Gospel

(ThyBlackMan.com) Jay Z is one of those artists you cannot discuss in a small way. Not if you really understand hip hop. His name brings up albums, arguments, business, Brooklyn pride, grown man ambition, public mistakes, private discipline, and a catalog that still makes people stop mid conversation when the right song comes on. I have heard brothers debate him in barbershops, at cookouts, in cars, and on front porches […]

(ThyBlackMan.com) The World Cup is kicking off here in the United States and for the next five weeks, a sport most Americans cannot be bothered to watch will bring the rest of the planet to our doorstep. They are already arriving. Germans, Spaniards, Egyptians, Australians, every continent but Antarctica is showing up and something is happening that ought to make us pause. Their minds are being blown away by us. […]

(ThyBlackMan.com) They are calling it a budget cut. But let’s be clear: when Congress cuts WIC, it is taking food from pregnant women, babies, toddlers, and young children. WIC is not cash welfare. It is not a giveaway. It is one of the most efficient and humane nutrition programs this country has ever created. It provides targeted food support, breastfeeding support, nutrition counseling, and health referrals to pregnant and postpartum […]

(ThyBlackMan.com) Life looks very different today than it did even a decade ago. The way you shop, communicate, manage money, consume entertainment, and even learn new skills has been transformed by technology. New apps appear every day, online services continue to expand, and digital tools have become part of almost every aspect of daily life. Keeping up with these changes can sometimes feel overwhelming. But the good news is that […]

(ThyBlackMan.com) It is almost certain that at some point in your life you have suffered confusion. Maybe someone said something to or about you that left you confused. Maybe you went to some strange place, like when I first went to London, and the effect was that of confusion. Or maybe you drove your car through an intersection and turned the wrong way and found you did not know what […]

(ThyBlackMan.com) I think it is safe to say that the overwhelming majority of Americans, regardless of party affiliation, have come to the conclusion that the current form of government is clearly not working. The refrain at one time was that the government was of the people, by the people, for the people. A more universally accepted refrain today is a government of special interests, by special interests, for special interests. […]

(ThyBlackMan.com) When Rep. James Clyburn recently warned that America risks sliding backward toward the post-Reconstruction era, many heard the words but failed to grasp the horror behind them. They should. The soft-spoken South Carolina congressman is not given to exaggeration. When Clyburn invokes the specter of post-Reconstruction America, he is not quoting  a distant chapter in a textbook. He is warning of a period so brutal, so morally disfiguring, that […]

(ThyBlackMan.com) There’s something about James Cleveland’s voice that feels like home. Maybe it’s the way he blends sermon with song, or maybe it’s the unshakable honesty in every word he sings. For me—and for so many others—his music isn’t just gospel; it’s therapy, it’s church, it’s family, it’s healing. This is the third time I’ve had the honor of writing about his work, and truth be told, it still doesn’t […]

(ThyBlackMan.com) When President Donald Trump appointed an obviously unqualified friend, a home builder executive, to be acting director of national intelligence, he inadvertently triggered attention to Section 702 of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act. The director of national intelligence is the head of the umbrella agency that gathers intelligence from the 17 federal spying agencies and from that data prepares and delivers the president’s daily briefing. Sec. 702, which permits […]