culture
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Dear White People: Art Imitating Life’s Racism
Dear white people: It’s not OK to throw a black-themed party at which white students wear racist costumes and drink from cups that look like watermelons, especially to commemorate Martin Luther King Jr. Day. Justin Simien, the writer and director behind the comedy Dear White People, doesn’t have to look far to illustrate how his…
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Olympic Fencer Kamara James Dead at 29
Kamara James, an Olympic fencer from Queens, N.Y., has died in Modesto, Calif., USA Fencing reported Tuesday. The cause of the 29-year-old’s death, which occurred Sept. 20, according to the Modesto Bee, has not been announced. Just 10 years ago, at the age of 19, James became one of the youngest fencers to represent the USA at…
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Study: Photos of Black Voters Affect White Voters’ View of Voter-ID Laws
Researchers from the University of Delaware’s Center for Political Communication have released a new study suggesting that photographs of black Americans using voting machines affect white respondents’ support of voter-ID laws. According to the study (pdf), when white survey respondents saw an image of black Americans using ballot machines, they had stronger support for voter ID…
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Michelle Obama Says, ‘Turnip for What?’
Michelle Obama proved that she is much cooler than your average first lady while participating in a Twitter Q&A about her healthy-lifestyle initiative. In a #AskTheFirstLady Twitter chat, Barack Obama impersonator Iman Crosson posed this question: “How many calories do you burn every time you ‘turn up’?” https://twitter.com/Alphacat/status/522072769325182976 Making a play on the popular DJ…
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Sierra Leonean Student Denied Housing Twice in UK City Over Ebola Fears
Amara Bangura arrived in Norwich, England, two weeks ago from Sierra Leone. He was excited to be in the city and looked forward to attending college there—except, he claims, he couldn’t find a place to stay because people were worried that he might have Ebola. He shows no signs of the deadly disease and says…
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10 Random Thoughts About Last Night’s Very Entertaining BET Hip Hop Awards
Lions and tigers and flex zones. Oh my. The BET Hip Hop Awards, aka “the one with the cyphers,” aired Tuesday night in all their budgeted glory. And for the unimaginative among us, this was that coveted time of the year to hop on the Innanets to self-importantly side-eye BET’s shortcomings. But I do it for…
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Watch: Texas Cop Pepper-Sprays Student Who Was Recording Him
One Waller, Texas, police officer has been placed on paid administrative leave pending an investigation into his seemingly unprovoked use of pepper spray on a student, KTRK reports. Officer Adolphus Cannon is being investigated by the Waller Police Department regarding the incident, which took place Oct. 6. According to the report, officers were responding to…
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2nd Dallas Health Care Worker Tests Positive for Ebola
Ebola has been diagnosed in a third victim in Texas, and it’s another health care worker who cared for now-deceased patient Thomas Eric Duncan at Texas Health Presbyterian Hospital, health officials confirmed Wednesday, according to CNN. The worker, identified as Amber Vinson by Reuters, reported having a fever on Tuesday and was promptly isolated. A state…
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Supreme Court Ruling Will Keep Several Texas Abortion Clinics Up and Running
The U.S. Supreme Court knocked down a law in Texas that would have made it difficult for several abortion clinics to stay up and running. According to an Al-Jazeera report, the law would have required Texas abortion clinics to spend millions of dollars on “hospital-level upgrades” so that the facilities would presumably be in top-notch shape…
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CDC to Dispatch Response Team to Any US Hospital With an Ebola Diagnosis
That a Dallas nurse contracted the Ebola virus as she was caring for the Liberian man who was diagnosed and later died from an Ebola infection is a safety mishap that the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention is not taking lightly. That’s why on Tuesday, the CDC announced new protocols that it would take…