culture
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Floyd Mayweather’s Former Fiancee Files Suit, Claiming Abuse
While Floyd Mayweather Jr. is getting ready to take on Marcos Maidana next week, he may want to make sure his lawyers are ready to fight his former fiancee, Shantel Jackson, in court. According to the Associated Press, Jackson filed a civil lawsuit Thursday in Los Angeles Superior Court alleging that the superstar boxer abused…
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Class Act: Cincinnati Bengals Keep Player to Help With Daughter’s Cancer
It’s one classy and compassionate move on the part of the Cincinnati Bengals. According to ABC News, the Ohio football team cut defensive tackle Devon Still from its roster but then signed him on to its practice squad in order to help him pay for his 4-year-old daughter’s cancer treatments. As a practice-squad player, the…
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Leaders of the New School: Hip-Hop Classes Across the Country
Did you enjoy Kendrick Lamar’s good kid, m.A.A.d city? There’s now a class for that. Multiple colleges are offering hip-hop-focused classes this fall. From courses on Jay Z to Tupac, these pop-culture classes are proving that rap is worthy of hefty academic study: 1. “Good Kids, Mad Cities” at Georgia Regents University This fall, students…
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No, You Don’t Have to Buy Dinner for Your Date’s Kids, and She Shouldn’t Have Asked
There’s been a Facebook photo floating around lately in which a man details an odd occurrence on a date: I have no idea which group was asked this query, and in all my years—10-plus—listening to dating anecdotes from thousands of people and advising or coaching people through various mishaps, I have never heard of anything…
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Questioning the Deaths Dubbed ‘Houdini Handcuff Suicides’
A name has been given to the recently publicized rash of alleged gunshot “suicides” by young men of color who were handcuffed and in police custody: Houdini handcuff suicides. The moniker is an homage to the famed magician Harry Houdini, who staged jail escapes in shackles. It also highlights the puzzling circumstances under which Victor…
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Pa. Teen in KKK Hood Arrested for Yelling Racial Slur at University Student
A Bloomsburg, Pa., teen is facing charges of ethnic intimidation, harassment and disorderly conduct after he was arrested for yelling a racial slur at a black Bloomsburg University student, BloomUToday.com reports. According to the website, at around 9:40 p.m. on Aug. 4, Walter Corey Reibsome, donning a Ku Klux Klan hood, leaned out of the…
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School Security Guard Poses Black Boy in Frisk Position in Photo as a Joke
A mother says that on Tuesday, while she and her family were taking her 12-year-old son, Brandon Pearson, to school for his first day at Huntington K-8 School in Syracuse, N.Y., they stopped to take photos of him inside the school at a hallway mural. That is when a school security guard walked over to…
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Holder Confirms Justice Department Will Investigate Ferguson’s Police Practices
Updated Thursday, Sept. 4, 3:49 p.m. EDT: U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder confirmed Thursday what several news sources had reported: that the Justice Department is opening an investigation into the Ferguson Police Department in Missouri. The DOJ plans to take a top-to-bottom look at the police force that has become the epicenter of a national debate…
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Black Students Expelled From Suburban School Over Rap Videos, Parents Claim
What was supposed to be fun for a group of teenagers ended up being detrimental to their school careers, claim the parents of four black Ohio students who say their children were unfairly targeted and discriminated against for making rap videos, the Associated Press reports. According to the report, the parents are suing the Northwest…
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Calif. Firefighter Claims Officer Racially Profiled Him and Young Sons
An Oakland, Calif., firefighter and father has filed a complaint regarding a local police officer who detained him and his children outside the fire station where he works, KPIX 5 reports. Firefighter Keith Jones, who is black, was with his 9- and 12-year-old sons, returning from a late Oakland Raiders game to their vehicle, which…