culture

(The Root) — Jurors on Tuesday could hear evidence that Florida teen Trayvon Martin may have been under the influence of marijuana on the night he was fatally shot by George Zimmerman, possibly making him hostile. Attorneys for Zimmerman, who is on trial for second-degree murder, are expected to call an expert to testify that…

From 2006 to 2010, the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation sterilized nearly 150 women without getting the proper state approval, according to the Center for Investigative Reporting. The procedure, known as a tubal ligation, was performed by doctors under contract with the CDCR. The doctors were given state funds to perform the procedure, which…

(The Root) — This image is part of a weekly series that The Root is presenting in conjunction with the Image of the Black in Western Art Archive at Harvard University’s W.E.B. Du Bois Institute for African and African American Research. Since his “rediscovery” by Stanley in 1871, David Livingstone, the legendary missionary, explorer and abolitionist, has remained one of…

(The Root) — Over the weekend, a popular gossip site posted a cutesy picture of Beyoncé and her daughter, Blue Ivy, having a playdate at a park. Bey was dressed in her casual ’90s best, her preferred look when she’s not preening for the cameras or performing (as she did Sunday night at the Essence…

Writing at the Washington Post, Jeffrey Rosen, president of the National Constitution Center in Philadelphia, says that the controversial law should be reformed because Americans are being exposed to invasive technology. The problem with the government’s handling of surveillance since Sept. 11, 2001, comes down to the choice of the naked machine over the blob…

(The Root) — Harlem has come to London, and what a marvelous spectacle it is to behold. To be precise, it is James Baldwin’s Harlem of 1953 — complete with haunting, sensual jazz music, uplifting Pentecostal songs and the majestic cadences of evangelical oratory — that has the South Bank completely enthralled. Baldwin’s The Amen…

Roxane Gay’s piece at Salon declares that it’s wrong that American culture allows men to control and objectify women, from pop culture to legislative fights over reproductive rights. She cites Robin Thicke’s latest single, “Blurred Lines,” which promotes  “the age-old belief that sometimes when a woman says no, she really means yes.” In his single…

For nine months, Salon blogger Lauren Shields adopted a modest style of dress, much like that of Islamic women, because she disliked the daily routine of putting outfits together. To her surprise, she found it liberating. … One day, a woman came to my “Women in Church History” class. She had spent some time in…

With America’s unemployment rate at 7.6 percent, the Bureau of Labor Statistics has released its lineup of metropolitan areas with low unemployment rates — and coming in at No. 1 is Minneapolis. Slate reports that because of its general low cost of living and high wages, Minneapolis is a great place to move if you’re…

In a New York Times article, writer Lizette Alvarez reveals how, even with race being a significant factor in the amount of exposure the Zimmerman trial has received, it has been the elephant in the courtroom that no one wants to acknowledge. For African-Americans here and across the country, the killing of Mr. Martin, 17,…