Editor’s Soapbox

Dear Chief McLay, Belated congratulations on your new role here in our community. As you will quickly find out, Pittsburgh, PA is a very unique place, full of both wonderful characteristics and noteworthy challenges. It is truly a place worth living in, working for, and improving upon as we head into 2015 and beyond together. […]

I would like to present an ode to two people who uniquely touched a collective conscience in a way we could feel, defend and forgive like family. Solange Knowles and Eric Garner represent a people’s choice of righteous indignation, pride and prejudice. Unknowingly caught on camera, the world heard their voices with and without sound. […]

President Warren. It’s every liberal’s fantasy, especially among those who view Hillary as a tad too hawkish on foreign policy or too cozy with Wall Street. Hillary Clinton is the current front-runner, but this lacks the enthusiasm found during President Obama’s first bid for office. Despite numerous assertions that she will not run for President, […]

Azealia Banks got your heart. If you didn’t see her Hot 97 interview, watch it. If you didn’t see her twitter takedown of Action Bronson, read it. If you didn’t understand her general case for cultural appropriation then you are part of the problem; the problem being there are those who acknowledge that denial, pardon, […]

Worldwide protests over the acquittal of Ferguson cop Darren Wilson for the Aug. 9 killing of 18-year-old Michael Brown have pleased rapper B.o.B. “In my entire life, I’ve never seen the whole world unite on an incident, topic or concept — ever,” B.o.B said, before noting that he’s only 26. The Atlanta artist was performing […]

Let me begin with a very clear message: I am not anti-police, never  have been, never will be. In fact, I think for many people who come from communities like the one I grew up in, Hollis, Queens, becoming a police officer is a great ambition that leads to a steady, well-paying job with great benefits. […]

Ava DuVernay’s masterful storytelling in the upcoming film Selma transports audiences back to the Civil Rights era, a period of political unrest and progress that resonates now more than ever. Since early August, when Michael Brown Jr., a black unarmed 18-year-old, was killed by Darren Wilson, a white police officer in Ferguson, youth in St. Louis […]

The recent killings of unarmed black men at the hands of law enforcement has left me speechless. It’s been extremely difficult for me to articulate the sadness that I’ve been feeling so I’ve decided to pour my heart into a song. Rather than immediately react to the explicit acts of state violence, I felt that I […]

I had just walked into the house. It was late. 11:30PM late. My girlfriend and I had marched for hours with thousands of New Yorkers in support of the family in Ferguson. I was proud of my city. Proud of my people for crying out-loud about the injustice that was the previous night’s non-indictment announcement […]

“This is not just an issue for Ferguson,” Obama said at the White House minutes after the grand jury’s decision was announced. “This is an issue for America.” For our family it began on August 28, 1955 when Emmett Till, a 14-year-old from Chicago, was murdered while visiting relatives in Mississippi by two white men […]

Here we are again. Waiting on a decision from a jury about the fate of a white man that has killed a black man. This time, it’s Ferguson, MO. The black man that died is named Michael Brown and his killer is named Officer Darren Wilson. That word “killer” makes you cringe? Makes me sound […]

I want to take this time to thank Wendy Williams and the folks at Lifetime for making the “Aaliyah: Princess of R&B” movie. It was horrible, the acting was barely (Donna Goudeau voice) average, the script was blah, and the casting was just awful. But all of this is a good thing..apparently. Good enough that Wendy […]