culture
-
No Backing Down: Activists Hold Silent Protest Over Police Brutality at UN Meeting
Youth activists held a silent protest Nov. 13 during a meeting of the United Nations Committee Against Torture in Geneva, reports the Straits Times. Members of Chicago’s We Charge Genocide raised their fists in unison and displayed photos of victims of police brutality while the U.S. government’s delegation responded to charges of police brutality before…
-
Day Care Employee Arrested in Kicking of 20-Month-Old
A Georgia day care teacher is facing charges of battery after allegedly being caught on video kicking a 20-month-old toddler, WGCL reports. Alexis Wilson-Britten, 22, was supposed to be fired the day she allegedly kicked the child, Kids R Kids Day Care owner Robert Phelps told the news station. Apparently, the alleged incident was not…
-
USC’s Josh Shaw Comes Clean About Fake Pool-Rescue Story
It’s been a whirlwind these past few months for the University of Southern California’s Trojans football co-captain and cornerback Josh Shaw. In August, he was lauded as a hero after a story broke that he jumped from a second-floor balcony to save his nephew who was drowning in a pool, spraining both his ankles. However…
-
NBA Union Leader Blasts Team Owners, Salary Cap and the Age Limit
It seems like there’s something in the water with regard to high-profile people coming to the defense of athletes and the issue of whether they’re underpaid. Earlier this week, NBA legend Kareem Abdul-Jabbar made a convincing case for why college athletes should be paid, and now Michele Roberts, the first female executive director of the…
-
Obama: Undocumented Immigrants Who Have Lived, Worked and Raised Kids in US Can Stay
Federal officials who are responsible for tracking down and deporting undocumented immigrants will likely have new marching orders from the White House as early as next week that will be far more lenient. According to a New York Times report, President Barack Obama is putting the final touches on a “memorandum” that will allow millions…
-
Sorry, Shonda, but How to Get Away With Murder Has a Lot of ‘Gay’ Male Sex
It was rather sweet to see Shonda Rhimes dismiss the criticism—delivered in real time by way of Twitter—that the new ABC hit How to Get Away With Murder had one too many gay scenes the way she did. Ever cognizant of everyone’s humanity, Rhimes tweeted back, “There are no GAY scenes. There are scenes with…
-
Girls of All Shades, You’re Going to Want to Hear How Dark Girls Has a New Life
I knew very early on that my strand of black wasn’t exactly preferred or exalted. I’m chocolate-complexioned—or, to use the term that is most frequently used to describe my hue (much to my chagrin), dark-skinned. Colorism. It’s arguably one of the most painful vestiges of slavery: society’s disproportionate preference for caramel-complexioned black women, and the insecurities that it…
-
Oprah Boosts Effort to Support Homeless Female Veterans
Oprah Winfrey’s The Life You Want Weekend 2014 tour is wrapping up this weekend in San Jose, Calif. The eight-city self-improvement tour features Winfrey and a host of special guests inspiring and empowering thousands of attendees through personal tales of triumph over tragedy, on-site activities (journaling and exercise breaks) and keepsakes (fluorescent armbands) that symbolize…
-
1st US Ebola Victim’s Fiancee Gets Book Deal for Memoir
The fiancee of Thomas Eric Duncan, the first patient to be diagnosed with Ebola in the United States and thus far the only person to succumb to the deadly virus in this country, has been offered a book deal to tell her story to the world, the Dallas Morning News reports. News of the pending…
-
Philly Police Search for Man Who Stabbed McDonald’s Employee Over Closing Time
The search continues in Philadelphia for a man who stabbed a McDonald’s employee after arguing about the store’s closing time, CBS Philly reports. The incident was reportedly caught on store surveillance cameras, and local police are searching it for clues about the suspect. According to the report, the stabbing took place around 11 p.m. Nov.…