Recently, I was thinking about skin color and how cultures everywhere still treat people differently because of it. When I was living in Taipei, Taiwan, women shrunk from the sun in fear of turning too dark and being seen as “low class.” Many girls get “double eyelid surgery” to have full eyes like Westerners. I always thought to myself “when are people going to stop basing standards of beauty on European features?” Read the full story

The Family That Preys, the latest movie by Tyler Perry, the mega-millionaire who brought Madea into our lives, opened this weekend at #2 at the box office and an $18 million take. This is not the strongest showing for Perry but apparently this is a decent showing since this movie isn’t built upon one of his stage productions. I saw the movie over the weekend and think it isn’t as satisfying as Why Did I Get Married but also not as derivative as those Madea-centric flicks. (I guess you can tell that a man dressed as a loud, black woman is not my particular cup of tea but I do recognize that many people adore her/him). Read the full story

If you read this blog from time to time you know I often bring up the lack of quality roles for black actresses on both the big and large screen. Well, a few sisters that are working in television are turning in stellar performances—and they’re hard work is actually being recognized. That’s why six sisters have been nominated for Emmy Awards. I can’t recall a time when so many of us have gotten the nod at one time. No, you can’t count the NAACP Image Awards. Read the full story