The mayoral hopeful plans to become NYC’s first female Black mayor by making it more affordable and technologically competitive. But first she wants to defund the NYPD.
New York City has elected only one African-American mayor ever. As far as women, the city has anointed zero. This history faced Maya Wiley with a steep and Southern windy climb when she decided to run for NYC’s #1 seat. The former lead legal counsel for current mayor Bill de Blasio is well aware that history is against her. The solution, she says, is turning luxuries into necessities. For example: providing strong WIFI for every New Yorker regardless of economic status, or making the shiny Big Apple more affordable.
The platform most significant to the candidate’s campaign is the policing…
The vice president’s cold handling of a migration crisis conveniently disregards the mess the U.S. has historically made in Central America
Vice President Kamala Harris has never looked more like an American politician than she did last week. That is not a compliment.
America’s migration volume is the highest its been in more than 20 years. The most recent spike began after Biden was elected. And thus far, his administration’s handling of the situation has been a capital-F failure.
In March, Biden told Americans that Trump eliminated the $700 million he raised as Obama’s vice president to directly aid the Northern Triangle of Central America (Honduras, El Salvador, and Guatemala). But that’s irrelevant now. The current migration issue is now completely…
Level Q
Fresh off ‘Verzuz’, the R&B legend discusses everything from prison concerts to his pandemic beard to a disgraced collaborator
Don’t be fooled by the saccharine lyrics and melodies that ooze from Isley Brothers classics. The songs’ authors are gladiator competitive. Their iconic lead, Ronald Isley, is nothing short of loquacious when addressing this fact.
The man formerly known as Mr. Biggs admits that since the 1950s, he and his brothers studied the best with the clear intention of besting them. When Marvin Gaye made “Sexual Healing,” the Isleys birthed “Between the Sheets.” When Teddy Pendergrass released “Close the Door,” they followed with “Don’t Say Goodnight.”
Ronald wouldn’t even oblige Michael Jackson’s request to be produced by him — he…
West Virginia will reward its vaccinated residents with new guns, attempting to dissolve one pandemic by aiding another
West Virginia has had an especially challenging time enduring the Covid-19 pandemic. Although the state’s positivity rate is currently at a low since spiking last October (4%), nearly 600 new cases are being reported daily, with more than 200 infected residents hospitalized. In the midst of America’s fight against the coronavirus, these numbers have stained the Mountain State with a poor man’s status. Add to that an oppressive statewide hospital bill—one that West Virginia intends to deflate with a syringe.
West Virginia’s vaccination rate (49%) ranks 45th among all states (Vermont ranks first with 82% of all eligible citizens vaccinated)…
An epic (and safe) post-pandemic summer depends on your ability to make “no” your favorite word.
Lab leak theories are about the past. Today, the country is aching to be outside. The very environments from which we were scared off — gyms, restaurants, live mega concerts — are now the most coveted. But with freedom comes great responsibility. In order for us to go hard in the paint this summer and avoid September’s injured reserve list, the word “no” must be used more than “yes.”
Your self-preservation has to reign supreme over nearly every person, place and thingy. That includes your mother, inconsiderate CEO, fear of therapy, social media addiction, fast food diet, processed hair, Crypto-pushing…
The late great comedian was underrated, unapologetically Black, and the Richard Pryor whisperer
Dave Chappelle’s childhood idol worship of Richard Pryor should come as no surprise. Of course, Chappelle was obsessed with the man who he and much of the world crowned the king of comedy. He remembers being entranced by a particular skit from the first season of Saturday Night Live. Pryor played a job applicant who finds himself in a heated word-association game with a prospective employer (played by Chevy Chase). Chase’s character begins throwing racial slurs; Pryor’s returns fire. For young Chappelle, witnessing a Black man go toe-to-toe with a White man was revolutionary television. Chappelle says it was at…
J. Cole announcing a new album and pro basketball career highlights an all-star level of dream chasing
Rarely are promotional rollouts for rap albums transformative. Normally, they follow a standard playbook: daily bloviation on social media about their next work being their best work; a video for new single with an in vogue guest appearance; plus a couple media interviews for good measure. Yet the red carpet for J. Cole’s freshly released fifth solo album, The Off-Season, is a product push unseen. Mainly because the product isn’t the rapper’s top priority.
J. Cole has experienced repetitious rap success. Each of his four previous studio albums have been RIAA-certified platinum or better. His stock as a recording artist…
Mother’s Day 2020 is when I learned my mother had COVID-19 and was becoming my grandmother
Months passed before I learned my mother had spent consecutive days last year bedridden. She said it was the worst flu she’d ever experienced. Her breathing was bad; body aches were worse. She told me, aside from belabored trips to and from the bathroom, she’d spent the lion’s share of the week laying in her own sweat. This was May of last year — three months after she suffered through the illness. Mother’s Day, to be exact.
On that brilliant spring Sunday in Brooklyn, I stood on the bottom step of my mother’s East Flatbush home listening to her detail…
President Biden and the Department of Justice made a statement — but there’s still more work to be done
You’d be hard-pressed to find two weeks of American history more honorable to the civil rights and lives of Black people than the last 14 days. The 2020 murders of Breonna Taylor and George Floyd didn’t slow the rate of police killing Blacks; more than 200 have lost their lives to “bad apples” since former Minneapolis police officer Derek Chauvin suffocated Floyd last May, according to data from research group Mapping Police Violence. That figure includes the six Black people killed by law enforcement since Chauvin’s second-degree murder and manslaughter conviction on April 20.
These despicable statistics illuminated the answered…
Earl Simmons channelled his pain into his art — and forever changed the world along the way
The largest angels rarely live the longest. For centuries, intellects and clergymen from the Eastern Hemisphere have spoken on existence being dictated by purpose. It’s been said throughout a myriad of cultures that once a person has completed his or her education, as student and teacher, their time in human form expires. Wherever your spiritual philosophies lie, Earl “Dark Man X” Simmons being a gift not only to music, but, more importantly, to the society of music lovers should be universal comprehension. Yes, the present was DMX’s presence. Moreover, the gift was a sum of his God-given gifts. …
Bonsu Thompson
Bonsu Thompson is a writer, producer, Brooklynite and 2019 Sundance Screenwriters Lab fellow.
