culture

A Pittsburgh teacher who reportedly was knocked out during a random attack refuses to attribute the incident to an alleged trend, known as the knockout game, the Huffington Post reports. James Addlespurger, seen on video in October 2012 getting hit in the head, told the Huffington Post that he views the attack as an “assault, plain…

South African President Nelson Mandela was remembered Sunday during a day of prayer in his country—“from a vaulted cathedral with hymns and incense to a rural, hilltop church with goat-skin drums and barefoot dancing,” the Associated Press reports. The day precedes a Tuesday memorial at a Johannesburg stadium that is expected to draw a wide…

Members of Westboro Baptist Church reportedly plan to fly to South Africa to protest the funeral of Nelson Mandela, News One reports. The 95-year-old former South African leader died on Dec. 5. In an outrageous claim, the fringe group took to Twitter to announce the protest, calling Mandela an adulterer who does not deserve to…

A 26-year-old California college student who comes from a broken and dysfunctional home took to Craigslist to seek a family with whom she could spend the holidays. Jackie Turner, a student at William Jessup University in Rocklin, Calif., who reportedly suffered a range of abuse as a child, wrote a heartrending ad in which she…

A former BP executive has sued her former employer in California’s Orange County Superior Court, saying she was fired by British Petroleum Oil Co. and replaced with a younger white male, after a series of racial complaints, the Courthouse News Service reports.  Melphine Evans filed the suit against BP West Coast Products, BP Products North…

Eighteen-year-old Tre Murphy, a native of Baltimore, has been active in social justice concerns since the age of 12, he says. But on Monday, his activism will take an urgent and personal turn when he plans to participate in the National Day of Action for education. He is among thousands of young people from more…

A South Carolina sheriff has refused to lower the American flag to honor former South African president Nelson Mandela, arguing that the singular leader was not an American. Mandela died Thursday at the age of 95. The decision by Pickens County Sheriff Rick Clark essentially ignores an executive order from President Obama calling on all flags at…

A 23-year-old St. Louis woman and her 25-year-old boyfriend have been charged with filing a false report to police, just weeks after claiming that the woman was the victim of a knockout-game attack. St. Louis Police said that Ashley Depew was not a victim of one of the random attacks that have commanded nationwide attention,…

A white Massachusetts mother, whose biracial son was the alleged target of racist graffiti scrawled on the side of their home, is now at the center of the investigation, the Huffington Post reports. Police are examining handwriting samples of the mother, Andrea Brazier, after she reportedly said, “OK” when an FBI agent investigating the potential…

Fans of ABC’s Scandal will have to make do with four fewer episodes this season. Yes, it’s a scandal for acolytes of the stylishly smart and transgressive Olivia Pope character, but there’s likely a good reason. Although the network did not offer an explanation for why it will broadcast 18 instead of 22 episodes, the Associated Press…