On Oct. 2, Chicago rapper Noname hosted the grand opening of the Los Angeles headquarters for Noname Book Club, a project she began in 2019 to uplift communities of color through literature.
The discussion of Black treatment in sports through the lens of Biles, Osaka, and Williams. The similarities between these three athletes are very apparent: they are Black women and they have all been subject to critics' degradation of their character because they are Black women. Unlike their white counterparts, Black female athletes are expected to live up to "Black excellence" expectations and have to work twice as hard to prove their worthiness, all while having to cope with the intersections of race and gender-based violence that they experience, which can significantly deteriorate their overall well being.
If you’re an avid Twitter user, like myself, then your timeline may have been flooded with content about Nicki Minaj and her opinions about the COVID-19 vaccine ––what some people are calling #BallGate–– for the past few weeks. While the incident is quite ridiculous from start to finish, the power and influence that celebrities have should be taken seriously, especially in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Lil Nas X, depicted center, walks down a hallway flanked by backup dancers in his music video Industry Baby, From Old Town Road to Montero: What the meteoric rise of Lil Nas X reveals about the current state of homophobia in the Black community.
Ramadan is the holy month of fasting, reflection, and peace for Muslims every year. Ramadan consists of fasting (no eating, drinking, and other regulations) from dawn to sunset for 29 or 30 days followed by a celebration of Eid al-Fitr, marking the end of Ramadan in celebration of completing the entire month. Through a whole day of fasting, families from different countries and all kinds of different traditions come together at the sound of the Maghrib Athan (sunset call to prayer) to initiate the Maghrib prayer and the break of their fast to eat Iftar (meal at sunset to break fast). Across the globe, millions of Muslims fast, pray daily obligatory prayers and non-obligatory prayers (like Taraweeh), eat Iftar, eat suhoor (meal before dawn to start fasting) together or alone during these humble and important days. A month full of cherished traditions, beautiful food, and close connections with God.
On January 6th, 2021, the world was glued to their TV screens as they watched the mayhem at Capitol Hill. White supremacists and alt-right pro-Trump supporters stormed the Capitol Building, believing that they had the power to overturn the 2020 Presidential Election results, and the police did little to prevent the insurrection from occurring. The groundwork for the insurrection dates back to almost a year ago, but the planning for the insurrection happened across the span of several weeks. Tweets dating back to December 23, 2019 serve as evidence that the far-right was rallying to suppress democracy, and the federal government failed to take these sentiments seriously and act on time.
The one-year mark of the COVID-19 pandemic is fast approaching. In the last twelve months, our world has encountered immense changes, one of which has been a drastic increase in anti-Asian hate crimes in the United States.
Imagine block after block of fast food chains like McDonalds or KFC serving as the only source of food with no grocery stores within a mile radius. Cities across America are dry stricken without fresh food for miles to come, leaving thousands abandoned in food deserts. Food deserts as defined by Medical News Today are “regions where people have limited access to healthful and affordable food.”
For a group of people who pride themselves on being committed to racial, economic, and environmental justice, a different ego has emerged from progressives and liberals alike during the week of the 2020 Presidential Election. Both political ideologies created a campaign of “kindness, justice, and equity” to vote Trump out of the White House, but they failed to deliver the same message in a time where it was needed most: election week. During the week of the election, a social media cleanse was not only needed to avoid false information on voter fraud, but to deter the inhumanity perpetrated by so-called progressives and liberals in battleground states, mostly located in the South and the Midwest.
The climate change disaster so many people wished upon Southern states like Texas and Florida after their 2020 electoral vote results has occurred. On February 16, 2021, a historic deep freeze swept Texas, Tennessee, and other Southern states, where at least 58 people had died.
What would Congress think? If I, as a Black man, were to share my frustrations of what occurred on the floor? If they were to actually hear the pain I felt— what ached while sitting in my DC apartment, staring out of my window as sirens blared throughout the streets; streets that I know were forbidden to those who looked like me, but seemed to be owned by those in red hats and white skin. The feeling of knowing, knowing that I could not dare leave my apartment or my life would be in jeopardy. What would Congress think? What would run through their mind? While I can’t share all my frustrations, because my parents will one day read this, I will offer some here:
Society’s admiration for celebrities in the arts, entertainment, and sports spheres has transcended into a dangerous area — politician “stan” culture.
The death of actor Chadwick Boseman on Aug. 28 came as a shock to members of various communities. The late actor was diagnosed with stage three colon cancer in 2016, a diagnosis that he chose to keep private. His family announced that he died at his Los Angeles home at the age of 43, surrounded by loved ones, with a message on Twitter.
BY: CIARA WELLS & LAMA MOHAMMED
BY: LAMA MOHAMMED
BY: LAMA MOHAMMED
BY: SOFIA DEAN, AQSA RASHID, AND MOMAL RIZVI
Solutions by The State News
