culture
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Belle: A Film That Defied Expectations
Actress Gugu Mbatha-Raw, who stars in the movie Belle—now out on DVD—grew up in England watching Jane Austen films but never imagined that she would play the lead in a period drama. Those films, like the books they were based on, never had black or biracial heroines, but Belle does. The film was inspired by…
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Chicago Cop Kills Teen, Sparking Protests
Protesters congregated on Chicago’s West Side on Monday after the fatal shooting of 19-year-old Roshad McIntosh, who was gunned down by law enforcement on Sunday, DNAinfo Chicago reports. Officers were responding to a call regarding armed men when they encountered McIntosh, who allegedly started to run when they tried to speak to him. Law enforcement…
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Rastafarian Teen in Louisiana Turned Away From School Over His Dreadlocks
A Louisiana teen who is a Rastafarian has missed almost every day of school since the start of the new semester because of the length of his locks, the Raw Story reports. According to the report, the young boy went to school on Aug. 8, when classes resumed, but was sent home because his hair…
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Fits the Description: How Checking a Parking Meter Led to a Charge of Bank Robbery
It was the walk to the car to check the meter and to make sure he didn’t get a ticket that ultimately led to film and TV producer Charles Belk’s six-hour ordeal with police in Beverly Hills, Calif., which included being treated as a suspect in a bank robbery. According to Belk, who took to…
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USC Football Captain Jumps From 2nd Floor to Save Drowning Nephew
Football captain Josh Shaw of the University of Southern California Trojans will be unable to play for a while after he sprained both his ankles while rescuing his drowning nephew, AL.com reports. Shaw, who is a defensive back, was at a family event over the weekend in California when he saw his 7-year-old nephew, Carter,…
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Report: Audio Reveals Pause Between Gunshots When Michael Brown Was Shot
A new piece of audio has emerged that allegedly is a recording of the exact moment when Officer Darren Wilson fatally shot unarmed teen Michael Brown on Aug. 9. Six shots can be heard in rapid succession, followed by a brief pause before four more shots are fired. According to the New York Daily News,…
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Infected American Linked to 4 Cases of Ebola in Nigeria
As the Ebola virus continues to wreak havoc in West Africa, and concern for foreigners who have visited the region spreads, it turns out that Patrick Sawyer, one of the three American citizens who contracted Ebola, may have infected four people while he was in Nigeria. The Washington Post, culling notes from a World Health…
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17-Year-Old in Georgia Arrested in Fatal Shooting of Sleeping 13-Year-Old
A Georgia 17-year-old is the main suspect in the fatal shooting of a 13-year-old boy as he slept, WXIA-TV reports. Along with burglary and firearm-possession charges, Malik Davis is being charged with murder after police said he turned himself in at his mother’s encouragement, the news station reports. According to the report, investigators initially believed…
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Ferguson Opened the Door to a Discussion of Black Equality
Suddenly the nation is talking about black equality. It took Molotov cocktails in Ferguson, Mo., to forcefully penetrate our slumbering racial consciousness. Ferguson has become a metaphor for race relations in the 21st century; a signifier for the convergence of poverty, segregation, police brutality, and federal and civic neglect. Most importantly, the Ferguson crisis has…
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Why the 50 Cent-Floyd Mayweather Beef Is No Laughing Matter
For the last several days, rapper 50 Cent and boxer Floyd Mayweather have engaged in the favorite pastime of any 21st-century celebrity with a Twitter account and an ego: feuding. While in the old days you might have had to stand on a street corner and shout insults at a nemesis face-to-face, with a few…