Editor’s Soapbox
On Aug. 9, 2014, an 18-year-old teenager, Michael Brown, was shot by a police officer in Ferguson, Mo. In the wake of his death America grapples with the problems and promise of an unfulfilled democracy. On Aug. 24, 2014, John Eligon wrote an article in the New York Times about Michael Brown’s grappling with problems […]
When the city of Ferguson exploded into protest over the brutal killing of unarmed teen Michael Brown, it hit close to home. As a native of St. Louis, I returned this year to spend time as a Visiting Scholar at Washington University—after roughly a 20-year hiatus. During my childhood years, my uncle briefly lived in […]
“CHICAGO isn’t just another midwest city, it’s the soul of who I am” I grew up on the south-side of Chicago. I have lived in Tallahassee, FL, New York, NY and Atlanta, GA, but it was growing up in Chicago that gave me all the survival skills I’d needed to succeed in each city. So when I watched the first […]
…Except it’s not awkward – it’s uncomfortably eye-opening. It’s amazing how us humans can take years to build up our own courage to be vulnerable or kind with the world, and yet we can tear someone else’s down in a matter of seconds. I recently took a trip to Lake George in Upstate New York with some […]
A blog from Russell Simmons, as he reflects on his encounter with the Cash Money Records crew...
Since 1948, Palestinians have suffered under the Israeli military occupation and struggled to obtain basic human rights. Palestinians in the West Bank and Gaza, as well as within Israeli proper where they account for 20 percent of the population, face severe inequality and injustice. Israeli’s mistreatment of those that don’t fit the mold of who […]
... Because NOTHING is more important than being there for your kids.
Knowledge, Attitude, Skills, and Habits. Those are the attributes former state trooper and highway patrolman Orrin “Checkmate” Hudson instills in children through the game of chess — an unconventional if odd tactic that is changing the community around him for the better. Inspired by a robbery gone wrong in his Alabama neighborhood, which left seven people […]
For all of the misunderstandings, missteps, and missed opportunities of the Tea Party since 2009, their demise only leaves us status quo politics Some of you are excited because of the recent results from the primary elections going on around the country. With high-profile losses of many Tea Party favorites through 2014 coming on the heels of 2012’s Republican woes, […]
When you talk to kids who once lived in foster care, you’ll hear a common theme: they felt invisible. They felt less than. They felt they didn’t have voices, because speaking out could mean retaliation, abuse or being called a liar. This isn’t perception — it’s reality. Far too many kids are treated like ghosts. I know […]
Hip-hop has been part of my life for over 35 years. I have witnessed the rise of the most powerful youth movement this world has ever seen from an incredibly unique vantage point. In the early days, not many people or the press cared about the personal life of a rapper, now rappers are the […]
“F*ck the police coming straight from the underground/A young nigga got it bad cause I’m brown/And not the other color so police think/They have the authority to kill a minority” – Ice Cube 1988 If the unwarranted death or torture of many brown men and the musical narratives delivered by black artists is any indication, […]