culture
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74-Year-Old Woman Freed After Serving 32 Years for Murder
When Mary Virginia Jones was sentenced for murder Ronald Reagan was president and gas cost $1.25 a gallon. Today, some 32 years of her life left inside the cold concrete cell, “Mother Mary” as friends know her, is a free woman after students from USC’s law school convinced the district attorney to reopen her case.…
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Hollywood Afraid to ‘Let Black People Tell Stories’
In a brutally honest interview, Boyz N the Hood director John Singleton slammed the Hollywood “liberals” who don’t let black people “tell the stories,” the Hollywood Reporter reveals. In an interview with the entertainment outlet released on Monday, part of its “Hollywood Masters” series, Singleton came down hard on the major studios for refusing to…
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Black Preschoolers Suspended More Than Whites, Study Shows
A new study shows that the school-to-prison pipeline starts earlier than we thought. According to data released this week by the Education Department’s civil rights arm, black children accounted for about 18 percent of preschool enrollment but for half of the students suspended more than once, the Associated Press reports. The data show that overall,…
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Arrest Warrant for Anita Baker Lifted
The arrest warrant issued for singer Anita Baker was lifted by a judge during an emergency hearing in Wayne County Circuit Court on Monday, the Detroit Free Press reports. “We asked for the emergency hearing because the court had issued a bench warrant for Ms. Baker’s arrest,” said Jamal Hamood, a lawyer representing Baker…
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Judge Joe Brown Jailed for Contempt
In a twist of fate, Judge Joe Brown, has been sentenced to five days in jail after being charged with five counts of contempt of court in Tennessee, court officials in Memphis told the Associated Press. On Monday, the star of the now cancelled TV show Judge Joe Brown, was held in contempt after causing…
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Belgian Newspaper Apologizes for Depicting the Obamas as Apes
Belgian newspaper De Morgen has formally apologized after a harsh backlash over an image the paper published Saturday depicting President Barack Obama and first lady Michelle Obama as apes, Al Jazeera reports. The Flemish newspaper published the ape photo and another of President Obama with language describing him as a marijuana seller in a satire…
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When She Gives an Ultimatum, Fellas, Take It Seriously
I wasn’t sure if I’d get out of there alive. Sitting onstage with four women, in front of a studio audience of nearly 200 women, I made this statement: “We [men] know exactly what to say to keep y’all hanging around just a little longer.” Oh my. I had the pleasure of guest-hosting The View this week,…
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Want to Retire Early? Watch The Root Live at 11 A.M.
In many African-American families, when we have an important issue to discuss, we gather in the kitchen and bring it to the table. That’s especially true for financial discussions, whether about how to pay the bills, how to send Junior to college or where to start looking for a new job. For the next four…
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DC Woman Leaves Ambulance, Takes Metro to Hospital After Paramedics Argue
A Washington, D.C., woman who believed she was having a stroke called 911 but ended up getting out of an ambulance and taking the subway to a hospital after the paramedics wouldn’t stop arguing with each other, NBC 4 Washington reports. Rose Preston told the news station that she became worried March 15 when she…
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Google celebrates the ‘Godmother’ of Civil Rights
Something is different about today’s Google landing page. In the middle of the search engine’s logo, there’s the soft image of a smiling woman wearing a signature hat atop her curls. It is Dr. Dorothy Irene Height, dubbed the “godmother of the civil rights movement,” as President Barack Obama aptly put it when mourning her passing four…