Society
Race: White Privilege, Black Disadvantage
In a recent article - “Saying Sorry For Slavery Isn’t Enough” - that I wrote for the Guardian about the US House of Representatives’ apology for slavery, one of the readers made a comment to the effect that he/she is white and is sick of hearing about race.
This type of comment is one that particularly [...]
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 [...]
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 [...]
Differences
This is just beautiful… If I had kids I’d want them to see this - very cute way of talking to kids about racial differences.
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KeHIRwwoA1g&hl=en]
The Global African-American influence
Prior to living in America, I had already visited the country a number of times. But that’s not how I am able to sing RnB songs, or how I’m able to rap full verses from artists like Common, Jay Z, Biggie and Tupac or even much older hip hop groups. It’s not how I understand [...]
Do You Want To Be A Nigga?
Since I’ve been living in America, one thing that has shocked me is the amount of racial terminology and general derogatory language that people use. ‘Nigga’, ‘bitch’, ‘cracker’, ‘muthaf***a’ - I hear them all… and often.
Until I came here, I thought that the N word was used mainly in music, until I realized that it really [...]
The Sean Bell Tragedy - A response by Kevin Powell
The Sean Bell Tragedy
By Kevin Powell
April 25, 2008
I am sick to my stomach and I really do not know what to say right this second. My cell and office phones have been blowing up all day, and people have been emailing me nonstop, to let me know that Detectives Michael Oliver, Gescard Isnora, and Marc [...]