culture
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Jay Z's Luxe Gift-Giving May Violate MLB's Rules
Looks like Jay Z may be in hot water again. The Major League Baseball Players Association is reportedly investigating the rapper-turned-sports-agent for giving his all-star client Robinson Cano a $33,900 limited edition Shawn Carter Classic Fusion watch by Hublot, ESPN.com reports. According to the sports website, Cano received the exclusive watch, designed by Jay Z, as…
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How Diversity Will Alter Black History
(The Root)—This is part 3 of a three-part series. To see the previous stories, click here and here. Time was, the social construct of the one-drop rule made United States history either black or white. The rule emerged from the South as a way to facilitate slavery and implement Jim Crow segregation. But while the…
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Yes, Interracial Couples Can Handle '12 Years a Slave'
I’m planning to get a group of friends together to go see 12 Years a Slave, and most of us have read the reviews and are prepared for how harrowing it will be and the way it will depict the horrors of slavery. However, I’ve seen from what black friends and acquaintances share on Facebook…
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Kanye Wears Confederate Flag into Barneys
As if rocking the confederate flag wasn’t enough, Kanye West was photographed coming out of Barneys, which has been steeped in controversy after several claims of targeting black shoppers as criminals, aka “shopping while black.” According to Us magazine, which posted the photo of the egomaniacal rapper on their website, West apparently lambasted Barneys at…
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Roland Martin Hosts New TV News Show
Houston journalist Roland Martin debuted his new TV news show Monday, set to focus on the important news of the day from an African-American perspective, the Houston Chronicle reports. The platform, which has been a lifelong dream of Martin’s, is a one-hour program that will run alongside the final hour of his three-hour morning radio…
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It's Handled, Gladiators. ‘Pope’ Is a Verb
(The Root)—It was bound to happen eventually. After two-and-a-half seasons of melodramatic conquests, the natives out there in TV land have been sufficiently immersed in Scandal-ese. Fans of the hit show have relished in having their own shorthand—simple phrases like “It’s handled” and “gladiators in suits,” to name a few—an instantly recognizable patois that sets…
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Man Found Guilty of Murdering Sean Taylor
A 23-year-old man was convicted of armed burglary and second-degree murder in the 2007 shooting death of the Washington Redskins’ Sean Taylor, ESPN.com reports. Eric Rivera Jr., who could face life in prison, confessed to shooting Taylor shortly after he was arrested, but once on the stand he changed his story, claiming that his confession…
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'Keisha' Ditches Black Name, Becomes 'Kylie'
After enduring taunts and insults about her name, a 19-year-old biracial teen decided she’d had enough. Keisha Austin will now be forever known as Kylie Austin, the Kansas City Star reports. Gone is the birth name given to her by her white mother because she believed it represented a strong, feminine, beautiful black woman. “I…
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Toyota Donates Hybrid Vehicles to HBCUs
Hybrid vehicles, even with their amazing gas-to-mileage ratio, don’t resonate with people of color. So Toyota announced plans to donate 22 Prius hybrid vehicles to select HBCUs across the Southwestern Atlantic, NewsOne reports. School administrators will be granted one-year leases on the 50-mile-per-gallon vehicles as a part of the Toyota Green Initiative (TGI) program that…
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DC Council to Vote on Redskins Name Change
The 13-member D.C. Council will vote today on a resolution calling for the Washington Redskins to change the team name as, “the right and prudent thing to do,” the Washington Post reports. While the ruling would have no legal weight in forcing team owner Daniel Synder to change the team name, it does send another…