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Betty Shelby, The Tulsa Police Officer Who Killed Terence Crutcher, Believes (Wait For It) That She's The Victim Here
Back in September, Terence Crutcher, an unarmed Black man, was walking to his car with his hands up when he was shot by Tulsa police officer Betty Shelby. This incident was caught on video by both a police dash cam and an aerial video from a police helicopter wherein an officer looking on the scene…
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Racial Progress in Film Remains Slow Drag 30 Years After Hollywood Shuffle
Robert Townsend’s Hollywood Shuffle was released 30 years ago this year. Although it couldn’t have been noted at the time, Shuffle became a foundational film that launched the careers of two of our most prolific filmmakers and made us aware of an entire family of comedic geniuses—the Wayans family. I most remember the film for…
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Who Could, Should and Will Win at the 89th Academy Awards
I have a complicated relationship with the Academy Awards. As I’ve said before, when we need the approval and validation of the dominant group in order for us to see our own work as valuable, we engage in a form of internalized racism that centers whiteness even as we engage in the subversive work of…
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"Get Out" And 10 More Films About The Existential Terror Of Existing While Black In America
Jordan Peele’s Get Out takes the existential realities of black men in this country and uses it as the plot for a horror film. A black man going to meet the parents of his white girlfriend is enough to send shivers down one’s spine—especially given the history of violence directed toward black men who were…
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Dear Oscars: Don’t Do to Moonlight What You Did to These 5 Black Films
Oscar season is upon us. On Sunday, Feb. 26, 2017, the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences will honor what it deems to be the best films of 2016 during the 89th Academy Awards. After two years of #OscarsSoWhite, this year we have a record six black acting nominees, three films with predominantly black…
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A Cheer For The New England Patriots Is A Cheer For Donald Trump
Sports fans usually don’t want to mix their politics and sports — well, White sports fans — but fans of the New England Patriots have no choice. From Tom Brady’s passive-aggressive endorsement of Trump to the very name of the organization, if the personal is, indeed, political, then Patriots fans need to come to terms…
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A 5-Step Guide to Surviving a Trump Presidency
Barack Obama was one of the most disrespected presidents in American history. He was heckled by a reporter from the Daily Caller in the Rose Garden; he was given a chair lecture by Bill O’Reilly; and a former mayor of New York City said of Obama, “I do not believe, and I know this is…
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Eddie Long’s Death and Homophobic Theological Legacy
Eddie L. Long, senior pastor of New Birth Missionary Baptist Church, has gone to be with the ancestors. He was 63. His church released the following statement Sunday morning: New Birth Missionary Baptist Church celebrates the life and legacy of Bishop Eddie L. Long who is now spiritually healed and home with the Lord. Bishop…
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The Beautiful Struggle Against Racism
My uncle blamed everything on the white man. Global warming? It was the white man. Drugs destroying the community? Blame the white man. Football team lost? The white man was at fault. Uncle John was the kind of ghetto philosopher you’d find dropping knowledge in the barbershop. He’d walk in without an appointment and spit knowledge…
