culture

CNN‘s L.Z. Granderson says a Tennessee judge overstepped her bounds when she ordered a mother to change her son’s name from Messiah. “Ultimately what we name our children is no one else’s business,” he writes, and it’s certainly not something in which the government should be involved. In an egregious abuse of power, Lu Ann Ballew,…

Aura Bogado at the Nation exhorts white feminists to stop exploiting the painful experiences of black women for their benefit. Provoked by the popular Netflix series Orange Is the New Black, she writes that a white woman’s “prison stint can never be a substitute for the violence institutionally carried out against women of color in…

Writing at his Hutchinson Report News, Earl Ofari Hutchinson says that Republican National Committee Chairman Reince Priebus is failing miserably at his mission to improve minority outreach and eradicate racism in his party because, well, racists abound. Priebus could save his breath. A few choice and timely words against a loose cannon congressman, and a…

Forty-three-year-old Carlos Alcis’ family says he was literally scared to death when New York City police officers entered his home chasing a cellphone thief, the Daily News reports. The Brooklyn district attorney’s office on Friday announced an investigation into the incident, which occurred Thursday. Word of the DA’s probe emerged Friday just before police arrested…

Lee Daniels’ The Butler defied expectations this weekend as it became the No. 1 film at the box office, Deadline Hollywood reports. Universal’s Kick Ass 2 was on track to be the top ticket-seller. Tracking showed Universal’s Kick Ass 2 (playing in 2,940 theaters) would be the #1 film this weekend. In fact Lee Daniels‘ The Butler (2,933 theaters) from The Weinstein…

(The Root) — They could have been lining up final putts at Mink Meadows Golf Course or stuffing clams for a “5-7” with friends. Instead, the several hundred vacationers swarmed into the Old Whaling Church on Martha’s Vineyard Thursday evening, clutching some of the most coveted tickets of the island’s summer season. For those with…

(The Root) — On Aug. 28, 2013, The Root will recognize the 50th anniversary of the March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom with a full-day digital forum on Twitter, dedicated to today’s most pressing civil rights issues. Experts, activists and celebrities will lead the global Twitter community in a virtual march, highlighting a variety of topics — including criminal justice, education and immigration…

Dave Chappelle officially returns to stand-up comedy next week at the Oddball Comedy and Curiosity Festival in Austin, Texas, in a new 15-city tour presented by the Funny or Die website, the New York Times reports. And he’s got jokes. Mr. Chappelle didn’t just walk away from a $50 million contract [in 2005] and the…

Philadelphia’s public schools will open on time in September after city officials Thursday announced plans to borrow $50 million, the New York Times reports. On Sept. 9, schools will open with minimum staffing and greatly reduced extracurricular activities and other programs. Superintendent William R. Hite Jr. had been threatening to delay opening schools if the city…

(The Root) — White feminism’s disregard for black women’s issues is nothing new, and sexism in black power movements from the United States to South Africa is also well documented. So it was no surprise when Twitter exploded on Monday with the #solidarityisforwhitewomen trending topic. Writer Mikki Kendall started the tag in response to the…