culture
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Ga. Teen Files Lawsuit After Being Arrested at Gunpoint for Seat Belt Violation
Earlier this year, a police officer forced a Georgia teen on the ground at gunpoint in his parents’ driveway for a seat belt violation. Last week, attorneys for high school senior Montre Merritt announced a federal lawsuit alleging brutality, wrongful arrest and racial profiling. They are seeking $12.5 million from the city of Waycross and…
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Nigerian Parents Doubtful of Girls’ Release After ‘Truce’ Breached
Recent attacks in Nigeria after a reported ceasefire and negotiation was reached with Boko Haram, the Islamist terrorist group that claimed responsibility for the abduction of 200 schoolgirls from a northeastern-Nigerian village, have dashed the hopes of some parents who were hoping to see their daughters, who have been missing since April. According to Reuters,…
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How One Man Hopes to Diversify the Tech Industry Through His ‘Platform’
When you think “tech,” chances are you don’t think black people, you probably don’t think brown people and you surely don’t think women. This is a disturbing trend that Hank Williams, the founder of Platform, noticed about three years ago while he was living in the tech mecca of California’s Silicon Valley. “I was part…
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Detroit 3-Year-Old Killed After Facebook Fight Spills Offline
As a Detroit family grieves the loss of a 3-year-old girl, police are working to sort out details of the senseless shooting that took her life last week, the Huffington Post reports. Amiracle Williams was killed Thursday after a dispute on Facebook spilled offline and led to a confrontation in front of her family’s Detroit…
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Tennis Chief Suspended After Insulting Venus and Serena
The Women’s Tennis Organization suspended and fined a Russian tennis chief Saturday after he made a demeaning remark about Serena and Venus Williams on a television show, CNN reports. Shamil Tarpischev referred to the tennis stars as “the Williams brothers” during a recent appearance on the late-night Russian talk show Evening Urgant. He made the comment…
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Sharpton Blasts Darren Wilson’s Account of Fatal Shooting
Civil rights leader Al Sharpton Saturday rejected a report that police Officer Darren Wilson feared for his life when he shot and killed unarmed teen Michael Brown last summer in Ferguson, Mo., the New York Daily News reports. During a speech Saturday at the Harlem-based headquarters of his National Action Network, Sharpton accused officials of…
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New Film Highlights Jazz Trumpeter Clark Terry’s Role as Teacher and Mentor
In 1984, my junior year as undergrad at Hamilton College, I had the distinct honor of playing with trumpet legend and educator Clark Terry. I held the first alto-saxophone chair in the school’s jazz big band. The evening before the concert, band director Don Cantwell, Terry, a few select band members and I had dinner…
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Trump Agency Accused of Bilking Model Out of Salary
A model has filed a federal lawsuit against Trump Model Management, charging that she was promised an annual salary of $75,000 but received only $3,380.75 for 21 jobs over three years, New York’s Daily News reports. In the suit, a proposed class action, Alexia Palmer alleges that between January 2011 and December 2013, the agency…
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Why President Obama’s Credit Card Was Declined
When President Barack Obama’s credit card was declined at a fancy restaurant in New York City last month, the first lady had him covered. But CNN reports that bad credit was not the issue. The card was likely declined to prevent identity theft. The president told the story Friday while speaking to workers at the…
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Supreme Court Upholds New Texas Voter-ID Law
The Supreme Court on Saturday ruled in favor of a controversial new voter-identification law in Texas, which can be used for the November election, the Associated Press reports. The order came after a majority of the justices rejected an emergency request from the Justice Department and civil rights groups to prohibit the state from requiring…