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In Italy, At Least, Black is Beautiful
Now that the much buzzed about all-black issue of Vogue Italia has hit stands, readers can finally take in the mezmorizing glamour of black models filling the glossy’s pages—even if they can’t read the text, which will remain in Italian, even in U.S.-circulated copies of the magazine. I sat down with legendary modeling agent and…
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Return of the Piano Men
For decades, jazz was a horn player’s game. Since the ’80s, the jazz business has engaged in a furious search for the next trumpeter a la Wynton Marsalis, and since the ’90s, they’ve looked for the next saxophonist like Joshua Redman. The 2000s may be remembered as the decade of the pianists. Not since Humphrey…
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That Girl Can Dunk!
Women’s basketball doesn’t need dunks to be relevant and popular, but paradoxically Candace Parker’s dunks may give the WNBA just the boost it needs. Parker, the Los Angeles Sparks’ rookie forward, dunked in the waning moments of L.A.’s win over the Indiana Fever on Sunday. Then on Tuesday, she threw it down again in the…
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Beef 2.0
*Sayin’ yo momma black, his momma this, his momma that/Then he get mad and wanna scrap/We stay mad about 10 minutes then it’s like back on the bike… — “Back in the Day” by Ahmad —In middle school, battles for respect weren’t decided on dodge ball courts or black asphalt. Back then folks lived or…
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Food for Thought
Last winter turned out to be a milestone of sorts. I had spent the past four years researching, reflecting and writing about the food of black people and of the Middle East. The watershed occurred in the backdrop of a winter in Chicago cooking and eating foods of Africa and the black Diaspora almost daily,…
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Waiting for Sunset
The polls are set to open on Friday in Zimbabwe, despite calls from the world community to postpone the elections because of political, social and economic unrest in the country. Nelson Mandela is among the most recent leaders to condemn Mugabe and the violence there. Charlayne Hunter-Gault, a writer for The Root, is like many…
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Why Barack Owes Clarence Thomas
Lately, I’ve had the most spirited debates with my students and friends, and I always come away feeling like the loser. I, for argument’s sake, draw a straight line between Barack Obama’s White House aspirations and the embarrassing spectacle of Clarence Thomas’ Supreme Court confirmation. As soon as I dare utter “Thomas” in the same…
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Supreme Clarity on Handguns
During the 90s, Washington, D.C. was Murder Capital of America. And I had about a half dozen friends murdered. The killings were not odd actually, for the times; however, these young men were middle-class black boys, who did not grow up in housing projects or rough, violent neighborhoods. Guns became so real back then, carrying…
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Shaq in the Court of King James
The Cleveland Cavaliers and San Antonio Spurs, the NBA finalists in 2007, both exited the post-season earlier than expected this year. This week, they made big trades that alter the balance of power in the conferences. The Cavaliers acquired future Hall of Fame center Shaquille O’Neal from the Phoenix Suns for guard Sasha Pavlovic and…
Black News and Black Views with a Whole Lotta Attitude
