Blacks in Film
Roxanne, Roxanne, the long-awaited feature film detailing the true story of the razor-tongued hip-hop pioneer, is unlike any other rap biopic. The film, which receives its first screening Sunday at Sundance Film Festival, is a co-production between Forest Whitaker's Significant Productions and Pharrell Williams' I Am Other. Roxanne Shanté, also an executive producer on the film. http://www.rollingstone.com/movies/news/first-look-roxanne-shante-bio-knocks-rap-movies-out-the-box-w462035

Obama Legacy: Not Black Enough
Over two terms, there would be no specific agenda aimed at curing social maladies most predominant in black and poor neighborhoods. No war on poverty, no comprehensive criminal justice reform, no radical new approach to public education and no wholesale effort to staunch the flow of illegal guns. No substantial attempt to wage a fight for environmental justice, to clear the toxins pervading the water and soil in poor neighborhoods. Yet Chelsea Manning’s sentence was commuted in the final days of the Obama presidency and Assata Shakur is still living in exile in Cuba. WTF? http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2017/01/22/my-president-wasn-t-black-enough.html

Getting Black to Nature
When Adrienne Troy-Frazier moved from Chicago to the Lowcountry in 2012, she looked forward to having year-round access to the outdoors because of the moderate winter weather. Yet when she showed up for outings, organizers often seemed surprised that a black person was participating. The stereotype that black people didn’t enjoy nature seemed apparent and Troy-Frazier didn’t accept that. Her searches soon led her to a national group called Outdoor Afro, which is dedicated to connecting black people to nature via outings.  “Our ancestors had an important relationship with the land here. The disconnect (in some outings) often exists when that narrative isn’t shared. It is important for everyone to know that history. In most of our Outdoor Afro outings we imbed our connection to the outdoor space we’re are visiting or activity.” http://www.postandcourier.com/blog/get_fit/outdoor-connection-group-offers-nature-outings-to-blacks/article_dd060772-dcf6-11e6-b7b8-8b19830d257b.html

Black Celebs Support the Women’s March
Over the weekend, some of those women included familiar faces like Angela Davis, Kerry Washington, Tracee Ellis Ross, Janelle Monae, Uzo Aduba and more - all standing together to bring light to the issues that face women, and more specifically women of color, in America. http://urbanmecca.net/news/2017/01/23/celebrities-come-support-womens-marches-around-country/  Yet a new study shows that married white women without a college degree have nearly four times the wealth of their black counterparts. Older, single black women with a college degree have a mere $11,000 in wealth, which is the lowest of all groups in that age range and is in stark contrast to the $384,400 in median wealth among single white women with a bachelor’s degree. http://www.insightcced.org/wp-content/uploads/2017/01/January2017_ResearchBriefSeries_WomenRaceWealth-Volume1-Pages-1.pdf  Just what were you marching for?

Gag Me With a Coon?
Jerry Rice must fire his management ASAP for this disgraceful Popeye's Chicken commercial. We all know that Jerry can speak, in fact he's been in the commentator role for many years now. If I were his manager and read that script, I would've demanded Jerry switch roles with the white guy.  Or we walk. Even the fictional Jerry Maguire wouldn't have accepted that! I'm making a dollar decision to not patronize this establishment any longer.