culture
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School Closures: A New Version of Separate and Unequal
Saturday marked the 60th anniversary of the Supreme Court’s Brown v. Board of Education decision, which struck down the “separate but equal” doctrine in public schools. Long after this landmark civil rights victory was won in the courts, however, communities of color have continued the struggle to realize an equal education for their children. From…
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How US Evangelicals Inflame Hatred of Gays in Africa
In February, when Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni signed an anti-gay bill that imposed harsh prison terms for acts of homosexuality, most Americans were probably clueless about the bill’s ties to U.S. conservative Christians. In the documentary God Loves Uganda—which airs Monday on PBS—Academy Award-winning director Roger Ross Williams shines a light on the U.S. evangelical…
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NH Pols Join Push for Ouster of Racist Police Commissioner
New Hampshire political leaders have joined a widening chorus of residents calling for the resignation of a police commissioner who called President Barack Obama the n-word, the Associated Press reports. Wolfeboro, N.H., Town Manager David Owen posted a statement (pdf) Friday on the town’s website calling on Robert Copeland, 82, to resign the position to…
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6 Lesser-Known Facts About Brown v. Board
Brown v. Board of Education—the landmark Supreme Court ruling that desegregated public schools—turns 60 this year, and if someone were tasked with identifying the most interesting parts of the case in order to repurpose it for a Law & Order special, what would that episode look like? Who were the major characters? Which one of…
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The Doll Test for Racial Self-Hate: Did It Ever Make Sense?
The landmark 1954 civil rights case Brown v. Board of Education is credited with shutting down “separate but equal” education for African-American kids and paving the way for school integration. Its other legacy? The tradition of questioning small children about black and white dolls in order to measure their sentiments about race. The “doll test,”…
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Md. Man Arrested After Giving Son, 3, Deadly Amount of Cocaine
A Maryland man who took his unresponsive 3-year-old son to the hospital earlier this year is now in custody on first-degree child-abuse and manslaughter charges, WUSA-9 reports. Police believe that Thomas Everett Holland, 38, gave the child lethal amounts of cocaine, acetaminophen and codeine after autopsy and toxicology reports showed that the child could not have…
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Va. Mom Scared to Go Home After 5-Year-Old Son Shot on Mother’s Day
A mother whose 5-year-old son was shot in the arm during a Mother’s Day shootout in the Richmond, Va., project where they live told NBC 12 that she would rather be homeless than move back there with her child. Tiara Saunders has only been home to the Whitcomb Court housing projects once, to gather clothes…
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Watch: Florida State QB Scrambles Out of Grocery Store With Crab Legs
Florida State quarterback Jameis Winston didn’t protest when he was caught stealing more than $30 worth of crab legs from a Florida grocery store, and now the video shows why. Security-camera footage from the Publix supermarket, released Thursday by the Leon County Sheriff’s Office in Tallahassee, Fla., shows exactly what happened that day in April…
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When a Police Commissioner Calls Obama the N-Word, It’s Time for Mandatory Diversity Training
Here we go again. Someone in a position of authority has said something racist. More specifically, something racist about President Barack Obama, and gotten caught. Only this time the person didn’t make a fried-chicken or watermelon joke, or call the commander in chief “boy.” He actually used the n-word. And did I mention this authority…
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Reports: Donald Sterling Won’t Pay Fine, Threatens Lawsuit Against NBA
Looks like Donald Sterling will not go quietly into the night, since the embattled Los Angeles Clippers owner is refusing to pay the $2.5 million that he has been fined, and his newly hired attorney has sent a letter to the NBA threatening to sue, ESPN.com reports. According to SI.com, Sterling’s lawyer, Max Blecher, sent…