culture

From the Atlanta-Journal Constitution: The U.S. Supreme Court on Monday gave Troy Anthony Davis the chance to present evidence in court that the condemned man has said for years will clear him of the murder of a Savannah police officer. The high court ordered a federal judge to “receive testimony and findings of fact as…

From The American Prospect: The potential death of the public option has raised considerable anger on the liberal side of the spectrum. However, while an important element of the health reform plan, it’s still only an element, and I think it’s become something more than just a policy idea. It’s become the Alamo: a symbol…

From ESPN: Usain Bolt crossed the finish line, saw his record-setting time on the clock and spread his arms as if he were soaring like a bird. About all this guy can’t do is fly. And by saving his celebration until after the finish line this time, he showed how fast a man really can…

UPDATE: Click here for the flyer and information about the 2010 bash! You could say that Spike Lee always had a special connection to Michael Jackson: They were born a year apart, both to musical families. Back in the day, every Saturday morning, Lee, like many other black kids across the country, sat down in…

I had a scenario in my head for what Michael Vick’s return to football, following a two-season absence would look like. I figured the former Atlanta Falcons QB—after spending 18 months behind bars for dog fighting—would serve a portion of his current six-game suspension while remaining unsigned by an NFL team. Then about a month…

District 9 is the antidote to the cynical, CGI-obsessed, P.T. Barnum-esque schlock that passes for sci-fi filmmaking these days, films in which people and plot matter little in the service of razzle-dazzle special effects and things that go boom in the night. (Yes, Michael Bay, I’m talking to you. Go forth and “Transform” no more.)…

From the Huffington Post: A memo obtained by the Huffington Post confirms that the White House and the pharmaceutical lobby secretly agreed to precisely the sort of wide-ranging deal that both parties have been denying over the past week. The memo, which according to a knowledgeable health care lobbyist was prepared by a person directly…

Below is an excerpt from Betts’ forthcoming memoir, ‘A Question of Freedom’, posted at The Atlantic: One morning my cell-mate Roger was walking to the cafeteria wearing his do-rag, the leg of a pair of long johns tied with a knot at the top. When he walked into the cafeteria a Corrections Officer called out,…

From NewsOne: To mark the Civil War’s centennial 50 years ago, some whites donned Confederate uniforms or hoop skirts and paraded to sentimental notions of the Old South, partly in answer to the civil rights struggle exploding around them. Blacks quietly met apart to celebrate the Emancipation Proclamation. In Alabama, whites held beard-growing contests and…