culture
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House Republicans' Attack on Women's Health
Planned Parenthood President Cecile Richards, writing at CNN, puts the spotlight on a little-noticed amendment that far-right House Republicans passed amid the government-shutdown fracas that would essentially allow employers and insurers to refuse to cover women’s preventive health care because of personal and “moral” objections. This would include birth control, HPV testing, breast-feeding services and…
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Shellie Zimmerman's Doubts Come Too Late
The time for Shellie Zimmerman to raise questions about her husband George Zimmerman’s innocence was before or during his second-degree-murder trial in the shooting death of Trayvon Martin. They’re immaterial now that he’s been acquitted, Charing Ball argues in a spot-on piece at Madame Noire. Well I see Shellie Zimmerman has been in the news,…
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Jon Stewart Hits Fox for Mocking Poor Hurt by Shutdown
Comedy Central’s Daily Show host Jon Stewart launched into a diatribe against Fox News Radio host Todd Starnes, who sneered at Democrats affected by the government shutdown. He said they would start receiving “potted meat and Tang and get in [their] survival bunker,” the Raw Story reports. “[F—k] you,” Stewart said after a few seconds…
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Georgia Slave Descendants Could Lose Homes in Tax Battle
In a battle that could wipe out one of the nation’s oldest African-American communities, residents of Georgia’s Sapelo Island are locked in a fight with local officials over tax hikes of up to 600 percent. As a result, residents of the small Hog Hammock community say they could be taxed out of their homes and…
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What Would Olivia Pope Say?
(The Root) — We’ve already got a list of questions that we’re dying to have answered in the coming season of Scandal, and, well, we just can’t wait for the premiere to satiate our curiosity. I sit down with the people at the center of the all drama — Olivia, Harrison, Abby, Huck and Quinn…
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Katie Couric Tackles Racial Profiling
(The Root) — Katie Couric has spent most of her career being known for her perky disposition and ability to transition seamlessly from interviewing a celebrity about a new movie to discussing a politician’s latest campaign. She is not exactly known for being a thought leader in the never-ending national conversation on race. But on…
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Please Stop Assuming All Blacks Are Christian
(The Root) — “I’m so frustrated. Just because I’m black/African American doesn’t mean I’m Christian. I was raised in a home where we attended church, but during college I decided to officially call myself an atheist. Yet other black people are constantly assuming that I have a ‘church home’ or saying they will pray for…
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President of Howard University Resigns
(The Root) — Howard University President Sidney Ribeau is stepping down, expected to officially leave his post at the end of this year. The news, which broke Tuesday afternoon, came as a shock, even as the university has struggled recently. Howard alumnus Wayne Frederick, 42, has been named interim president. In 2012, when Frederick was…
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Voter-ID Laws Stifle Registration and Voting
The New York Times Editorial Board is taking the proponents of voter-ID laws to task in a piece that delineates the judicial fights under way in North Carolina, Texas and Kansas. The board says the proposed voter-ID laws in each state “have nothing to do with stopping the nonexistent threat of voter fraud and everything…
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Marissa Alexander and How Laws Devalue Women
In Salon magazine, Brittney Cooper argues that because laws don’t do enough to protect women like Marissa Alexander from their violent husbands, women often find themselves in dangerous situations where they are forced to protect themselves. In Marissa Alexander’s case, she inadvertently encountered her husband, a man against whom she had a restraining order, when she went…