Category: KOLUMN Magazine

The Obsidian Collection is collaborating with Google Arts & Culture to ensure the journalism is preserved for many years to come — Brigit Katz, Smithsonian Magazine Within a decade of the Chicago Defender’s founding in 1905, Robert Sengstacke Abbott’s weekly had become the most influential black newspaper in the United States. It helped fuel the Great Migration, campaigned for […]

Josh Toussaint-Strauss loves anime but too often sees black characters portrayed using racist stereotypes. Even some of the biggest and well-loved shows, like Dragon Ball Z, Cowboy Bebop and One Punch Man, fail in their representation of black characters. This is part of the reason why being a black fan of anime can be difficult. […]

Consultant and producer Andraéa LaVant says she strives “to infiltrate spaces that those with disabilities have never been before.” — Donna Owens, NBC News Andraéa LaVant wants you to know that she’s many things, a living snapshot of humanity’s vast kaleidoscope. She’s a Black woman. A native Midwesterner. A college graduate and business owner. A […]

— Malik Washington, Bay View Assistant Editor Oralandar Brand-Williams, San Francisco Bay View How many times have we heard about the United States of America being the “richest country on earth?” If that’s the case, why are so many of our citizens starving and suffering from malnutrition? Why do we see a stark increase in […]

Today’s jazz leaders pay eloquent dues to the New York label with youthful chat and elements of trip-hop — Kitty Empire, The Guardian Jazz players frequently hold hands across the generations. This 16-track compilation finds today’s youthful, often London-based renaissance in dialogue with the revered New York label’s deep back catalogue. That conversation is both […]

The three-term Republican senator and his Democratic challenger are locked in a tight race in deep-red South Carolina. — JAMES ARKIN, Politico Jaime Harrison and Lindsey Graham have been battling it out over the airwaves for months. On Saturday night, as the surprisingly competitive South Carolina Senate race has reached a fever pitch, they finally met face-to-face […]

Sanda Dia’s death after an initiation ritual was regarded as a tragic accident. Newly released videos and photos have made it a symbol of growing intolerance. — Matt Apuzzo & Steven Erlanger, The New York Times GHENT, Belgium — Sanda Dia saw a fraternity as a doorway into a different life. The son of an immigrant factory […]

Discipline disparities between Black and white boys have driven reform efforts for years. But Black girls are arguably the most at-risk student group in the United States. — Erica L. Green, Mark Walker & Eliza Shapiro, The New York Times BINGHAMTON, N.Y. — Zulayka McKinstry’s once silly, sociable daughter has stopped seeing friends, talking to siblings and trusting […]

The only person who said he heard police announce themselves during the fatal raid said something very different two months earlier. — Oralandar Brand-Williams, The Detroit News New Haven — A piece of DNA the size of a grain of salt is giving a Detroit man his freedom back after prosecutors say he was wrongly convicted of murder […]

George Napper Jr. led police during the Atlanta Child Murders crisis — Jeremy Redmon, AJC .com George Napper Jr., a trailblazing lawman who became Atlanta’s first African American police chief and the first head of Georgia’s Department of Children and Youth Services, has died. Appointed chief in 1978, Napper led the Atlanta Police Department during […]