culture
-
White House Planning First Lady Michelle Obama’s 50th Birthday
First lady Michelle Obama is turning 50 on Jan. 17, and the White House plans to hold—wait for it, yes—a dance party! The party, to be held the following day, will be called, “Snacks & Sips & Dancing & Dessert,” according to Politico, which cites a report at the Chicago Tribune. Save-the-date emails are being…
-
Trayvon Martin Nativity Scene at California Church Protests Violence
A Southern California church, known for its cutting-edge Christmas displays, this year features a bleeding Trayvon Martin in its Nativity scene as part of a commentary on violence, the Raw Story reports. The artist, John Zachary, said that George Zimmerman’s acquittal this summer in the shooting death of the unarmed 17-year-old deserved further discussion. To…
-
Christmas Nightmare: 2 NJ Teens Killed, 1 Critically Injured in Shooting
After unwrapping gifts and celebrating Christmas, two teens died Wednesday in Newark, N.J., amid a hail of bullets intended for someone else, according to the Daily News, citing reports from police and neighbors. Hours after Zainee Hailey, 13, opened her gifts, including a Kindle, a $100 gift card and a watch, she and a visitor,…
-
New Video Footage: Clue to Michigan Doctor’s Disappearance?
When 30-year-old physician Teleka Patrick vanished nearly three weeks ago, few people reported seeing her after she left work. Now video footage released from the Radisson Hotel in Kalamazoo, Mich., on Dec. 6, the evening of her disappearance, provides more clues for investigators about that fateful night, ABC News reports. In the video, she can…
-
KKK Fliers Found in Chicago Neighborhood
Police are investigating the presence of the Ku Klux Klan in a Chicago suburb after several fliers touting the infamous hate group were distributed in the Tinley Park neighborhood this week, the Chicago Tribune reports. “You can sleep tonight knowing the Klan is awake!” one flier read, according to police. The flier from the Traditionalist…
-
LAPD Off-Duty Officer Saves Man From Burning Car
Los Angeles Police Department Bomb Squad officer Don Thompson didn’t know he would become a hero on his way to work Christmas afternoon. The 26-year veteran of the LAPD was driving on Los Angeles’ 405 Freeway when he saw a car crash. “I saw this car just veer into the retaining wall,” Thompson told ABC…
-
Stop Making Jokes About Kwanzaa—Seriously
I don’t celebrate Kwanzaa. Or I haven’t, at least, since the days of green-and-red-draped Black Student Union programs in high school. I admit that I couldn’t list the names of its seven principles and their accompanying meanings from memory if you held a lit candle to my head. A focus on this celebration—created in 1966…
-
Family Moving Brain-Dead Teen to Nursing Home
The family of Jahi McMath, the 13-year-old girl who has been declared brain-dead after a tonsillectomy gone wrong, is hoping to transfer her to a nursing facility that is willing to continue to care for her, the Associated Press reports. In order for the teen to be accepted at a nursing home, doctors at Children’s…
-
Father Charged With DUI After 4-Year-Old Son Is Ejected From Car
Franklin Jackson, 46, was driving with his wife and kids on a Chicago expressway when he lost control of the blue and gray Ford Expedition and slammed into a guardrail. The allegedly drunk Jackson kept driving and stopped at a gas station to assess the damage done to the SUV when he realized that his…
-
African Journalists Could Face Prison Over Investigative Reports
In the obituaries and remembrances of Nelson Mandela, many have written about the journey that led him from being a lawyer to an anti-apartheid activist, to 27 years of imprisonment to becoming the nation’s first black president. Some in the media have argued about the sanitizing of the image of Mandela, who was once considered…