culture

Chicago erupted in paroxysms of violence over the Fourth of July weekend when 72 people were shot over the course of four days, according to Raw Story. At least 64 of the shootings reportedly took place by Saturday, and many appear to have been the result of gang violence. Of that 72, NBC Chicago reported that 12…

(The Root) — I am not a feminist, nor do I allow others to identify me as one. (Whew! I finally got that out.) I am not a black feminist, hip-hop feminist or third-wave feminist, and I have chosen not to align my scholarship with the hybrid frameworks born out of the traditional feminisms of…

Blogging at the Huffington Post, Earl Ofari Hutchinson checks in on the recent Rasmussen poll, which showed that more Americans think that blacks are more racist than whites. A recent Rasmussen poll found that more Americans by a wide margin think blacks are more racist than whites. This also included a significant percent of blacks who according…

Catholics believe “a saint is a holy person through whom God intervenes after his or death to aid the living,” writes David M. Perry, a history professor, at CNN, and this is is one reason Catholics want to canonize Pope John Paul II. On Friday, Pope Francis announced the canonization of two of his predecessors:…

When a recent poll by Rasmussen Reports found that Americans consider blacks more likely to be racist than whites and Hispanics, the results were, well, surprising, especially in the context of the racial polarization going on in the nation right now, including New York Police Department’s stop-and-frisk program, which largely targets young black and Latino males. Now,…

When George Zimmerman shot the unarmed 17-year-old Trayvon Martin nearly a year ago, it captured worldwide attention in a backlash sparked mostly by social media, the Associated Press reports. Now, sites such as Twitter and Facebook have become a major presence at George Zimmerman’s trial, both inside and outside the courtroom. A witness who testified…

Hiring is on the uptick in at least area of the U.S. economy: temporary work, the Associated Press reports. Part-time workers are being hired at some of the nation’s largest corporations. Combined, they account for nearly 17 million people, who have only tenuous ties to the companies that pay them. From Wal-Mart to General Motors…

In a surprisingly candid interview with the Wall Street Journal, Chris Noth, famous for his role as Mr. Big on Sex and the City, among others, says that his marriage last year to longtime girlfriend Tara Lynn Wilson has prompted racist hate mail. The usually private Noth expressed dismay over opponents of interracial relationships. “When…

What actually sank Paula Deen’s wayward American dream was not her flagrant use of the n-word but her often-stated desire to return to the legal ownership of blacks, which made her family rich, Imara Jones contends in a blog post at Colorlines. Deen’s plantation wishes and mint julep dreams burst back into public consciousness on June 19.…

When whites react defensively to people who call them out on their bigotry, they are struggling, in part, to reconcile themselves with a loss of white privilege, Scot Nakagawa writes in a piece at Changelab, which examines racism through a variety of lenses. I’ve often pondered the question, why are white people so touchy about being…