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Nas, DJs and Graffiti: Is the Kennedy Center Cool Now?
Alongside its traditional opera, ballet and theater offerings, Washington, D.C.’s historic Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts will soon feature something that President Michael Kaiser describes as an effort to “speak to many different audiences”: a weeklong festival, “One Mic: Hip-Hop Culture Worldwide,” slated for the 2013-2014 season. The event, which will open with Nas…
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Thank God We're Not Stuck With Romneys
(The Root) — Here’s yet another very good reason to rejoice over Barack Obama’s triumph in last year’s presidential election: Mitt and Ann Romney are not our first family. We have thus been spared four years of hyperexposure to the self-absorbed utterances of this shockingly out-of-touch political couple. From now on we can ignore them.…
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Poll: Students a Bit Crazy for Suing AKAs?
Howard University students Laurin Compton and Lauren Cofield are not happy about being denied membership to the university’s Alpha Kappa Alpha chapter. They allege that they were hazed and discriminated against because they are “legacies” — children of AKA sorors — and are taking their case to court. From what we gather, most of our…
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Gay Candidate Beaten, Dragged and Burned: FBI Investigation?
Mississippi Rep. Bennie Thompson said on Wednesday that he wants the FBI to get involved in an investigation of the death of Marco McMillian, who was a candidate for mayor in Clarksdale. “If another set of eyes looking at it would provide additional information, I think it would be helpful to the McMillian family,” Thompson…
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Macklemore's Straight, White Position on Bias
This isn’t the first time LGBT issues have been addressed in hip-hop. But it might just be the first time a straight white artist has championed gay rights so fiercely in the genre. Rapper Macklemore’s song “Same Love” tackles injustice with the best of intentions, but is he on the wrong road when he puts…
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Why God Gives Men Daughters
“She borrowed my gangsta, then sold it on eBay,” Very Smart Brothas‘ Panama Jackson says in a piece reflecting on his relationship with his 4-year-old girl. Through my daughter I’ve had the pleasure of re-examining all sorts of interesting things about lots of facets of myself. From the music I’m listening to, to my own…
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The NRA's Latest Ploy: Grab More Minorities
Earl Ofari Hutchinson, writing at the Huffington Post, explores what he says is an unconvincing argument by the National Rifle Association. The NRA has not and never has made a convincing argument that putting more guns in the hands of law-aiding citizens is the best way to stop the thousands of annual murders in the…
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How the Sequester Crosses the Color Line
(The Root) — For every action, there is an equal and opposite reaction. Voters have twice elected an African-American president, and Republicans have twice responded with obstinance — by waging an intellectual civil war. Voter-suppression efforts were insufficient to deliver a Romney victory, but strategically gerrymandered districts guaranteed that Speaker John Boehner and his Republican-dominated…
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Congress, Honor the 4 Little Girls of Birmingham
Tavis Smiley, writing at the Huffington Post, demands a Congressional Gold Medal for the children killed nearly 50 years ago by a white supremacist at Birmingham, Ala.’s 16th Street Baptist Church. Nearly 50 years ago, a bomb planted by white supremacists killed four little girls in Birmingham’s 16th Street Baptist Church. Twenty-two others, mostly children,…
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Policing Women's Garb From L.A. to Namibia
(The Root) — With all that is going on in the world, one would think that what women are wearing would be of the least concern. We’re still dealing with a troubled economy, an obstructionist government, worldwide police brutality (the recent dragging death of a Mozambican taxi driver in South Africa) and so-called adults calling…
Black News and Black Views with a Whole Lotta Attitude
