Recently in Culture Category

You should listen to this story from NPR. It will take a long time before a mega-corporation like BP feels the hurt of a boycott. Sadly, though, independent gas station owners are already suffering.

Just say, for a moment, that we were to take Glenn Beck's counsel seriously and flee any church or parish that promoted the idea of "social justice" or "economic justice." We'd probably have to close down 90 percent of the African American churches in this country!

You've likely caught wind of this controversy already. Beck, the fiery and often humorous conservative talk show host on the FOX News network, told his radio and TV audiences last week that the terms are code for "communism" and "Nazism." He advised:

I beg you, look for the words "social justice" or "economic justice" on your church website. If you find it, run as fast as you can. Social justice and economic justice, they are code words.

Just to be clear, he added:

Now, am I advising people to leave their church? Yes!

Remember back in the day when music artists and movie stars would take time away from showbiz to go to college or serve a stint in the military? In the world of hip-hop, that ritual has been replaced by stars who take time off from entertaining their audiences to serve prison sentences.

Rapper Lil Wayne is just the latest in an ever-expanding lineup of popular rappers and hip-hop artists whose fame and riches would seem to give them every motivation to stay out of trouble. Unfortunately, in hip-hop culture fame and jail time seem to go together like salt and pepper. (No offense intended to the good ladies of Salt-n-Pepa, who, as far as we know, have not been to jail.)

Here's a compelling feature story from the Chicago Tribune on the challenge of overseas adoptions and how perspectives and approaches on the matter have evolved over the years. According to the article, Americans have adopted a half-million children from overseas in the last 40 years. In the early days of international adoptions, many parents believed their children's lives would be easier and they would face less prejudice if they shed their native culture, but today that mindset has shifted 180 degrees -- which has led to a new set of challenges.

Fifty years ago, on Feb. 1, four black college students sat down at a whites-only Woolworth's lunch counter in Greensboro, N.C. The "Greensboro Four," along with friends and supporters, returned to the counter every day for six months until the lunch counter was desegregated.

"We feel that this place here and this entire building is holy ground," says Skip Alston, Guilford County commissioner. "What took place here on Feb. 1, 1960, was very holy and ordained." 

Check out NPR's excellent report on this historic event, and find out how that Greensboro Woolworth's building went on to become the International Civil Rights Center & Museum. 

As you probably know, American Idol is back for its 9th season, and every year the show loves to showcase auditioning performers who have absolutely no chance of making into the competition, but who are incredibly entertaining nonetheless (think William Hung). This year's leading candidate for top prize in that category seems to be General Larry Platt, the 62-year-old spoken-word performer (you can't really call him a singer or rapper), who had the AI judges falling out last night with his original composition "Pants on the Ground." It was evident from the outset that this one would go down in AI history as one of the most memorable auditions. Top judge Simon Cowell even remarked, "I have a horrible feeling that song could be a hit." And, as might be expected, Platt has created quite the stir on Twitter, YouTube, and other social networks. (Check out a "remix" version of the tune below.)  

On Monday, Chicago Public Radio's signature news and talk program, Eight Forty-Eight, featured a sobering "barbershop" discussion about the culture of gangs and violence that continues to ravage Chicago's inner-city communities. Since last September, more than 70 Chicago Public School students have been shot; 36 CPS students were killed during the 2008-09 school year; and the brutal Sept. 24 beating death of 16-year-old Derrion Albert made global headlines when cell-phone video of the deadly riot went viral. Chicago Public Radio's Richard Steele led this revealing discussion with a panel of both young and older African American men. For anyone seeking a deeper understanding of the reasons behind the epidemic of violence in our urban communities, and how we can begin to reverse the trend, this 16-minute radio segment is worth your time. 

 

So here's something we didn't know. Turns out the Boys Choir of Harlem was quietly disbanded in 2007, following the death of its founder, Walter J. Turnbull. We knew the choir had run into some legal and moral tangles in recent years, but we didn't know that, for all intents and purposes, it had ceased to exist. From the New York Times report:

Publishers Weekly, the leading trade publication for the American book industry, is not a magazine that comes to mind when you think "racial drama." A magazine of its ilk doesn't have much reason to push the envelope; it's simply there to keep its readers abreast of news and reviews from the book publishing biz. So, when PW made headlines this week for an edgy cover image, a lot of folks probably did a double take. Publishers Weekly stirring up controversy? Go figure.

But the image of an African American woman with a slew of Afro picks in her natural hair under the coverline "Afro Picks!" has been controversial indeed. The photo is connected to PW's cover story on African American literature and was the brainchild of Calvin Reid, an African American editor at the periodical. Nevertheless, many readers have expressed dismay over the cover.  

Sunday's Los Angeles Times featured an interesting story about the controversy in the black community regarding the film Precious. The article explores how the film's blunt and brutal vision of urban life in America has inspired both praise for its honesty and criticism for what many feel is a slanted portrayal of African American pathology and dysfunction. What really caught our attention, however, was the writer's mention of C. Jeffrey Wright's recent commentary on this very topic at UrbanFaith.com. The writer refers to UrbanFaith as a "conservative Christian site." We're not necessarily comfortable with the "conservative" tag, but we're certainly grateful for the press.