culture
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Cleveland Police Want to Outsource Tamir Rice Shooting Investigation
Cleveland police would like to give the investigation into Tamir Rice’s fatal shooting by a police officer, as well as investigations into all subsequent deadly police encounters, to an outside agency, according to an Associated Press report. AP notes that Michael McGrath, the city’s current safety director and former police chief, has been in talks with…
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A ‘Good’ Friend Wouldn’t Do What You Just Did
My friend asked to spend one night at my place when she came to town for someone else’s birthday. I said yes. She said they would pick her up from the airport and bring her to my house. She asked for my address right before she left. I didn’t text her back because I didn’t…
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New Year’s Resolutions for Olivia Pope and Co.? Handled
Lose weight, stop drinking (so much) and recycle! That’s right. It’s time for New Year’s resolutions, and if anyone needs to make a commitment to self-improvement in 2015, it’s everyone in Olivia Pope’s crew. Pledging not to kill, kidnap and/or torture people are obvious choices, but here are a few additional New Year’s resolutions for…
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Black Calif. Woman Denied Spot Almost 60 Years Ago on Rose Parade Float Gets Retribution
The opportunity to ride on a city-sponsored float at the annual Rose Parade has been almost 60 years in the making for 82-year-old Pasadena, Calif., native Joan Williams. The honor was originally denied her in 1958 when officials found out that she was black, the Pasadena Star-News reports. Williams was chosen as Miss Crown City…
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A Black Man Says Good Riddance to 2014
When 2015 arrives with its usual Times Square revelry, you might find one group celebrating harder than the rest: black men. With a relentless string of tragedies and disappointments befalling brothers, 2014 will stand out as a particularly morbid year. Black male deaths at the hands of men in blue hit headlines with dizzying frequency:…
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Report: Baltimore Ravens’ Security Director Charged With Sex Offense
The Baltimore Ravens’ security director, Darren Sanders, was charged with a fourth-degree sexual offense Tuesday night involving a Dec. 14 incident, the New York Post reports. The 48-year-old is scheduled for a hearing in early February, but there were no more details given on the charge, the Post notes. Other sources have also been tightlipped, with…
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Man Shoots and Robs Woman He Met on Online Dating Site
Georgia police are searching for an assailant said to target his victims via online dating after he allegedly robbed and shot a woman on Christmas Eve, WXIA reports. College Park, Ga., police released photos of the suspect from the dating website Badoo, where he is known as “King Lucciano.” He told the 34-year-old woman, whom…
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Many Cities to Welcome New Year With Protests
As millions across the country gather to bid adieu to 2014, several activist groups nationwide continue with their mission to end police brutality and are urging demonstrators to gather for peaceful protests on New Year’s Eve. Marked by a year of unarmed black men, women and children being beaten or killed by white police officers…
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NYPD Strategy: Be Strict on Small Crimes to Deter Major Ones; Critics Say Policy Targets Blacks
New York City Police Commissioner Bill Bratton is defending his department’s use of the “broken windows” strategy, which, as Al-Jazeera reports, is “the practice of cracking down on minor offenses” because if they go unchecked, the argument goes, “they create visible signs of public disorder that encourage more serious crimes.” Bratton co-authored a 4,500-word essay for…
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Iran’s Head of State Tweets Support for #BlackLivesMatter
If Iran’s head of state, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, is truly operating the Twitter account @khamenei_ir, as is widely reported, then he’s an ardent supporter of the #BlackLivesMatter protests that have denounced the recent police killings of unarmed black people. On Sunday a series of tweets from the account made clear references to the ongoing movement in…