culture
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Remains Confirmed as Missing Autistic NYC Teen
The human remains found last week along the Queens, N.Y., shoreline were confirmed as being Avonte Oquendo, the medical examiner’s office reported on Tuesday, the Associated Press reports. The missing autistic teen, who was nonverbal, walked out of his school three months ago and was never heard from again. The remains discovered along the East…
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The Root’s Keli Goff Named New Emerging Playwright
Keli Goff, special correspondent for The Root, was named one of 10 new playwrights for the Public Theater’s 2014-2015 Emerging Writers Group. The Public Theater announced on Tuesday that Goff, along with nine other playwrights, was selected out of some 475 applicants to participate in the fifth cycle of the program, which cultivates talent “at…
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HIV-Positive Student Filmed Sex Tapes With More Than 30 Unsuspecting Victims
Prosecutors are confirming that more than 30 people could have contracted HIV from a former student at Lindenwood University in St. Charles, Miss., who is accused of purposefully spreading the disease, KMOV reports. Michael Johnson, a 22-year-old former wrestler, was charged with exposing his partners to the deadly disease, before the authorities later uncovered 32…
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Amazing but Totally Racist Art: Garage Magazine Editor-in-Chief Sits on ‘Black Woman’ Chair
Updated Tuesday, Jan. 21, 1:30 p.m. EST: Dasha Zhukova, the Garage magazine editor-in-chief who came under fire for sitting on a very realistic “black woman chair,” has issued an apology for the photo, saying that it was taken out of context, according to the London Evening Standard. “This photograph, which has been published completely out…
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Seahawks’ Richard Sherman Is Not a Thug. Stop Calling Him One
There was a moment in the NFL version of the Hatfields and McCoys that could have ended the blood feud. It came at the end of the game Sunday, after Seattle’s Richard Sherman batted a pass intended for San Francisco 49er Michael Crabtree into the arms of a teammate, causing an interception that would seal…
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Florida House Candidate Calls for Hanging of President
On the national day of reflection for Martin Luther King Jr.’s birthday, an African-American Republican candidate for Florida House District 68 took to Twitter to demand that the president be hanged for war crimes, the Tampa Bay Times reports. “I’m past impeachment,” Joshua Black wrote on Twitter. “It’s time to arrest and hang him high.”…
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North Carolina School Gives Black Student Confederate Hat as Prize
When Natasha Lea’s 9-year-old son, Jacob, got off the bus, she noticed that he was sporting a new gray hat with a black bill. She looked closer and saw that it was a Confederate-style costume piece. “I did not want to believe that. That the school actually let him walk around as an African-American child…
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Black Women Face Difficult Odds Dealing With Breast Cancer
In September 2012, Sabrina Fields was in the middle of one of those moments where everything—work, love life, family, future—seemed to be assured. Even ideal. Then 32, Fields had just finished a master’s degree while working full time. She was a highly valued employee in the finance division of the U.S. Department of Homeland Security.…
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Vanity Fair Just Doesn’t Understand Black Beauty
There were only two topics that should have dominated any conversation about actress Lupita Nyong’o last Thursday. That morning (and after much hype), she was officially nominated for an Academy Award for her first film role as Patsey, an enslaved woman abused by her sadistic owner, in 12 Years a Slave. And that evening she…
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Racist Rants About Seattle Seahawk Richard Sherman
Seattle Seahawk Richard Sherman woke up this morning to an avalanche of racist attacks on social media after the biggest game of his NFL career. Sherman is arguably the best defensive back in the NFL. He’s also a man with a communications degree from Stanford University who is working on his master’s. Last night, after…