culture

Sounds like Chris Brown needs a break. His rep says “intense fatigue and extreme emotional stress” caused the embattled 24-year-old singer’s seizure August 9, according to Hello Beautiful. “While in the studio working early this morning, Chris suffered a nonepileptic seizure (NES),” his rep confirmed to Us Weekly in a statement. Although the singer was…

CNN’s Don Lemon on Saturday addressed critics of his five suggestions for the African-American community, which created a firestorm of controversy when he presented them two weeks ago. The points, which align closely with Fox News host Bill O’Reilly’s assessment of the black community, prompted hip-hop mogul Russell Simmons to write several blistering tweets and…

Benjamin Todd Jealous, president and CEO of the NAACP, writes at the Huffington Post that recent acts of voter suppression in Texas and South Carolina, the Supreme Court’s gutting of the Voting Rights Act and George Zimmerman’s acquittal are just a few pressing reasons for a sequel to the historic March on Washington. The events…

In a piece that explores the world of childless couples at Ebony, Josie Pickens says that unlike people who have doubts but have children anyway, childless couples are happy because they are forging their own way and living life on their terms.  Lisa and Evan are happily planning a life together. It’s the cutest thing ever.…

Arguing that America’s so-called war on drugs has contributed to the disintegration of black communities, destroyed families and bloated the prison system, Earl Ofari Hutchinson, at the Hutchinson Report News, applauds Attorney Gen. Eric Holder for planning to end America’s so-called war on drugs. A frank admission that the laws are biased and unfair, and…

Rush Limbaugh, the conservative talk-show host, hit a new low Friday. He said on his radio program that Oprah Winfrey’s widely publicized encounter with racism at a Swiss boutique was perhaps because the clerk thought she was “fat,” not because she was black, according to Salon. Oprah has said in recent interviews that a clerk…

The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development has a plan to help integrate communities across the nation as housing policies have been ineffective at creating “the kind of communities the agency had hoped for,” according to U.S. News & World Report. Many neighborhoods are racially imbalanced or lean too much toward the rich or…

Bloomberg provides a video tour of the first family’s spectacular $7.6 million Martha’s Vineyard vacation spot. The 4-bedroom, 5,000-square-foot home sits on 9.5 acres, boasts floor-to-ceiling windows that overlook the Atlantic Ocean and has an infinity-edge pool. Click here to watch the video. Read more at Bloomberg.

The Washington Post is reporting that on Sunday the State Department plans to reopen 18 of the 19 U.S. embassies and consulates in the Middle East and Africa that were closed last week in the wake of terrorist threats.  It said Friday that the embassy in Sanaa, Yemen, would remain closed “because of ongoing concerns…

The Associated Press is reporting that Swiss tourism officials and the owner of an upscale boutique in Zurich issued apologies on Friday to Oprah after a clerk intimated that the media mogul could not afford an expensive handbag. Oprah was in Switzerland to attend Tina Turner’s wedding when the incident occurred. Billionaire media mogul Oprah…