culture
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$350 Belt Sparks a Wrongful Arrest
(The Root) — When President Obama delivered remarks on the issue of race and racial profiling in the aftermath of the Trayvon Martin verdict, he said the following: “There are very few African-American men in this country who haven’t had the experience of being followed when they were shopping in a department store. That includes…
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Why Is Al Sharpton Renting an Apartment in Chicago?
On Sunday in Chicago, while in town for several preaching engagements and to promote his new book, The Rejected Stone, the Rev. Al Sharpton announced that he is renting an apartment on the West Side of Chicago. Sharpton is making good on an announcement he made back in July, saying that he planned on taking…
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Are Geisha Costumes Always Racist?
(The Root) — “Help me settle a debate with my roommate. I’m white and she is of mixed heritage: African American and Japanese. However, she was raised by her African-American father and is not very much in touch with her Asian side. She plans to be a geisha for Halloween, and my opinion is that…
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Stressed-Out Parents Need Alternatives to Spanking
Children who are spanked often go on to have higher levels of behavioral problems and low vocabulary scores by age 9, Columbia School of Social Work associate professor Michael MacKenzie writes in a piece at CNN. As a researcher, MacKenzie challenges experts in his field to do a better job communicating these findings to time-strapped parents.…
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NFL Making Headway With Race but Needs to Hire More Women
The NFL has made efforts to hire more people of color, the Associated Press’ Steve Reed reports at the Huffington Post, but the league should strengthen its “gender hiring practices.” The NFL received its fourth consecutive A grade for its racial hiring practices amid concerns over a significant drop in minority head coaches this season.…
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'12 Years a Slave' a Reminder That Male Slaves Used Brawn and Brains
At The Atlantic, Noah Berlatsky writes that unlike Django Unchained and Glory, 12 Years a Slave shows how some male slaves survived by using their brains, not just their brawn. Berlatsky also suggests that because the movie didn’t feature a combative male main character, the female characters developed in a substantive and authentic way. If…
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$50 Million to Save Black and Brown Boys
(Special to The Root) — Imagine that you walk into the newborn-nursery ward at an American hospital and you see 100 babies in their bassinets. You are then informed that 33 of these babies will spend time in jail or prison. This is the reality today for African-American males born in our country. As a…
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Black Waitress Claims She Was Fired Over Highlights
And once again black hair is in the news — this time the story is about blond highlights. When 25-year-old Farryn Johnson of Baltimore decided to put blond streaks in her hair, she didn’t think it would be a big deal. After all, working at Hooters, she had seen many women show up at work…
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Kanye West and Kim Kardashian Are Engaged
By all accounts it was a made-for-TV moment, and considering the people involved, we just might see it on the small screen. Monday night, for Kim Kardashian’s 33rd birthday, Kanye West proposed to her in front of friends and family at AT&T Park in San Francisco, Eonline.com is reporting. The reality-television superstar said yes to…
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Diddy Launches Revolt TV
On Monday at 8 p.m. EDT, more than 34 million homes had access to Sean “Diddy” Combs’ new brainchild, Revolt TV, according to the Hollywood Reporter. The new cable channel, which is available to 22 million Comcast subscribers and 12 million Time Warner Cable customers, is Diddy’s major play into the television world. In launching…