Uptown Notes

Marc Lamont Hill, Susan L. Taylor, Talib Kweli, Kephra Burns, and April R. Silver invite you to a benefit celebration [...]

So there are few things I find more ridiculous than Jeremih’s (where the hell did the “a” in his name [...]

What Michael Jackson taught me about Social Justice

I spend most days in the classroom teaching on issues of race, social class, mobility and opportunity. The discussions I have always intrigue me, particularly because most of my students are people of color from working class backgrounds. After listening and reading, I’m beginning to think the belief that anything is possible, clouds us from seeing what is probable. I say this not to be a pessimist, rather because I wonder what the line between naivete and willful denial of reality is. And if there are or what are the consequences for this thinning line for our people.

On November 10th, Miriam Makeba b.k.a. Mama Africa transitioned to the ancestral realm. She was a powerful voice both musically and politically. Her work on Black Liberation in her native South Africa and globally beautifully demonstrated the richness and importance of Pan-Africanism and African Aesthetics. May her life in the ancestral realm be blessed for her work on this planet has blessed us all.

Making films is hard. Making hip-hop films is harder. Making a film that plays with time and space is something [...]