culture
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Jesse Owens’ Gold Medal Fetches Record Price
A 1936 Olympics gold medal won by Jesse Owens sold for $1,466,574 early Sunday morning, the highest price ever paid for a piece of Olympics memorabilia, ESPN reports. Owens won the gold medal at the games in Berlin and later gifted it to his good friend, entertainer Bill “Bojangles” Robinson, who died in 1949. The…
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Exclusive: Black Girls Rock! Founder Hits Back at Insulting #whitegirlsrock
When I heard about the “#whitegirlsrock” hashtag that trended on Twitter, my immediate reaction was, “Well, duh! Of course white girls rock. Are they unaware?” White women’s beauty, talent, diversity and worldly contributions are affirmed everywhere: on billboards, on television, in magazines and in textbooks. However, the breadth and depth of the beauty, intellect, work…
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Victim Calls Knockout Game a Myth
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…
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South Africans Hold Day of Prayer for Mandela
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…
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Why Westboro Baptist Church Plans to Protest Mandela’s Funeral
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…
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College Student Goes Online to Rent a Family for the Holidays
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…
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Fired BP Exec Told to Save Braids and Dashiki for Black History Month
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…
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Day of Action Unites Students, Teachers in Protest
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…
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SC Sheriff Won’t Lower Flag to Honor Mandela
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…
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St. Louis Woman Lied About ‘Knockout Game’ Attack
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,…