culture
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Don Lemon Backs Bill O'Reilly in Criticism of Blacks
CNN anchor Don Lemon on Saturday defended Fox News host Bill O’Reilly’s highly contentious remarks about crime in the African-American community and the disintegration of family. Lemon says the conservative pundit did not go far enough, which drew fire from critics on the left, according to the Raw Story. “In my estimation, he doesn’t go…
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Rising Star Tries Finding Her Voice
(The Root) — Many film fans were introduced to actress Adepero Oduye through the 2011 independent film Pariah. Playing lesbian teen Alike, the Nigerian American grappled with sexuality and Christianity in such an honest way that she earned a shout-out from multi-Academy Award winner Meryl Streep. Since then, Oduye has appeared in Lifetime’s Steel Magnolias…
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'American Idol' Hit With Racial Discrimination Suit
Entertainment Weekly is reporting that 10 former American Idol contestants have filed a racial discrimination lawsuit against the show, claiming they were mistreated and unfairly disqualified from the competition due to their race. Each plaintiff seeks $25 million, minimum, in damages. Former American Idol contestant Corey Clark is suing Fox again… and this time, he’s not alone. EW…
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KKK Distributes Neighborhood-Watch Fliers in Missouri
The Ku Klux Klan has been distributing neighborhood-watch fliers in Springfield, Mo., in an effort to recruit potential members, according to KY3 News. Residents woke last week to find recruitment fliers from the Traditionalist American Knights of the Ku Klux Klan in their yards, Salon reports. The flier, which features an array of bold text in different…
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America's Food Debates Ignore Black Urban Farms
America’s food rhetoricians ignore what low-income African-American communities are already doing to gain access to healthier food choices, including cultivating urban farms, Erika Nicole Kendall writes at Salon. “When the grassroots efforts of hard working people have to be downplayed or outright ignored for you to make your point … it’s time to change your…
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Why Assimilation Is a 'Dirty Word'
Assimilation is a “dirty word” because the term is conflicted, Danielle C. Belton writes at Clutch magazine, especially now, when race and racism have been pushed to the fore as topics of discussion in America. Assimilate is a dirty word for me because in reference to black people surviving in America it’s both necessary and…
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Does Jay Z Want to Be This Generation's Harry Belafonte?
The kerfuffle between Jay Z and Harry Belafonte over the rapper’s so-called failed activism represents the gulf between the civil rights and hip-hop generations, writes Rahiel Tesfamariam in the Washington Post. “When, if ever,” she asks, “will the two meet?” This past weekend, Jay-Z and Beyoncé attended a Trayvon Martin rally in New York City, standing…
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Feds to Probe 'Redneck Day' at Arizona High School
The U.S. Department of Education is investigating a controversial “Redneck Day” celebration at an Arizona high school after civil rights leaders said that it created a racially hostile environment, the Associated Press reports. The Rev. Jarrett Maupin says the DOE will “determine the remedy, including moderating conversations between school administrators and civil rights community leaders…
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North Carolina to Pay $10 Million to Victims of Forced Sterilization
In a landmark move by lawmakers, North Carolina on Wednesday passed a budget that includes $10 million to compensate the state’s victims of forced sterilization, NBC News reports. “There were challenges, we had to better educate our members — and then of course we had to work through the fiscal challenges — but at the…
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Were My Ancestors African or European?
(The Root) — “For nearly two decades I’ve grasped for a connection to my family’s African heritage. I grew up in an ethnically diverse, Northern New Jersey suburb where many of the black students were first-generation Americans or recent immigrants with ancestry from countries like Nigeria, Ghana and Senegal. Now in my late 20s, I’ve…