under REconstruction
Balpreet Khour and the European Douchebag: When Cyberbullying Goes Terribly Right
I'm not sure how much attention you're willing to pay to the ramblings of a Reddit poster named "european_douchebag," but the guy has sparked a conversation that has led many, myself included, to examine the impromptu judgments we make about how other humans choose to...
1968 Olympics Black Power Salute: Ever Wonder What that White Guy Was Thinking?
Peter Norman, Tommie Smith, John Carlos, 1968 Olympics When American sprinters Tommie Smith and John Carlos raised their black fists in protest and solidarity at the 1968 Olympic games in Mexico City, I was much too young to understand the significance of the moment....
Joshua Bennett’s ’10 Things I Want to Say to a Black Woman’ — To Click or Not to Click?
Spoken word artist Joshua Bennett has ten things he wants to say to a black woman, and I'm not sure I want to hear it. I've happened upon Bennett's YouTube video and I see that hundreds of thousands of viewers have already clicked "play." I'm curious. And dubious....
Amazon Book Review | Skin Deep by Kathleen Cross
Skin Deep was absolutely PHENOMENAL. No doubt. Period. The story was well crafted. The characters were well-developed. There is symbolism galore, as well as drama and suspense. (With a HUGE twist at the end! I never saw that coming.)
Help Me Understand Why Cannes Winner “Blue is the Warmest Color” is a Triumph for Lesbians
I was a late bloomer. I was a tree-climbing, pet-menagerie-loving, book-devouring tomboy my entire childhood. At 14 years old I still had not reached puberty, and I had begun to wonder if something might be physically wrong with me, since most of my girl-friends had...
Tatiana Zamir Wants to Touch You…
“Truth is a part of our foundation…even though pain may come from being vulnerable, beauty will surely follow.” –Tatiana Zamir Tatiana Zamir wants to touch you. Yes, you read that right. Not only does Tatiana Zamir want to touch you, she wants you to know that it may...
Man Sues Wife for Making Ugly Baby: Judge Agrees He Was Victimized
When Jian Feng's baby daughter was born, he wasn't just disappointed that the baby didn't resemble her beautiful mother, he was "horrified" by how "ugly" he found the little girl to be. Feng was so horrified, he convinced himself there was no way he could be the...
Who Run the World, Beyonce? Girls? Amber Thinks Not.
Remember that great song by Beyoncé that hit the charts last year and quickly became our favorite girl power anthem? "Who run the world? Girls? Who run this mutha? Girls..." Well, Amber recorded a YouTube video calling Mrs. Carter out on this blatant untruth, and I...
Michael Baisden Radio Show and Comments
clip 1/ clip 2 /clip 3 (No, my name isn't Kathryn, and yes, we corrected that finally...lol) To comment on the show, visit this page. Please feel free to leave a comment here regarding my discussion with Mr. Baisden and his callers. Comments are moderated.
One on One with Kumaserati: We Talk Black Wall Street, Kat Stacks and ’99 Names of God’
If you are a serious aficionado of "conscious" hip hop music, you are no doubt familiar with the name Kumasi Simmons, a.k.a., Kumaserati, a gifted hood-born poet with a unique flow that has attracted souls from as close as Brooklyn and Compton to as far as Paris,...
I Dreamed of Rihanna’s Grandmother Last Night
Anyone who knows me knows that I believe that the dream world is much more than an odd vacation spot our brain visits as it recharges for another day. Indeed, some of my most life-altering experiences have occurred in that other world, and many of my ideas about God,...
Sometimes it Lasts…But Sometimes it Hurts Instead
"Sometimes it lasts in love, but sometimes it hurts instead." -Adele The photo above was taken at a surprise party for Todd Barr on September 8, 2002--his last birthday on earth. I wonder if the people in attendance that day know what a tremendous gift they gave...
Florida Governor Rick Scott Lost Access to Welfare Urine, Going After State Workers’ Instead
I posted last September about Florida Governor (R) Rick Scott who pushed a bill through the Florida Legislature which required all welfare recipients to be drug tested. He gained Republican support for the proposed law by insisting that poor people on welfare are...
Teen Poet Nails the Gabby Douglas Hair Issue: ‘When I Look at Her, I See Me…’
If you caught my post about Olympic gold medalist Gabrielle Douglas last week, you may have noticed that I chose to focus only on her stunning, beautiful success, and ignored that "controversy" the media picked up and ran with. I personally think the number of folks...
Regarding Olympic Gymnast Gabby Douglas…
Two words... Stunning. Perfection. Thank you. That is all. !
She was 10, He was 19: I Will Call Him ‘Snake’
This is a true story. The names have been changed to protect... ...Well, I'm not really sure who gets protected here; maybe you can help me with that. I know someone who violated a child sexually when he was a teenager. She was 10, he was 19. For the rest of this...
According to ‘Abraham Lincoln’ Harriet Tubman Shouldn’t Be So Black
There are two things the American masses can't seem to get enough of, revisionist history and vampires, so, hey, why not mash up the two and make a quick box office buck? Enter film maker Tim Burton (yes, thee Tim Burton) and his just released bright idea, "Abraham...
Here’s Why I Love Kola Boof
"I wish, so much, that I hadn’t stayed with the bodies over night. Because that is how I received my imagination...I could hear their blood going into the earth...And I know TOO MUCH." -Kola Boof Whenever I think of Kola Boof, I see an image of Naima Bint Harith, a...
Did Michael Jackson’s Escape to Whiteness Add to His Success?
♥♥♥ Michael Jackson died on June 25th, 2009, but not before gifting the world with his amazing talent--and not before he faded before our eyes into a white-skinned man. Today, as Katherine Jackson is mourning the absence of her incredibly gifted son, I find myself...
Happy Birthday to Me, Tupac and a White Dude Who Dyed for Freedom (not a typo)
Today is my birthday. And Tupac's Too. Another June 16th human being I really love is John Howard Griffin. I hope you already know all about this man, but if not, he was a White anti-racist who grew up in the South and wanted to do something to reach the hearts and...
Here’s Why I Can’t Get the ‘Face-Eating Man’ Off My Mind
Eighteen minutes. Set a timer and lie back on the couch for eighteen minutes and you will realize what an eternity that would be if someone held you down for that long while ripping your face apart with their teeth. Equally, if not more horrific, is the thought of...
Michelle Rodriguez: “You Have to Be Trashy and Black to Get Nominated” for an Oscar
Director Lee Daniels (Precious) is receiving strong criticism for his latest film, "The Paperboy," which was mostly panned at the Cannes Film Festival this year and called "outrageous," "unintentionally funny" and "campy." However, at least one fan of the film thought...
How Do I Love Thee, @ScandalABC? Let Me Count the Ways
Scandal. Scandal. Scandal. ♥ I love how writer/producer Shonda Rhimes (Grey's Anatomy, Private Practice) created a television drama in which the lead character could have been portrayed by a bold, brilliant, beautiful woman of any ethnicity, and ABC cast a black woman...
Asian Activist Scot Nakagawa: “White Supremacy Has a Special Relationship with Blacks”
If you have ever attended a cultural sensitivity training or participated in a forum or workshop exploring issues of race and racism, you have probably noticed that when the dialogue moves to a specific focus on white/black relations (and the ferocity with which...
Justus, Joshua and James: 3 Black Chess Players Achieve Master Ranking at Age 12
There are some 77,000 members of the United States Chess Federation and fewer than 2 percent of them are excellent enough players to be called “masters.” Of those masters, just 13 of them are under the age of 14. Of those 13, three are African American boys from the...
Schooling Carmen Available Free on Amazon.com (for 24 Hours Only)
My novel Schooling Carmen is available in Kindle format free at Amazon.com for the next 24 hours. *(Usually $4.99, but for 24 hours, that is until MIDNIGHT (pst) May 7th you can get it free.) "Cross quickly pulls her readers in...It's not her style to do anything...
NY Post Writer Phil Mushnick is Happy to be Entertained by Ni – – ers, Until They Get Uppity
New York Post writer Phil Mushnick is apparently comfortable with talented "niggers" chasing a basketball around for his entertainment —and his kids can listen to their music— but when a wealthy black man has the gall to actually OWN a NBA team franchise and express...
Ten Most Irreverent (Funny?) Tweets About the Fire at Tyler Perry Studios
So, if you're a frequent visitor to my blog you already know I am NOT a Tyler Perry hater, but plenty of folks are, as evidenced by the sheer volume (and spitefulness) of tweets regarding the 4-alarm fire that caused a building to collapse at Perry's Atlanta studio....