culture

(The Root) — The Atlanta Journal-Constitution is learning that social media and slavery tweets don’t mix. An Atlanta man named Willie Lynch recently was the winner of the $1 million Georgia lottery. Historically, “Willie Lynch” is believed to have been the name of a slave owner who gave a speech on how to control slaves…

One day after the Barneys belt scandal hit the press, another young black shopper has come out alleging that Barneys had her accosted and detained until she could prove that she could afford an expensive purse. Earlier this year, Kayla Phillips, a 21-year-old nursing student from Brooklyn, N.Y., decided to splurge on a $2,500 orange…

A Dutch Christmas tradition that includes whites donning blackface got a huge boost of support on Facebook, with 1 million likes in a single day. In keeping with the children’s story of Santa Claus — or Sinterklaas in Dutch — several “Black Pete” helpers with black faces, curly hair and bright red lips arrive by…

(The Root) — Funny thing happened on the way through the shutdown: While we were all understandably preoccupied with political chaos, Silicon Valley geeks were busily finding new ways to dismantle any notion of privacy on the Internet.  Facebook, always on an odious quest to pull our digital pants down, eliminated the option for users…

(The Root) — The film 12 Years a Slave is a virtuosic and unrelenting depiction of pre-Civil War American slavery as seen through the eyes of a free black man lured into human trafficking at best, and damnation at the very least. To some, it’s one superlative art form — Solomon Northup’s literary masterpiece of…

(The Root) — “My girlfriend and I are planning to visit my mother. She’s upset because my mother has told us we’ll have to sleep in separate rooms, since we are not married. My girlfriend says I let my mother push me around too much, but my mother has always had these rules. My girlfriend…

The African Americans: Many Rivers to Cross provides a rare and provocative view of American colonists as the architects of slavery and racism, Jamelle Bouie writes at the Daily Beast. It also takes a hard look at Africans who sold other Africans into slavery.  Even if you accept that race is a social construct, separated…

Renowned neurosurgeon and Obama critic Ben S. Carson writes at the Washington Times that it’s time to consider alternatives to the Affordable Care Act, just in case it fails. He explains what one option — patient-controlled health savings accounts — would entail. Rather than complain about Obamacare, it might be useful to begin to discuss…

In the aftermath of the controversy surrounding Grambling State football players’ protests over school conditions, Brittney Cooper explores at Salon how massive Republican-driven budget cuts have endangered the welfare of this Louisiana school and other HBCUs. I grew up down the road from Grambling, and learned my appreciation for black college football and band culture,…

A fifth-grade teacher in Fort Worth, Texas, has ignited a firestorm of controversy after he reportedly separated students by race last week and then hurled insults at them and their families, CBS 11 reports. The Fort Worth Independent School District is investigating the incident. The event occurred Friday during a music class at Hazel Harvey…