Why The 'Race Card' Is Played

'The Hate U Give' is a powerful look at Black Lives Matter Like hurricane winds, the vortex of psychological forces buffeting the calm-eyed 16-year-old at the center of "The Hate U Give," played by a remarkable Amandla Stenberg, at times seems violent enough to tear apart a grown man. Having witnessed the shooting death of her childhood best friend (Algee Smith of "Detroit") - during the kind of routine traffic stop gone wrong that has become distressingly familiar from viral videos - Starr is pushed and pulled in multiple directions over the course of this powerful, timely and deeply moving tale. The residents of Garden Heights, the predominantly black urban community where Starr lives, want her to go before a grand jury, seeking an indictment of the white cop who killed yet another unarmed black teenager. Meanwhile, the neighborhood drug lord, King (Anthony Mackie), would prefer that she keep her mouth shut, since the dead young man worked

Crown Heights flick shows horror of gentrification In the short film “Hair Wolf,” actress Kara Young’s character fears that invaders are sucking the lifeblood from black culture. A new comedy-horror short filmed in Crown Heights gives a monstrous spin to gentrification and the appropriation of black culture. The Sundance-winning movie “Hair Wolf” will screen twice in Brooklyn next month, at the Bushwick Film Festival on Oct. 13 and at the Brooklyn Horror Fest on Oct. 14. The film is set in a black hair salon, which is invaded by an obtuse, extremely creepy white woman, who touches a black woman’s hair, demands “funky braids, like Rihanna,” and begins to spread “viral” whiteness. The idea came from a joke that snowballed, said its director. “I saw a clump of braid lying on the ground outside my apartment in Crown Heights, which is a fairly common experience on my side of Brooklyn, especially on weekend mornings, although I’m not sure why,” said Mariama Diallo. “My boyfr

The NFL implemented a policy in 2003 that requires teams interview minority candidates. The NFL requires teams to interview minority candidates for head coaching and general manager positions before those vacancies are filled. This policy is commonly known as the “Rooney Rule.” It was named after former Pittsburgh Steelers owner Dan Rooney, who spearheaded an effort to put the policy in place in 2003. W h y w a s t h e R o o n e y R u l e a d d e d ? Calls for increased diversity in the NFL’s coaching ranks spiked in 2002 when two of the few African-American coaches in the league at the time — Tony Dungy and Dennis Green — were fired, despite finding success during their tenures. Civil-rights lawyers Cyrus Mehri and Johnny Cochran, and two former NFL players, Kellen Winslow and John Wooten, campaigned for change that eventually led to Rooney recommending the policy. The catalyst for the Rooney Rule was the firing, in 2002, of two African-American head c

FBI Declares 'Black Identity Extremists' Newest Domestic Terrorism Threat The conversation surrounding what constitutes a "terrorist" has especially been a hot topic ever since the Charlottesville rally and the recent Las Vegas massacre. Critics have chastised President Trump for not "naming a spade a spade" during his public statements surrounding the Charlottesville rally, and many people are also frustratedwith the government's and major media outlets' hesitancy to dub the Las Vegas shooter a terrorist (as well as their eagerness to "humanize" him). Following these attacks by two white extremists, Foreign Policy reveals that it has obtained documents created by the FBI right before Charlottesville that make clear the agency is stepping up to officially declare a new domestic terrorist threat. However, it ain't white supremacists or neo-Nazis: it's "black identity extremists." Black identity extremism joins

Eric Reid Signs With Carolina Panthers Eric Reid, the N.F.L. safety whose kneeling protest alongside Colin Kaepernick stirred one of the league’s biggest controversies in years, signed a free-agent deal with the Carolina Panthers on Thursday. Reid, a Pro Bowl-caliber defensive back, was a standout for five seasons with the San Francisco 49ers, but he became a lightning rod in 2016 when he joined Kaepernick, then the team’s quarterback, in kneeling on the sideline during the national anthem to protest police brutality and societal inequity for people of color. Last season, as Kaepernick remained unsigned, Reid continued the protest. The 26-year-old Reid entered free agency as one of the top players at his position, but remained unsigned even as safeties with less impressive résumés, like Tre Boston and Kenny Vaccaro, found jobs. Like Kaepernick, he f i l e d a g r i e v a n c e against the league, claiming the teams were colluding to keep him out of the N.F.L. T