It started as soon as we came through the sliding doors of the airport in Accra, Ghana. While we waited for his father to link up with us, my son began to play with a bigger boy we had run into a few times after getting off the plane. When the bigger boy ventured further…
Could You Find Love in the African Diaspora?
Last week, in the run-up to Black Love Day and Valentine’s Day, rumors surfaced that the queen of hip-hop soul (and my fellow Capricorn) Mary J. Blige may have found love in the motherland. Pictures surfaced on social media of her cozying up with Ghanaian businessman Kwame Bediako at a London awards show. You go…
Why Giving Our Kids a “Growth Mindset” Is the Best Gift of All
I am hopeful that adopting a growth mindset will help my son develop views and habits that help him soar through life: less frustration or anger when things don’t go his way, willingness to persist and keep trying when the going gets tough, and
Season of Giving, Part 2: Should Black Folks Donate to Nonprofits?
Habari Gani? Ujamaa! Today is the fourth day of Kwanzaa, which focuses our attention on cooperative economics. Most times, I have seen this principle expressed in relation to Black-owned businesses, which is excellent, in my opinion. For my last post of the year, I chose to also point out attention towards charitable giving with the…
9 O’Clock Rocks: Winning the Battle of (Holiday) Binge vs. (Postpartum) Bulge!
Six or eight weeks after I had my son, I remember boasting to my home girl, “They were right about breastfeeding. I already lost all my baby weight!” “Yup, and if you sit in that house with that baby all day, you gonna put it all right back on and then some,” she warned me,…
Season of Giving, part 1: Whose Money Runs Nonprofits That Serve Our Community?
I was listening to a Pandora station the other day (I know, I might as well log into MySpace too), when I happened to look at the screen. What I saw threw me for a loop: an advertisement for the United Negro College Fund’s Koch Scholars Program. “Koch? As in the Koch brothers?” I surfed…
9 O’Clock Rocks: What Do You Mean “Screen-Free” Parenting?
Dear Friends and Readers: Welcome to my new day and topic! I’ll be posting content on Tuesdays instead of Thursdays from now on, including “9 O’Clock Rocks”, a monthly section devoted to parenting and family topics, named for that magical hour known as bedtime! Ever since I came out of college, I envisioned being the…
Kanye West: More than Meets the Eye
One year ago, I published my first piece on this platform, which was about Atlanta-based rapper Lil Jon financing a primary school in Ghana. He’s added another school to his philanthropic efforts since then. Today, I want to finally talk about another rapper who recently made news with his own journey to the motherland: Kanye…
After 400 Years of American Oppression, Get Ready for the “Year of Return”
Long before being “woke” became a social media trend, 400 years was a round figure used to tally how long we and our ancestors have been toiling in America, first as slaves, then as a segregated, oppressed and disrespected group of people. Even Bob Marley and the Wailers released a song titled 400 years way…
The 2018 Prison Strike: Do Black Lives Matter Behind Bars?
Over the past 30 days, we have been fed lots of information about current events affecting Black America: Kaepernick’s Nike ad and the MAGA backlash, the brother in Texas who was killed in his home by an off-duty police officer who allegedly mistook his apartment for hers, Cardi B’s fight with a member of Nicki…