culture

J. Cole is the latest rapper to be coerced into a public apology for lyrics deemed offensive. Last week the Anti-Bullying Alliance created an online petition demanding that Cole and the rapper Drake apologize to those with autism for a lyric Cole rapped on his collaboration with Drake, “Jodeci Freestyle.” On the song, Cole says,…

For anyone wondering how often black college students are hooking up on campuses across America, Slate recently published some findings that could be seen as bad news or good news. According to the online magazine, hooking up — loosely defined as making out and/or having sex with a person with whom you’re not in a relationship…

(The Root) — There’s been a lot of talk about the lack of black student success at our nation’s colleges. Nationwide, the black college graduation rate is a dismal 42 percent. But what about schools that are graduating high rates of black students? For the last seven years, college-completion rates of black students at high-ranked…

East Cleveland police on Sunday publicly identified the suspect in the deaths of three women who were discovered wrapped in trash bags, the Associated Press reports. And no more bodies were discovered following a search by officers and volunteers, reports show. [East Cleveland Police Chief Ralph] Spotts says Sunday that 35-year-old registered sex offender Michael Madison…

At a time when America is supposed to be postracial, at Jezebel, Meher Ahmad, creates a list of what not to say for people trying to learn her ethnicity. But really, don’t bother asking, because we should be beyond such questions. If you haven’t been able to surmise from my little avatar photo off to the side…

The Wrap is reporting that the Motion Picture Association of America on Friday overturned an earlier ruling that will permit the Weinstein Company to use the titles Lee Daniels’ The Butler or The White House Butler, following a hard-fought battle with Warner Bros. The Association, however, upheld its decision that the Weinstein Company could not…

Despite the outrage over his Twitter attack on President Obama’s remarks on race in America following George Zimmerman’s acquittal, Black America Web reports that Tavis Smiley defended his comments Sunday during an appearance on Meet the Press. During the interview, he restated his tweet, saying he thought the president’s remarks were too little, too late,…

When Republican members of the House held their first hearing on Thursday to determine what steps to take since the Supreme Court has struck down a key provision of the Voting Rights Act, they didn’t seem interested in doing much of anything, Adam Serwer writes at MSNBC.  It doesn’t bode well, he writes, since they…

Jamelle Bouie writes at the American Prospect that the only reason conservatives and others focus on black-on-black crime as an issue separate from white-on-white crime is to defend widespread suspicion of black males, especially those who are young. In writing about the myth of “black-on-black crime” this week, I’ve gotten a huge number of responses, from…

(The Root) — Best-selling conservative author Brad Thor, who has written thrillers like The Last Patriot, offered to buy a new gun and ammunition for George Zimmerman on Twitter after learning that the Department of Justice has delayed returning his weapon following his acquittal in the shooting death of unarmed 17-year-old Trayvon Martin in Sanford,…