culture
-
Eric Garner’s Widow Calls for Civil Rights Probe
After her husband’s public death last week when he was apparently put in a choke hold by an officer with the New York Police Department, Eric Garner’s widow urged federal prosecutors Friday to open a civil rights investigation, Reuters reports. While city officials have promised to investigate the death, the widow, Esaw Garner, says a…
-
The Catch Up: What You Missed This Week In Social Media Land
This week was filled with the good, the bad and the ugly. Jada Pinkett Smith stood up for rape victim Jada from Houston, Time tried to explain what the word “bae” means and Christian groups spoke out against a new show entitled Black Jesus. 1. #JusticeforJada Jada Pinkett Smith stood in solidarity with the 16-year-old…
-
‘Mississippi Baby’ Still Represents Hope—and Heroism—for AIDS Community
It’s no surprise that the so-called Mississippi Baby was a hot topic at an international gathering of AIDS experts. Earlier this month, the world learned that the child, thought to have been cured of HIV after her July 2010 birth, had detectable levels of the virus in her blood. Quick as a heartbeat, “cure” was downgraded…
-
Taking America’s Art History to the Streets
Americans are going to start noticing something different about the public space in August, and their daily commute will get a lot more artistic and interesting. That’s when “the largest outdoor art show ever,” “Art Everywhere U.S.,” is set to launch—displaying 58 pieces of American art across billboards and on buses, as well as in airports,…
-
Watch Stephen A. Smith Mansplain Domestic Violence
Marion Barry told me in a recent interview that when you realize you’re in a hole, stop digging. Stephen A. Smith could have used that advice Friday morning when he hopped out there on ESPN’s First Take and did his Stephen A. Smith thing (which includes loud talking and a nod to his homeboys) to…
-
HBCUs Grapple With Uncertainty
Dipping rates of student enrollment have placed the future of HBCUs in jeopardy. For generations, these institutions of higher education have played an instrumental role in educating black students, especially first-generation college students and low-income students. But in the last 20 years, five of them have shuttered their doors, and a dozen others have dealt…
-
Black GOP Campaign Worker Fired Over Comment About ‘White Privilege’
One Republican campaign consultant is out of a job after making some “defamatory comments” about her employer’s primary opponent. According to the Hartford Courant, Connecticut state Rep. Penny Bacchiochi, who is gearing up to run for lieutenant governor, fired consultant Regina V. Ross Roundtree after Roundtree, who is black, wrote a controversial Facebook post about…
-
Fla. Police Arrest Woman Who Left 5 Kids in Hot Car to Get Job Application
Jacksonville, Fla., police arrested a 23-year-old woman who left five children in the car on a 92-degree day while she ran into a business to get a job application. According to News 4 Jax, Betty Brunson was charged with five counts of child neglect. Police told the news station that her relationship to the children…
-
Renisha McBride Shooter Claims He Didn’t Know Gun Was Loaded
Theodore Wafer, the Detroit man charged in the killing of Renisha McBride, told investigators right after the shooting that he did not realize his shotgun was armed, the Associated Press reports. On the second day of the controversial trial, the courtroom heard a recording of the conversation between Wafer and police after they responded to…
-
Audra McDonald Talks About Suicide Attempt: ‘I Tried to Slit My Wrist’
Audra McDonald is the most decorated actress in Broadway history. In June she won her sixth Tony Award for her performance as Billie Holiday in Lady Day at Emerson’s Bar & Grill. But life for McDonald wasn’t always this rosy. “When I was [in college] at Juilliard, I had a suicide attempt,” she said in…