culture
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2nd Black American Fighting for ISIS in Syria Is Reportedly Killed
Abdirahmaan Muhumed is reportedly the second black American to have been killed while fighting in Syria for the jihadist group Islamic State in Iraq and Syria, according to CBS News and KSMP-TV in Minneapolis. Muhumed was reportedly killed in the same melee that took the life of Douglas McAuthur McCain, the first American—and first black American—known…
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Ferguson Police Now Equipped With Body Cameras
There was something different about officers in the Ferguson Police Department over the weekend as protesters continued their calls for justice in the fatal shooting of Michael Brown in the Missouri city. Officers have started wearing the body cameras provided by two companies, Safety Visions and Digital Ally, the St. Louis Post-Dispatch reports. The cameras were…
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Madam C.J. Walker’s Restored Estate Recaptures a Grand History
Recently I received an email from a young woman who works for the National Trust for Historic Preservation. More or less it read, “Hey, you want to see Madam Walker’s estate?” The Trust, as they like to call it, was hosting a media tour of Villa Lewaro, the official name for the upstate New York…
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Remember When Black TV Programs Were Angry and Unapologetic?
When I was growing up in a northern-New Jersey ghetto in the early Afro-picked 1970s, my mom used to take me places in her car. Our radio dial was locked to 1430 WNJR, a soul AM station, and in the afternoons I would hear something at the top of the hour called “National Black Network…
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Learning Racial Literacy Shouldn’t Be Punishment
I’m a teacher at a private elementary school that is in a predominantly white area but counts diversity and inclusion among its core values. This year we happen to have a Sri Lankan family and an Indian family who have boys the same age, each of whom is picked up by his father after school.…
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Miss. Kindergartner Brutally Attacked by Child at School Playground, Mom Says
One Mississippi mom is demanding answers after she went to pick up her daughter from elementary school late last month, only to find the child’s face swollen and bruised “beyond recognition,” the Huffington Post reports. Lacey Harris, the mother of AvaLynn, says that the child told her another student kicked her repeatedly in the face…
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Atlanta Cop Accused of Killing Woman He Met on the Internet
Atlanta Police Officer Tahreem Zeus Rana has been charged with murder in the death of Veronica Woodard, according to the Atlanta Journal-Constitution. Woodard was a recent transplant from New York when she met Rana through Backpages.com in the romantic-personals section of the site. Woodard’s body was found burned on Aug. 22 in Hapeville, Ga., and…
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Human Trial to Start for Ebola Vaccine
The first trial on human beings for an untested Ebola virus vaccination will begin next week, U.S. health officials have announced, according to USA Today. According to the report, 20 healthy participants will take part in the trial, which will take place at the National Institutes of Health in Bethesda, Md. Researchers are expecting results…
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32 Teens Escape Tenn. Detention Center; About 9 Still on the Run
The Woodland Hills Youth Development Center—a detention center in Nashville, Tenn.—is back to relative calm after more than 30 teens escaped Monday by crawling through a weak spot in a fence, the Associated Press reports. According to the report, two of the teens, who range in age from 14 to 19, were captured almost immediately,…
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Abducted Ga. Couple Found Shot; Man Dies, Fiancee Fighting for Life
Questions remain in the fatal kidnapping of a Decatur, Ga., couple as the authorities continue their search for suspects, WXIA-TV reports. Jeronta Brown and his fiancee, Briana Brooks, were returning home after taking their 8-month-old baby and teenage niece out to eat early Saturday morning. As they were walking toward the house, they were jumped…