EBONY.com is known for our team’s willingness to embrace, and lead the discourse on, provocative issues of race, class, gender and religion. We always aim to do so fully backed up by facts and the rich historical knowledge our magazine has amassed during its 70-plus years on the planet.
This year was no different.
Facing alarming situations including police brutality against our people, cultural assaults on Black womanhood and an unforgettable massacre in a Black church, we never lacked for topics to tackle. Based on what our readers clicked on (and clicked with), here are some of the most popular columns of 2015. Read, review and #staywoke.
Raven-Symone seriously infuriated folks with a series of nonsensical, race-baiting comments this year but none got under our collective skin as much as this gem. The former Cosby kid-turned-“The View” panelist declared that she wouldn’t hire people with “ghetto” names. Jamilah Lemieux pilloried She of the Hyphenated Moniker in this top-clicked column and the rest is history.
2. Roof Rage
Dylan Roof was conveniently diagnosed by mainstream media as “mentally ill,” but we of the #staywoke committee call B.S. on such descriptions of the then-21-year-old who (allegedly) entered a South Charleston church and unleashed a torrent of gunfire on Black parishioners who innocently welcomed him into their sanctuary. Meanwhile, as we recoil in outrage at this White supremacist siege, Roof’s sister had the temerity to try and crowdfund for a wedding “ruined” by her brother’s actions. Forgive us if we don’t immediately offer tissues for those White tears, as expertly opined here.
Robert Kelly stays getting snatched online, but it doesn’t seem to stop the Chicagoan known as much for his ethereal and party-starting hits as allegations of sex with underage girls. R. Kelly resurfaced this year to perform at the Soul Train Music Awards and in doing so, reignited interest in a 2013 piece about societal disregard for young Black girls.
4. Trump Bumped
As of press time, Republican candidate Donald Trump is very much in the running to be our nation’s Commander-in-Chief, a scenario that sheds much more light on our populace than it does the pontificating real estate mogul. But beloved as he might be by some who embrace his pointedly anti-immigrant messaging, The Donald did not make a good impression on the Black clergy he sought to meet with in November. In fact, the very notion of such a gathering inspired this open letter to Black clergy offered exclusively to EBONY.com.
5. Vivica A. Fox’s Gaybaiting Gaffe
We get it. 50 Cent may not have been the best boyfriend ever to Vivica A. Fox. He clearly broke her heart and, making matters worse, assailed her lyrically with a memorable throwaway in “Get in My Car.” But who knew that his words and deeds would come back to bite them both in 2015 during Fox’s appearance on “Watch What Happens Live,” aka the pop culture intersection of Messy and Petty? Fox’s comments about Fiddy’s sexuality got her in hot water with one of our writers who did not appreciate what he termed the queer-baiting nature of her shade.
