culture
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A Young Black Man Is Dead—So Why Are They Talking About the Maserati He’s Driving?
Father. Son. Unarmed. Employee. The press could have chosen to use any of those descriptors in detailing how police shot a 25-year-old Georgia man outside his job at Goodyear Tire. Instead, countless headlines included the fact that a young black man was in a Maserati at the time of his death. Here’s what we know:…
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Being Mary Jane Recap: ‘One Last Question’
A welcome change is on the horizon for Mary Jane Paul. When Sheldon calls while she’s microwaving cordon bleu (of course she lies and says she was cooking it), the two have one of those early “getting to know you” sessions where people ask each other all kinds of questions, like, “Malcolm or Martin?” Sheldon…
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What Was That About Black People Not Being Able to Swim?
It was an unprecedented event for NCAA swimming. It was as symbolic as it was historic in that it provided a revealing reality concerning the sport of swimming and marked the official introduction of African-American women as a force in an arena that has failed to attract or embrace them in the past. It was…
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R-E-S-P-E-C-T the Queen: 10 Times Aretha Franklin Stole the Show
Editor’s note: This week we’re celebrating the birthdays of phenomenal performers who not only share late-March birthdays but who also have voices that have defined their generations. On Monday we honored the Queen of Funk, Chaka Khan. Today it’s the Queen of Soul, Aretha Franklin. Then, on Thursday, it’s the boss, Diana Ross, and on Friday, the…
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George Zimmerman Says God and Justice Are on His Side
If the moral arc of the universe really did bend toward justice, I would be reporting on George Zimmerman’s incarceration for one of the numerous crimes he’s committed since he gunned down unarmed 17-year-old Trayvon Martin on that rainy night in Sanford, Fla. Instead he’s in the news for a disturbing interview in which he…
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I’m a White Mom With Biracial Children, and What I Do With Their Hair Is No One’s Business
Maybe I’m just not the type of parent who likes unsolicited advice or people getting in my personal space, but one of the things that I’ve noticed about parenting a mixed-race child is that the general public seems to have no boundaries. When you become a mother, you notice that the boundaries people usually have…
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In Confessions of a Peppermint Pattie, a ‘Whiteblack’ Girl Asks if She’s Black Enough
When Barack Obama arrived on the national political stage and emerged as a presidential contender, more than one observer asked whether the young, biracial, Ivy League-educated U.S. senator was black enough to be the first African-American president. And this kind of authenticity challenge isn’t new: Many other black Americans—upwardly mobile and highly educated—are sometimes seen…
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Kendrick Lamar’s To Pimp a Butterfly Is a Sonic Tribute to Black Lives
If the phrase “Black lives matter” conjured a sound, it might be something like that of the music heard on Kendrick Lamar’s new album, To Pimp a Butterfly. Not to try to connect Lamar to a movement of which he’s not necessarily a part, or to artificially box him in, but if we could take…
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Happy Birthday, Divas!
Editor’s note: This week we’re celebrating the birthdays of three phenomenal performers—Chaka Khan, Aretha Franklin and Mariah Carey—who not only share late-March birthdays but who also have voices that have defined their generations. First up, on Monday, is the Queen of Funk, Chaka Khan. On Wednesday we’ll honor the Queen of Soul, Aretha Franklin, and…
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Ain’t Nobody Like Chaka Khan: 10 Songs That Will School a New Generation
Editor’s note: This week we’re celebrating the birthdays of phenomenal performers who not only share late-March birthdays but who also have voices that have defined their generations. First up is the Queen of Funk, Chaka Khan. On Wednesday we’ll celebrate the Queen of Soul, Aretha Franklin, and on Thursday we’ll celebrate the boss, Diana Ross.…