culture
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Being Mary Jane Creator: ‘I Think Mary Jane Is All of Us’
When BET’s original movie Being Mary Jane premiered last summer, it drew 4 million viewers, making it the highest-rated cable show for the evening. When the show officially premiered last Tuesday, it was cable’s top show for the night again, attracting 3.32 million viewers. The show’s creator, Mara Brock Akil, is excited about what she…
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Fat-Shaming Trolls Need to Get Over Gabourey Sidibe’s Weight
Gabourey Sidibe attended the Golden Globes Awards Sunday night. And in what has become a time-honored (and vile) tradition anytime she appears anywhere and happens to be photographed, some viewers thought it would be a good idea to mock her weight. Again. There was, of course, the flat-out name-calling, which was clear fat-shaming. And then…
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Kerry Washington Makes Rare Appearance With Husband at Golden Globes After-Party
Kerry Washington is notoriously hush-hush about her private life, so what a surprise when she stepped out with her husband, Nnamdi Asomugha, at the Golden Globes after-party. According to the Huffington Post, the couple was spotted partying at the Weinstein Co. and Netflix party at the Beverly Hilton on Sunday. Washington, who was dressed in…
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Sheriff’s Department Looks for a ‘Black Man’ Involved in ‘Suspicious Activity’
If you see a black man in West Virginia—any black man—he could be a person the Monongalia County Sheriff’s Department is interested in because of suspicious activity. No, seriously. Over the weekend, Morgantown, W.Va.’s Dominion Post published a blurb describing how the sheriff’s department was looking for a man involved in some suspicious activity, according…
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Murdered Brooklyn Slumlord’s Unpaid Debt Helped Shut Down Obama’s Bank
Unpaid loans to slain Brooklyn, N.Y., slumlord Menachem “Max” Stark contributed to the demise of Chicago’s Broadway Bank, which served high-profile customers such as President Barack Obama and had ex-Chicago Bears quarterback Jim McMahon as a board member, the New York Post reports. Two sizable loans to Stark, in addition to 15 other bad bets…
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Beyonce’s Feminist Essay on Gender Equality
Beyoncé’s feminism is undoubtedly about to be analyzed over the next few days – as it was when her album was first released – after an essay published in the Shriver Report, in response to the report revealing that 42 million women in the USA are living in or on the brink of poverty, The…
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Delta Sigma Theta Celebrates Founders Day
On Jan. 13, 1913, 22 women at Howard University founded Delta Sigma Theta Sorority. Since then, the sorority has seen many outstanding women among its membership and honorary ranks. Here are 12 of them. 1. Dorothy Height Rho chapter Civil rights leader 2. Melissa Harris-Perry Pi Omicron chapter Professor, public intellectual 3. Angela Bassett Honorary…
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Beyoncé’s Feminist Essay: Yes, That Was Smart
Would Beyoncé be interesting to hang out with in person? Is she really, truly musically talented? Does she deserve to be called a feminist? Is she actively scheming to heal deep-seated African-American cultural wounds by letting her 2-year-old’s hair look like a 2-year-old’s hair? Welcome to the list of highly subjective and largely unanswerable questions…
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Marissa Alexander Must Watch Her Every Step
I’m worried that Marissa Alexander might end up becoming another Claudette Colvin. Colvin was the teenager who in March of 1955—nine months before Rosa Parks sparked the civil rights movement by famously refusing to give up her bus seat to a white man—was hauled off a bus, handcuffed and jailed for doing the same thing.…
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Amber Ruffin: 1st Black Female Writer Ever for a Late-Night Talk Show
It’s been a great year thus far for black women in comedy, and it looks like it’s about to get even better. Amber Ruffin, an alumna of Second City in Chicago, will be joining Late Night With Jimmy Fallon as a staff writer—and with that will win the title of the first black woman, and…