culture
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Barneys Hires Civil Rights Expert
Day 3 of Barneys-gate: In an attempt to stop the bleeding from claims made by two shoppers, the CEO of Barneys New York has issued a Facebook apology and hired a civil rights expert to review the treatment of customers, the New York Post reports. The move comes days after two young African Americans claimed…
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Domestic Violence and the Toll on Black Women
At the Huffington Post, Josh Sugarmann, executive director of the Violence Policy Center, writes in response to an alarming new study from his organization about the rates at which black women are murdered by men. The high toll gun violence exacts on black males is all too well known. Less known is the fact that black…
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'12 Years a Slave': Horrors Hard to Sell?
The brutal honesty of 12 Years a Slave could make it difficult for the critically acclaimed film to make it into the mainstream. The film’s distributor, Fox Searchlight, is aware that showing slavery in an authentic light may be difficult for some viewers to watch, the Los Angeles Times reports. An unflinching look at whippings,…
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'Scandal' Recap: Last Night's 10 Best Quotes
(The Root) — There’s nothing like a nice, juicy Cyrus Beene quote. Pretty much everything the cheeky chief of staff says can be applied to any real-life situation if you try hard enough. To wit, if someone cuts you in line at the coffee shop, just stick them with a snarling, “You might be animal,…
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When Misspellings Mar Your Ancestry Search
(The Root) — “One line of my family tree, surname Hereford, has lived in the area of Huntsville, Ala., since at least the early 1900s. In researching this line via U.S. census documents, I have found the last name to be spelled multiple different ways, including ‘Heriford’ and ‘Hurford.’ I have been able to find…
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Wither TV's 'Strong Black Woman' Trope?
Kerry Washington’s role as Olivia Pope on Scandal and Nicole Beharie’s as Abbie Mills on Sleepy Hollow have effectively helped dismantle the age-old television stereotype of the strong, stoic black woman as they portray characters who are allowed to be emotional. “Olivia Pope and Abbie Mills push against the idea of the Strong Black Woman…
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GOP Chair Resigns After Racist 'Daily Show' Interview
A North Carolina county precinct GOP chair resigned under pressure for, well, saying what was really on his mind during a racist interview on Comedy Central’s The Daily Show. Nathan West, a spokesman for the Buncombe County Republican Party, confirmed Don Yelton’s resignation and acknowledged that it was indeed in direct response to the interview,…
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Move Over, Kerry Washington
The 1980s CBS hit Murder She Wrote is coming back, and Oscar winner Octavia Spencer will star as the amateur sleuth made famous by Angela Lansbury. This will be the first regular television role for Spencer since her breakout performance in The Help, according to Deadline. While NBC has yet to fully commit to the…
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Yaya Touré Threatens a World Cup Boycott
If Russia doesn’t get a handle on its soccer fans, the 2018 World Cup could be devoid of one prominent color: black. Yaya Touré — the Manchester City, England, midfielder from the Ivory Coast who claims he had to endure monkey chants from Russian fans this past week during a match against CSKA Moscow —…
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When a 'Redskin' Is in the Family
(Special to The Root) — I never knew my maternal grandfather’s mother. She was one of my great-grandmothers. Her name was Alice Apple Woods. And she was a Native American. Her name came up this week as I watched a PBS documentary, The African Americans: Many Rivers to Cross with my 11-year-old son, Cole. I…