culture

In the Las Vegas Sun, Clarence Page debunks the Republican Party’s perception that blacks are the primary recipients of food stamps, saying, “a California surfer dude has become the new ‘welfare queen.’ ” Republicans who voted last week to cut food stamp benefits represent most of the counties that experienced the largest growth in food…

In the New York Times, Charles M. Blow equates the Republican Party’s efforts to stall President Obama’s economic progress to Herman Melville’s iconic revenge-seeking Captain Ahab, who engaged in a failed pursuit to slay Moby Dick, a great white whale. “America’s national interests are subordinate to their selfish ones,” he writes. The House Republican caucus is…

The beats were bumping and the rhymes flowing on Late Night With Jimmy Fallon the other night when the host featured a hip-hop version of the Sesame Street theme song. Jimmy Fallon and The Roots were joined by Sesame Street characters Thursday to celebrate the children’s show’s 44th season by playing its theme song on…

Finally, in a bit of good news for Detroit, the Obama administration announced plans Friday to provide the beleaguered city with $100 million in federal funds to help hire more police, firefighters and workers to improve blighted areas, according to the Associated Press. The total economic recovery package is about $300 million, which includes $200…

(The Root) — “I am trying to figure out if my Virginia ancestor, Squire Martin, is the same one in the U.S. Colored Troops from the Civil War. He is listed in the Civil War muster rolls as a private in the 55th Regiment, U.S. Colored Infantry. He was 35 years old, and his birthplace…

(The Root) — “Everybody here wants to be a designer, so how do you make your clothes popular?” one ambitious student asks of two established women in fashion during a career day of sorts at New York’s High School of Fashion Industries. “If anyone knew that for sure — ” starts Patti Y. Carpenter. “They’d be…

Marc H. Morial, president and CEO of the National Urban League, writes at the New Pittsburgh Courier that Hollywood releases like Lee Daniels’ The Butler serve as poignant reminders that there are still lessons to be learned from history. He connects historical events with current events like Trayvon Martin’s death and the Supreme Court’s dismantling of the Voting…

Following the North Carolina police shooting of an unarmed black man who was actually seeking the officer’s help, Mary C. Curtis dismantles stereotypes and false perceptions in an incisive piece at the Washington Post. “Falling back on fear of a black man is a shortcut,” she writes, “unless you’re looking for something simple — like…

Michaela Angela Davis, in a piece at CNN, says that black male pain is rarely accurately portrayed in the media, but a spate of recent shootings highlights the importance of learning to listen to their cries for help in and outside the community. “I was suicidal in college,” a Harry Potter-looking hipster recently told me.…

In an unlikely — but then again not so unlikely — development, black voters have begun to embrace New Jersey’s pugnacious Republican Gov. Chris Christie, according to Real Clear Politics. It’s an unlikely scenario because he didn’t win widespread support among African Americans during his 2009 campaign. It’s not so unlikely because black voters started…