America
Commentating: BET Barack Obama Special
In the week following Barack Obama’s election, I appeared as a talking head on the 1 hour BET News special called “Our Next President”
In this exciting special, myself and a variety of other politicians, commentators, comedians and high profile personalities talk about Barack, his influence, his family, him and Michelle, what his election means to [...]
Sarah Palin’s Speech…
What to make of Sarah Palin’s speech?
Well, you know, it wasn’t badly delivered… but it doesn’t take a genius to read from an auto-cue. Ok, so she attacked Obama, talked about McCain being a POW (a lot) and then attacked Obama again. Oh, and she talked about her family.
She was combative, sarcastic, snarling (I didn’t [...]
Missing Black People In The Media
When Spike Lee asked why Clint Eastwood’s movie Flags Of Our Fathers had no black people in it, Clint Eastwood responded with anger saying that ‘a guy like him should shut his face’.
According to Clint Eastwood, there were indeed a few black people there in Iwo Jima, but they didn’t raise the flag (which is [...]
Obama Wins Democratic Nomination - what next?
I’m proud to be here in America during this historic election period. Well done to Barack Obama for running an excellent campaign so far and for becoming the first ever African American Democratic nominee…Not many black people thought they’d see this in their lifetime.
So what’s next? A year ago, the media and even most voters had [...]
Sean Bell: 18th May 1983 - 25th November 2006
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DMh03eUr8Kk&hl]
May 18th would have been Sean Bell’s 25th birthday…
As a fitting tribute - and a reminder to us all to continue to act against police brutality - documentary filmmaker Byron Hurt has put together this short, yet very powerful, film.
Let’s all make sure that Sean Bell’s death - and the deaths of other innocent young men [...]
The Audacity of Hope in Hip Hop
I’m going to write some more on this topic in due course, and I have a Guardian piece coming out soon talking about Obama and the hip hop generation, but for now let me post this video of Senator Obama himself talking about his love of hip hop and how he thinks it needs to [...]
Monkeys & Black People
A couple of weeks ago a (white) friend of mine asked me if, as a black woman, I’d be offended if he used ‘gorilla’ as a term of endearment towards me. I said I most probably would be. He was surprised. He said that he had, intending to be friendly, called one of his black friends “gorilla” and she was [...]
Civil Disobedience For Sean Bell Justice
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qsy18LuOMVM]
I felt very proud to see people of all colours out on the streets of New York last week taking part in well-coordinated civil disobedience protests in support of the Sean Bell movement. Or should I say in protest at the acquittal of the 3 police officers who killed Sean Bell.
I have to admit I [...]
Obama vs the media
I had a piece published today regarding Obama, Jeremiah Wright and how the media has shaped the whole story… Here is the link to it: http://commentisfree.guardian.co.uk/lola_adesioye/2008/05/obama_versus_the_media.html
I’m not necessarily pro-Obama and I’m not necessarily pro-Wright. I just find it rather interesting to see how powerful the media vehicle is when it comes to influencing - and [...]
Common Freestyles for Reverend Wright
I love Common….aaah…Anyway - check out this video of Common showing off his freestyling skills at (Jeremiah Wright’s) church:
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aSXnQkqYqA4&hl=en]