culture
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When Whites Gawk at Black Performance
In a piece at Slate, Aisha Harris describes how white people are often peculiarly fascinated by black performance, and how their praise and gawking can often be demonstrative of a “fetishization” of black people and black culture. I get it — most white people rarely ever have to consider their whiteness in social settings, so they…
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Another Crisis: Debt Ceiling Looms
(The Root) — The government is facing an economic catastrophe this week that could affect everything from mortgage interest rates to food stamps. If Congress doesn’t reach an agreement on raising the debt ceiling — the amount the country can borrow to pay its bills — the U.S. could begin to default on its loan…
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Rihanna's Tweets Land a Man in Jail
Like most entertainers, Rihanna uses social media to connect with her fans from around the world, as well as promote her entire life to maintain her notoriety and fame in the public eye. But all that tweeting and Instagramming may be doing others more harm than good. A bar owner in Thailand has been apprehended…
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Is Nicole Beharie TV's Next Kerry Washington?
To those who never found the Scandal bandwagon appealing, who think Kerry Washington’s performance as Olivia Pope has always been a tad over the top, yet who feel it’s important to support shows with a person of color in the lead: The people at Fox would like you to meet Nicole Beharie. The Juilliard-trained actress…
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Can Social Media Be Deadly?
The Miami Herald‘s Leonard Pitts Jr. checks in our growing tendency to focus on our screens instead of at what’s in front of us. The observation comes after the recent incident when San Francisco commuters were so engrossed in technology that they missed a man brandishing a handgun then shooting a passenger in the head.…
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Anti-Poverty Programs: Not Just for Mothers and Children
The federal government’s anti-poverty programs have largely ignored a vast number of childless adults living in poverty, the New York Times editorial board writes in a piece that disassembles the Republican Party’s relentless assault on the programs. For impoverished Americans, the biggest obstacle to health insurance remains the refusal of 26 mostly Republican-led states to expand their…
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Is Jesse Jackson Wrong About 'Obamacare'?
Writing at BET, Keith Boykin dissects the Rev. Jesse Jackson Sr.’s recent tweet that Obamacare is a derogatory term coined by failed Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney that should be retired. No matter what it’s called, Boykin argues, it’s time to put the beleaguered law to work. Rev. Jesse Jackson made an unusual announcement this week. On…
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Why the Senate Is Taking the Lead in Shutdown Talks
As the federal government shutdown heads into its second week, Senate leaders are poised to take over talks in an effort to reopen offices and avert a potential debt default. President Barack Obama met Saturday at the Oval Office with Democratic Senate leaders, including Majority Leader Harry Reid of Nevada and Dick Durban of Illinois,…
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Watch This: Malala Yousafzai Stuns Jon Stewart With Bravery
Comedy Central’s The Daily Show host Jon Stewart was left nearly speechless after 16-year-old Nobel Prize-nominee Malala Yousafzai, who survived a brutal attack by the Taliban last year because of her support for education, told him what she would do in the face of another assault. “I would tell him how important education is, and…
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Is CodeBlack Changing Hollywood's Approach to Black Viewers?
At the Wrap‘s Lucas Shaw says that CodeBlack Entertainment, a small, revitalized production company, hopes to be at the center of a Hollywood renaissance of films about African Americans, including Lee Daniels’ The Butler and Oscar hopeful 12 Years a Slave. For 15 years, Jeff Clanagan sold comedy specials and faith-based movies to people watching at…