culture
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As Conservatives Gear Up for a Crackdown, Some Advice for the Movement
As a nation ingests the tragic double slayings of two Brooklyn, N.Y., police officers, there’s little shortage of hot-headed Republican pols in open search of fresh liberal bogeymen to blame. With a resurrected civil rights movement now in our midst, we should have seen this coming. A perfect storm is brewing: A familiar, and mostly…
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NYPD Cop Killer’s Girlfriend Pleaded for Life
Before gunman Ismaaiyl Brinsley shot two New York City police officers, he attacked his girlfriend, leaving the distraught 29-year-old to flee to a neighbor to plead for her life, the Associated Press reports. According to the report, Shaneka Thompson, a health insurance specialist with the Veterans Administration and an Air Force reservist, pounded on her…
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Grizzlies Intern Who Had Car Stolen Gets a Special Gift From the NBA Team
Talk about a sweet Christmas surprise! Members of the NBA’s Memphis Grizzlies pulled together to buy the Tennessee team’s intern, identified as Brandon, a new car after his was stolen recently, the New York Daily News reports. “My man had a tough time. He lost his car; somebody stole it,” future Hall of Famer and…
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Former Milwaukee Cop Won’t Be Indicted for Fatal Shooting of Dontre Hamilton
The former Milwaukee cop responsible for the April 30 shooting death of Dontre Hamilton will not be criminally charged for the shooting, Milwaukee County District Attorney John Chisholm announced on Monday, according to the Journal Sentinel. “This was a tragic incident for the Hamilton family and for the community,” Chisholm wrote in the report announcing the…
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Volunteer Cop Resigns After Racist YouTube Comments Are Exposed
An auxiliary officer outside Cleveland who apparently spent a lot of his time watching YouTube videos—usually involving blacks and law enforcement—has resigned from the force after the Cleveland Scene exposed the officer’s offerings in the video website’s comments sections, where he frequently referred to blacks as “spooks” and “n—gers” and, in one comment posted in…
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NYPD Officer Caught on Video Punching Teen Is Suspended
Last week video surfaced of a plainclothes New York police officer punching a boy while other officers attempted to handcuff him, and now, according to news reports, that officer has been suspended. According to CBS New York, the incident occurred Monday shortly after school let out. Police were responding to a report of a person…
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Selma Documents Black History That Still Lives Today
The Dec. 25 release of the movie Selma showcases not only one of the key chapters in the civil rights movement but also one of the most important episodes in American history, one that paved the way for more recent social-justice struggles. Directed by Ava DuVernay and starring David Oyelowo as Martin Luther King Jr.,…
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Don’t Let Them Make a Cop Killer the Face of the Movement
The deaths of two New York City police officers are tragic. They were two men of color who likely experienced the realities of a racist society and were unjustifiably slain. Ismaaiyl Brinsley killed Asian-American and Hispanic-American officers Wenjian Liu and Rafael Ramos by shooting them at point-blank range while they sat in their police vehicle…
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Justine Sacco ‘Really Suffered’ After Insensitive AIDS Tweet
A former public relations executive, whose offensive tweet about AIDS went viral a year ago, is reportedly featured in a soon-to-be-released book in which she discusses the fallout, according to the Hollywood Reporter, citing a report at BuzzFeed News. Justine Sacco, the former IAC public relations executive, said the experience was traumatic, she tells Jon…
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Report: Muhammad Ali Hospitalized With Pneumonia
Muhammad Ali, the famed 72-year-old boxer and activist, was admitted to an undisclosed hospital Saturday with pneumonia, with a good prognosis for recovery, his spokesman, Bob Gunnell, said, according to CNN. “Ali, who suffers from Parkinson’s disease, is being treated by his team of doctors and is in stable condition,” Gunnell said in a statement.…