culture
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Old-School Bigotry? We Need to Fight 21st-Century Racism
Nevada rancher Cliven Bundy and Los Angeles Clippers owner Donald Sterling have focused America’s attention on racism in a way we haven’t seen for many years. But their racism is an echo of centuries past, and the outraged response to it, as good as it feels, does nothing to address the virulent strain of racism…
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Sports-Talk Legend: Blacks Can’t Cut It in Sports Radio
Just days after Donald Sterling was exposed as a racist on secretly recorded audio produced by TMZ, longtime New York talk radio legend and current Sirius XM host Chris “Mad Dog” Russo had what many are now calling his own “Donald Sterling-Al Campanis moment.” Los Angeles Dodgers executive Al Campanis’ four decades of MLB service came…
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Florida Man Found Guilty of Dousing Puppy With Hot Sauce
A Florida man who doused his girlfriend’s 3-month-old puppy with hot sauce will be spending a year in prison, followed by 18 months’ probation, the Herald-Tribune reports. Police claim that Ephrian Myles, 47, became angry at Gizmo, his girlfriend’s dachshund-chihuahua mix, and reportedly dumped hot sauce on the puppy. The spicy condiment got in the…
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Virginia Boy Killed After Defending Big Sister From Assault
A small boy was beaten to death while attempting to stop an older male who was trying to rape his older sister in South Richmond, Va., WTVR reports. An aunt told the news station that the two children, both younger than 13, were playing on the railroad tracks when a man appeared and tried to…
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Not Enough Drugs Entered Inmate’s Veins in Botched Okla. Execution
Updated Friday, May 2, 2014, 2 p.m. EDT: President Barack Obama called the botched exeuction “deeply troubling” while at a White House press conference with German Chancellor Angela Merkel, NBC News reports. Obama said that the mishandled execution raised “significant questions about how the death penalty is being applied” in the nation, adding that he…
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Report: Donald Sterling Fighting Cancer
Los Angeles Clippers’ scorned owner, Donald Sterling, has reportedly been battling prostate for years, the New York Post reports. Sources told the news site that they were surprised at how well his fight was going. “They thought he would die two years ago,” one source told the Post. “People have been predicting his imminent demise.…
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NBA Owners Plan to Move Quickly to Boot Clippers Owner
Only two days after NBA Commissioner Adam Silver brought the hammer down on Los Angeles Clippers owner Donald Sterling for racist remarks captured during a taped conversation that was leaked to TMZ, NBA owners held their first meeting in a bid to end Sterling’s ownership of the team. The league’s 10-member advisory/finance committee held a…
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Meek Mill Loses Case Against Philadelphia Police Over Traffic Stop
On Halloween night 2012, police pulled over a Range Rover moving through the streets of North Philadelphia. Inside the vehicle were Philadelphia rapper Meek Mill and three members of his entourage—an Atlantic Records executive, an off-duty police officer and the rapper’s cousin—all of whom were headed to catch a flight to Atlanta to launch Mill’s…
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Los Angeles NAACP President Resigns Amid Sterling Scandal
The president of the Los Angeles chapter of the NAACP, Leon Jenkins, resigned Thursday, amid continued fallout from a decision to award embattled LA Clippers owner Donald Sterling and a report posted on The Root chronicling a history of Jenkins’ misdeeds since his days of being a judge in Detroit during the 1980s. In a…
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Girl’s Shooting In Alleged Facebook Dispute Puts Spotlight Back on Chicago Crime
Just as Chicago lawmakers were beginning to breathe a small sigh of relief at the city’s dwindling crime rate, a 14-year-old South Side girl was shot and killed by classmates in a rivalry over a boy. Police arrested another 14-year-old girl and charged her with first-degree murder in the stunning execution-style shooting death of 14-year-old…