culture

Saying he wishes “someone would make it stop,” Eugene Robinson writes at the Washington Post that watching Republicans try to persuade themselves that crushing immigration reform actually helps the party is almost like observing someone crash and burn. Self-delusion is a sad spectacle. Watching Republicans convince themselves that killing immigration reform actually helps the GOP…

Pointing out that the last major race riot in the U.S. occurred 21 years ago in Los Angeles, Marc W. Polite writes at Time magazine that early calls for calm before a verdict is rendered in George Zimmerman’s second-degree-murder trial run “counter to recent history, and may be akin to racial fear mongering.” As the trial…

The GOP’s allegations of voter fraud in South Carolina, including claims of “zombie” voting, were debunked by findings in a recent report, ColorLines‘ Brentin Mock reports. As reported by Corey Hutchins in the Columbia Free Times, state Rep. Alan Clemmons, a Horry County Republican, ran with Shwedo’s unsubstantiated claim, telling the public, “We must have certainty in…

(The Root) — Gavel-to-gavel news coverage with a promise that viewers “won’t miss a moment.” A televised re-enactment of deadly events. A virtual army of lawyers, writers and jury consultants, analyzing every comment, every witness and nearly every moment of the George Zimmerman trial. The courtroom scene in Sanford, Fla., where Zimmerman faces second-degree-murder and…

In Queens, N.Y., Minerva Zanca, principal of Pan American International High School, has been accused of calling several black teachers “gorillas” and talking about their “nappy hair” and “big lips,” according to the Huffington Post. The teachers have filed complaints with the Department of Education Office of Equal Opportunity. Members of the New York City…

Police in South Florida have partnered with local pastors in case violence erupts after a verdict is rendered in George Zimmerman’s second-degree-murder trial in the shooting death of the unarmed 17-year-old Trayvon Martin, according to CBS Miami. From the pulpit of the Peaceful Zion Missionary Baptist Church, Miami-Dade Police Director JD Patterson preached peace Thursday…

“My maternal family comes from the Georgia Lowcountry — Savannah and a few of the surrounding Gullah islands. The family story that has been passed down to me is that some of our ancestors came in on a contraband ship, and when it was in danger of being caught, some of the enslaved people in…

A recent study determined that the performance of white students, not black students, moves the needle on education reform, according to the Huffington Post. The report, titled “The Political Foundation of the Black-White Education Gap,” shows how low a priority it is for politicians to pass legislation that would close the achievement gap between white…