Gospel

(ThyBlackMan.com) Come here for a minute. Sit down. Take a breath. Before there were salons on every corner, before YouTube tutorials, before booking apps and price lists, Black women learned how to braid hair the old way. We learned by watching. By listening. By sitting on the floor between somebody’s knees while hands moved with purpose and patience. Braiding was never rushed. It was never casual. It was care. It […]

(ThyBlackMan.com)  America has a big birthday this year. Here’s a hint: The celebration will not feel much like the last big one in 1976. I still believe our nation’s best days are ahead. But our history—and our headlines—suggest we are facing a familiar test. Another fraught fight for freedom and democracy is already upon us. That, too, is part of a pattern. How America marks century anniversaries has looked different from […]

(ThyBlackMan.com) President Barack Obama signed The Affordable Care Act, aka Obamacare, in 2010 without a single Republican vote in the House or the Senate. When Obama announced it to the nation, Vice President Joe Biden could be heard on a hot mic telling Obama, “This is a big f–-ng deal.” It was no exaggeration, particularly given that most Americans opposed it. The liberal Brookings Institution think tank recently wrote: “The […]

(ThyBlackMan.com) There is something emotionally satisfying about watching a wealthy person call for higher taxes on people like himself. It feels civic-minded, even noble. A recent commentary by former Utah senator, Massachusetts governor and Republican presidential nominee Mitt Romney fits squarely into this tradition. Faced with a looming fiscal cliff, Romney concludes that entitlement reform is unavoidable and that higher taxes on affluent Americans must be part of the solution. […]

(ThyBlackMan.com) One would think Donald Trump, the man now at the White House, did nothing except the things he says he did! Trump did a Prime-Time speech a few nights ago, interrupting all other programs to blame everything on Joe Biden or the Democrats. He took credit for many things he did not do. He left out things he did do. He left out everything about Epstein—the biggest case in […]

(ThyBlackMan.com) As we prepare to enter a new year, let’s not forget the notion of time is a man-made construct, the idea of time is something humans made up to serve as a reference point, as a way to align ourselves with natural phenomenon like lunar and solar cycles, the “movement” of the stars or the annual Nile flooding for example. Time really doesn’t exist it is something humans made up. […]

(ThyBlackMan.com) The National Basketball Association and the National Football League stand among the most profitable entertainment institutions in modern history. These leagues are not merely sports organizations. They are multinational corporations that influence media, culture, labor markets, real estate development, advertising, and political relationships. Through television contracts, global licensing, merchandise sales, sponsorships, and digital platforms, they generate tens of billions of dollars each year and shape how the world consumes […]

(ThyBlackMan.com) Richard Smallwood was more than a gospel musician. He was a theologian at the piano, a composer who fused classical training with Black church tradition, and a writer whose lyrics carried the weight of Scripture and lived experience. His music did not aim to entertain first. It aimed to minister, to teach, and to endure. On Tuesday morning, a representative for Smallwood confirmed that the legendary gospel artist passed […]

(ThyBlackMan.com) This writer rarely agrees with the contemporary musical choices of my students; however, I thought this artist was different…no more! It stings when someone you admired shifts in ways you did not expect. What stood out was Nicki Minaj cheering on Trump and JD Vance during that AmericaFest rally in Phoenix. Instead of speaking up for those who rarely get heard, she called them examples worth looking up to. […]