Dear Chris Brown: An Open Letter
Dear Chris Brown, Mentally Ill Black Women Need Counseling, Not A Good Lay:
When you returned home on Wednesday, May 6th I know you surely had a WTF moment. Discovering that your home was broken into, seeing your cars vandalized and finding a naked woman, whom you didn’t know, in your bed had to be shocking, infuriating and maybe even a little scary. You were violated by a young woman who by all accounts, even Read more...
Black Power Without Black Women Is Weak
“The most disrespected person in America is the Black woman, the most unprotected person in America is the Black woman. The most neglected person in America is the Black woman.” – Malcolm X
When most people think about Malcolm X they immediately think of Black manhood leading to associations of Black power tied exclusively to the work of Black men. This is most likely a case of people not knowing that our own Black shining Read more...
“GIRLHOOD” Screening & Discussion in Harlem!
This Saturday, March 28th, in partnership with Imagenation Cinema Foundation, theHotness.com is hosting the 7:30pm screening of the critically acclaimed film Girlhood. Please join me as I moderate a post discussion with panelists Yvette Russell (former ESSENCE Entertainment Editor & current Director of Programs for READ Alliance), Shawanna Bell (Program Coordinator at Young Life), and Genesis Mullen (Young Life member) along with girls from the Harlem chapter of Young Life for Read more...
Black Love Matters in Real Life & in Film
On the recent cable broadcast of Book Of Negroes when Aminata Diallo says to her former slave owner, “I love that slave man… freely,” she was not only claiming her love for her African husband, she was committing an act of resistance. Manifesting their love was a radical expression of freedom for slaves that even chains couldn’t suppress. That kind of freedom was a threat to the entire institution of slavery and, seemingly, is one Read more...
Bigger Than Ferguson: My Night Protesting in NYC
On Monday and Tuesday night I was in the streets marching with #NYC2Ferguson protesters. On Tuesday night I started at 34th St walking looking for my fellow marchers, joined them at 42nd and made it up to 72nd with them chanting with hands up all the way, but by then my feet, thighs and vocal chords were screaming “No Mas” and I was freezing. Oh to be young again I could’ve made it all the
theHigh5: Viola Davis, Wangechi Mutu & Liz Peña
Whoa so much going on this last week, it was hard to pick just five things! Here’s what you may have missed:
1. Viola Davis as Annalise and her last 3 minutes on How To Get Away With Murder: The more Annalise removed, the more we felt her pain. Yet, in that moment no one could deny her strength in the midst of such raw vulnerability. Yes, ladies, I think we all felt this Read more...
theHigh-5: Mo’Ne Davis, #Ferguson, Toni Morrison
theHigh-5 is not new here on theHotness, but making it the feature where we highlight our top five Facebook posts from the past week… well that’s new. So without further ado, here’s this week’s favorite five:
1. #OnTheRun #Ferguson
While Jay-Z & Beyonce play #ontherun, this real life couple…
2. Mo’Ne Davis – #ThrowLikeAGirl
We love Mo’Ne Davis who’s showing all the boys what a fastball looks like (and that would be 70 mph)! She’s Read more...
Standing On The Corner of Self-Realization & Joy
“You meet all kinds of people that help put life in perspective and turn the horror into some kind of lesson or avenue of awakening that lives with you all your days.” -Ruby Dee
“Stand still inside yourself and know who you are.” -Dr. Maya Angelou
If you’ve seen me walk you know I walk hard and in typical New Yorker form, I rarely stand still. Exactly a month ago, after just leaving my office Read more...
theHotness Host A Listening Party for Ledisi
Please join me TONIGHT @7pm as I host a Ledisi listening party at Carol’s Daughter in Harlem! No RSVP required!
I was in the audience that November in 2010 at The Paradise Theater in the Bronx for BET’s epic production of the Black Girls Rock Awards Show. I watched Ledisi pull, pump and puncture the heck outta Nina Simone’s “Four Women.” Although the performance also featured Kelly Price, Marsha Ambrosius and Jill Scott, it was Read more...
Hot Grrrls Cool Music w/ RES at Ginny’s
Singer Res is a shapeshifter. Instead of getting stuck, silenced or worse, stereotyped, she changes-up her flow a little bit here, and revises her steez a little there, and with every transformation she seems to be moving closer to the fly woman artist of her dreams.
I remember when How I Do dropped. It was Black cool on another level. “Golden Boys” was the joint— Res with all that sass pulling down the curtain Read more...