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Detroit, the latest film by Kathryn Bigelow and her screenwriting partner Mark Boal, is not really about Detroit or the 1967 uprising in that city. The film dramatizes an event that took place during the uprising when police stormed the Algiers Motel, responding to a false report of sniper fire from the hotel. The police rounded up the guests — a group of unarmed Black men and two underage white girls who were, as one critic said, “partying like it’s 1966.” (more…)
Art, Music, & Pop Culture
The role of artists in society has always been important. Artists raise awareness about social issues and are often the register of the times. They can reinforce the status quo or they can serve as a catalyst for change. Popular Culture often illuminates where we are all are as a people and a species. We invite critical essays and thinking on art of all types today in the US and abroad.
In Search of Tupac: Expectations of All Eyez On Me
By Stephanie Shonekan, Art, Music, and Pop Culture Contributing Editor Not since Ray has a biopic done justice to a beloved African American artist. As a genre, the musical biopic is challenging because it has to tell the story of … Continue reading
Fire From Below: Advice For Activism in The Trump Era From Bill Ayers
By Ryan Alexander-Tanner | The Nib
Love and Theft: Why Get Out Matters
By Mary F. Corey “A DIFFERENCE BETWEEN ACCOMPLISHMENTS AND ASTONISHMENTS” —Kendrick Lamar, The Heart Part 4 In 1962, James Baldwin hurled a smart bomb into the liberal white community when the New Yorker published his incendiary “Letter from a Region in … Continue reading
Lemonade: Our Album of the Year
By Stephanie Shonekan, Contributing Editor, Art, Music, and Pop Culture This year’s Grammy Awards show was one of the best I have seen in the last few years. Almost every performance was spectacular–Bruno Mars as himself and then as Prince; … Continue reading
Luke Cage: An Exploration of Black Identity
By Marquise Griffin “Man, it is what it is. You can’t understand a man if you ain’t live what he lived.” -Method Man “Bulletproof Love” I have a vivid memory of being in the Chicago Union Amtrak station in … Continue reading
For Hong Kong Artists, the Internet Is Freedom’s Last Frontier
By Kelly Go In 2014, the city-state of Hong Kong was swept up in the Umbrella Revolution. Its leaders were youth, its medium the internet, and the results were hundreds of thousands of bodies on the street voicing strong political … Continue reading
One Week of Poems on Love and Terror
By adrienne maree brown In this moment, when the future is so uncertain, Praxis Center turns to poetic offerings by adrienne maree brown. As she wrote on her blog, “i still believe it is the core work of our species – to … Continue reading
#decolonizingonebeadatatime: Resistance with Nicole Cardinal from the Dakelh Nation
By Shayna Plaut Nicole Cardinal is a self-described “matriarch-in-training” from the Dakelh Nation and “a First Nations and Indigenous Studies Warrior.” Deeply committed to her schooling as a mature undergraduate student at the University of British Columbia (UBC), her number … Continue reading
Ligatures for Black Bodies
By Denise Miller Denise Miller’s stunning artwork is featured on the home page of Praxis Center’s website. Here, she shares three poems from her forthcoming book, Ligatures for Black Bodies, with Rattle Press in November. For Denise, poetry tells the … Continue reading
“I Was Served Lemons but I Made Lemonade”: Notes from a Teenage Fan
by Stephanie Shonekan, Art and Pop Culture, Contributing Editor I am willing to wager that my 16-year-old daughter, Ojurere, is Beyoncé’s biggest fan. She has been a devoted fan since the Destiny’s Child days. When Beyoncé coughed at a concert … Continue reading
When the Personal is Political and the Political is Personal…on Film
COMPLICATED CONVERSATIONS WITH DIRECTOR PARVEZ SHARMA ON HIS NEW FILM — A SINNER IN MECCA By Shayna Plaut, Contributing Editor, Human Rights Parvez Sharma is a gay, Muslim filmmaker, journalist and writer. He is originally from India and now lives … Continue reading
A Storied Neighborhood, Wrapped in Contradiction
By Bill Ayers and Claire van den Heever Writer, educator, activist and long-time resident of Chicago’s Hyde Park community, Bill Ayers recently recorded a one-hour audio walking tour of his neighborhood for the mobile application VoiceMap. “I had a lot … Continue reading
The Healing Powers of American Roots Music
By Stephanie Shonekan, Art, Music, and Pop Culture Contributing Editor During this year’s Grammy Awards Stevie Wonder reminded viewers to appreciate the “healing powers” of music. This lovely sentiment, as well as the well-loved adage that “music is a universal … Continue reading
Lioness of Lisabi: A Black Girl Power Story
by Stephanie Shonekan, Art, Music, and Pop Culture, Contributing Editor Reverberations of the assertion that Black Lives Matter have been heard and felt across the nation, on our street corners and in our communities, on college campuses, and in media … Continue reading
