culture
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Have Uncle Ruckus and The Boondocks Been Hijacked?
In November 2005 the Cartoon Network debuted The Boondocks during its late-night Adult Swim programming and gave us a glimpse into the fictitious Freeman family, who had just moved from the South Side of Chicago to the mostly white, made-up suburb of Woodcrest. In the premiere, viewers heard 10-year-old Huey Freeman proclaim that “Jesus was…
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Chicago Man Confesses to Killing Girlfriend’s 1-Year-Old Daughter
A Chicago man has been charged with murder after confessing to beating his girlfriend’s 19-month-old daughter to death on Sunday, New York’s Daily News reports. According to authorities, who confirmed that the confession that was made on Wednesday, 23-year-old James Harris said he had beaten Amierah Roberson to death in his home, where she was left…
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Elton John Wants to Make Hip-Hop
In 2007 Kanye West sampled Elton John’s Someone Saved My Life Tonight on his hit single Good Morning. Three years later, West invited John to his Hawaii studio to play piano for All of the Lights on his critically praised album My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy. So don’t be shocked if you hear that West…
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Oprah Spills the Tea on Move With Starbucks
It seems fitting that the woman once known for spilling the tea is now selling it, as Oprah Winfrey announced Wednesday at the Starbucks annual shareholders meeting that she and the coffee company have teamed up to create Oprah Chai. The celebrity talk show host announced that the drink would be sold at Starbucks cafés…
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Single Mothers, Sons and the Sex Talk
I remember the day as if it were yesterday. My son, who was 11 years old at the time, excitedly walked into my room in the middle of the afternoon. “Mommy, I’m a man now!” I choked on my water, literally. I sat there with my mouth wide open and really didn’t know what to…
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War-Torn Congolese City Sings and Dances for Lasting Peace
For a few peaceful days in February, the city of Goma, in Democratic Republic of the Congo, was filled with the sounds of music rather than the cries of war. Despite ongoing problems between their respective countries, thousands of people from neighboring Rwanda and Burundi descended on the DRC for the region’s first multinational music…
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Texas Prepared to Execute Aspiring Rapper in Murder Case
Texas is prepared to execute 33-year-old Ray Jasper on Wednesday at 6 p.m. CDT for killing a music-studio owner in 1998, Reuters reports. Jasper was convicted of slitting David Alejandro’s throat before stabbing him to death in San Antonio so that he could rob the owner of his studio equipment. Alejandro offered his space to…
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Fathers Need to Learn That Beating Daughters Won’t Make Them Good Girls
Just in time for April, which is National Child Abuse Prevention Month, there’s a new clip making the viral rounds of an angry black dad wailing on his child with a belt. In a video partially titled “Father Whoops on His 13-Year-Old Daughter Dressed Like Beyoncé After Missing for 3 Days” a scantily clad black girl…
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Cop Shown Apparently Breaking High School Student’s Arm in Cellphone Video
Cellphone video footage allegedly shows a cop breaking a student’s arm after an early March altercation at a Texas high school, the Blaze reports. The video, which captures the chaos, shows students shouting as two officers take one of the students to the ground, one of them bringing the young man’s arm behind his back.…
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Jesse Jackson Takes on Lack of Diversity in Technology
The Rev. Jesse Jackson is taking a page out of the civil rights playbook as he plans to lead a delegation to the Hewlett-Packard annual shareholders meeting Wednesday. The groups intends to bring attention to Silicon Valley’s and the nation’s poor record of including blacks and Latinos in hiring, board appointments and startup funding, the…