culture
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Philadelphia Cop Video Shows Problems With Stop and Frisk
At the Nation, Mychal Denzel Smith says that a viral video of white Philadelphia police officers harassing black pedestrians highlights the inherent problems in stop and frisk and underscores a larger problem in America — racism. This video was recorded on September 27 and uploaded to YouTube a few days later. It has recently made…
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Tea Party: Obamacare Was Never Approved
The Daily Beast‘s Jamelle Bouie examines the Tea Party’s plans for its next battle against President Obama in the aftermath of its devastating shutdown defeat. Members are now charging that Americans never approved the Affordable Care Act, he says. This was supposed to be Jim DeMint’s moment. As head of the Heritage Foundation, chief sponsor…
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Why Marvin Winans' Refusal to Bless Baby Reflects Poor Theology
Pastor Marvin Winans missed an opportunity to begin “training a child up” when he recently refused to bless the son of an unwed mother, writes Washington Post columnist Rahiel Tesfamariam. Prominent pastor Marvin Winans of Perfecting Church in Detroit joins a growing list of preachers who have recently made headlines for taking theological positions that…
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'12 Years a Slave' Opens Strong at the Box Office
Fox Searchlight’s 12 Years a Slave, directed by Steve McQueen and starring Chiwetel Ejifor, triumphed this weekend at the box office during its limited opening in 19 theaters, grossing $960,000, Deadline Hollywood reports. Searchlight said Sunday that the film, produced by New Regency, reached an “incredibly diverse audience,” adding, “We have been attracting both…
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Pastor Marvin Winans: Wrong to Not Bless Son of Unwed Mom?
A young Detroit mother was heartbroken recently when her request was denied to have her 2-year-old son blessed by famed gospel singer and pastor Marvin Winans during a special ceremony. Why? Well, it seems that Winans, pastor of the Perfecting Church in Detroit, has a strict policy of not blessing the babies of unwed mothers…
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NAACP Names Female Interim President
(The Root) — The NAACP Saturday announced that Lorraine C. Miller, a member of the national board of directors since 2008, would become interim president and CEO of the 104-year-old organization. In doing so, she’s the organization’s first interim president and the first woman to fill the president-executive secretary’s role since 1916, a spokesman told…
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Skip Gates for President — of Howard U
(The Root) — The “Best Colleges” rankings from US News & World Report are usually an opportunity for many colleges and universities to go into PR overdrive to attract the best and brightest to their campuses. For other schools, it’s an opportunity to take stock of their aspirational goals. For Howard University, the school’s decline…
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How the Shutdown Mirrored Slavery in the US
Writing at Salon, Andrew O’Hehir says that the poisonous effects of white supremacy, clearly depicted in 12 Years a Slave, “endure in American politics” and were on full display during the 16-day shutdown of the federal government. Five years before the beginning of the Civil War, Robert E. Lee – future commander of the Confederate States of…
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Does America Need a White President?
Kirsten West Savali, writing at News One, tackles the recent claim of black Tea Party activist Kevin Jackson that America needs a white, Republican president to solve its race problems. In an article on his blog, The Black Sphere, Tea-Party activist Kevin Jackson opines that intra-racism has intensified in the United States since the election of President Barack Obama and,…
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Why Kim Kardashian Makes Me Sad
While Kim Kardashian’s post-baby physique looks great, she has essentially morphed into Kanye West’s personal blow-up doll, Michael Arceneaux laments at Clutch magazine. Kim Kardashian’s [a—] looks amazing on Instagram. I wouldn’t touch her even if I had Kanye West’s penis in my hand, but she gets a “gon’, girl” all the same. Still, all I could…