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Shannon M. Houston

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(Reuters/Danny Moloshok)

Fawning over the male feminist: When Ryan Coogler says “women are better filmmakers,” people actually listen

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(BET/Netflix/HBO)

5 Black women who profoundly changed TV in 2015

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(Amazon Studios)

“Transparent” tells the truth about being a mom: Motherhood is just as performative as gender

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(NPR)

Of course Rachel Dolezal isn’t black: Her sympathetic comeback media tour proves it

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Michael B. Jordan (Warner Bros. Entertainment Inc.)

White “Creed” fans, pay attention: This is not just another feel-good, underdog sports movie

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(Craig Lassig/Reuters)

We could black out Black Friday: I dream of a national boycott that demands black lives matter as much as black money

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(Warner Bros. Entertainment)

The best Friendsgiving on TV: “Living Single” made spending the holidays with your chosen family fabulous

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(Amazon Studios)

The Spike Lee “Chi-raq” trap: For black directors, even a film trailer is an impossibly high-stakes release

Shannon M. Houston
FILE - In this Aug. 24, 2014 file photo, Nicki Minaj arrives at the MTV Video Music Awards in Inglewood, Calif. Minaj is apologizing for a video that some feel uses Nazi imagery. The rapper posted on Twitter Tuesday, Nov. 11, that she didn’t create the concept for the lyric video for her song “Only.” She wrote: “(I) take full responsibility if it has offended anyone. I'd never condone Nazism in my art.” (Photo by Jordan Strauss/Invision/AP, File) (Jordan Strauss/invision/ap)

“Just plain ignorant and stupid”: The New York Times trolls everyone, again, with Nicki Minaj piece

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Ta-Nehisi Coates (Wikimedia/Eduardo Montes-Bradley)

My mother, the drug war and me: Reading Ta-Nehisi Coates and forgiving my own black family in the age of mass incarceration

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(Fox)

Cookie Lyon is a national treasure — but Taraji P. Henson shouldn’t win an “Empire” Emmy just yet

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(AMC/Frank Ockenfels 3)

Jon Hamm’s make-up “Mad Men” Emmy: Why a last-ditch honor for the unforgettable Don Draper would feel like too little, too late

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(AP/Christian K. Lee)

Black Lives Matter needs womanism now: A case for opting out of — or adding to — a [white] feminism that often fails us

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(<a href='http://www.shutterstock.com/gallery-90441p1.html'>STILLFX</a> via <a href='http://www.shutterstock.com/'>Shutterstock</a>/Salon)

Broke mom with expensive taste: I wanted to be the kind of parent who paid for Montessori — whether I could afford it or not

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(Reuters/Mario Anzuoni)

Respectability will not save us: Black Lives Matter is right to reject the “dignity and decorum” mandate handed down to us from slavery

Shannon M. Houston

Beyoncé’s deafening silence: Why #BlackLivesMatter needs her voice now more than ever — in Vogue and beyond

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(AP/Reuters/Frank Micelotta/Kevork Djansezian/Mario Anzuoni/Photo montage by Salon)

When we are all allowed to fail like white men: Here’s a practical model to solve Hollywood’s diversity problems

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(Reuters/Jayne Kamin-Oncea/Shannon Stapleton/Photo montage by Salon)

The “do-nothing bitch” binary: Why Kim Kardashian and Serena Williams both deserve selfie respect

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(AP/Elaine Thompson)

Bernie Sanders is not the Black Lives Matter savior: Arguing over whether a single protest “worked” is missing the point

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(Amazon Studios/Beth Dubber)

4 reasons why every “Awkward Black Girl” should be watching “Transparent”

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Photos of Samuel DuBose hang on a pole at a memorial, Wednesday July 29, 2015 in Cincinnati, near where he was shot and killed by a University of Cincinnati police officer. (AP/Tom Uhlman)

No mourning, no peace: Sam DuBose, Sandra Bland and why Black lives don’t matter (yet)

Shannon M. Houston
Nicki Minaj (AP/Jordan Strauss)

Nicki Minaj cares too much about MTV and the “white kids” awards— and here’s why she’s not wrong

Shannon M. Houston
Adrienne C. Moore in "Orange Is the New Black" (Netflix)

God is a verb: “Orange Is the New Black” dares to show faith in a positive light

Shannon M. Houston