culture
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Former Foster Child Defies Odds, Heads to UCLA on Full-Ride Scholarship
Growing up as a foster child, bouncing from one home to the next, can be a traumatic experience with long-term effects. But Festus Ohan hasn’t let his lot in life deter him from striving for more, even while acknowledging that the wounds left after his father abandoned him remain fresh. “I went to bed in…
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Virginia Mom Finds Photos of Her Kids on Stranger’s Instagram
Like many of the tech-adept in the age of social media, Henrico County, Va., mom Ciara Logan is tuned in to Facebook, Twitter and Instagram and has enjoyed sharing photos of her three children. However, all that came to an abrupt end after a complete stranger took photos of her children and captioned them for…
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Top University Kicked Out Student After She Was Raped
Wagatwe Wanjuki was sexually assaulted by another student while attending Tufts University. But instead of punishing her attacker, the school asked her to leave. Wanjuki, 27, is the woman behind the widely trending Twitter hashtag #SurvivorPrivilege. According to the Huffington Post, Wanjuki took to Twitter shortly after the June 6 publication of George Will’s Washington…
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White L.A. Cop Allegedly Claims No Regrets in Shooting Black Cop
A recording—allegedly of Los Angeles Police Department Detective Frank Lyga expressing zero remorse for shooting an off-duty black officer during a 1997 confrontation—has surfaced. In it Lyga, who is white, reportedly says that he regretted that there was only one person in the vehicle when the gunfire erupted, LA Weekly reports. “I could have killed a…
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Justine Sacco, PR Exec Fired for Racist Africa Tweet, Working for Hot or Not
What happens when an Internet relic and an infamous tweeter join forces? Who knows, but it’s bound to be exciting. BuzzFeed is reporting that the once wildly popular site Hot or Not—which showed subscribers photos and allowed viewers to vote on whether the person was hot or not—is relaunching, and you will never guess who has…
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3 Inmates Scheduled to Die in 1st Executions Since Botched Okla. Incident
It’s been seven weeks since the last execution in the U.S., a botched lethal injection in Oklahoma that left the inmate dead from a heart attack several excruciating minutes after the drugs were first administered. But now the procedure is back, with Florida, Georgia and Missouri all planning to administer three separate lethal injections to…
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5 Teens, 1 Man in Texas Face 1,300 Years in Prison for Alleged Gang Rape
On Wednesday, five teenagers attending Texas’ Waco High School and one 20-year-old man were indicted by a McLennan County, Texas, grand jury in the alleged gang rape of a 15-year-old girl, according to CBS Houston and Black News. With a total of 91 counts, the six men, between the ages of 18 and 20, could collectively…
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Watch: Samuel L. Jackson Nails Pulp Fiction Speech 20 Years Later
It is arguably the coolest, smoothest and coldest hit man scene ever: Samuel L. Jackson as Jules Winnfield in Pulp Fiction reciting an Ezekiel Bible verse right before he shoots somebody. It is probably the cult scene in the cult classic. But that was 20 years ago, and Jackson, 65, has starred in a gazillion…
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Obama to Sign Executive Order Banning Discrimination Against Gays
President Barack Obama cannot do much nationally about discrimination based on sexual orientation without the help of Congress. However, the president is set to help those he can, and he plans to sign an executive order extending protections against such discrimination to federal employees, the Associated Press reports. According to the news wire, the decision…
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Watch: Pa. Man Punched in Face by Teen Playing ‘Knockout Game’
Six teens approached a Pennsylvania man sitting at a trolley stop. One teen walked up close to the man and without warning punched him in the face while the other teens recorded the assault, leading officials to believe that the attack could be another chapter in the violent “knockout game” saga that peppered the news…