Stream of Reading (Prepare to be Forwarded) – An Archive of What I'm Reading
New Iberia, La. For an illustration of how cruel the country’s latest wave of nativism has grown, look to Louisiana. Here, a little-noticed new state law has effectively made it illegal for thousands of refugees to get married. It all started last year. Having lost the fight over gay marriage, the state’s religious right decided…
Getty Images By Rafael Bernal – 10/10/16 02:29 PM EDT In a year in which Republican presidential nominee Donald TrumpDonald TrumpGiuliani: Clinton admitted to crimes at debate No end to poverty without reducing wealth inequality Trump again pushing unscientific polls to prove he won debate MORE is proposing a crackdown on immigration, all six of…
“The Birth of a Nation” arrives amid a resurgence in movies about slavery. Credit Illustration by Keith Negley Barrier Status: ‘none’ In the summer of 1831, Nat Turner’s slave insurrection ripped through Southampton County, Virginia, leaving scores of white men, women, and children dead. The rebels were captured and tried in Jerusalem, a few…
Nate Parker as “Nat Turner” in THE BIRTH OF A NATION. Jahi Chikwendiu/FOX Searchlight movies Difficult ‘Birth’ How the troubling gender politics of Nate Parker’s ‘The Birth of a Nation’ were sidelined by two years of #OscarsSoWhite .share Back in January, Nate Parker was The Savior. Anointed with prizes by both the audience and the…
Nate Parker has made a series of demonstrably foolish public statements in the months leading up to the release of The Birth of A Nation, a film that postures itself as a revolutionary story about Nat Turner’s Virginia slave revolt. As Parker trudges his way through a promo trail for a film that many agree…
In Allentown, Pennsylvania, there’s a red brick building with a green door. Twelve families live there. They’re almost all single moms with kids, and they are all, by federal definition, homeless.The families are part of a transitional housing program called Turner Street. It’s two years long, and its purpose is to give them what they…
Guest Post by ConcernedForMulan A white merchant’s business brings him to the heart of a legendary Asian conflict — he unwittingly helps save the day while winning the heart of the Asian female. Am I describing the plotline of the Netflix series Marco Polo? No. I’m describing the spec script that Disney bought for its…
The ‘Last Week Tonight’ host took on footage of Trump bragging about committing sexual assault and his half-assed apology. ‘This is on you, too,’ he said of the GOP leadership. “The second presidential debate wrapped up half an hour ago but we taped this before it began,” said John Oliver, “so I don’t know anything…
The blowback to a Fox News segment this week that was chock full of Asian stereotypes has been loud and swift. Activists, Asian American organizations and journalist associations have called Jesse Watters’s man-on-the-street interviews for “The O’Reilly Factor” racist and demanded explanations. Then, on Thursday night, “The Daily Show” responded with the kind of angry critique of Fox News that was the…
Before Beyoncé used a snippet of a TED Talk from Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie for her hit song “***Flawless” in 2013, Adichie was an acclaimed author. She’d already published Half of a Yellow Sun and Americanah, which won the National Book Critics’ Circle award.But, somehow, her accomplishments are always linked to popstar. That became a point…