culture
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50 Years After the Voting Rights Act, Equal Access to the Ballot Box Is Still in Peril
This year marks the 50th anniversary of the signing of the Voting Rights Act. The anniversary follows the release of Ava DuVernay’s film Selma, which documents the movement that gave birth to the VRA. In scene after scene, the film reminds us just how vehemently whites openly opposed equal voting rights for all. Today, however, thanks…
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#ReclaimMLK Seeks to Combat the Sanitizing of Martin Luther King Jr.’s Legacy
Martin Luther King Jr. had more than “a dream,” but you might not notice that on Monday during observances for his birthday. Somewhere between his assassination and today began an MLK-neutering campaign meant to turn the famed agitator’s holiday into a national Day of Service, a generic mishmash of good feelings that contorts King’s social-justice legacy…
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CBS Suspends Sports Analyst Greg Anthony After Arrest
Updated Sunday, Jan. 18, 9:16 a.m. EST: CBS has suspended sports basketball analyst Greg Anthony indefinitely, a representative said Saturday, a day after he was arrested in Washington, D.C., on a charge of soliciting prostitution, according to Reuters. “Greg Anthony will not be working again for CBS this season,” the rep said in an email.…
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After the Charlie Hebdo Attack, Can a Divided France Achieve Egalité, Fraternité and Diversité?
Paris: French President François Hollande gave a stirring speech about diversity this week. The topic would hardly raise an eyebrow in the U.S., but it’s a rare occurrence in France, which has struggled to integrate immigrants from North and West Africa into its ideal of the colorblind republic. He spoke at the solemn funeral service for three…
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Living Under Mom’s Roof Gives Her the Right to Control Your Life, Even if You Are Grown
I’m 29 and live at home. I’m trying to move this year. I spend each weekend at my boyfriend’s apartment. Recently he asked me to stay an extra night because he was sick. I told my mother, and she said ‘Come home,’ adding that if he was sick, he could call 911 if needed. My…
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Minnesota 6-Year-Old’s Hanging Death Either Accident or Suicide, Cops Say
Minnesota police have ruled out the possibility of foul play in a 6-year-old’s hanging death, ultimately closing the case. They say that the little girl either committed suicide or died by accident, the Associated Press reports. Kendrea Johnson was found unconscious in one of the bedrooms at her foster home with a jump rope around…
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Missing NJ Man Found Dead in Trunk of His Car
Two days after Jordan Johnson’s girlfriend reported that he had been kidnapped, the body of the 24-year-old New Jersey man was discovered in the trunk of his car in New York City on Thursday, cops confirmed, according to the New York Post. Johnson’s parked 2013 BMW was found around 2 p.m. in the Bronx. Authorities…
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Charles Frederick Warner 1st Person Executed in Okla. Since Botched April Lethal Injection
On Tuesday Oklahoma executed its first inmate since the botched April execution of Clayton Lockett, CNN reports. Charles Frederick Warner, who had originally been scheduled to die April 29, the same day as Lockett, was pronounced dead at 7:28 p.m. CST at the Oklahoma State Penitentiary in McAlester, the news site reports. He was convicted in…
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Judge Tells Ga. Mom of 5 She Can’t See Her 2 Surviving Kids After Fire Kills 3
A Georgia woman charged with three counts of felony murder and five counts of cruelty to children has been ordered to stay away from her two surviving children while she awaits her fate. Prosecutor Mirna Andrews argued that on Dec. 12, Rockell Coleman, 28, left her kids alone while she went to dinner with friends.…
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Woman Shocked to See Brother’s Mug Shot Used as Police Target Practice
The North Miami Beach, Fla., Police Department is under fire after a woman discovered that not only were police using actual mug shots of African-American men as shooting targets at a firing range, but one of the men in the photos, bearing bullet holes from a police pistol, was the woman’s brother. On Saturday, Sgt.…