On Black Culture and Race Relations

On April 14th, Beyonce became the first black woman to headline at the Coachella Valley Music & Arts Festival. This year’s festival has seen more black female acts showcased than ever before. Currently, music is seeing a renaissance of black female vocalists and rappers. SZA and Cardi B are two other highly anticipated black female acts that have seen major success with their album releases. This year, 24 acts are black female acts, which is a high for Coachella. Beyonce’s set paid homage to historically black colleges and universities and showcased an overwhelming amount of blackness to a predominately white Coachella audience. She used the setting of an HBCU homecoming classic to celebrate black college culture in a way we’ve never seen before and has never been done before. She featured an all-star band with a drum line and orchestra made up of talented working musicians; her dance line turned into a group of majorette girls that are the gems of black college culture; and ...

Every year, several companies in the fashion and beauty industry face backlash for putting out racially insensitive ads. These ads offend particular races, often people of color, and go against the system of social justice ethics. Social justice ethics is under the branch of virtue ethics, further under the category of egalitarianism. Social justice ethics is is about what is fair for everyone and treating everyone as equals with equal rights and freedoms. This year, H&M received loads of backlash and had two collaborators, The Weeknd and G-Eazy, walk away from partnerships with them due to their insensitive ad for a children’s hoodie. The company advertised a hoodie that reads “coolest monkey in the jungle” on a little dark-skinned black boy. H&M is a Swedish company, and might not be aware of the history of blacks being compared to monkeys, especially in American culture. However, it goes against social justice ethics because it offends a specific people by promoting, wh...

Black Panther shows millions across the globe different images of black people that have never been seen before in media.              The opening weekend of Black Panther was such a big event for black people everywhere. From Friday to Monday alone, Black Panther raked in $218 million in domestic sales over the President’s Day weekend. According to the NY Times, it is the top-grossing film in history by a black director and a majority black cast. It is being called a “cultural event”, shattering the myth about overseas viability of movies rooted in black culture. It just made $22 million in China.        According to PostTrak, 56% of Black Panther viewers were male, 44% were female, 37% black, 35% caucasian, 18% hispanic, and 5% Asian. To say the least, everybody went to see black panther. As a superhero movie, it is relatable to all audiences and has one of the best storylines for a superhero movie. However, the film was gr...

Today, all traditional media are being threatened by new media platforms that facilitate user-generated content. Radio is being axed by podcasts, viewers tune into Youtube channels for more hours than a television program, print media is being replaced by online magazines and personal blogs, and it has never been easier to record music independently and post it on iTunes. There are new professions arising from the direction media is going. Social media is now considered mass media; blurring the lines between interpersonal and mass communication (Pavlik). This neoliberal approach to mass media and capitalism encourages black entrepreneurship and allows African-Americans to escape a system in which they are oppressed. By this, I mean they are now able to design thriving careers for themselves by creating and posting content that will be seen and heard by many people and actually monetize off of it. Many African-Americans may not be able to afford to attend secondary schooling or hav...