culture
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Wheel of Fortune: Spinning the Politics of Racial Shame
In 2008, Kevin James (the pundit, not the actor) lived the nightmare of every single one of us who has ever appeared on air: He was humiliated on national television by the host of the show on which he was appearing. James, who is white, was there to defend allegations that then-presidential candidate Barack Obama…
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San Francisco 49ers Linebacker Arrested for LAX Bomb Threat
San Francisco 49ers linebacker Aldon Smith was arrested on Sunday after making a bomb threat during a security screening at Los Angeles International Airport on Sunday, CBS News reports. According to the report, Smith was randomly selected for a second screening but became argumentative and uncooperative, airport police Sgt. Karla Ortiz said. He told a…
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Derrick Deacon, Falsely Imprisoned for 25 Years, Sues State for $25 Million
A Brooklyn, N.Y., man who was wrongly convicted and spent nearly 25 years in prison is now seeking damages: $1 million for every year he spent behind bars. Derrick Deacon, who was convicted for the 1989 murder of 16-year-old Anthony Wynn, has slammed New York state with a $25 million lawsuit. He hopes it will…
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$1,000,000 Wheel of Fortune Fail: Student Says, ‘I Did My Best’
Indiana University freshman Julian Batts appeared on ABC’s Good Morning America on Monday to discuss an unfortunate string of answers on Wheel of Fortune that cost him a chance to win $1 million, a car and a trip to Jamaica. Although Batts eventually won the game on the show that aired Friday, collecting $11,700, his…
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Harvard Accepts Record Percentage of Black Students
College admissions letters are out, and for the Class of 2018, Harvard University has accepted a record-high percentage of black students. According to the Journal of Blacks in Higher Education, of Harvard’s total acceptances for the Class of 2018, 11.9 percent are black, the highest ever for the university. The journal estimates that nearly 170…
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Joe Madison Arrested in NY Protest Against Injustice in South Sudan
Radio personality and activist Joe Madison was arrested Thursday outside the United Nations after a protest against human rights abuses in South Sudan. Madison was among three people arrested after the protest, which was held at Dag Hammarskjold Plaza, before the group walked to the Ugandan Mission—where the South Sudan Mission is co-located—demanding reconciliation and…
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Teleka Patrick Drowned, 2nd Autopsy Confirms
A second autopsy of 30-year-old Kalamazoo doctor Teleka Patrick confirmed the previous autopsy’s conclusion that she had died of asphyxia from drowning, a private investigator hired by Patrick’s family told the news website MLive. Jim Carlin, the investigator, told the news site that he attended the second autopsy, which was conducted Friday at the Marion…
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Belafonte, MLK Estate Settle Document Suit
Harry Belafonte and the Martin Luther King Jr. estate have settled a lawsuit on terms that allow Belafonte to keep several documents he acquired during his friendship with the civil rights leader, the Associated Press reports. The singer sued the estate in Manhattan federal court in October to establish rights to certain documents, The Root…
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Kansas Shooting Suspect ID’d as Former KKK Leader
A 73-year-old man accused of killing three people at Jewish facilities near Kansas City is a former Ku Klux Klan leader, NBC News reports, citing law enforcement officials. Frazier Glenn Cross Jr. of Aurora, Mo., allegedly shot and killed a 14-year-old Eagle Scout and his grandfather in a parking lot at the Jewish Community Center…