culture
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Let's Celebrate Howard University
Is it Howard University’s job to pave the way for its own obsolescence? That’s one of the questions The Atlantic‘s Ta-Nehisi Coates explores as he takes a colorful trip down memory lane at his alma mater and laments the challenges that HBCUs now face. His son is 13 years old and just starting to think…
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Sanford Bans Neighborhood-Watch Guns
The city of Sanford, Fla., is now prohibiting its civilian neighborhood-watch team from carrying firearms on patrol, following the 2012 incident in which then-neighborhood-watch leader George Zimmerman shot and killed Trayvon Martin, an unarmed black teenager, Yahoo! News reports. This change of rules is aimed at preventing another such incident — which shook the state…
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Feds Open Investigation Into Kendrick Johnson's Death
The parents of Kendrick Johnson, the teen who was found dead and wedged inside a rolled-up gym mat in his Georgia high school, got one step closer to getting some answers. Michael Moore, the U.S. attorney for the Middle District of Georgia, announced on Thursday that he is committed to finding out the truth behind…
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Introducing Sen. Cory Booker
(The Root) — Cory Booker is officially a U.S. senator. Vice President Joe Biden swore in the former Newark, N.J., mayor, known for his boots-to-the-ground approach to governing, at noon today in the Old Senate Chamber of the U.S. Capitol. While the event was technically open to the public, viewers were not allowed in to…
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Va. Governor Hopeful Appeals to Blacks, Youth
As the race for Virginia’s governor heats up between Attorney General Ken Cuccinelli II and Terry McAuliffe, Democrats are pulling out all the stops to lure African Americans and young voters to the polls, the Washington Post reports. McAuliffe has taken to an Obama secret weapon, the “pledge card,” a promissory note that serves as…
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Vitamin D Deficiency Linked to Preterm Births in Black Women
Black women are more likely to deliver premature babies when a vitamin D deficiency is found during pregnancy, a new study, led by the University of Pittsburgh Graduate School of Public Health, has found. According to the research, which included Puerto Rican women, premature birth in nonwhite mothers naturally going into labor before the pregnancy…
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Survival First When Facing Street Harasser
(The Root) — “When a guy asks for your number on the street and you say, ‘I have a man,’ and he says, ‘Your man doesn’t let you have friends?’ How do you put an end to this convo? Apparently I’m answering wrong, because when I do it opens up dialogue, which results in me…