culture
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Ignoring the Crisis of Cutting and Self-Harm Among Black Children
Today is Self-Injury Awareness Day. It’ll hardly get a passing mention across most African-American media platforms because it’s not a “black issue.” On the contrary, it is. I’m the mother of a loveable 15-year-old daughter. She’s bubbly and funny. She wears me out reenacting scenes from High School Musical and Twilight. She’s astute for her…
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Satirical Blog Offers Up Little-Known Black History Facts
The satirical blog Little Known Black History Facts has developed a large following since it first launched in 2012. This year, controversy surrounded the blog—some claimed it disrespected Black History Month. We sat down with the blog’s creator, Tracy Clayton (a former writer for The Root), to get her take on the controversy. The Root:…
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Why an African-American Director Wouldn’t Have Cast Lupita Nyong’o in 12 Years a Slave
If there was any doubt left that Lupita Nyong’o is the Cinderella of this award season, it was erased by Vanity Fair’s Hollywood issue. Not only did she land a slot on the issue’s coveted cover (she was one of six black actors included this year), but an article about Hollywood’s most powerful stylists dubbed…
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Conned Florida Inmate Gets Former Lawyer's Home
Things are looking up for a former Florida inmate who was cheated by his own lawyers and abandoned in prison, the Raw Story Reports. Patrick Coulton claims he was forced to accept a 15-year plea deal for drug conspiracy charges in 2008, his attorneys, Peter Mayas and Emmanuel Roy, promising that they could get the sentence…
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13-Year-Old Posts Illicit Pics Before Being Fatally Shot by Friend Playing With Gun
Cartrail Robertson posted pictures of guns, weed and wads of cash on Facebook, showing off things that no 13-year-old boy should be surrounded by. Hours later he was dead, and police believe he was accidentally shot when he and one of his friends were playing with one of the guns and the weapon fired off,…
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Man ‘Comes Back’ From the Dead at Funeral Home
Walter Williams was pronounced dead on Wednesday at 9 p.m. in his Lexington, Miss., home. He was subsequently put in a body bag and transported to the Porter and Sons Funeral Home in a hearse to prepare for embalming. But Williams wasn’t quite ready to pass on just yet. According to ABC News, the elderly gentleman…
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Ala. Vet Tried to Hire KKK Hit Man to Kill Black Neighbor
After pleading guilty to hiring a Ku Klux Klan hit man to murder his black neighbor, an Alabama veteran is attempting to negotiate with a judge for mercy, the Raw Story reports. Allen Wayne Morgan’s attorneys are insisting that their client, who participated in more than 175 combat missions in Iraq and has dealt with…
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World Bank Postpones Loan to Uganda Over Anti-Gay Law
The World Bank has delayed a $90 million loan to Uganda over its approval of an anti-gay law that has drawn widespread criticism from the US, the United Nations and rights groups, the Associated Press reports. A World Bank spokesman told AP that the loan was intended to help the East African nation’s health systems.…
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Scandal Recap: No Valor, No Virtue
Grab your sunglasses and Advil. Because last night’s episode was mad real. After a two-and-a-half-month hiatus, “Ride, Sally, Ride” was a reminder of why we’re all still cliff-jumping, die-hard gladiators. At the very top of the episode, Vice President Sally Langston announces her plan to run against Fitz in the upcoming election. Olivia, Cyrus and…
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Lupita Nyong’o Embraces Dark Beauty in Black Women in Hollywood Acceptance Speech
Hollywood’s favorite newcomer, Lupita Nyong’o, accepted the Best Breakthrough Performance Award at Essence magazine’s seventh annual Black Women in Hollywood Luncheon in Beverly Hills, Calif., on Thursday for her heart-wrenching performance in 12 Years a Slave. In her acceptance speech, she touched a deeply sensitive subject in the black community: black beauty, specifically dark-skinned beauty.…