White teachers often talk about Black students in racially coded ways
Rowhea Elmesky, Associate Professor of Education, Arts & Sciences at Washington University in St. Louis and Olivia Marcucci, Assistant Professor of Education, Johns Hopkins University When a white Texas middle school teacher told his students in November 2022 that he was “ethnocentric” and thought his race was “superior,” he attempted to explain his position by arguing…
Stephen ‘tWitch’ Boss’s death should spark real conversations about the cost of Black celebrity
Cheryl Thompson – Assistant Professor, Performance, Toronto Metropolitan University On December 13, 2022, dancer and DJ Stephen ‘tWitch’ Boss died from suicide at age 40. Like many, I was incredibly shocked and saddened by the news. As a scholar of Black entertainment history, I also reflected on the longer history of Black male entertainers dancing or…
Disney’s Black mermaid is no breakthrough – just look at the literary subgenre of Black mermaid fiction
Jessica Pressman – Professor of English and Comparative Literature, San Diego State University Mermaids have become a cultural phenomenon, and clashes about mermaids and race have spilled out into the open. This is most pointedly apparent in the backlash over Disney’s much-anticipated “The Little Mermaid.” After Disney unveiled its trailer for the film, which will be…
‘Black Panther: Wakanda Forever’ continues the series’ quest to recover and celebrate lost cultures
Julian C. Chambliss – Professor of English, Michigan State University As someone who teaches and writes about Afrofuturism, I’ve been eagerly awaiting the release of “Black Panther: Wakanda Forever.” I’m particularly excited about the introduction of Namor and the hidden kingdom of Talokan, which he leads. The first “Black Panther” film adhered to a longstanding…
Before you vote for a senator, here are some facts about what they actually do
Rachel Paine Caufield – Professor of Political Science, Drake University Fetterman or Oz? Walker or Warnock? Bolduc or Hassan? Kelly or Masters? Hard-fought races for the U.S. Senate are dominating the news before the 2022 midterm elections, with energetic and close contests in Pennsylvania, Georgia, New Hampshire and Arizona, among others. Some have included record amounts of spending; others have…
Disasters like Hurricane Ian can affect academic performance for years to come
When leaders at a middle school in New Orleans asked me to help students who were struggling after the city had been struck by Hurricane Katrina, we didn’t see eye to eye. They wanted me to focus on helping the children overcome test anxiety. Their concern was enabling the children to pass a high-stakes standardized test.…
Serena Williams forced sports journalists to get out of the ‘toy box’ – and cover tennis as more than a game
Erin Whiteside – Associate Professor of Journalism and Electronic Media, University of Tennessee Of the many outstanding components of her game, Serena Williams may best be known for her commanding serve. Those serves, unleashed over the course of a 27-year professional career, arguably heightened the power and intensity of the women’s game, forcing her opponents to…
Yes, Black patients do want to help with medical research – here are ways to overcome the barriers that keep clinical trials from recruiting diverse populations
Julia Liu – Professor of Medicine, Morehouse School of Medicine and RaKetra Snipes Physician Assistant in Gastroenterology, Morehouse School of Medicine Clinical trial participants are predominantly white. Despite Black and Hispanic people respectively making up 12% and 16% of the U.S. population in 2011, together they made up only 6% of clinical trial participants overall that year. Clinical…
Excelling as a musician takes practice and requires opportunities – not just lucky genes
Bryan Nichols – Associate Professor of Music, Penn State What makes talented musicians so good at what they do? There’s plenty of evidence that people can be born that way. Research findings suggest that about half of musical ability is inherited. Even if that’s true, it doesn’t mean you must have musical talent in your genes…
Roe v. rap: Hip-hop artists have long wrestled with reproductive rights
A.D. Carson – Assistant Professor of Hip-Hop, University of Virginia Hip-hop culture is often recognized as being born on Aug. 11, 1973. That was about seven months after Roe v. Wade, the landmark decision that protected the right to choose to have an abortion. Accordingly, reproductive rights have long been part of the discourse in rap music,…
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