-talented artist pays homage to Black women who are so underrepresented in European media, showcasing a glamorous interpretation of #BlackGirlMagic that aims to include a diverse spectrum of beauty. Fair skin isn't the only type of beauty.
As we approach the most intense and cut-throat parts of the presidential election season, I become increasingly more concerned about the party that leans furthest to the right. In 1895, H.G. Wells made a bold prediction that in 1,000 years time the human race would separate into two different species: the intelligent, more attractive, sophisticated class and the opposing dim-witted, short-statured, creature-like working class.
If you're feeling a bit out of your mind these days-good news! It's not just you. Shit is really hitting the fan and it's affecting our levels of anxiety. Not to sound alarmist, but as Pulitzer Prize-winning investigative reporter David Cay Johnston says America under the Trump administration is 'Worse Than You Think'.
Appearing on Real Time: With Bill Maher's Overtime last night, journalist Andrew Sullivan showed his ASS by insisting that 70 percent of Black children are born without a father. Not without an actively involved father - without a father, period.
Black folks have been making seriously important, killer films for more than 50 years and every year they seem to get better and better. 2018 was no exception. With no shortage of diverse, interesting stories to tell, Black filmmakers and storytellers opened us up to their fictional worlds from the aboriginal Northern Territory in Australia to Wakanda.
If you're feeling some type of way over Lizzo living her life however the fuck she wants, you can go ahead and die mad. The singer shook her ass court-side at the Lakers vs. Timberwolves NBA game on Sunday night in fishnet stockings and a magical dress with a see-through backside.
Every now and then, Humans of New York produces a story that moves us with its humanity. One such story is that of a former stripper, Tanqueray. If you're not familiar, Humans of New York is an ongoing portrait series by photographer Brandon Stanton and he's been working on it for nearly a decade.
Ethel Waters was born in the darkness. The daughter of a teenage rape victim, Ethel was came into the world on Halloween 1896 in Chester, Pennsylvania. Raised in poverty by her grandmother, two aunts and an uncle, the singer's early life was unstable and uncertain, never staying in one place for more than 15 months at a time.
If you're a quirky Black girl with a Facebook account you've probably encountered the page for Adorned by Chi, Black-owned clothing and accessories for dreamers, misfits, and magical girls. More recently, Adorned By Chi founder Jacque Aye launched her latest project, an African Magical Girl Manga the borrows the Adorned name.
I was frustrated reading the Babe article about the Aziz Ansari Incident. Frustrated by what seemed to an outsider like the victim's slowness to pick up her shit and dip out. Until I remembered exactly how it feels, in the moment, when you're confused, in shock, or in denial over the events transpiring.
Yo, I am sick of you transphobic, pseudo-scientific, miserable fucks. Y'all gotta stop. And before you head to the comments to come for me, let me say: I'm not debating, I'm scolding you. In the comment section of a pos t we wrote last week, many ashy negros had the AUDACITY to fix their fingers to defend a private organization from accepting individuals because they are trans.
The Catholic Church has once again betrayed its charge with the children and families of the church, as revealed by a horrific new report by the Pennsylvania Supreme Court detailing the sexual abuse of more than 1,000 children by 300 priests since the 1950s. "This is incredibly uncomfortable for the Catholic Church," said Terence McKiernan, [...]
MLK Blvd., wherever its located and whatever shape its in, will always be a subtextual clue for how Black folks in any one city are living, where the best chicken wings come from, and which churches have the longest services.
In a disturbing report dated from August 3-just more than a week before white supremacists gathered on Charlottesville for an event that killed anti-racism protestor Heather Heyer-the FBI was busying itself with a report to that manufactured threats from on so-called "Black Identity Extremists" (BIE): "The FBI assesses it is very likely Black Identity Extremist [...]
In what seems like the hundredth time, America was shaken to its core this weekend after a series of mass gun violence. In El Paso, Texas, a deranged Trump supporter stormed a local Walmart where he opened fire killing at least 22 people and injuring at least 24.
In Crenshaw, my mom and I would buy braiding hair in the early morning before a day-long braiding appointment. I remember the bins of fabric, mesh embroidered sandals, bags of barrettes, and the du-rag display. Hair of all types. Kanekalon for box braids, deep wave virgin Brazilian bundles for a 24-inch quick weave, pre-plucked lace fronts.
Beloved actor-comedian John Witherspoon passed away suddenly this morning. He was 77 years old. "It is with deepest sorrow that we can confirm our beloved husband and father, John Witherspoon, one of the hardest working men in show business, died today at his home in Sherman Oaks at the age of 77," Witherspoon's family said in a statement to Deadline .
Admit it - you've been sleeping on India.Arie. Maybe she lost you along the way, but more likely you just fell off. And that's okay. Here's your chance to catch up on what the Atlanta-born and -bred singer-songwriter - and 22-time Grammy nominee - has been up to.
11-year-old St. Louisan Sidney Keys III, like many black kids who enjoy reading, wanted to find books that make reading more enjoyable by engaging with books by and about people who are just like him. In comes Books N Bros. "Books N Bros is a book club for boys and we read books and African [...]
Filmmaker and activist Tourmaline is no stranger to telling queer stories and her latest project unpacks one of the least recognized in trans history. The project? A pair of short films about a 19th-century Black trans sex worker named Mary Jones.
"Maybe I was naïve, but I didn't realize how many girls were modern-day prostitutes," Nicki Minaj recently said in an interview with Elle Magazine. "Whether you're a stripper, or whether you're an Instagram girl-these girls are so beautiful and they have so much to offer.
According to a staggering report by EdBuild, predominately white school districts are funded approximately $23 billion more per year than school districts that serve mostly students of color. "For every student enrolled, the average non-white school district receives $2,226 less than a white school district," the report says.
Everything I've learned about St. Louis in recent years has to do with the abusive police there. Whether it's police officers are delighting in beating up peaceful protestors or the federal report outlining systematic racism and targeted abuse of Black communities, politics and law enforcement in Missouri's capital city are corrupt beyond belief.
It's funny, every time Mr. Perry gives us a reason to be proud of him, to celebrate the progress he's made as a Black storyteller, he insists on making us walk that shit right back.
Known for its archaic three-strikes law that mandates a life sentence in prison for anyone convicted of three felonies, California has taken a huge leap forward by banning private prisons, ICE detention facilities included.
Sadly it probably comes at no surprise that around this country, in low-income communities, people of color are disproportionately more at risk for gun violence than their suburban white counterparts. In places like Harlem and St. Louis, locals are reporting terrifying numbers of shootings and fatalities of minors.
I can't take no 'mo, White People. I can't answer anymore White People demanding an explanation for why something is "racist". I can't take anymore White People sending me videos of Black People being murdered without thinking of how it will affect me. I can't sit through any more arguments for why race "isn't always [...]
Recently released surveillance footage taken at a Chicago high school shows police officers push and drag a female student, 16-year-old Dnigma Howard, down a flight of stairs then punched and stepping on her and tasing her with a stun gun. The reason behind these actions?
What in the Harpo? Crazy as cat shit, former celebrity singer R. Kelly lost his goddamn mind during an interview with Gayle King last night and boy was it something. When asked straight-up about the allegations against him, Kelly spiraled into a self-pitying erratic diatribe.
'Fat Girl Sex' is a bi-weekly sex column devoted to the celebration of the sexual empowerment of womxn, body, and sex-positivity featuring personal meandering about all the nasty things we do in the dark. All throughout my Fat Girl life, society has been preparing me to settle.
Twice in a row, I had bled on my new lover. My new, extremely handsome, well-hung, best-sex-of-my-life lover. The cutie I was trying to impress with my WiLd sexy-time skills and prestige, pornstar-like vagina. "You're bleeding." I froze. Fuck. Embarrassed, I immediately shut my legs as he reached for the towel.
The first thing I learned about my pussy was to hide it. "Close your legs, girl." My granny would say in a harsh whisper. Wacking the side of my knee with her purse as we sat in a Black baptist church pew. No one could see my cotton undies in the first place.
Y'all...when I heard Baby Phat was back...my 14-year-old baby thot heart was so warmed, let me tell you. Instantly, I was transported back to the bus stop bundled up in my brown and gold fur-lined bomber jacket from The Burlington Coat factory's Jr. Plus section. And, boy, did I think I was fly.
Fat Girl Sex is a weekly sex column devoted to the celebration of the sexual empowerment of women, body and sex positivity featuring personal meandering about all the nasty things we do in the dark. The truth is that sometimes... three really are a crowd.
A week ago, Missy Elliott became the first female rapper to be inducted into the Songwriters Hall of Fame. Already a cultural icon in her own right, it seems like the mainstream is finally giving her what she has earned: critical acclaim and reverence. Even though it has been 14 years since her last full-length album.
I expect white women to betray our womanhood in favor of race. I expect their misguided prioritization and isolation of gender when we talk about identity or the systems that affect us. When our community uplifts black women through movements like #BlackGirlMagic, white women on Twitter or Tumblr are real quick to insert themselves into ...
For the past decade, Kat Blaque has been one of the strongest activists voices on social media. A vlogger, personality, and advocate, Kat has used her platform to discuss her identity as a trans woman as well as the intersection of race, class, pop culture and political commentary to educate others.
Having good parents and family is a privilege. A privilege in the sense that, yes, everyone deserves good parents, but in reality, many people aren't positively and fundamentally changed by having children. Shitty or abusive people often just become shitty people with kids. You don't owe your parents anything.
For fat girls/women, in my fat woman experience, being sexually active was/is somewhat dubious. As a life-long femme fattie, the only time I heard about fat girls having sex was as the butt of a joke or as the description of a fetish. Never being shown a normalized image of fat sex and fat women ...
Rich, white folks are so ghetto. And don't let anyone tell you otherwise. The most recent example of this ratchedness is the college admission scandal involving 'ol girl from Desperate Housewives and Aunt Becky from Full House. And giiiirl, this shit is wild. I mean, we all knew that buying and flexing your way into ...
Professional Prom Queen candidate Kim Kardashian issued an unnecessary apology over the weekend after paying homage to Babygirl Aaliyah with one of her Halloween costumes. While not in blackface, a complaint that has been levied against her before, it's fair to assume the Twitterverse was annoyed by yet another Kardashian imitation of black womanhood.
As a conflicted meat-eater who understands that animals don't actually belong to us and I can concede that eating them may be ethically dubious. That said, animals are delicious and they would eat us too. Nevertheless, the fight for vegetarianism and veganism is an honorable one and eating fewer animal products would be beneficial for ...
Saturday night my stomach was in knots watching the flurry of black women and POC celebrating Trump-supporting Floyd Mayweather Jr.'s victory over 'racist' Conor McGregor. "They're both trash. But Mayweather is black so I'm happy he won." If you're happy an abuser won because he's black, then why aren't you furious that a black woman was [...]
Spoilers: For many, Killmonger represents the distinction between black excellence and black elitism by calling attention to the systematic oppression of black people of the diaspora while the people of Wakanda are, essentially, hoarding resources and isolating themselves from reality while black people suffer. In the case of Black Panther, the blacks of Wakanda have ...
Often forgotten in the conversations about African-American history and heritage, Afro-Latinx experience is the focus of The Smithsonian's National Museum of African American History and Culture's Latino Studies department. Curated by Ariana Curtis, her work at the museum "explore[s] what Latino history and culture look like through the African American lens."
I'm super cynical and deeply suspicious of men in general, and people in power specifically. And the only element of the Harvey Weinstein "scandal" that's even close to as heinous as Harvey's actions themselves, are the men around him who kept quiet for so long.