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Music

Johan Grimonprez’s Soundtrack to a Coup d’État
Posted inPOLITICS & THE PEOPLE

Antidote to Soft Power: Johan Grimonprez's Soundtrack to a Coup d'État

by Gerald Horne and Anthony Ballas February 28, 2025February 28, 2025

As a chronicle of how power often colludes with culture in the construction of a mythological past, the film ought to provoke us to consider how the reconstruction of our histories is of utmost importance in our present era

grief
Posted inARTS & SOUL

Grief is in the kitchen

by Scalawag Editors December 26, 2024December 23, 2024
grief
Posted inARTS & SOUL

Grief doesn't celebrate the holidays

by Scalawag Editors December 23, 2024December 23, 2024
Carolina Daze Stage
Posted inPOLITICS & THE PEOPLE

Janelle Monáe, Tierra Whack, and Lute help promote voting at Carolina Daze

by Caitlin Leggett October 30, 2024October 31, 2024
Holiday Season—Episode 4 of Great Grief with Nnenna Freelon, Season 2: Seasons of Change. Listen and read along with the podcast transcript. When Christmas, Hanukkah, Ramadan, Kwanza and family gatherings of all kinds—the musical, cultural, food traditions—collide against a backdrop of losses, challenges, and major life shifts, the holidays can be a confusing time to welcome grief back home.
Posted inARTS & SOUL

Holiday Season

by Nnenna Freelon December 14, 2023December 14, 2023
In this episode of Great Grief, Nnenna Freelon pleads with the moon, the sun, and the leaves about how to get in touch with her beloved Phil again. If grief isn’t linear, then maybe sorrow is more than a season—perhaps it’s a portal to the unknown.
Posted inARTS & SOUL

The World Since You Left

by Nnenna Freelon December 12, 2023December 14, 2023
The World Since You Left—Episode 3 of Great Grief with Nnenna Freelon, Season 2: Seasons of Change. Listen and read along with the podcast transcript.
Posted inARTS & SOUL

Ashes, Ashes

by Nnenna Freelon December 7, 2023December 14, 2023
The changing seasons are an apt metaphor to talk about the shedding, withering, and falling away that accompanies the most painful parts of grief. Nnenna Freelon takes us on a walk through the woods to contemplate autumn and the possibility of renewal.
Posted inARTS & SOUL

Falling

by Nnenna Freelon November 28, 2023December 14, 2023
A wife for nearly 40 years, Nnenna Freelon now wonders what to make of the term widow when she still feels the significance of her marriage well after her husband's death in Black Widow, the final installment in the season of Great Grief, Wailing Women.
Posted inARTS & SOUL

Black Widow

by Nnenna Freelon November 21, 2023November 28, 2023
Hair holds our history, personality, identity—and our grief. In episode 3 of Great Grief, Nnenna Freelon visits her mother’s beauty salon, where generations of Black women have gathered to discuss their hairstory—the grief over it, and the grief under it.
Posted inARTS & SOUL

Hairstory

by Nnenna Freelon November 21, 2023November 28, 2023
No woman makes it through life without a sister. Through faith, family, and struggle, we inhabit a deep solidarity that allows us to hold one another close, even at the very end. In episode 2 of Great Grief, Nnenna Freelon walks us through her journey of losing her sister, Debbie. Listen and read along with the podcast transcript.
Posted inARTS & SOUL

Sister Sister

by Nnenna Freelon September 27, 2023November 13, 2023
When Grief Speaks—Episode 1 of Great Grief with Nnenna Freelon, Season 1: Wailing Women. Grief is a woman with plenty to say. In the first episode of Great Grief, Nnenna Freelon asks us to consider what happens if we stop running from our grief, sit down, and listen to her for a change. Listen, subscribe, and read along with the podcast transcript.
Posted inARTS & SOUL

When Grief Speaks

by Nnenna Freelon September 13, 2023September 29, 2023
Posted inARTS & SOUL

A Grief of Our Own

by Alysia Nicole Harris August 4, 2023September 29, 2023
Posted inRACE & PLACE

"Pull up your pants or go to jail!"

by Justin A. Davis June 30, 2023June 30, 2023
Rapper Alim Braxton, aka Rrome Alone, released his music video 'Prisoner of War' from Death Row.
Posted inARTS & SOUL

Prisoner of War

by Alim Braxton June 22, 2023September 27, 2023
A lifelong musician on the unbearable silence of prison.
Posted inARTS & SOUL

Out of my hands: A musician in prison pines for his bass

by David Annarelli June 22, 2023September 27, 2023
Posted inRACE & PLACE

Another kind of Memphis Blues

by Justin A. Davis June 15, 2023June 15, 2023
Producing music from prison.
Posted inARTS & SOUL

Young Tali is making music by any means necessary

by Zeb Larson June 13, 2023June 12, 2023
How prisons shaped the South's music history
Posted inARTS & SOUL

The Blues Behind Bars: How Southern prisons shaped American music

by Zeb Larson June 8, 2023June 7, 2023
The headquarters of New Orleans Musicians Assistance Foundation, the nonprofit that operates the Musicians' Clinic. Every month, the Foundation pays Bethany Bultman and her husband Johann $4,094 in rent for its use of the building for its offices. Photo by Trenity Thomas for Scalawag.
Posted inPOLITICS & THE PEOPLE

Plantation Politics: The New Orleans Musicians' Clinic's crisis of credibility

by Drew Hawkins June 1, 2023September 27, 2023
Forever New Orleans tourism campaign advertisements. Illustrations by Keysha Rivera.
Posted inRACE & PLACE

Disaster capitalism, climate change, and the campaign to sell Black New Orleans

by Nicole Young May 31, 2023September 27, 2023
Tina Turner performs onstage at the United Center, October 1, 2000. (Photo by Paul Natkin/Getty Images) How Tina Turner's abuse and trauma remains a hip-hop trope.
Posted inARTS & SOUL

How Tina Turner's trauma remains a hip-hop trope—and why we need to abolish it

by Justin A. Davis May 25, 2023November 13, 2023
Posted inRACE & PLACE

Contradictions and Convictions: Megan Thee Stallion and why abolition can't wait

by Da'Shaun Harrison February 14, 2023December 1, 2023
Posted inARTS & SOUL

Grief and Love, Outside the Changes

by Julian Reid February 10, 2023December 1, 2023
Posted inRACE & PLACE

Cop City, Gentrification, and Young Thug: Atlanta's uneven war over greenspace in 'The City of the Forest'

by Justin A. Davis February 9, 2023December 1, 2023
Posted inRACE & PLACE

How 'the shadow of state abandonment' fostered then foiled Young Thug's YSL

by Justin A. Davis February 9, 2023December 14, 2023
Posted inARTS & SOUL

'beyond a better hell' / talking to ghosts: a mixtap/e/ssay

by A.D. Carson September 9, 2022December 4, 2023
Memphis rapper Princess Loko's posthumous feature on "Renaissance" asks us to reckon with living on the margins in a surveillance state.
Posted inRACE & PLACE

Longtime Memphis rapper Princess Loko died in obscurity. Will a Beyoncé feature grant her the 'Renaissance' she's overdue?

by Justin A. Davis August 11, 2022December 5, 2023
Posted inSCALAWAG UPDATES

Read, Watch, Listen, Do: An Abolitionist Media Guide

by Scalawag Editors June 23, 2022December 5, 2023
Posted inARTS & SOUL

Hooked on Copaganda: What CoComelon actually teaches kids about police

by Bunny McFadden June 22, 2022December 5, 2023

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WE'RE DREAMING UP ABOLITIONIST FUTURES. Help us share our vision.

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ARTS & SOUL

some money in the dresser drawer and a love letter too

by Donnie Moreland March 31, 2025March 31, 2025
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They tried to bury him: The hidden history of Abram Colby

by Greer Brigham March 26, 2025March 26, 2025
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Abolition in the Era of Climate Change

by Aarohi Sheth March 20, 2025March 20, 2025
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Marcus McDonald shares Charleston history and makes his own

by Sheeka Sanahori March 11, 2025March 11, 2025
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Cycling History: The Selma to Montgomery Bike Ride on the 60th Anniversary

by Angela Hollowell March 6, 2025April 9, 2025
RACE & PLACE

Liberation Lineages

by Briana Blueitt March 4, 2025March 4, 2025


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