culture
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Chris Brown’s Assault Trial Set to Begin Monday
Embattled hip-hop and R&B crooner Chris Brown is set to go on trial Monday on assault charges stemming from an altercation last year outside a hotel in Washington, D.C., according to Agence France-Presse. The 24-year-old Grammy Award-winning singer was dressed conservatively in a suit and tie Friday during an appearance before District of Columbia Superior…
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Report: Over 100 Hate-Crime Murders Linked to White Nationalist Website
A new report from the Southern Poverty Law Center links people charged with the murders of almost 100 people to a single far-right website, according to the Guardian. The report, released Thursday, calls Stormfront.org the “largest hate site in the world” and “a magnet and breeding ground for the deadly and deranged,” the Guardian says.…
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Ole Miss Frat Chapter Closed Over Noose Incident
The parent organization of a University of Mississippi fraternity has closed the campus’ chapter, nearly two months after expelling three members charged with hanging a noose around the neck of the statue of the school’s first black student, the Associated Press reports. The university announced Thursday that the national office of Sigma Phi Epsilon, based…
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Shanesha Taylor Faces 8 Years for Leaving Kids in Car
An Arizona prosecutor has announced plans to pursue charges against Shanesha Taylor, the homeless woman who left her two children in a car during a job interview in Scottsdale, Ariz., according to AZCentral. Maricopa County Attorney Bill Montgomery said Wednesday he will move forward with a felony child-abuse prosecution against the 35-year-old mother, the site…
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How the Griot of the Hood Became a Rap Storyteller for the Ages
April of 1994 equaled 30 days, from start to finish, of emotional highs and lows for those of African descent. The fourth month of that year saw the start of hundreds of thousands of Tutsi being massacred in the Rwandan genocide. On April 29, South Africa held its first interracial election, in which Nelson Mandela was voted president. And…
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Hats That Should Have Been Saved for Easter Sunday
The ultimate Easter accessory was never a colored egg. If you know what we know, the yearly celebration of Jesus’ resurrection is also your annual chance to glide through those church aisles with the most excessively stylish hat atop your blessed head. So why on earth did these celebrities waste their creative headgear on the…
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Idris Elba Welcomes Baby Boy
British actor Idris Elba shared the first public snapshot of his new baby boy, Winston, with the world via Twitter on Friday. The black-and-white photo shows the tiny infant’s right hand clutching the star’s left index finger (Can you say adorable?). “My Son Winston Elba was born yesterday..Truly Amazing :-),” Elba tweeted. Little Winston is…
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Scandal Recap: In Search of a Soul
Thursday night’s season finale, “The Price of Free and Fair Elections,” was as Scandal-y as Scandal gets. Bombs, blood, tears, lies, alcohol and chic suits with impeccable tailoring were all jam-packed into the last episode. But despite all of the distractions, everyone seems to have been in search of one thing—peace. Peace, like the election,…
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This Inmate’s Conviction Was Overturned in 1980 … but He’s Still in Prison
Jerry Hartfield’s conviction for robbing and murdering a bus-station worker in 1976 was overturned in 1980—and yet the now 56-year-old man has remained in prison ever since, with the hope of a new trial seeming like an increasingly long shot. According to the Daily News, a judge recently decided that Hartfield’s constitutional right to an immediate…
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Ohio Teacher Fired for Telling Student ‘We Don’t Need Another Black President’
A science teacher in Fairfield, Ohio, was officially fired Thursday after facing accusations that he told a black student the nation did not need another black commander in chief, the Cincinnati Enquirer reports. According to the news site, Gil Voigt, who had been on unpaid leave since December, was fired after his termination was recommended…