Category: Columns
The Impact of ‘Us’ on the Film Industry
For quite some time, there has been a myth in Hollywood that black films won’t gross enough money. It’s believed that films with predominantly black casts will underperform in the box office. “Us” is just one of many examples that debunks this myth.
Pan-Af Week is Not Pan-African
The long-awaited occasion is the week where black people are supposed to come together in friendship and attend a week of events carefully curated by the hardworking people of the Black Students Board.In my experience, however, Pan-Af does not and has not lived up to the values of Pan-Africanism, the term from which the week gets its namesake.Honestly, Pan-Af is NC State’s “African-American Homecoming week with a little diasporic spice.” An African-American homecoming week would not get any opposition from me, but I wish it was much more honest about it.The week is more often about parties, outfits and being on the gram with your clique than building solidarity between people of African descent.
We Cannot Tolerate Right-Wing Extremism on Our Campus
Just as we should not stereotype Islam as the root cause of Islamic terrorism, we should not mischaracterize all right-wing ideology as the cause of all extremist terror. Instead, we should be critical of segments of any ideology that lead to extremist tendencies. As college students, we must be the most aware of what these ideologies that can manifest into.
Jess the Mess: Bigotry in the Black Community
Social media influencer, comedian and actress Jessica Moore—also known as Jess Hilarious—received backlash recently after posting a rant via her Instagram story that contained xenophobic comments. The comments were in reference to four men in turbans who the comedian felt threatened by while boarding a plane. Was she genuine in her apology or was she just trying to save her career?
Bernie Sanders Continues to Be the Answer
The 2020 election cycle is starting to pick up speed and with it comes the revealing of the Democratic Party’s talent pool. This pool of potential candidates is already shaping up to be the most diverse in the history of our country. The field contains more women and people of color than ever before, some with intersecting identities that make the group even more historic. While I am highly impressed by the diversity of the field this year, I have become increasingly disappointed by the narrative surrounding one candidate in particular: Bernie Sanders. A surface-level look at Sanders would lead one to believe that he is the prototypical old, white male candidate, but his underlying policy plans prove that this cannot be farther from the truth.
No One Should Be Allowed to “Buy” Their Spot in College
Once again, we have been shown the true nature of America’s privileged. Last week, 50 people were charged for their involvement in a nationwide college admissions scandal. It was revealed that parents were paying large amounts of money to ensure their children were accepted into specific colleges.
Black Americans Still Have a Dream
The idea of the American Dream has been a long-touted hallmark of living in the United States. It is the idea of starting from nothing and ascending to an idyllic middle-class to upper-class lifestyle by working hard and being motivated. Black Americans, and black millennials, in particular, continue to buy into this optimistic mindset.
For the Loners on V-Day: Life is More than Love
When you are surrounded by thousands of people who you share studenthood with, it almost feels like an obligation to not be alone. Human connection is happening all around us, and our own fears about being alone can turn our state of being alone, into loneliness. And on a day like Valentine’s Day, when you feel like you can’t escape PDA, the color pink and every other physical embodiment of love, being single makes you feel like you’re missing out.
Being the Right Color: A Critique of Colorism in the Media
For years, African Americans have struggled with finding sufficient representation in the media. We’ve spent so long fighting that whenever we do have a moment where a TV show or film has a primarily black cast, we celebrate. We tend to become so captivated by our sense of representation that we don’t realize how poorly represented black people still are.
Dating While Black: How Implicit Racism Made Its Way to Online Dating
Eurocentric standards of beauty have been a hallmark of American society since the inception of our nation. Even now, these standards are continuously perpetuated in today’s age through the portrayal of beauty in the media. One of the key ways in which we get our standards of beauty, the acting industry, continues to be a white-dominated field. With the overrepresentation of white people in Hollywood, much of what we think is beautiful becomes centered on the archetypal white women in film.
