Barack Obama, A More Perfect Union:

I’ve said it many times throughout the current presidential race, but after hearing this speech its become 10 times clearer: Barack Obama is the one! If you aren’t moved by his words, and the way that he so honestly addresses the issue of race in America, then you’re seriously losing. Seriously.

But race is an issue that I believe this nation cannot afford to ignore right now. We would be making the same mistake that Reverend Wright made in his offending sermons about America - to simplify and stereotype and amplify the negative to the point that it distorts reality.

The fact is that the comments that have been made and the issues that have surfaced over the last few weeks reflect the complexities of race in this country that we’ve never really worked through - a part of our union that we have yet to perfect. And if we walk away now, if we simply retreat into our respective corners, we will never be able to come together and solve challenges like health care, or education, or the need to find good jobs for every American.

Understanding this reality requires a reminder of how we arrived at this point. As William Faulkner once wrote, “The past isn’t dead and buried. In fact, it isn’t even past.” We do not need to recite here the history of racial injustice in this country. But we do need to remind ourselves that so many of the disparities that exist in the African-American community today can be directly traced to inequalities passed on from an earlier generation that suffered under the brutal legacy of slavery and Jim Crow.

Read on.

The magazine’s entire archives–complete with articles, covers, photos and video footage–will go live on the web later this week. And its all free!

On Thursday, the magazine will introduce the Vault, a free site within SI.com that contains all the words Sports Illustrated has ever published and many of the images, along with video and other material, in a searchable database.

The Vault’s search engine lets a reader search by athlete, coach, team, sport, decade and year. Want to see every Sports Illustrated cover with Magic Johnson, or all the articles that mentioned him in 1986? Easy.

The site also allows a reader to see high-resolution images of old issues of the magazine as it appeared in physical form, including ads, using a mouse to “turn” pages. Jeff Price, president of SI Digital, said, “We’re confident that there’s nothing else like this.”

This is a huge leap forward for SI, and a move that I certainly hope will inspire other mags and newspapers with an online presence (since most seem to be comfortable with their current lo-fi, text-only archives).

For the sake of wishful thinking, two publications that I’d love to see implement this sort of feature on their sites: Vibe and The Source. Imagine that!

In the meantime, have a look this massive archives of SI covers.

[via NY Times ]

We all knew the banned “Hunger Strike” episode of The Boondocks would see the light of day sooner of later, but who knew we’d have our neighbors to the north to thank for it?!

The Canadian cartoon network, Teletoon, aired the episode in its entirety last weekend, and also plans to air “The Ruckus Reality Show” (a spinoff in which Uncle Ruckus gets his own show on BET) on March 23rd. That’ll be hitting the web shortly after it airs, I’m sure.

I’d still like to know why The Cartoon Network refused to air this episode in the U.S., although they claim they received no pressure from BET or others to remove the episode from its schedule. Afterall, BET does airs in Canada, so I guess it’s safe to say they had nothing to do with U.S. ban, right? Right?

Anyways, props to Teletoon!

Peep the second half of the episode after the jump. Read the rest of this entry »

No pun intended. However, to be sure that fans don’t misinterpret the artwork from their upcoming album Rising Down, ?uestlove of The Roots delivers a bit of background info to put things into perspective:

This drawing is entitled NEGRO RULE. and it pretty much sums up the feeling of the Confederate Union towards the newly freed slaves and the idea that if given power they would reek havoc and chaos on the country.

That was 1898. Ironically, here in 2008 similar feelings are held towards Hip-Hop and even a *certain individual* in the current presidential race. But you already knew that, I’m sure.

You gotta love The Roots for consistently coming through with relevant, thought
provoking album covers.

[via Okayplayer]

Portraits of Kanye West, 50 Cent, Russell Simmons, and other heavyweights of hip-hop are featured in painter Alexander Melamid’s Holy Hip Hop! exhibition, currently on display at Museum of Contemporary Art Detroit.

The life-size portraits of twelve icons of hip-hop culture capture the larger than life personas embodied by these men, who are among the wealthiest and most influential individuals of our time. Snoop Dogg, 50 Cent, Common, Kanye West, Reverend Run, Duke, Lil Jon, Don “Magic” Juan, Whoo Kid, Marc Ecko and Russell Simmons are portrayed by Melamid as they are in life ‚ serious, ambitious, powerful and compelling. The twelve, dressed in their everyday clothes, are rendered with Old Master style and quality, providing a provocative visual context and an association with masterpieces of the past. In these paintings, Melamid explores art, power and commodity, as well as displaying the wit that has long elevated his work.

[via NY Times, MOCAD]