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I finally saw the Broadway play, Eclipsed.

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I finally saw the Broadway play, Eclipsed. Written by actress, Danai Gurira (seen in The Walking Dead and Mother of George, Andrew Dosunmu’s  dazzling film) and directed by Liesl Tommy, the play tells the story of the Liberian Civil War from the perspective of five women. After its successful run at the Public Theater, the play opened at the Golden Theater.  Not only is this the first time in Broadway history that women entirely run a production, but it is run by Black women. This season, it is also the only new play written by a woman. Oscar winner Lupita…

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I was at Nate Parker’s sensational Stanford event

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“This film isn’t about endurance, or resilience. This film is about resistance.” Those are the words Nate Parker used to describe his film The Birth of a Nation, winner of both the Grand Jury Prize and Audience Award at Sundance. During a stopover in Palo Alto, I took a side trip to Stanford where the African and African American Studies Department was hosting its annual St. Clair Drake Memorial Lecture. The guest speaker was Nate Parker, first seen a few years ago with Denzel Washington in The Great Debaters.  He came to screen his first full-length film and present his…

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BET HONORS – I WAS THERE!

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I had the pleasure of covering the 2016 BET HONORS Ceremony for BET. Traditionally, the ceremony is held in February, Black History Month.  But snowzilla hit, pushing it into March. BET HONORS began in 2008 to recognize African Americans who excel in such varied fields as business, entertainment, film or public service. This year’s awards went to: Lee Daniels (TV and Film) – Director of The Butler, among others and creator of the hit TV series, Empire; Eric Holder (Public Service) – former US Attorney General; Mellody Hobson (Corporate Citizen); Patti LaBelle (Music Arts) – iconic singer with over 50…

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SPECIAL CORRESPONDENT IN “SELFIE MODE” FOR BET

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It’s official.  I’m exporting myself across the Atlantic for BET BUZZ, the daily magazine  show I host with RAPHAL and HEDIA.  Now no one will miss any breaking news from the States! As your network correspondent in the US, I’ll keep you posted on goings-on in the heart of African American culture and will bring you exclusives on the biggest events through reports from New York, interviews and conferences, like for example, the one I took part in at the iconic Apollo Theater in Harlem.  I’ll also take you inside the BET Studios in Washington and backstage at the network’s…

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Panel at the Apollo Theater / WNYC’s MLK Event : Race and Privilege: Exploring MLK’s Two Americas

On Sunday January 17, MLK DAY, I was invited by WYNC (New York Public radio)  to participate in an intense   panel discussion about the Legacy of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. at the  iconic Apollo Theater in Harlem. Dr Eddie Glaude, Jr, , Ph.D. – Author and Chair of Princeton University’s African-American Studies Department and Taylor Branch – Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist, author and historian best known for his award-wining trilogy of books chronicling the life of Martin Luther King, Jr. and the Civil Rights Movement, were among the panelists. AT the standing room only event,  our moderator, Brian Lehrer, asked each…

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IS AFROPUNK THE NEW WOODSTOCK?

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As the latest edition of Afro-Punk Fest comes to a close, let’s have a look at a phenomenon that has gone global in less than a decade. This year’s New York festival featured such heavyweights as Lauryn Hill and Grace Jones, among others under the Brooklyn sun.  A few weeks earlier, the first ever edition outside of the US took place in Paris to a packed house at the Trianon. The story begins with a young Black American. James Spooner loved a kind of music that many believed was only appreciated by Whites. Punk Rock in the 80s belonged to…

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Ferguson, a year after the death of Michael Brown

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I arrived in the US a few days ago, in St. Louis, MO.  I met up with my activists friends to participate in the commemoration of the first anniversary of Michael Brown’s death in the suburbs of Ferguson August 9, 2014.  That day, the face of the unarmed African American teenager, killed at the hands of a white policeman became the symbol of the struggle against police violence. A year later, Sunday August 9, activists from around the country came together to remind the world of the banal cruelty of the loss of hundreds of Black lives, snatched with impunity…

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