culture
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First Black Italian Minister Compared to an Orangutan
As Italy’s first black minister, Cecile Kyenge has had to put up with an avalanche of racist remarks from her fellow ministers since assuming the position in April. The latest came from Sen. Roberto Calderoli, a member of the anti-immigration Northern League Party. During a speech to supporters, he compared Kyenge to an orangutan, reports…
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Zimmerman Juror B37 Presses for New Laws
Following a vociferous backlash in response to her interview earlier this week with Anderson Cooper on CNN, alongside news of a possible book deal, now apparently quashed, the woman known as juror B37 on Wednesday released a statement pushing for new laws that she says would have helped avoid George Zimmerman’s not-guilty verdict, CNN reports. “My…
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Deval Patrick Not Running for President in 2016
Speaking in fairly definitive terms, Massachusetts Gov. Deval Patrick said on Tuesday that he will not run for president in 2016, and he also suggested that he had no plans to become the next attorney general, the Washington Post reports. “I am not running for president in 2016,” Patrick told reporters at UMass Boston, according…
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Hillary Clinton: Verdict Brought 'Deep Heartache'
While speaking to the Delta Sigma Theta Sorority Tuesday evening in Washington, D.C., former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton spoke about the “heartache” of the Trayvon Martin case, Politico reports. “My prayers are with the Martin family and with every family who loves someone who is lost to violence,” she said in an almost 30-minute…
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Nas' Next Collaboration? Harvard University
Including hip-hip in the curriculum is not a new thing at universities, but Harvard University is taking its collaboration with the art form a step further. MTV is reporting that the prestigious Ivy League school has partnered with the organization Hiphop Archive to create the Nasir Jones Hiphop Fellowship in honor of legendary rapper Nas. …
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4 Zimmerman Trial Jurors Speak Out Against Juror B37
A day after juror B37 from the George Zimmerman trial appeared on CNN’s Anderson Cooper 360 for an interview, four of her fellow jurors from the trial released a public statement, reports the Associated Press. Though the jurors came to the same verdict in deciding that Zimmerman was not guilty on counts of second-degree murder…
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White and Black Kids: Different Trayvon Talks
(The Root) — “I am remarried and now have a blended family with two teenage sons. One is black (10 years old) and one white (12 years old). In light of Trayvon Martin’s death and the miscarriage of justice that surrounded it, what do I tell them? How much can children absorb at these ages…
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Still Not at Home in America
(The Root) — No one is more American than I am. Our country’s history is inscribed on my genes. Some of my ancestors came here on slave ships. One arrived on The Mayflower. Others fought in the Revolution and the great Civil War. But because I am 67 — old enough to have personally experienced…
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Tom Joyner Sending Rachel Jeantel to College
Nineteen-year-old Rachel Jeantel was ridiculed for her accent and appearance during her testimony in the George Zimmerman trial. But through it all, radio show host Tom Joyner defended her fiercely. And the support just keeps coming. During The Tom Joyner Morning Show on Tuesday, he announced that he would provide Jeantel with a full scholarship…
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Do Blacks Cheapen Black Life?
(The Root) — The verdict in the George Zimmerman trial didn’t sadden me. What did was the reaction — largely among but not limited to African Americans — of outrage displayed on social media and in countless protests demanding justice for Trayvon Martin. Please don’t misunderstand. As the African-American father of two black boys —…