culture
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FBI Offers $20,000 for Information on Missing Toddler
The FBI and the Madison County’s sheriff’s office are offering a $20,000 reward for information on Myra Lewis, a 2-year-old from Mississippi who disappeared on March 1, the New York Daily News reports. Lewis was last seen around 11 a.m. on March 1, wearing khaki pants, pink tennis shoes and a turquoise sweater with a…
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Prosecutors: DC Mayor Vince Gray Knew About ‘Shadow Campaign’
District of Columbia Mayor Vincent Gray, whose bid for reelection is being rocked with scandal, acknowledged Tuesday that he has taken a political hit from allegations that he led a “shadow campaign,” while the Democratic primary is just three weeks away. On Monday, Jeffrey Thompson, one of Gray’s 2010 campaign benefactors, who asked that Gray…
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Man Freed After Decades on Death Row
Since August of 1988, Glenn Ford has sat on death row waiting for two fates that both seemed unthinkable: Either he would be set free or be executed. For 26 years maintained his innocence. On Tuesday afternoon, Ford, 64, walked out of prison at Angola in Louisiana a free man, hours after a judge approved…
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Is It Hip-Hop Homophobia Over French Nails and Skirts?
Apparently, veteran gangster rapper Snoop Dogg still enjoys defying all the rules of so-called authentic black masculinity found in mainstream hip-hop culture. After reinventing himself as a devoted father and Snoop Lion—the reggae-infused advocate of black consciousness and universal love—he is now using Instagram to promote his fierce, duo-chrome French manicure, complete with marijuana leaf…
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DNA Test Showed Mostly European Ancestry? It’s OK, You’re Still African American
52.9. I’d never given much thought to this arrangement of numbers until a few months ago. Those digits represent a majority of my ancestral makeup. During a recent DNA examination, I discovered that 52.9 percent of my ancestors are European. My African relatives make up 43.4 percent of my DNA (including 28 percent West African). A small…
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17-Year-Old Chicago Rapper Charged With Murder
A teenage Chicago rapper has been charged with murder in connection to the fatal shooting of a driver in the Wentworth Gardens housing complex, over what the assistant state’s attorney is claiming was retaliation for an earlier dispute, the Chicago Tribune reports. Seventeen-year-old Clint Massey, who goes by the stage name “RondoNumbaNine,” was ordered held…
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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…