culture

Updated Sunday, Sept. 1, 6:07 p.m. EDT: Serena Williams defeated Sloane Stephens Sunday at the U.S. Open, “pulling away from the young American for a 6-4, 6-1 win to return to the U.S. Open quarterfinals,” the Associated Press reports. Stephens beat a hobbling Williams in the quarterfinals of the Australian Open in January. But in the…

(The Root) — Nation of Islam leader Minister Louis Farrakhan, in his weekly YouTube address, challenges the Obama administration’s call for military intervention in Syria for its alleged use of chemical weapons during the country’s civil war. He states pointedly that the Syrian government has nothing to gain by using chemical weapons against its citizens.…

(The Root) — In 1935, when Congress passed the Social Security Act, supporters declared it one of the pivotal moments in the country’s history.   The act, which created a guaranteed income source for most American workers during retirement, was a declaration of the country’s faith that the economy would not only rebound from the…

The conspicuous failure of Republicans to pay homage to Martin Luther King Jr. this week reveals precisely where African Americans rank in the party’s pecking order and highlights the nation’s widening racial chasm, Jonathan P. Hicks writes at BET. There was one group curiously absent from the memorializing: Republicans.  Not one GOP figure attended the event…

Writing at Ebony, Lesli-Ann Lewis, who attended Dave Chappelle’s controversial recent return to the stage in Connecticut, writes that the comedian did not have a meltdown and argues that the problem was with the audience. The Oddball “Funny or Die” tour was supposed to be Chappelle’s big return to stand up (again). Shorty after taking…

Professor Cornel West, the radio personality and scholar, on Friday lashed out at organizers of Wednesday’s 50th-anniversary commemoration of the March on Washington, saying that it offered scant celebration of Martin Luther King Jr. and his accomplishments, according to Mediaite. He said the event merely highlighted “the coronation of the bona fide house Negro of…

MSNBC‘s Al Sharpton Friday slammed Fox News’ Bill O’Reilly for being disingenuous in his apology for incorrectly assuming that members of the Republican Party were not invited to speak at the 50th-anniversary celebration of the March on Washington. O’Reilly really struck a nerve with Sharpton when he said the apology was important because his viewers…

Dunkin’ Donuts executives have issued an apology after releasing an ad to promote the company’s new “charcoal donut” in Thailand, featuring a woman in “blackface” makeup, The Guardian reports. They also suspended the ad campaign, including a planned television spot. The advert, which was used to promote the donut giant’s “charcoal donut”, was called “bizarre…

(The Root) — Ye krik! Ye krak! Each time I hear those four words, I get goose bumps. To this day, that strikingly evocative French Creole refrain haunts me. Popularized by its use in a sadly much-neglected and long-forgotten foreign film with subtitles, the call-and-response exchange between a little black boy and an old black…

What a week it’s been for Lamar Odom, the NBA player and TV personality. It started off with rumors that he was addicted to pain medication, CNN reports. On Friday morning, he was arrested for driving under the influence of alcohol. Police say Odom, who refused all chemical tests, had been driving in a “serpentine…