culture
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White, Conservative Men Dominate Sunday Morning Political Talk Shows
Do you think your favorite political Sunday morning talk shows reflect diversity? If so, you may have to reconsider that notion. A recent Media Matters report analyzing guest appearances on seven network and broadcast programs during the last year shows that white men made up the majority of all guests. Shows examined were ABC’s This…
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Ex-Conductor Files Suit After Co-Worker Cut Dreadlocks
Solomon Perry was “victimized, assaulted and harassed” by racist co-workers while trying to do his job as a train conductor at the Illinois Central Railroad, according to a lawsuit filed in U.S. District Court in Chicago, the Associated Press reports. Co-workers hurled racial slurs over radios and in graffiti left throughout his workplace in the…
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Have a Coke and a Bigot
The Coca-Cola commercial that debuted during the Super Bowl wasn’t supposed to be controversial; it was supposed to be a celebration of diversity, with several cultures represented to sing a multilingual version of “America the Beautiful.” The bigots didn’t see it that way, so they took to the 21st-century bigot platform, aka Twitter, to type…
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Starkly Different Stories Emerging From Michael Dunn Trial
Fact: Michael Dunn killed 17-year-old Jordan Davis. Everything else about the Florida case, however, appears to be up for debate. Dunn’s defense attorneys are certainly trying to poke holes and inject doubts into every argument the prosecution presents, CNN reports. The way Assistant State Attorney John Guy told the jury the prosecution’s side of the…
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Microsoft’s New Leadership: Is Tech Embracing Diversity? Not Quite
A remarkable aspect of Microsoft’s announcement of new leadership this week is that hardly anyone brought up the issue of race. Yet the biggest software company in the world will now be led by an Indian-American chief executive officer and an African-American chairman. The announcement that insider Satya Nadella, 46, will become the third CEO of…
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Toronto Mayor Rob Ford Set to Launch YouTube Show
Can’t get enough of Toronto Mayor Rob Ford? Now you can watch his antics all the time as he and his brother, a city councillor, are launching a YouTube show called Ford Nation that is set to air Feb. 10, the Associated Press reports. In a preview for the show posted Thursday, Ford asks that…
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High School Football Players Claim White Rivals Called Them ‘N–gers’
A heated rivalry between two high school football teams erupted in a huge sideline-clearing brawl, which five black high school football players from Long Island are claiming started after they were called the n-word by the players and coaches, the New York Daily News reports. The black players from Amityville High School, which would lose…
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Family of Man Firefighters Refused to Help Wants Justice
Medric Mills, 77, and his daughter had just finished dropping off a broken computer at a repair shop on Jan. 25 when he collapsed onto the sidewalk. His daughter ran back into the store to have them call 911. Since they repair shop was across the street from a fire department, people ran there for…
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Shani Davis: Skating for History, Not Love
Speed skater Shani Davis will go down in history for his succession of Winter Olympic firsts, most notably as the first African-American athlete to win an individual gold at the Winter Games. But in his own sport, he is celebrated for his extraordinary record of sustained excellence. Over the past decade, Davis has dominated speed…
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How the Urban Bush Women Got Their Name
Left of Black host Mark Anthony Neal visits with Jawole Willa Jo Zollar in the Reynolds Industries Theater at Duke University. Zollar and her dance troupe, Urban Bush Women, are partaking in a two-week residency at Duke University. Urban Bush Women celebrates its 30th anniversary this year. Watch: