culture
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Baseball Player Tweets Racist Message, Then Pulls Apology Out of the 'I'm Not a Racist' Handbook: Examined
Updated Friday, Sept. 23, 2016, 2:42 p.m. EDT: The Seattle Mariners have suspended Steve Clevenger for the remainder of the 2016 season without pay. Clevenger spent Thursday tweeting out vile messages about Keith Lamont Scott, who was gunned down by Charlotte-Mecklenburg, N.C., police, and those who have been protesting his death. In theory, the suspension sounds…
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So, Richard ‘All Lives Matter’ Sherman, Now You Want to Speak Out on Police Violence?
So, Mr. All Lives Matter—Seattle Seahawks cornerback Richard Sherman—decided that he was gonna use his latest press conference to do nothing but talk about police violence. “I think the last couple days, a couple more guys have gotten shot and killed in the middle of the street. More videos have come out of guys getting…
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Empire Recap: Who Died? And Did Anyone Care?
The season 2 Empire finale was an episode packed with surprises. We learned that Lucious isn’t the devil’s spawn. His father was Joe, a cop, whom Lucious saw gunned down when he was a child. Empire has played fast and loose with flashbacks, so don’t be shocked if Joe rises from the grave just like…
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7 Black Movies to See if You Can’t Bear to See Birth of a Nation (or Even if You Do)
Ever since Nate Parker’s film The Birth of a Nation earned a record $17.5 million distribution deal and walked away with the Grand Jury Prize and the Audience Award at the Sundance Film Festival back in January, the movie has been positioned as the film most likely to solve Hollywood’s #OscarsSoWhite problem. But Parker’s past…
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Meet the Black Geniuses of 2016
Joyce J. Scott was an artist in utero. She will tell you that while she was safely inside the womb, her mother, an internationally recognized fiber artist, was nourishing her with colors and patterns and craft. Scott wanted nothing more than to be who she has become—a multitalented, multimedium, multipersonality spitfire of a performer. She…
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If America Treated Racism the Way It Treats Terrorism
As soon as America caught wind of the makeshift bombs that exploded in New York, New Jersey and Minnesota this weekend, New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio quickly assembled the media and held a press conference, pleading for calm while authorities investigated the incidents. Along with the usual fear and outrage came calls from…
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Maybe There Are No Good Cops?
In the wake of the police-shooting deaths of Terence Crutcher, Tyre King, Keith Lamont Scott and (insert the name of the next victim here), there will undoubtedly be quickly assembled news panels with ex-cops and former police officials regurgitating the same stale arguments. As they bombard media outlets with the usual litany of excuses meant…
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Urbanworld Celebrates 20 Years of Showcasing Black Films While Hollywood Plays Catch-Up
Long before Hollywood entertained modern-day diversity or inclusion conversations, Urbanworld, founded by onetime Motown Records and Miramax Films executive Stacy Spikes in 1997, was already expanding the “urban” landscape in film, pushing beyond racial, geographic and other limits, and freely mixing music and other aspects of urban culture. It’s a mission the festival, in its…
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Terence Crutcher's Slaying by Cop Is Why Kaepernick's Protest Must Continue
Author’s note: In the time I responded to weekend criticism of high school players taking a knee, a disabled black man was shot dead by police in Charlotte, N.C., while sitting in his car. This is the latest extrajudicial killing that shows that existing while black will get you shot by police. Many who have been…
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What Do You Really Know About the Dirty South? Atlanta Shows Ranked
FX’s Atlanta is the rare black comedy that is beloved by both critics and audiences. The premiere drew in over 3 million views, and the show has a 100 percent fresh rating at Rotten Tomatoes. While it evokes the surrealism of Twin Peaks, the stoner humor of Dazed and Confused, and the ethos and sound…