• Here’s a List of Books on Slavery That Kanye Should Read

    Kanye West doesn’t care about books. If he hadn’t said as much in a 2009 Reuters interview, where he labeled himself a “proud nonreader of books,” we’d still know about his breathless commitment to ignorance just by listening to his latest rants blaming black people for crime, the Democratic Party and—most disgusting of all—slavery: At…

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  • The Retroactive Healing Power of A Wrinkle in Time

    I was expecting director Ava DuVernay’s new sci-fi/fantasy film A Wrinkle in Time to be magic. I’d seen her achieve as much in her other films with far less capital behind them than the history-making, $100 million budget that Disney provided this time, so there was no question that this film would be gorgeous. I…

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  • BNYFW: Welcome to Wakanda!

    Ever since Marvel slayed us with the first trailer for Black Panther, folks have been feening to dress up like the citizens of the superhero’s native Wakanda. So, of course, when New York Fashion Week and Black Panther premiere week collided Monday night, there was a presentation inspired by Oscar winner Ruth E. Carter’s costumes…

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  • After Making History, New Orleans’ 1st Female Mayor, LaToya Cantrell, Is Ready to Shape the City’s Future

    New Orleans Mayor-elect LaToya Cantrell didn’t set out to make history. But as the city celebrates its 300th anniversary this year, she, too, will become part of its story as its first female mayor. For nearly 30 years, the Xavier University grad has been making New Orleans her home and the people her community. It’s…

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  • Time’s Up on Men Telling Single Women How to Be Worthy of Marriage

    The straights are at it again. Over the weekend, singer Ciara caused an internet stir when she posted on Instagram a clip from a sermon by Houston’s Lakewood megachurch pastor John Gray telling single women why they’re not married. “Too many women want to be married but you’re walking in the spirit of ‘girlfriend,’” Pastor…

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  • New Orleans Icon Leah Chase Is 95—and Fabulous

    It’s dinnertime in the dining hall of the famous New Orleans soul food haven Dooky Chase’s Restaurant. Executive chef Leah Chase goes table to table with her walker, greeting and taking pictures with patrons who have come to dine on her world-famous fried chicken and gumbo. The place is teeming with history; Dooky Chase’s sits…

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  • The Opposite of ‘Monkey’ Isn’t ‘Royalty’; It’s ‘Human’

    Fashion brand H&M raised the ire of many when it released a racist ad of a young black boy in a green hoodie with “Coolest Monkey in the Jungle” inscribed on the front. The ad sparked immediate backlash on social media and prompted boycotts of the Swedish retailer. Even one of its celebrity spokesmen, the…

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  • Woman in Viral Photo From Women’s March to White Female Allies: ‘Listen to a Black Woman’

    Angela Peoples did not come to the Women’s March on Washington to play. The 30-year-old co-director of the LGBTQ equality organization GetEqual came to Saturday’s massive protest against Donald Trump to tell the truth. Marching in a sea of white women, Peoples wore a hat that read, “Stop Killing Black People,” and carried a sign…

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