culture
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Creator of For Brown Girls Blog Reportedly Commits Suicide at Age 22
Karyn Washington, the 22-year-old founder of the For Brown Girls website, which sought to empower chocolate-complexioned black women, died on April 8, reportedly committing suicide, according to MadameNoire. Her passing is a devastating loss for legions of black women who went online to seek refuge in any one of Washington’s many initiatives, including the #DarkSkinRedLip…
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NYPD Accused of Rendering Brooklyn Teen Quadriplegic
A Brooklyn, N.Y., mother has filed a lawsuit against the New York City Police Department, the Metropolitan Transit Authority and four officers, demanding answers as to how her 17-year-old son ended up paralyzed and eventually dead, DNAinfo New York reports. Karen Fludd says she has gotten very little information about what happened last May when…
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Black Couple Strip-Searched for $3 Earrings
A Texas couple is claiming that they were subjected to a strip search over a pair of $3 earrings when they stopped at a beauty-supply store to buy hair extensions, KHOU reports. The demeaning incident occurred last week at Y Beauty Supply in southeast Houston, where they were allegedly threatened and forced to remain in…
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Black Congresswomen Want Army to Reconsider Rules on Twists and Braids
Black women in the military have garnered the support of the powerful women of the Congressional Black Caucus. All 16 congresswomen signed on to a letter sent to Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel on Thursday asking him to reconsider the new grooming policies, which some consider “racially biased.” Early last week the U.S. Army came under…
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Google Honors Chemist Percy Lavon Julian
Google is on a roll, using Friday as a chance to serve up another one of its fun (and educational) doodles. This time it’s celebrating the birthday of the noted African-American chemist Percy Lavon Julian, who would have turned 115 today. Julian was the first black scientist to be inducted into the National Academy of…
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Scandal Recap: Let’s Look at the Bright Side
Last night’s “Flesh and Blood”—the last episode before next week’s season finale—sent us reeling even deeper into despair. Yes, everything is awful, and every moment is dripping with overwhelming emotion, and it’s like everyone’s living in the twilight zone, but it’s not all bad. Things could always be worse, right? So instead of focusing on…
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10 Killed in Calif. Bus-and-Truck Crash
What was supposed to be an exciting day visiting Humboldt State University ended in tragedy as a tour bus carrying California high school students was hit head-on by a FedEx big rig Thursday afternoon, NBC4 reports. Ten people—the drivers of both vehicles, five students and three chaperones—were killed and more than 30 injured in the…
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Lolo Jones Slams Drake and Rihanna on Twitter
She isn’t that good at bobsledding, but Lolo Jones is always good for a laugh or a cringe. The Olympian and controversial tweeter is back at it again, this time setting her crosshairs on rapper Drake and singer Rihanna. After ESPN announced that Drake would be the host of this year’s ESPYs, the awards show…
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Shoe Thrown at Hillary Clinton During Speech
Hillary Clinton and former President George W. Bush have had little in common until Thursday. That’s when a woman allegedly threw a shoe at Clinton during a speech at a Las Vegas hotel, an experience that Bush encountered in 2008 during a Baghdad news conference with the Iraqi prime minister. Clinton was able to dodge…
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Kaepernick Being Investigated Over ‘Incident’ in Miami
Two members of the San Francisco 49ers, including star quarterback Colin Kaepernick, and a Seattle Seahawks player have been named in a “suspicious incident” report by a woman who told police that she woke up in a hospital with no idea how she got there, CSN Bay Area News reports. “There’s no evidence of a…