harry belafonte

My Truth – Mama, oh Mama  

Parenting is hard. There’s no play book or guide. When you’re in school there are so many things that you can’t be taught and so you spend a significant portion of your life in a trial-and-error mode. Fortunately for me, my mother lived long enough for me to “get it,” to have an understanding of many of the “whys” we lived through and that I questioned. 

Sir Sidney L. Poitier, Who Shattered Thousands of Glass Ceilings for African American Thespians, Returned to the Great Unknown, at the age of 94

I am humbled by the legacy that Sidney Poitier has left. Imagine the sheer will that is required to shatter all of the obstacles that were tossed into his path. The hatred of African Americans in the United States of America has never left this stolen land, but in the ’20s, achieving any kind of equality seemed as distant as touching the stars.  

Rep. Waters Applauds Tyler Perry for Historic Grand Opening of Tyler Perry Studios

Congresswoman Maxine Waters (CA-43) wrote a letter of commendation to Tyler Perry – the first African American to own a major movie studio – following the grand opening of the Tyler Perry Studios, which Congresswoman Waters attended in Atlanta. The 330-acre major motion picture studio is “one of the largest production facilities in the country” and includes “40 buildings on the National Register of Historic Places, 12 sound stages, 200 acres of greenspace, and a diverse backlot.” Her letter follows:

Patrick Gaspard to Receive Prestigious NAACP Spingarn Medal

The National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP), the nation’s foremost civil rights organization, has announced that Ambassador Patrick Gaspard will be awarded the prestigious Spingarn Medal during the NAACP’s 110th Annual Convention taking place in Detroit, Michigan on July 24.

Nipsey Hussle and Ty Dolla $ign Headline Free #TimeDone Campaign Bringing Awareness to the Past Convictions Crisis

The smooth rhythms of L.A. natives rapper Nipsey Hussle, award-winning artist Ty Dolla $ign, and R&B Bay-area artist Goapele filled the speakers at the Greek Theatre on Sunday evening, Oct. 22 for the #TimeDone campaign’s free concert. The concert served as a launching pad to raise awareness of legal prohibitions on job and housing eligibility, other barriers that 70 million Americans living with a past conviction face after completing prison sentences. 

Living and Singing Soul with Aretha: Respecting Our Awesome and Soulful Selves

Whatever others may say in clearly deserved praise and homage to Aretha Franklin, it is vitally important that we, as persons and a people, speak our own special cultural truth about her and make our own unique assessment of her music, life, service and meaning to us. Here I mean not letting others’ descriptions of her and her music serve as an orientation and framework for our own praise and proper due, but rather reaching inside ourselves and understanding and speaking of her in a multiplicity of meaningful and praise-worthy ways drawn and distilled from the depths of our own hearts and our own culture.

Michael Eric Dyson to Preach at Holman UMC

The Rev. Dr. Michael Eric Dyson delivers another hard-hitting message with his new book, “What Truth Sounds Like: Robert F. Kennedy, James Baldwin and Our Unfinished Conversation About Race in America.” His latest work recounts a historic 1963 meeting between then-U.S. Attorney General Kennedy, novelist Baldwin and other Black activists and artists deeply involved in the civil rights movement and shows how issues discussed 55 years ago still remain unresolved. The powerful preacher, scholar, and national political commentator appears in Los Angeles this weekend to expound on the topic of race and hopes to inspire believers and nonbelievers alike to