Politics

Happy Black History Month! The photo you see is of Angela Davis when Swedish TV journalists talked to the Black Panther activist in a 1972 jail interview — she was charged with but not convicted of murder — in footage that's part of The Black Power Mixtape 1967-1975 (and I'll elaborate on this in a moment). My sister was named after Angela Davis, "Angela Yvonne", so this is why I chose to shine a little light on Davis, in addition to the dope video by..., for my black history tribute.

JOYNER LUCAS just released some real music that is going to give a lot of people cognitive dissonance and hopefully

If you haven't yet watched HBO's "Big Little Lies" featuring Zoe Kravitz, then you are doing yourself a terrible disservice. On the critically acclaimed limited series, Zoe Kravitz plays Bonnie Carlson, the free-spirited second wife of Nathan Carlson— the ex-husband of Monterey, California’s queen bee, Madeline Martha Mackenzie. Kravitz plays the only black woman on the show. Allure magazine writes, "Her character, Bonnie, kind of an alt-left paragon on the surface at least, seems uncannily laid-back and reasonable and generous in the drama’s tense, repressive environment, full of helicopter moms and competitive parenting." Now Zoe is featured on Allure Magazine's June 2017 cover and in light of recent political events, in the article she speaks on identity politics. Zoe states, “Racism is very real, and white supremacy is going strong.” And identity is not something to be mocked or taken lightly. It’s better in her words: “I am definitely mixed. Both my parents are mixed. I have white family on both sides. The older I get, the more I experience life, I am identifying more and more with being black, and what that means — being more and more proud of that and feeling connected to my roots and my history. It’s been a really interesting journey because I was always one of the only black kids in any of my schools. I went to private schools full of white kids. I think a lot of that made me want to blend in or not be looked at as black. The white kids are always talking about your hair and making you feel weird. I had this struggle of accepting myself as black and loving that part of myself. And now I’m so in love with my culture and so proud to be black. It’s still ongoing, but a big shift has occurred. My dad especially has always been very connected to his history, and it’s important to him that I understand where I come from.”

@RollingStone: Daveed Diggs – known both for his acting in the musical Hamilton and his rapping in the group Clipping – urged voters to head to the polls with a series of intricate rhymes about the historical significance of casting a ballot. "Let's just spit some bars about voting," Diggs told Jimmy Fallon Monday night on The Tonight Show.

Rolling Stone: Eminem disses Donald Trump and his supporters, references everyone from Trayvon Martin to Colin Kaepernick to David Hasselhoff and unleashes a dizzying assault of rhythmic gymnastics with "Campaign Speech," a nearly eight-minute new track posted online Wednesday. "Don't worry I'm working on an album!" the rapper tweeted, linking the song. "Here's something meanwhile."

CHICAGO (CBS) — A community activist who was allowed to see videos from the fatal police shooting of Paul O’Neal before they were made public claimed they show an officer stomping the teen’s lifeless body after he was shot in the back. Jedidiah Brown said he also heard police telling other officers to turn off their body cameras. “I saw a police officer approach a lifeless O’Neal, face down to the ground, with three or four other officers over his body, screaming at him to put his hands behind his back, run up, stomp him in his back, and then grab his hands very violently, and put him in handcuffs, clearly lifeless,” he said.

I'm hoping President Obama can establish an independent office of prosecutors to investigate police misconduct - it will eliminate the bad incentives that result in so many of these killers never being punished. Without consequences for the bad actors, these murders won't end.

This video is one of the best clips I've seen on TV in ages! It's freaking hilarious! LOL! KTVA's Charlo Greene quits on live TV after revealing she was the founder of the Alaska Cannabis Club. The delivery was arguably inappropriate, but damn if she didn't look free as a bird and happy as hell! I admire her for the balls it took to do that, and the response of the Anchorwoman was absolutely #Priceless .

I was reading Pitchfork.com looking for underground music that I haven't heard yet and I stumble upon a prolific article about the legendary LAURYN HILL and her stance of oppression in America. Of course, I have to post conscious rapper, Lauryn Hill, on the blog because she is female MC that I look up to, one who teaches me and makes me think, one who never needed to show her bare ass in her music videos, because her lyrics and poeticism spoke and still speaks for itself. Case in point, "Black Rage (Sketch)”, a deep and politically charge song recorded live in her living room. Pitchfork writes, ""Black Rage" is a key record for this moment because it recognizes our problems are deeply entrenched, and that postmodern detachment or cynical capitalism are poorly formed tools for people hoping to make a sustained attack on widespread systemic violence. Lauryn Hill celebrates black rage not as a raw expression of pain, nor as an irrational behavior that must be reigned in. Like Maria Rainer, it's a coping mechanism, but for Lauryn Hill, it's also something more: a practical strategy."

TALIB KWELI delivered one of the most powerful interviews I've seen in the news recently. He stood up to CNN and its anchor, Don Lemon, who appears disconnected with what's really going on on the ground in Ferguson, with his attempt to debunk Kweli's eyewitness account. Kweli schooled them on what he thought was bad media coverage. The death of unarmed teen, Mike Brown, in Ferguson, Missouri, has brought race relations in America back to the forefront in the media and social media alike. In regards to social media coverage, Kweli expressed that it was more important to physically show up to Ferguson versus tweeting and protesting online. In regards to media coverage, he expressed that the quality and accuracy of news outlets such as CNN wasn't up to par. Talib Kweli spoke very truthful when he stated the media depicted protesters as criminals or thugs and omitted the fact that women and children were protesting as well. Lemon tried to interrupt Kweli from speaking which turned into a heated argument and with Kweli almost walking out of the interview. This would have been a disservice because Kweli spoke the truth and didn't care about being politically correct...something most of these news outlets are gulity of.