Articles by Jasmyne Cannick
Jasmyne is a critic and commentator based in Los Angeles who writes about the intersection of pop culture, race, class, and politics as played out in the African-American community. An award-winning journalist who previously worked in the U.S. House of Representatives as a press secretary, Jasmyne was selected as one of ESSENCE Magazine’s 25 Women Shaping the World and is a regular contributor to National Public Radio’s “News and Notes.” She is currently working as a political consultant in California on local and state campaigns.
Jasmyne Cannick: If Dr. Conrad Murray is guilty of involuntary manslaughter in the death of Michael Jackson, well then so am I and about half of America.
Jasmyne Cannick: I’ll feel safer in this world the day we start treating gang violence with the same sense of urgency and government participation that we afford to 23-year-old Nigerians with incendiary devices in their underwear aboard airplanes.
When I realized that I was about the victim of some crime, I bolted. I wanted to alert my neighbors, but I couldn’t dial. I want to honk my horn, but I was afraid this guy had a gun. The only thing I could think to do was speed my ass down the driveway and away from him.
If they want to address the weed issue, they need to figure out how to tax it and use that money to save the jobs of the employees who are losing theirs because the City is broke.
On any other occasion, had the Los Angeles Police Department arrested and booked a young Black female and then let her go in the middle of the night without her purse, car, or cell phone, in the middle of nowhere never to be seen again—Black people would be screaming off with their heads.
Beck has some big shoes to fill, no doubt, but after meeting and speaking one-on-one with him, I think the LAPD is going to be okay. I wasn’t that sure beforehand, but I can tell you that Beck is, if nothing else, a sincere and humble guy with big ideas, who has a passion for a job in a city that at times is one heartbeat away from a full on race riot.
I have to admit that I am sad to see L.A.’s top cop leave. While my opinion may not be in the majority as it relates to Blacks here in Los Angeles, Police Chief William Bratton has definitely been my favorite police chief.
Fox knows it’s pushing something too with “The Cleveland Show,” and it isn’t an envelope. Fox is making an attempt to capitalize off of the negative stereotypes of Blacks and laughing all the way to the bank.
But it must be said that if the president can do mainstream and Spanish language television media to push his health care plan, the Black media should be included. Black people have just as much to lose or gain as anyone else depending on the plan that passes.
What happened Saturday during the women’s semifinal at the United States Open between Serena Williams and Kim Clijsters is just another example of how Black women are still seen as threatening and hostile.
The SCLC’s leadership and Rev. Lee would do well to remember it and not become pawns in a game played by people who at the end of the day have never had the best interest of Blacks at heart.
Soon, the white gay community will hire black faces to walk through the hood, convincing those that they look like to support the white gay agenda of gay marriage.
In 1995, Oakland, California, a young man helping a fellow church friend found himself the father of a 4-month-old child. This happened when the mother, who at the time had three small children, simply …
Before you open that bottle of champagne, can of beer, or bottle of Hennessy in celebration of last week’s decision by the California Supreme Court upholding Proposition 8 and the ban on gay marriage, did …
THE PROBLEM: Strong feelings of entitlement, refusal to work with others, racism, extreme issues with class, sudden temper tantrums
THE PRESCRIPTION: Take as needed one chill pill with a large glass of reality…
The gay community needs …
I didn’t say anything when I drove down Crenshaw Boulevard two Sunday’s ago and that truck with that big sign in support of the upcoming measures on the May 19 California Special Election was conveniently …
The whole world knows that California is as broke as its residents are. Yet, it never ceases to amaze me when it comes to local and State politics how low some politicians will go to …
Okay so we’re always talking about the number of liquor stores, check cashing businesses, motels, pawn shops, and fast food restaurants in our neighborhoods, but has anyone ever bothered to question the oh-so-stealty move-in of …
First to the haters–No, I don’t have it…yet, anyway. And if I did I wouldn’t tell you and give you a reason to finally get that black dress out of the cleaners.
Moving on…
Mark my …
For my Baldwin Hills folks…yesterday on Santa Rosalia (say it with me ABC 7 morning news anchor Phillip Palmer Ros-a-lee-a not Ro-sal-ee-a) and Buckingham, uh huh, right on the edge of what used …
So I went to the scene of the crime yesterday afternoon that left a teenage girl dead and a 30-year-old paraplegic arrested for murder.
If I’d driven by too fast, I’d have missed the small makeshift …
Long before I saw her walking her dog that morning or the guy who was jogging, or that couple move in down the street, I concluded that one way or another, my neighborhood was going …
I watched this week as the nation’s furor turned towards employees of insurance giant American International Group (A.I.G.) and the $200 million-plus in retention bonus payments recently doled out to executives. Executives, who, as we …
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