culture
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US Touts $25,000,000 Grant to Groom HBCU Students for Cybersecurity Careers
Cybersecurity is a burgeoning industry, and the Department of Energy is seizing the opportunity to cultivate a diverse job-applicant pool that tech employers will be able to sift through in the years to come. On Thursday senior officials from the Obama administration announced that they are doling out a $25 million grant over the next…
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No Free Speech for Afro-French Comedian Dieudonné? That’s the Cruelest Joke of All
Following the heinous attacks on satirical French magazine Charlie Hebdo and Paris kosher supermarket Hyper Casher last week that left 17 people dead, Afro-French comedian Dieudonné M’bala M’bala—widely known in France by his first name—was arrested Wednesday after a controversial Facebook post led police to charge that he was an “apologist for terrorism.” Dieudonné, who was…
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As Sorors, We Were Right to Protest the Way Our Sisterhood Was Portrayed on Sorority Sisters
What is sisterhood, anyway? That’s really the question we should be asking behind all of the hoopla over the likely cancellation of VH1’s ratchet reality show Sorority Sisters. And for me, the question was present all day Thursday, the 107th anniversary of the founding of my sorority of choice: Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority Inc. Sisterhood is,…
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If You Think Selma’s Snubbing Is a Fluke, Think Again. The Oscars Have Stiffed Lots of Black Films
Social media is abuzz with news that Ava DuVernay’s towering film Selma received only two Academy Award nominations, for best picture and best song. The best film ever made about the civil rights movement, Selma was shut out of nominations for best director and actor that seemed inevitable just weeks ago. And the popular Twitter hashtag #OscarSoWhite,…
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FBI Stop Ohio Man Who Was Plotting Attack on US Capitol
The FBI arrested an Ohio man Wednesday who was planning to storm the U.S. Capitol and shoot as many government officials as he encountered, the Associated Press reports. Christopher Lee Cornell, 20, communicated his supported for ISIS, also known as the Islamic State, the jihadist group responsible for the insurgencies in Syria and Iraq. Cornell…
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Brooklyn Man Arrested for Pointing Cellphone at Cops Like a Gun, Police Say
A Brooklyn, N.Y., man was arrested on Tuesday for allegedly threatening police officers … with his cellphone, Pix11 reports. According to the report, Unique Johnson pulled his car up next to the rear passenger door of a police cruiser, with two uniformed officers in it, at a red light in Harlem around 9 p.m. The…
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DC Metro Passengers Recount Final Moments of Woman Who Died on Smoke-Filled Train
Passengers gave the Washington Post a chilling, heartbreaking account of the final moments of Carol I. Glover’s life, describing how she slowly slid out of her train seat onto all fours and whispered two words to the person who rushed to her side: “Fan me.” Glover, who was a 61-year-old business analyst at a communications firm…
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Selma’s Oscar Snub a Complete Injustice
Academy Award nominations were announced Thursday morning, and noticeably absent from almost every major category was the civil rights biopic Selma, which tells the story of Martin Luther King Jr.’s march from Selma to Montgomery, Ala., for equal voting rights. It has been adored by movie critics and moviegoers alike—not to mention the grassroots movement…
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NYC Pilot Program Will Allow Petty Crimes to Stay Off Teens’ Criminal Records
New York City teens ages 16 and 17 who get arrested for nonviolent, petty crimes will be given the opportunity to forgo appearing before a judge and having the citation appear on their record, and instead opt into a “diversion program” that will require them to do community-service hours, counseling or a rehabilitating session with…
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Trial Begins for Former Vanderbilt Football Players Charged With Sexual Assault
Two former Vanderbilt University football players are currently on trial on charges they sexually assaulted a female student in June 2013, the New York Daily News reports. In total, four former football players were indicted, but the remaining two will be tried separately. The victim was reportedly unconscious at the time of the attack. On Tuesday, the first…