These are some of the major cultural shifts, awards and crises you probably didn’t hear about this week:
- Discover Malcolm X’s hidden Queens legacy: In a borough now celebrated for its diversity, the significant presence in Queens of Malcolm X, who would have been 100 years old this week, is largely forgotten. Despite being firebombed just days before his assassination, his family home on 97th Street bears no memorial. While his activism centered in Harlem, Malcolm built his family life in Queens, where he debated with local leaders and found refuge. Follow along with a walking tour that reveals the unmarked sites where his revolutionary spirit quietly shaped this diverse community. Read more at URL Media.
- Palestinian poet wins Pulitzer while his homeland burns: Palestinian poet Mosab Abu Toha clinched a Pulitzer Prize for his raw, intimate essays documenting Gaza’s nightmare, yet victory feels hollow as his homeland crumbles. While safely in the US through a scholars program, Abu Toha carries the weight of Gaza everywhere—family members killed by airstrikes, his childhood home destroyed, and the guilt of escape. “I’m being killed every day with my people,” he writes, as right-wing groups target him online and push for deportation. Read more at URL Media.
- SNL’s 50th season finale broke every diversity rule in the best way: Saturday Night Live wrapped its milestone 50th season with sketches that would’ve been unthinkable decades ago. Bowen Yang hooked up with Scarlett Johansson after “pretending to be gay for clout,” Bad Bunny argued in Spanish about girlfriends, and the cast looked more like America than ever before. Yang’s rise from web comedian to diversity powerhouse proves SNL finally gets representation right, turning old stereotypes into smart satire that actually reflects our multicultural world. Read more at AsAm News.
- Why millions of Latinos are losing Spanish and fighting to get it back: A shocking 78% of Latinos spoke Spanish at home in 2000, but that dropped to just 68% by 2022. Now, “no sabo kids” (formerly an insult) are reclaiming their heritage language after years of shame and assimilation pressure. From embarrassed 12-year-olds hiding their Spanish to 30-year-old mothers desperately teaching broken Spanish to their kids, this cultural shift reveals how America’s anti-immigrant climate forces families to choose between acceptance and identity. Read more at Documented.
- Black boys drown in the attention economy as college becomes invisible: Young Black men are trapped in a deadly cycle where viral fame seems more attainable than education. With Black male college enrollment at a 50-year low and only three perceived paths out of poverty (rapper, athlete, influencer), an entire generation is trading their futures for likes and views. The tragic story of Philadelphia’s Young Bag Chasers illustrates what happens when drill rap meets social media clout chasing. Meanwhile, one in three Black men face lifetime incarceration while Black women vastly outpace them in graduation rates. Without intervention teaching media literacy and making college viable, we’re losing brilliant minds to an economy that rewards destruction over creation. Read more at WURDRadio.com.
BONUS
Could former Atlanta Mayor Keisha Lance Bottoms crack the smoked glass ceiling?
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