culture
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109-Year-Old Black Arkansas Church Engaged in Preservation Battle
Centennial Baptist Church, a Gothic Revival-styled boarded up structure in Helena, Ark., has deep roots in the African-American community, NPR reports. But poverty, racial tensions, among other things in the Delta town, have made raising restoration funds difficult, the report says. Phyllis Hammonds, executive director of the foundation that owns Centennial, was baptized and married…
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Harry Belafonte to Black Men: End the Oppression of Women
A humanitarian known as much for his social justice advocacy as he is for the musical and acting career that originally fueled his fame, Harry Belafonte has for decades been a leading voice on issues from the civil rights battles of the 1960s to South African apartheid to the New York City Police Department’s stop-and-frisk…
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Missing 7-Week-Old Memphis Girl: Mom Named as Suspect
Police suspended the search in Memphis, Tenn., for 7-week-old Aniston Walker Saturday evening, WMC-TV reports. However, the investigation into just what happened to the child remains open. The move follows a search for the child after her mother, Andrea Walker, 33, left Aniston at home Thursday with a 3-year-old when she took her 5-year-old son to…
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Welfare of Children Must Be 2014 Priority
In a recent conversation about declining student performance, a frustrated and passionate elementary school teacher broke into tears as she told me, “I have far too many kids who show up each day with empty stomachs. My heart is heavy for these children. We have to fill their stomachs before we can reach their minds.”…
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Amiri Baraka: Political Poet and Poetic Politician
The death of Amiri Baraka this past Thursday at age 79 marks the end of both an extraordinary life and an important cultural and political era when poets did not simply write about political upheavals and revolutions, but at times actively participated and led them. His life’s arc, from poet to black power icon to…
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12 Years a Slave Wins Best Picture at the Golden Globes
Editor’s note at 11:05 pm: At tonight’s Golden Globes, 12 Years a Slave won the award for Best Picture in the Drama Category. Director Steve McQueen, along with members of the cast took the stage to accept the award. The film was snubbed in its six other nominations. Best actor nominee Chiwetel Ejiofor lost to…
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Nike Sued for $100,000,000 After Portland Pimp Delivers Beat Down With Jordans
Twenty-six-year-old Portland, Ore., pimp Sirgiorgiro Clardy says Nike should have placed a label in his Jordan shoes warning consumers that they could be used as a dangerous weapon, the Oregonian reports. That is why he filed a $100 million lawsuit this week against the athletic brand, charging that the shoe manufacturer is partially responsible for…
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Teleka Patrick: Police Expect to Release Details in Case of Missing Michigan Doctor
Updated: Sunday, Jan. 12, 1:28 p.m. ET: The social media world continues to raise questions about just what was going in the life of a missing Michigan doctor before she disappeared early last month. Wood TV reports that it has uncovered thousands of tweets apparently posted by Teleka Patrick, Kalamazoo, Mich., doctor, in the weeks leading…
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Texas Man Pays Child Support Debt Yet Still Heads to Prison
Updated Saturday, Jan. 11, 1:08 p.m. EST: A bizarre case involving a Texas man who was jailed for paying too much child support has the social media world abuzz. Change.org is urging people to sign a petition asking Gov. Rick Perry to lift all charges against Clifford Hall, who earlier this month was sentenced to six…
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Bobbi Kristina Brown, Nick Gordon ‘Happily Married’
Bobbi Kristina Brown and Nick Gordon may have secretly married, the Daily News reports. The 20-year-old daughter of the late Whitney Houston on Thursday tweeted a photo of the couple’s wedding bands. “@nickdgordon #HappilyMarried SO#Inlove if you didn’t get it the first time that is,” she wrote in the picture of the couple’s hands. The…