culture
-
Mixed Emotions About the ‘Knockout Game’
The “knockout” game has been a hot topic this past week, flooding Twitter timelines with YouTube clips and articles, sparking debates between friends and giving some people a reason to portray black youths as a detriment to society. The game—if you can call it that—is the latest trend in violent acts committed by youths in…
-
Bill Cosby's Far From Finished to Air on Comedy Central
You thought Bill Cosby was out of the limelight for good, but for some stars, retirement just isn’t an option—and it looks like it’ll be that way for this legend. It’s been 30 years since his last concert special, but now he’s back with Bill Cosby: Far From Finished, a 90-minute stand-up show that will…
-
Football Team Forfeits Game After Player's Home Is Spray-Painted With Graffiti
A Massachusetts high school football team is forfeiting the remainder of its games after a player’s house was sprayed-painted with racist graffiti, the Huffington Post reports. Lunenburg High School has canceled its remaining two games after the house of Isaac Phillips, 13 (whose mother is white and father is black) was scrawled with the message:…
-
Teen Playing ‘Knockout Game’ Gets Shot by Victim
A man standing on a corner in Michigan waiting for his 6-year-old daughter to be dropped off from school wasn’t too worried about the van he saw circle him twice. “I saw the van circle twice, and the second time three kids came out. I didn’t suspect anything. I hadn’t any enemies, or any reason…
-
Scandal Creator Shonda Rhimes to Pen Memoir
As if owning prime time television weren’t enough, Shonda Rhimes is looking to take over the literary genre. That’s right, the genius behind Grey’s Anatomy and Scandal has signed on with publishing powerhouse Simon & Schuster to write a memoir in 2015, Variety reports. “Simon and Schuster is crazy for giving me a book deal as I am clearly in…
-
Students Charged With Hate Crimes Against African-American Roommate
“Three-fifths” and “Fraction” are the names three white roommates at San Jose State University gave their black freshman roommate to remind him that there was a time when blacks were considered a fraction of a person. They also outfitted the room with a Confederate flag and wrote the n-word on a dry erase board. Then…
-
Sasha Obama Causes Unicorn-Sweater Hysteria
When Sasha Obama went to the Comcast Center to watch her Uncle Craig’s Oregon State Beavers destroy the Maryland Terps last Sunday, I doubt she thought her black sweater with the unicorn on the front was making a fashion statement. Turns out, her sweater was the real winner that night—at least for ASOS. The online…
-
Benjamin Crump: 'Zimmerman Belongs Behind Bars'
On Tuesday, an admitted killer walked free—again. And after a Florida judge set George Zimmerman’s bail at a mere $9,000, he was able to make bond—and walk away hours later—after his second arrest in connection with a domestic disturbance following his acquittal in the shooting death of Trayvon Martin. Pending trial, Seminole County Judge Fred…
-
Left of Black With Public Enemy’s Chuck D
For his Web series this week, Left of Black host Mark Anthony Neal is joined by Chuck D of Public Enemy and his wife, Gaye Theresa Johnson. Professor Johnson teaches in the Department of Black Studies at the University of California, Santa Barbara.
-
Alabama Posthumously Pardons 3 Scottsboro Boys
It was one of those events that helped sparked the modern civil rights movement, prompting protests over racial injustice and two milestone decisions by the U.S. Supreme Court. In 1931 a group of nine black teenagers were fighting false charges that they had raped two white women. All of them ended up serving time after…