Texas Mother’s Reasoning for Allegedly Boiling Her Baby Will Make You Cry
After Dissing Black Americans For Years, African Immigrants Want Us To Care As Trump Tries to Deport Them. A Professor Explains What We should Do
This Alabama City’s First-Ever Black Councilwoman Receives Letter Calling Her N-Word, and That’s Not All
New Development for White Michigan Karen Who Lied and Said Two Black Men Assaulted Her
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Corrective Rape: An Ugly Contradiction
From BBC: The trial of three of the men accused of the rape and murder of one of South Africa’s leading sportswomen, the openly gay football star Eudy Simelane, starts in South Africa on Wednesday. Thirty-one lesbian women have been reported raped and murdered in homophobic attacks in South Africa since 1998. But according to…
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Remember When We Didn't Like Wall Street?
From Der Spiegel: Anshu Jain, 46, listened stoically and silently to the remarks of shareholders at the annual meeting of Deutsche Bank at the end of May. Many were troubled by the fact that the bank had reported its biggest ever loss in 2008, €3.9 billion ($5.6 billion), for which Jain, as its top investment…
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Has Anyone Noticed That Romeo Is Black?
LONDON—Romeo is black. And no one cares. While this might be big news in America, no one in London is making any fuss about Adetomiwa Edun in Romeo & Juliet, playing through August 23 at Shakespeare’s Globe Theatre. Here, it’s just damn good theater. No nuance, no emotional triggers playing on Edun’s ethnicity. I admit…
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Whose 'Teachable Moment' Is This?
We’ve heard President Barack Obama say that the Gates incident is a “teachable moment.” As an attorney and educator, I love teachable moments. However, as a black mother of 24- and 19-year-old sons, I’m confused about what it is that we’re learning. In particular, what lessons will the Cambridge police—and police officers across the nation—learn…
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Obama's Health Care Crusade
With his daily approval numbers taking the deepest dip thusfar, President Obama tries to drum up support for his health-care reform by hitting the road. It’s a hard sell because people aren’t anti-reform, they are pro-themselves. Somehow, they think they have the magic job that will last forever and never have any need for a…
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Black Faces on Covers Don't Sell Books?
Black Faces on Covers Don’t Sell Books? Looks like book publishing isn’t all that post-racial, but we already knew that. A controversy has been brewing regarding the book cover for “Liar,” a young adult novel by Justine Larbalestier that’s set to publish at the end of September by Bloomsbury Children’s Books. The cover (see right)…
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Sgt. Crowley: No Racial Comments. A Fellow Cop…Not So Much
From the Boston Herald: A Boston police officer allegedly sent a mass e-mail using a disgraceful racial slur in referring to Harvard University professor Henry Louis Gates Jr., prompting the commissioner to move immediately to fire the cop, the Herald has learned. Officer Justin Barrett, 36, a two-year veteran assigned to District B-3, was placed…
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Caller in Gates Case: 'Hurt' by Racial Dispute
The woman whose 911 call brought the Cambridge police to the home of Harvard scholar Henry Louis Gates, Jr. said the last two weeks have been an emotional ordeal in which she feared for her safety after being vilified as a racist. In her first public statement since the incident, Lucia Whalen said she had…
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I'm Grown, But I Still Need A Roommate
Doesn’t he sound super excited about renting out this room in his home? You couldn’t strip the glee out of his voice if you tried. I mean, who wouldn’t want to open up the house they worked hard to get to a complete and total stranger as a last resort to keep it? There’s not…
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Twitter Hi-Jinks: How Black Are You?
Sometimes, we’ve gotta keep it light. A sample from the #HowBlackAreYou trending topic: soulrebelJ: I still call my little brother booky. @jenjanea: I love a fish fry, always lived in Black neighborhoods, don’t trust the po-po & am prob more educated than u @elonjames: I have a Pavlovian lyrical response to the phrase “Who the…