culture
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Tyson Beckford’s Nephew Charged With 2nd-Degree Murder in DUI Crash
Domonic Whilby, the 23-year-old nephew of model Tyson Beckford, now faces possible life imprisonment for a drunken February crash that resulted in the death of veteran New York City bus driver William Pena, the Daily News reports. Whilby’s charges were upgraded on Wednesday at a Manhattan Supreme Court hearing. The indictment now includes murder, aggravated…
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Rep. Charlie Rangel Calls Building Explosion Harlem’s 9/11
It’s Harlem’s own 9/11. That’s how Rep. Charlie Rangel (D-N.Y.) would describe the Wednesday building explosion in his home district that stunned the public, Politico reports. “I’ve never had anything this horrific that’s happened in my community since I’ve been in Washington,” Rangel told an NBC affiliate in New York, as news continued to break…
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George Zimmerman’s Parents Suing Rosanne Barr
Turns out Spike Lee wasn’t the only celebrity who let his rage toward George Zimmerman lead to an ill-advised address tweet. Actress Roseanne Barr is being sued by Zimmerman’s parents in Florida, who claim a Twitter post she made listing their address and telephone number forced them to flee their home, AP reports. Robert and…
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Ex-NFL Star Darren Sharper Facing 2 More Rape Charges in Arizona
Former NFL player Darren Sharper, who is already in custody in Los Angeles on seven rape and drug counts, has been indicted in Arizona on charges of sexual assault and administering dangerous drugs, authorities told ESPN. This is the latest development in several ongoing sexual-assault investigations involving the 38-year-old one-time All-Pro safety. Currently there are…
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Black Techies Represent at SXSW
On March 8 and 9, SXSW, also known as South by Southwest—the popular interactive, music and film conference held every year in Austin, Texas—featured a pitch competition for tech start-ups. The prestigious competition allows the burgeoning firms to gain further exposure. We’ve highlighted four start-ups with co-founders who are of African descent. 1. Ricardo Rodriguez, Qlovi…
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Massive Gas Explosion in East Harlem: 7 Reported Dead, More Than 50 Injured, Many Missing
Updated March 13, 2014, 1:15 p.m.: The death toll in the East Harlem building explosion and collapse has risen to seven. USA Today reports that rescuers going through the devastation found four additional victims overnight, New York City Fire Department spokesman Danny Glover said. “This is a difficult job, a challenging job,” another fire department spokesman, Jim Long,…
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Oxford Tips a Hat to Harvard in ‘I, Too, Am Oxford’ Project
The black students at Harvard seem to be on to something. Students of color at Oxford University in the United Kingdom have launched their own social media campaign, “I, Too, Am Oxford,” highlighting things that have been said or suggested to them. Dozens of photos have already been added to the Tumblr page, showing students…
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Frank Ocean Cuts Chipotle a Big Check, Tells the Company to Shove Off
Chipotle may have won some big bucks … but the restaurant chain also garnered singer Frank Ocean’s irritation along with it. According to TMZ, Ocean coughed up $212,500 after the company sued him, but he didn’t exactly do it graciously, posting a photo of the check on Tumblr with the memo “F—k off” scrawled on…
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Teen Posts Photos of Domestic Violence Injuries to Social Media
A young aspiring model is using an alleged domestic violence incident to shine light on partner abuse and how serious and life threatening it can be. Mori Gabriella Montgomery, 19, has been posting pictures to her social media accounts of her gruesome injuries allegedly caused by an abusive boyfriend, New York’s Daily News reports. Montgomery claims…
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Enough Granny Compliments—I’m Calling Lupita a Hottie
Perhaps my brown-girl sensitivities are tainting my view, but I feel like there’s something going on with the words we use to describe Lupita Nyong’o. Lupita is pretty, she’s cute and she’s a legitimate dime. And I use those adjectives intentionally, because it seems like these words are rarely used to describe her good looks…