I SEE U

Acclaimed lyricist,  Fat Tony , has played a significant role in shaping Houston's rap scene with his unique style of music. Raised in the city's historic Third Ward, he has family roots in Nigeria – a part of the world where emerging singers and songwriters from the region are finding success on American music charts. Consequently, mainstream pop acts have been taking notice and are quickly  jump...

Nearly 80 years ago, a group of  Yale  scholars decided amongst themselves to add the word, "homosexual," in the Bible after mistranslating Greek text. Researchers have said this mistake changed the course of modern history as we know it. The misinterpretation also caused a lesbian Christian to explore this incident and earn the trust of those same researchers by capturing their discovery on film....

Legendary actor  Glynn Turman  remembers a time when hardly any Black men or women were prominently featured in television. Over six decades later, he's played hundreds of characters in film, TV and on-stage, including work as an acclaimed writer, producer and director – both in theater and television. Notable roles include the 2020 Netflix film,  Ma Rainey's Black Bottom ; the FX drama series,  F...

Four of the largest cities in the United States are currently run by African Americans. What do you think this says about our nation when four prominent, elected officials of color have been chosen and trusted to lead four of the biggest metropolitan regions of the country? And out of each of these four mayors: Eric Adams of New York City; Karen Bass of Los Angeles; Brandon Johnson of Chicago; Syl...

In January of 2017, a mosque in Victoria, Texas was set on fire just hours after then- President Donald Trump signed a controversial executive order restricting migration from Muslim-majority countries. Victoria law enforcement officials and conservative town administrators were quick to praise local Muslim leadership for not jumping to conclusions that this fire was intentional. How can this “pra...

During the  Civil Rights Movement , not only did African-Americans fight for equal protection under the law, but White Americans were also risking their lives in the name of social justice. Some were even  murdered for participating in marches and protests  aimed at ending segregation and racial discrimination. But in today's political climate and divisiveness, how come more White Americans prefer...

Betty Ann Kilby and her family were terrorized when they defied their local school board and the governor of Virginia to desegregate the only high school in their county in 1959. And yet, nearly 50 years later, in 2007, she was willing to talk to a descendant of a family who had once enslaved her ancestors. It was a defining move reminiscent of a well-known quote in  Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King's...

Zee Clarke  received her Harvard MBA and spent over two decades leading teams at  FORTUNE 500  companies and tech startups. But after instances of being racially-profiled, experiencing microaggressions at work and even being harassed by police, she realized how breathing exercises were so critical to her mental health – not only to survive, but to also thrive in a world that felt slow to change. T...

As a group of white women sit at a fancy dining room table, sip wine and pass the breadbasket ready to eat, another woman—the only Black woman at the table—asks a stunning question to the guests: “How many of you would trade places with a Black person in this society?” The silence that instantly hovers over the dinner crowd was not only deafening but also revealing. Entrepreneurs Saira Rao and Reg...

Renowned composer and drummer Kendrick Scott is putting anecdotes of his learnings from mentor and distinguished trumpeter, Terence Blanchard , into action by leveraging his musical gifts into a visceral artform of healing and redemption. Through original music mixed with poetry and striking visuals, the multimedia event entitled, “ UNEARTHED ,” featured Scott collaborating with former Houston poe...

Kathleen McElroy was tapped to lead a new journalism program at her alma mater— Texas A&M , a university that boasts the largest student body in the entire country. Her experience included decades at the New York Times and a reputation for promoting diversity in the workplace. With fanfare usually reserved for college coaches and athletes, McElroy’s signing ceremony took place in the center of...

The Renaissance World Tour is an energetic, visual, two-and-a-half-hour musical journey, showcasing the latest album of award-winning singer-songwriter, Beyonc é . The event has broken ticket sales records worldwide with each performance stimulating regional economies along the way. Running almost parallel with Beyonc é ’s tour is pop singer Taylor Swift’s Eras Tour , which pays homage to her own...

Houston is home to the most successful musical talent in the world. But decades ago, the city was once the epicenter for the blues genre. Why has the city’s blues history been neglected for so long? Stay tuned as host Eddie Robinson chats unguarded with acclaimed filmmaker, Drew Barnett-Hamilton . Her new documentary, When Houston Had The Blues , is currently touring the festival circuit with an a...

For decades, barbershops have served as special places for people of color. The barber plays a major role in not only providing hair care services, but for many Black men, in particular, this person is responsible for how their customers are viewed and seen by society. Notions of identity, appearance and character are often assessed, evaluated, measured—even stereotyped by the way a Black man's ha...

Former NFL player, Ryan Russell , tells I SEE U that he feels there is an imbalance in male athletics where society does not encourage, support or sustain LGTBQ+ youth in sports, much less create safe space environments early in their development. His latest memoir, “ The Yards Between Us ,” has allowed him to reminisce on narratives of his own past—of growing up in conservative Dallas; shy, lovin...

With a successful career in entertainment alongside his business partner, EGOT -winning musician John Legend , renowned producer Mike Jackson tells I SEE U he has a responsibility to bring multicultural content to global audiences. The Philly-native has produced countless projects with major networks, including ABC, NBC, FOX, HBO, Showtime, Netflix and FX. But what obstacles can exist in film, TV...

Reginald DesRoches , the eighth president of one of the most prestigious universities in the country, recently completed the first year of his historical post. The Haitian-native is the first Black president, the first immigrant and the first engineer to ever lead Rice since the founding of the university in 1921. But the history of Rice is a bit complicated and very controversial. Join I SEE U as...

Renowned actress Grace Byers embraced her leading role in the hit summer comedy horror, The Blackening . “Allison” – an outspoken, no-nonsense character from the film – was very proud of her Black heritage; that role has served as a replicate of who she’s become as a proud Black woman of empowerment. Her children’s books, “ I Am Enough ,” and “ I Believe I Can ,” remained on the New York Times bes...

Award-winning film director, Steven Caple Jr. , is fresh off his summer box office success with Transformers: Rise of the Beasts . Interestingly enough, he doesn’t have a massive portfolio of blockbuster films under his belt. But with this accomplishment for a major Transformers franchise comes a tremendous responsibility for an incredibly gifted, Black filmmaker in the competitive world of cinema...

Whether he’s acting in a film, on-stage or involved in a television series, Russell Hornsby ends up delivering a powerful performance full of emotion with a genuine passion for the craft. In a career spanning over two decades, his extensive portfolio includes the infamous boxing promoter, Don King , in Hulu’s “ Mike ,” the Oscar-nominated Paramount film, FENCES , opposite Denzel Washington and Vio...

Civil rights attorney,  Jeffery Robinson , released a film in 2021 entitled, " WHO WE ARE: A CHRONICLE OF RACISM IN AMERICA ." In the documentary, Robinson addresses an audience onstage as if he's inside a courtroom, arguing a case on how grappling with racism is "our shared history." He challenges them to question why so many aspects of American history related to slavery, state-sanctioned violen...

The very complicated legacy of entertainer  Little Richard  is thoroughly examined in a new documentary by Emmy Award-winning filmmaker,  Lisa Cortés . The film showcases a bold, audacious man who's trying to navigate his life through sex, drugs, rock and roll, and the Lord – with the help of archival footage mixed with deep, social context from family, friends, scholars, ethnomusicologists, and o...

Based on his own real-life experiences,  Elegance Bratton 's  THE INSPECTION , tells the story of a young Black man who was kicked out of the house by his Christian mother for being gay. After spending years at a homeless shelter and on the streets of New York City, he decides to enlist in the U.S. military to become a  Marine . Ironically, this autobiographical film takes place during the era of ...

10-year-old Graceyn Hollingsworth has become an internet viral sensation. Her popular  YouTube children's channel , " Gracie's Corner ," features Black and brown animated characters reciting remixed nursery rhymes, soulful vintage poems and original songs in video form. Her father,  Javoris Hollingsworth , came up with the idea during the pandemic and noticed the lack of diversity, especially in e...

United States Press Secretary and presidential advisor, Karine Jean-Pierre has held her current post at the White House for over a year. Despite the highs and lows of being at the press podium, the official spokesperson for the leader of our country has remained focused in her role – a role where she’s become a pioneering voice in American politics. The daughter of Haitian parents, Jean-Pierre is...