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Noise Complaints to Police for Spike Lee's Jazz-Legend Dad
It’s no secret that Brooklyn, N.Y., is gentrifying, and as new residents move in, they don’t always mesh with the community. Case in point: A Fort Greene resident has repeatedly called the police on Bill Lee, father to filmmaker Spike Lee and the man behind the scores of your favorite 40 Acres and a Mule…
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Bruno Mars' Mother Dies at 55
The mother of singer Bruno Mars passed away on Saturday. She was 55, according to the Associated Press. Bernadette Hernandez died Saturday of a brain aneurysm, according to a publicist for Mars’ label, Atlantic Records, who spoke to The Associated Press on condition of anonymity because the person was not authorized to speak on the…
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Issa Rae to Play Nina Simone in New Lorraine Hansberry Biopic
An unconventional biopic of Lorraine Hansberry, author of A Raisin in the Sun, is in development, according to Shadow and Act. Hansberry’s grand-niece Taye Hansberr, will take the title role, and Issa Rae, star of The Misadventures of Awkward Black Girl, will play a pivotal role. Issa Rae is set to play Nina Simone, who…
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A 'White' Grandma With Black Roots?
(The Root) — Black people aren’t the only ones whose Native American ancestry evaporates in the face of a DNA test. This questioner already has her suspicions about family lore. “My 96-year-old grandmother tells me that her mother (my great-grandmother) came from Three Rivers (Trois-Rivières), Quebec, which I understand is home to the Yamaska Indians.…
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How I Knew the 'Dehumanizing Stare' Belonged to a Black Kid
What can you count on with the regularity of the sun rising or a new Chief Keef arrest? According to Mychal Denzel Smith at the Nation, the answer is racism. So when he heard about a teen, Tremaine McMillian, violently detained by Florida police for giving them a “dehumanizing stare” while feeding a puppy, he…
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I'm Biracial. Trust Me, the Cheerios Ad Is a Big Deal
Remember the man who was accused of kidnapping his own children because they didn’t look like him? Well, Meagan Hatcher-Mays writes on Jezebel that she had to deal with similar experiences growing up with a white father and black mother. And for her, the new Cheerios ads depicting a black and white couple and a…
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Why Powerful Women Make the Best Friends
If Kelly Rowland can come around to the idea that she shines more (not less) because of her proximity to Beyoncé, there’s hope for the rest of us, Ann Friedman writes at New York magazine in a piece explaining “shine theory.” Kelly Rowland has done okay for herself since her days with Destiny’s Child. More…
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Protests Arise in London After Suspected Terror Killing
In London, protests have erupted following the fatal stabbing of British soldier Lee Rigby on a busy street last month, writes Reuters. The suspects, who remain in police custody, claimed to have killed Rigby in retaliation for the suffering of Islamic people internationally. Their actions ignited a political firestorm, which has spilled into the city…
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Race-Defying Author William Demby Dies at 90
On Friday, fiction author William Demby passed away in his Sag Habor, N.Y., home, reports the New York Times. He was 90. Demby lived in Italy for quite some time, where he penned novels like Beetlecreek (1950) and The Catacombs (1965). He also wrote Love Story Black (1978) and King Comus, which has yet to…
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Beyonce Has a Drink, Quelling Pregnancy Rumors
“I can’t stop the rumors from starting, and I can’t really change people’s minds who believe them,” Beyoncé wrote on her Tumblr page recently, according to the Daily News, in reaction to the latest rumors that she is pregnant. The star gave birth to her first child, daughter Blue Ivy, in 2012. “All I can…
Black News and Black Views with a Whole Lotta Attitude
