• Bobbi Kristina Brown: 1993-2015

    She lived her life, and now has died, in the spotlight, regardless of whether she wanted to be in it. Bobbi Kristina Brown, 22, the only child from the marriage of music legend Whitney Houston and R&B singer Bobby Brown, has died. According to Entertainment Tonight, Bobbi Kristina passed away surrounded by family at the…

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  • ‘Light You Up’ Cop Threatens to Use Taser on Sandra Bland in New Dash-Cam Video

    New dashboard-camera footage has been released showing Sandra Bland’s ill-fated police stop July 10. In the video she is shown arguing with a Texas state trooper over being stopped, an argument that escalates when the officer becomes upset that Bland is not putting out her cigarette. The officer forces Bland from her car after threatening…

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  • The Death of Sandra Bland Isn’t Helping My Fear of Driving While Black

    For most of my adult life I’ve struggled with anxiety—whether mild or serious—and it’s done everything from make me cancel events to lose my train of thought midsentence. It’s caused me to hide in my house for days on end, and about six years ago it came for my ability to drive anywhere without having…

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  • ‘This Is Our Selma’: NC’s Fight for Voting Rights

    Monday marks the start of a pivotal voting-rights trial in North Carolina. On the line? Access to the ballot box for tens of thousands of African-American voters. Calling the trial its “Selma,” referencing the Selma-to-Montgomery marches of 1964 in Alabama, the North Carolina State Conference of the NAACP is taking Gov. Pat McCrory to court…

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  • Black America Knows What Real Patriotism Looks Like

    It used to happen every Fourth of July. Our homeowners association would place little, cheap American flags on each lawn, and every year, ours ended up in the trash. Every. Year. My parents—born in America, raised in America, the only country they’ve ever known and will know, who had no desire to leave and will…

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  • Waiting for the Worst: Bobbi Kristina Moved to Hospice Care

    It may be time to finally say goodbye. Bobbi Kristina Brown, the only child from the marriage of the late music icon Whitney Houston and R&B singer Bobby Brown, has been moved to hospice care, according to the Associated Press. Eerily mirroring how her mother died, Bobbi Kristina, 22, was discovered unresponsive and facedown in…

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  • ‘Southern Pride’ or Jim Crow’s Death Rattle? Everything You Need to Know About the Confederate Flag

    For a flag said to represent “Southern pride,” it sure shows up a lot as a representative of Southern hate. Countless white supremacist groups use the flag often, and the 21-year-old white man who confessed Friday to killing nine black people at a historic black church in Charleston, S.C., rocked the “rebel flag” on his…

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  • Slain SC Pastor Was ‘All-Around Good Guy’

    He served the people, both in the church and as a state senator, and he was tragically killed in his own church during a shooting Wednesday that also took the lives of six women and two other men. He was South Carolina pastor and state Sen. Clementa C. Pinckney, one of the victims of a…

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  • Movie Review: Dope Is Actually Pretty Dope

    First, let’s get this out of the way. Dope is a good movie. It is enjoyable, watchable and sweet. But it is also so sweet that if it were a drink, it would be a hipster, artisan rum punch drowning in simple syrup. And it ties up so neatly—despite all of its early wit and…

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  • From Relaxed to All Natural: Johnny Wright, the Man Behind Michelle Obama’s Hair

    Michelle Obama with an Afro? Michelle Obama with an Afro! It could happen! And celebrity stylist Johnny Wright—the stylist to the first lady—is the man who would make that happen if it did. Wright, who says Michelle Obama has been completely natural for years now (he straightens her hair with a flat iron), says it is…

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