“…Do the impossible, raise an African American girl who felt as fully entitled to own the world as much as any white man,” I recalled that line, uttered in a recent episode of Scandal, when I saw the viral video of a white South Carolina school police officer violently ripping a Black teenage girl from […]
Author: Oneka LaBennett
Oneka LaBennett is associate professor of Africana Studies at Cornell University. She’s the author of She’s Mad Real: Popular Culture and West Indian Girls in Brooklyn and editor of Racial Formation in the Twenty-First Century. Twitter: @OnekaLaBennett
At the Grammys, Domestic Violence is Cause Célèbre, But Black Women Rappers Are Uncelebrated
Leading up to last night’s Grammy Awards, controversy centered on what a victory for the white, Australia-born rapper Iggy Azalea would signify, as she would have been the first solo woman artist to collect the Best Rap Album award. Assessments of Azalea’s authenticity (her “blaccent” works with an on/off switch—she speaks differently than she raps) […]
Criticism of Sasha and Malia Obama Shows How America Views Black Youth
Yesterday, GOP staffer Elizabeth Lauten resigned amid a firestorm of criticism over her disparaging comments about Sasha and Malia Obama. Referring to the short skirts the First Daughters wore to the annual Thanksgiving turkey pardoning ceremony and their perhaps less-than-thrilled expressions on her Facebook page, Lauten asked the 13 and 16 year olds to “try […]
Danièle Watts, Slut-Shaming and Supporting the Black Female Victim/Offender
Recently reports surfaced that actress Danièle Watts, who appeared in the film Django Unchained, was detained by Los Angeles police responding to a complaint that a white man and Black woman indecently exposed themselves while parked in a Mercedes in Studio City. Watts and her partner, Brian James Lucas, said that the officers mistook them […]
Gabby Douglas is Not Her Hair
“Are you kidding me? I just made history. And you’re focusing on my hair?” That was 16-year-old Olympic gold medalist Gabby Douglas, bravely echoing singer India.Arie’s anthem, “I Am Not My Hair.” The criticism of Douglas’ locks on social media sites such as Twitter and on black blogs is typical of the multiple types of […]
How Does Nicki Minaj Influence Black Girls?
Nicki Minaj is poised to make a splash with her sophomore album, Pink Friday: Roman Reloaded, on April 3. After head-turning appearances at the Grammys and the NBA All-Star Game and with Madonna at the Super Bowl, followed by reports that she landed a multi-million dollar deal with Pepsi, she has emerged as the new […]