culture
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Does Being on 'SNL' Really Matter?
(The Root) — Maybe Lorne Michaels doesn’t have Facebook. That would explain how the eternal executive producer of Saturday Night Live, the launching pad of enviable comedy careers since 1975, is having trouble finding black comedians to star on his show. Because — let the Internet tell it — there are tons of black female…
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How Racial Bias Hurts Searches for Missing Black Kids
Citing the case of autistic 14-year-old Avonte Oquendo of New York City, who disappeared two weeks ago, Stacia L. Brown, writing at Salon, explores how racial bias can hamper investigations of missing minorities. Bias, she says, could also prevent passersby from helping the disabled teen and keep the media from reporting the story. In the…
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91 Years Old and Still Teaching
Editor’s note: This article first appeared in the Vineyard Gazette (www.mvgazette.com) and is reprinted here with permission. When Charlotte Holloman was a little girl, only 8 years old, she and her parents visited the summer home of Harry T. Burleigh on Martha’s Vineyard. Mr. Burleigh, best known for his instrumental role in arranging and publishing…
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Why Police Want to Share Profiling Data
(The Root) — “Six or seven years ago, I was sitting around writing a piece for public consumption. I thought, ‘What I could use here are some stats on racial profiling and police brutality.’ There were none — there are none. We just don’t have the numbers, and that’s because there’s no mandatory reporting.” That’s…
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'Preachers of L.A.' No Excuse Not to Go to Church
Nikki Woods argues in a piece at BlackAmericaWeb that the extravagant lifestyles of pastors depicted on the Oxygen network’s reality show Preachers of L.A. are no justification for turning away from the black church. Were you one of the 1.1 million viewers who tuned into the [premiere] of the new hit reality show “Preachers of…
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Is the GOP Trying to Block the Election of a Black Republican?
In a piece at The Guardian, black conservative commentator Crystal Wright hits her own party for failing to make good on its promise to reach out to minorities. Nearly a year after GOP presidential candidate Mitt Romney lost the 2012 election, Republicans have resorted to subversive tactics in an Illinois congressional race to thwart the…
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Cory Booker to Preside Over Same-Sex Marriages
Updated Friday, Oct. 18, 3:30 p.m. EDT: Same-sex couples will be allowed to marry in the state of New Jersey once the clock strikes midnight on Monday, Oct. 21. According to USA Today, the New Jersey Supreme Court has denied the request from Gov. Chris Christie’s administration to put the weddings on hold until after…
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Whites Outnumber Blacks at an HBCU
(The Root) — When Bluefield State College opened in the late 19th century, it was created to educate the children of black coal miners in segregated West Virginia. But political change, economic upheavals and changing demographics have resulted in a change in complexion at the HBCU. Today it is 90 percent white, according to NPR.…
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'Scandal' Recap: It's All About the Hair
(The Root) — Somebody’s three-quarter-inch barrel curler was working overtime on last night’s episode of Scandal, from the disintegration of Olivia’s always epic side flip to Mellie’s lightweight lion’s mane. Hair — specifically its undoing — told the real story. The show opened with a flashback to lil’ Liv confronting her father, Darth Vader, er,…
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New Jersey Teachers Fired for Calling Students 'Negroes'
Sometimes tone defines a word more than the dictionary. Brigitte Geiger and Sharon Jones, two physical education high school teachers in Mount Olive, N.J., have officially had their tenure revoked after referring to African-American students as “Negroes,” according to NJ.com. Brigitte Geiger and Sharon Jones were brought up on six administrative charges by Larrie Reynolds,…