Gospel

(ThyBlackMan.com) Prince Rogers Nelson’s music was always about more than rhythm and hooks—it was about emotion. He could transform love into an anthem, heartbreak into poetry, and desire into a symphony. While the world knows his blockbuster singles, the true magic of Prince lies in his ability to capture the vast range of love in songs that still hold power decades after their release. His catalog is overflowing with intimate […]

(ThyBlackMan.com)  I want to start this week’s column by validating your anxiety about the state of our country. The violence we see in the morning, noon, and night is not normal. To date, America has seen 357 mass shootings in 2025 alone; a rate that exceeds one per day. In the last two weeks alone, we witnessed a mass shooting at a Catholic school in Minneapolis that claimed the lives of two […]

(ThyBlackMan.com) Most Americans grow up with the following maxim: “Socialism is bad.” This is despite the fact that relatively few of us actually know what the term means. Socialism is an expansive concept that encompasses a range of economic, political and social philosophies. This notwithstanding, Americans usually have a reflexively negative reaction when they hear the term. From a partisan political perspective, Republicans have tended to be more vehemently opposed […]

(ThyBlackMan.com) I started out this year, 2025, in Chicago, honored to give the Martin Luther King Day address at Reverend Jesse Jackson’s big gathering. The timing was unforgettable. As I stepped to the podium on the South Side, Donald Trump was taking the oath of office in Washington, D.C. His inaugural speech was a drumbeat for a new era of hostility toward immigrants and people of color. Mine, at that very […]

(ThyBlackMan.com) The killing of conservative activist Charlie Kirk has reignited one of the ugliest and most divisive feuds within the American right. For years, Kirk, the bombastic founder of Turning Point USA, represented the polished, mainstream, youth-driven face of Republican activism. His slick campus tours, Instagram-ready soundbites, and well-funded machine of influencers were designed to make conservatism look modern, dynamic, and inclusive. But lurking in the shadows was a rival faction, […]

(ThyBlackMan.com) Bad things are happening in the world, and a close examination reveals that many of these bad things are happening because people are consumed with fear. Of course, coercion has succeeded over the centuries because the victims were consumed with fear, not wanting their secret (often embarrassing or disgusting) to be revealed. Terrorists have succeeded, and will continue to succeed, because in general they promote fear. They promise to […]

(ThyBlackMan.com) The arrest of Tyler Robinson in connection with the murder of conservative activist Charlie Kirk is more than just another headline—it’s a chilling reminder of how far America has drifted into a culture where political differences are no longer argued out in debate halls or op-ed pages, but settled with violence. Robinson, just 22 years old, grew up in the heart of conservative Utah, described by family and neighbors […]

(ThyBlackMan.com) The rush to exonerate Trump from the implications of the Epstein birthday book message reveals a contradiction at the heart of MAGA. In the immediate aftermath of the Wall Street Journal July scoop about the smarmy message Trump included in the book of friendly tributes assembled in 2003 for Jeffrey Epstein’s fiftieth birthday, Vice President JD Vance rode to his defense, calling the reporting “complete and utter bulls—-,” an […]

(ThyBlackMan.com) Bill Withers remains one of the most timeless voices in soul and R&B history. While his most celebrated tracks—like Ain’t No Sunshine, Lean on Me, and Lovely Day—are permanent fixtures in the cultural soundtrack, his catalog is far richer than the handful of songs everyone knows. To explore Withers as both a poet and performer, one must dig deeper into his albums, where lesser-discussed songs reveal the same warmth, […]