culture
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Single Parents and Money: 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 of 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 six…
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Why All the Anger Over a Model’s Breast-Feeding Photo?
When breasts are propped high in Victoria’s Secret ads or the pages of King magazine, or an A-list star wears a dress cut to her navel or maybe a R-related movie shows women flashing them freely, few people seem to have a problem. Maybe some advocacy groups for teenage girls and their self-esteem, maybe some…
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Men Who Used Stolen Passports on Missing Malaysia Flight Were Iranian, Not Black
The two men who used stolen passports to board the missing Malaysia Airlines flight were not black, as was previously reported, but in fact asylum seekers from Iran, Fox News reports. Interpol Secretary General Ronald K. Noble confirmed that 19-year-old Pouri Nourmohammadi and 29-year-old Delavar Seyedmohammaderza had traveled to Malaysia on Iranian passports from Tehran,…
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President Obama, Zach Galifianakis Trade Digs on Between Two Ferns
There are several mysteries in the world, and how Zach Galifianakis scored President Obama on his Funny or Die mock-talk show, Between Two Ferns, may now be the funniest, if not the biggest. Ferns features host Galifianakis and his guest sitting, in fact, between two gigantic ferns while the comedian asks extremely awkward questions. The…
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Will Smith to Produce Harlem Hellfighters
Will Smith is reportedly teaming up with Sony Pictures to produce a film version of the graphic novel Harlem Hellfighters, according to industry blog Shadow and Act. The novel, which is inspired by the true story of the all-African-American 369th Infantry Regiment, was written by Max Brooks, best known for his book World War Z:…
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Blackface Skit Brings Backlash at Church Conference
Here we go again. The National Young Fundamentalists Conference is learning that blackface is not OK, after putting on a skit in which a member of the Clay Mills Road Baptist Church in Kentucky—where the convention was being held—dressed as Mr. T, complete with blackface, Mediaite reports. The pastor’s assistant, Joseph Pickens, took a picture…
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George Zimmerman Signs Autographs at Florida Gun Show
George Zimmerman doesn’t understand why his signing autographs at a gun show in Florida might spark public outrage, so that’s how he spent his weekend, according to Mediaite. The former neighborhood watchman, who was acquitted last year in the shooting death of unarmed teenager Trayvon Martin, was at the New Orlando Gun Show signing autographs…
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26-Year-Old Running Back Retires: ‘I Feel Like I’ve Done It All’
Arizona Cardinals free agent running back Rashard Mendenhall is retiring from football, ESPN reports. Mendenhall, 26, alluded to the fact that his days of playing in the NFL might be coming to an end in a Feb. 25 column he wrote for the Huffington Post, in which he said, “As I write this, today is the…
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Parents of Trayvon Martin and Jordan Davis Protest ‘Stand Your Ground’
The Rev. Al Sharpton, the parents of Jordan Davis and Trayvon Martin, as well as Tom Joyner and members of the Dream Defenders, are once again marching for change to Florida’s “Stand your ground” law, Tallahassee.com reports. Joined by hundreds of other marchers, the group—including family members of Emmett Till—traveled less than a mile from the…
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12 Years a Slave’s John Ridley Talks Beef With Director Steve McQueen
12 Years a Slave screenwriter John Ridley is aware of the drama surrounding himself and director Steve McQueen. While promoting the U.S. premiere of the Hendrix biopic Jimi: All Is By My Side at SXSW this past weekend, Ridley looked to bury the hatchet. What began over screenwriter credits and escalated to an Academy Award-speech…