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 *André Leon Talley was born on October 16, 1949 in Washington, DC, but raised in Durham, NC by his maternal grandmother, Bennie Davis. Even though she was a housekeeper who scrubbed floors at Duke University to keep a roof over their heads, she was also aristocratic in the highest sense of the word. Through […]

  Deep Roots: How Slavery Still Shapes Southern Politics by Avidit Acharya, Matthew Blackwell and Maya Sen Princeton University Press Hardcover, $29.95 296 pages, Illustrated ISBN: 978-0-691-17674-1 “Despite dramatic social transformations in the United States during the last 150 years, the South has remained staunchly conservative. Southerners are more likely to support Republican candidates, gun […]

[…] The Netherlands. Here, he talks about his latest offering, “Blackface,” a CNN short film about a minstrel Christmas character celebrated in the Netherlands known as Black Pete. Kam Williams: Hi Roger, thanks for the interview. Roger Ross Williams: Thanks, Kam. KW: What inspired you to make Blackface? RRW: When I first saw a white Dutch […]

*After overkill during an Avengers mission gone horribly wrong in Lagos, Nigeria exacts a terrible toll in terms of collateral damage, the U.S. Secretary of State (William Hurt) calls the team of superheroes on the carpet. He proceeds to chew them out for behaving like vigilantes with unchecked power, before suggesting they agree to be […]

Kam Williams Reviews documentary, The Black Panthers: Vanguard of the Revolution *The late Stokely Carmichael is famous for coining the phrase “Black power!” What he might not be as well remembered for is founding the Black Panthers. Frustrated by the tortoise-paced progress of the Civil Rights movement and by the number of martyrs dying […]

[…] more than a few conventions on their heads. The film also features a very pleasant soundtrack which includes a couple of crowd-pleasing tunes by 11-time, Grammy-winner Pharrell Williams. A rollicking roller coaster ride around the ‘hood that’s basically a hilarious cross between Kid and Play’s House Party (1990) and Harold & Kumar Go to […]

A couple of months after the attack on Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941, President Roosevelt issued Executive Order 9066. In accordance with this directive, over 100,000 U.S. citizens of Japanese ancestry were herded up and taken to internment camps for the duration of World War II. American, though set in the present, revisits that […]

*In “Support the Girls,” Double Whammies is an unremarkable watering hole located along a desolate strip of highway outside Austin, Texas where truckers and regulars can slip in and out quietly without drawing much attention to themselves. The seedy sports bar, a la your typical Hooters, is known for its booze and finger food served […]

*As an adolescent, Sean (Robert Sheehan) was dragged by his mom from Ireland to Portland, Oregon so that his step-dad could take a construction job that ended up lasting only a few weeks. Seven years later, Sean’s now an aspiring artist who ekes out a living parking cars at a trendy restaurant. Against his better […]

 *Wilson (Cake-Baly Marcelo) escaped to Hungary a number of years ago after his wife and daughters were slaughtered during civil unrest in his African homeland. The 50-something widower opted to seek political asylum in Budapest rather than continue on to Western Europe like most of his fellow refugees. After all, he’d taken a liking […]

 On March 3, 1991, five LAPD officers were caught on camera beating an unarmed black man who had led them on a high-speed chase instead of pulling over as directed. That driver, Rodney King suffered a broken ankle, a broken cheekbone, and numerous skull fractures and chipped teeth in the assault by billy clubs. […]

*In the upcoming Warner Bros. film, “Crazy Rich Asians,” even though Nick (Henry Golding) and Rachel (Constance Wu) have been dating for a few years, they don’t know much about each other’s background. That’s because they live in New York City where he’s never bothered to reveal that he’s from one the wealthiest families in […]

*Back in the Eighties, Keith Mahar (Russell Peters) was a child actor who found fame playing the young sidekick to charismatic Adam King (Clancy Brown) on a hit TV series. But after the show was canceled, Keith’s career collapsed and his parents frittered away his pay by the time he became an adult. Consequently, he’s […]

*Five years ago, Captain Jonas Taylor (Jason Statham) only managed to save half his crew when his research submarine was crippled by a massive, 75-foot long shark thought to be extinct. Because the Navy brass was skeptical about the existence of a Megalodon, he was dishonorably discharged and lost not only his career, but his […]

*Back in the Seventies, Ron Stallworth became the first African-American to join the Colorado Springs Police Department. The ambitious, young, college grad was soon promoted to detective, and his initial undercover case involved covering a Stokely Carmichael (Corey Hawkins) rally when the incendiary Black Power advocate was invited to speak at Colorado College. But his […]