culture
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Birthday Party Ends in Shooting, 2 Dead
Police in Houston are still trying to piece together how a teen’s 18th-birthday house party turned into a mass shooting, leaving two kids dead and 22 people wounded. Around 11 p.m. Saturday night the party—which was heavily promoted on Twitter and Facebook—was in full swing. “Out of no apparent provocation, someone discharged a firearm in…
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Incognito: Jonathan Martin Also Sent Threatening Texts
The bizarre story of locker room racism and bullying continues to get more bizarre. Richie Incognito took to Fox Sports to defend using racist and profane language with Jonathan Martin, saying that doing so was a part of the Miami Dolphins “brotherhood.” He also emphasized that he “is not a racist,” and for anyone to…
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Slavery Isn’t Just Black People’s Burden
I don’t have much of a poker face. This became obvious this spring when I toured Monticello, Thomas Jefferson’s mountaintop home in Charlottesville, Va., for the first time. I watched a 60ish white tour guide stumble over a question about Jefferson’s black descendants, then awkwardly change the subject. I cocked my head to the left.…
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Moms and Sons: Leading Boys to Become Men
After a rougher than normal day, my son’s resistance proved to be exactly what I needed. Doubt stalks single mothers raising sons, like shadows on sunny days. It’s a hard feeling to shake when you’ve never been a little boy and you’re really just guessing what it takes to make a man. I’m equipped to…
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Who Were the Harlem Hellfighters?
Editor’s note: For those who are wondering about the retro title of this black-history series, please take a moment to learn about historian Joel A. Rogers, author of the 1934 book 100 Amazing Facts About the Negro With Complete Proof, to whom these “amazing facts” are an homage. Amazing Fact About the Negro No. 54:…
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Dear Kanye: We Used to Love You
Dear Kanye, I must admit that you had me going for a while. Your musical genius was once without precedent, and no one this side of Wu-Tang’s the RZA could match your ability to turn even the most obscure audio clip into the bedrock of a hit record. I truly believed you were the “new…
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'Scandal' Recap: Between a Rock and a Heartache
Admit it. You were more than a little disappointed when it turned out that Olivia’s mom wasn’t Whitley Gilbert. How awesome would that have been? Still, despite the glaring omission of A Different World-meets-Scandal mashup that “I love the ‘90s” afterschool specials are made of, this week’s episode of everyone’s favorite melodrama was all about…
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How Did My Free Bajan Ancestor End Up in North Carolina?
My great-great-grandfather Sandy Powell Sr. moved to North Carolina in the late 19th century. The story is that he came from Barbados after 1865, as a free man. No one knows why or under what conditions. We don’t know from where in Barbados he traveled, either. Was he part of a larger migration from the…
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'Urban Terrorism' in Detroit and No One Noticed
The gunman had a beef with the guys gambling in the back of Al’s Barber Shop in Detroit, so he strapped on body armor and shot into the crowd of people Wednesday evening. At least one man in the crowd returned fire. In total three men were killed and six were wounded. The police have…
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Even the KKK Is Insulted by Kid’s Klansman Halloween Costume
When you offend the most notorious hate group in the United States of America with your Halloween costume, you might have gone a smidge too far. As it turns out, the Ku Klux Klan isn’t at all impressed, honored or pleased by a 7-year-old Virginia boy’s Halloween costume, which imitated the long, white robes of…