We lost the great blues legend BB King this week. Time Magazine takes a look back at his life through photos.
Over at Salon, they examine the “blatant racial revisionism” in the South and the denial of the roots of blues. Hint, it’s not white.
Kadra Mohamed is Minnesota’s first hijab-wearing police officer. The St. Paul Police Department hopes that seeing Kadra in her hijab will encourage other Muslim women to join the force.
One hundred seventeen countries condemned the US over its police brutality against minorities at a UN human rights’ council.
Ten-year-old Taye Montgomery was allegedly maced during a peaceful protest in Minneapolis. His heartbreaking quote shows exactly what is wrong with America when he said, “at least I got Maced and not shot.”
Saida Grundy, an assistant professor of sociology and African-American studies at Boston University, came under attack after her tweets were viewed as racist by conservatives.
Supporters were showing their support by trending #ISupportSaida.
An Op-Ed in the Baltimore Sun asks us why we seem to love rebellion in film so much but not the one going on in the streets. It has to do with framing.
Jay-Z and Beyonce are rumored to have contributed a lot of money to the Baltimore relief efforts, in particular, donating bail for jailed protestors.
Solange also released her song for Ferguson and Baltimore called “Rise.”
The NY Times has a piece on the housing discrimination and segregation practices that contribute to cycles of poverty in Baltimore.
The vote is in and the people chose Harriet Tubman to replace Jackson on the $20 bill, which means the petition is one step closer to making the change a reality.
The new #GoodMuslimBadMuslim podcast discusses Muslim identity.
Remember Mindy Kaling’s brother’s terrible article about affirmative action? Did you pretend that it never happened to save yourself the stress like I did? Well, the Aerogram has a great open letter to Vijay Chokalingam about anti-blackness and solidarity.
Speaking about solidarity and tensions between minority groups, Officer Peter Liang has appeared in court this past week to face charges following the death of Akai Gurley last November, which has caused some tension in the police, media, and the Chinese and black communities in NYC.
The Root talks about WNBA’s Brittney Griner and Glory Johnson and intimate partner violence in LGBT communities. For more on these issues in queer communities of color, you can head over to Feministing.
Following last week’s news about unfair working conditions in nail salons, NY Gov. Andrew Cuomo pledges a task force to investigate and tackle the abuses of workers in salons across the state.
On Sunday, 60 Minutes aired a story on the Smithsonian’s National Museum of African American History and Culture: a museum that was first authorized in 1929.
The ACLU is investigating Hollywood for their gender biases, and some wonderful people like Salma Hayek are speaking out about their experiences with race- and gender-based discrimination.
It’s fall TV preview time! So far, it looks like casts are continuing to be fairly diverse.
One fall preview face that may be familiar to some is future Quantico star and Bollywood A-Lister Priyanka Chopra, who talks about how the TV show is her attempt to break Indian stereotypes.
Chris Rock, Lenny Kravitz, and Alicia Keys will all be coming to the next season of Empire, which should be enough to keep watching.
Speaking of Empire, show co-creator Lee Daniels hates “White People Writing for Black People.”
Are you bummed about The Mindy Project being cancelled on Fox? Hulu subscribers, don’t worry, your show is heading there for the fourth season.
Did you catch Queen Latifah in Bessie this past weekend? Well, HBO just released a trailer for another movie event featuring acclaimed black actors, this time it’s Selma’s David Oyelowo in Nightingale.
The cast of The Wiz Live is starting to take shape with the announcement of original Dorothy Stephanie Mills joining as Auntie Em.
As if we weren’t excited enough about Star Wars spinoff Rogue One, my baby Diego Luna has also joined the cast!
Finally following DC’s diversity lead, Marvel is rumored to be “courting” director Ava DuVernay.
Ultimate nerd dream Orlando Jones has spoken in the past about his desire to play DC character Black Lightning, and it seems the creator Tony Isabella thinks he’d make a great Black Lightning. We’d pay good money to see that movie.
This is on the heels of the big news of Marvel’s parent company, Disney, going forward with their Princess of North Sudan, a feel-good movie for white people oblivious to histories of colonization and American imperialism.
Rihanna has had a huge week. She’s on the cover of the Met Gala Special Edition of Vogue, she was on SNL as the musical guest, and her teaser previews for Dior’s Secret Garden have been released.
Speaking of huge news in music… JANET IS BACK.
My conversation… #ConversationsInACafe https://t.co/buOK6ZhfHY
— Janet Jackson (@JanetJackson) May 16, 2015
It’s mid May, which means it’s the start of graduation and commencement seasons, so let’s have Maya Rudolph remind us of what most of us won’t be seeing at ceremonies this year.
We end on Mystikal’s return to music with this adorable video from his Mark Ronson collaboration, “Feel Right”
