Sexist (and racist) profiling and punishment of women athletes of color by the Olympics’ has me rooting for the wrong reasons.
I’m rooting for 18-year-old Namibian runners Christine Mboma and Beatrice Masilingi in the Olympics’ 200 meter competition because they’ve been biologically discriminated against.
A couple of weeks ago, the two teens were banned from Tokyo’s 400 meter race because, according to the World Athletics, their testosterone levels are too high. No foreign substances or performance enhancing chemicals were found in the bodies of these young women; their natural testosterone levels alone were the cause of their Olympic disqualification.
The…
The pandemic appears to be gone, but it’s possibly just resting. Meanwhile everything outside is more expensive and time-gluttonous. I may hate it (back) here.
Being back outside during a post-vaccine summer is as overwhelming as it is expensive. At times, it’s downright suffocating. We were separated and isolated for over a year. Understandably, family and dear friends want to reconnect. Business associates want the same. The world is wide open again and every market has a disco ball spinning above it. Money is to be made. Money needs to be spent.
Feel however you please about the subsequent words…
On her new album, the soul songstress and scribe is still the princess of emo. But just a bit more fun.
In Sweden, the winter season monopolizes about 75% of the calendar year. Daylight is visible for an average of four hours a day. Basically, it’s the perfect country for a gifted singer and songwriter to turn rhythm & blues into emotional purples.
Snoh Aalegra uses the darkness of her native kingdom as a muse. So much so that before the release of her 2019 sophomore album, Ugh, those feels again, her October 2017 debut, Feels, became lionized as an…
The legendary MC’s debut was both the greatest rap album of all time and a commercial flop. His legacy hung on the success of his second and eventually best-selling album It Was Written. For its 25th anniversary, we revisit how Queensbridge’s finest went from nasty to number one.
In the summer of 1996 Nasir Jones was the greatest rapper alive. After releasing a debut album two years prior that many a rap fan still consider perfection, he went on a two-year run of carefully selected guest appearances that were anticipated as rare collectors items. Providing the climax for grade A…
Questlove’s new documentary ‘Summer of Soul’ is an in-depth look into the soundtrack behind Black American life during the fiery summer of 1969
The year 1969 was one of those touchstone periods in United States history. As the ’60s came to a close, the worlds of American science, politics, and music, to name just a few, would never be the same. The decade produced a marine coast of watershed moments. For people of color, though, many were unforgettable tragedies. The most powerful advocates and heroes of the disenfranchised — along with their hope — were killed.
The first half of the 1960s saw President John F. Kennedy and Malcolm X plotted against and assassinated. In 1968, Robert F. Kennedy announced to the country…
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…
Bonsu Thompson
Bonsu Thompson is a writer, producer, Brooklynite and 2019 Sundance Screenwriters Lab fellow.
