culture
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'The Butler' Ordered to Change Name
The Butler has been one of this year’s most buzzed-about films. Posters and advertisements with the film’s title can be seen in theaters and on billboards. A trailer has already been released as well. But now the Weinstein Co., the studio in charge of releasing the film, will have to rethink one part of its strategy:…
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No Props to Prada for Hiring 1 Black Model After 19 Years
Prada did something it hasn’t done in 19 years: cast a black model in one of its ads. Writing at Clutch magazine, Britni Danielle is not impressed and cautions fashion buyers and cultural critics against congratulating the fashion house for an occurrence that should happen more frequently, given the diversity that exists in the fashion consumer…
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Help, I'm a Racist and I Don't Want to Be
(The Root) — “I’m a racist, and I don’t want to be. I’m a white man in my very early 40s, and for years I’ve been extremely awkward and anxious around African Americans, especially men. At some point in my early teens, I became very self-conscious about the racial divide. And about that time, I…
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I'll Never Stop Saying the N-Word
Writing at Very Smart Brothas, Damon Young says that there is an appropriate time and place to say the word “nigga,” and determining one’s audience is an integral part of figuring out when that time is. Interestingly enough, my knowledge of and affinity for words could be an argument for not using some of them. Since there are…
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Being Single Isn't a Social Crime
(The Root) — You can read this essay in its entirety — plus the thoughts of 40 other prominent African Americans from the worlds of the arts, medicine, religion and academia — in the anthology Where Did Our Love Go: Love and Relationships in the African American Community, available online and wherever books are sold.…
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About This Nation of 'Mutts'
Author Stacy Parker Le Melle takes New York Times columnist David Brooks to task in a piece at the Huffington Post for using the term “mutts” in a recent op-ed. She argues that Brooks does not understand how hurtful the term is to multiracial people and encourages him to pay homage to the myriad cultures…
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Single Parents Aren't the Problem
(The Root) — Do black children have natural disadvantages in school because most are from single-parent homes? Recently, comedian Bill Cosby chided the “apathy” he observed among black parents. He, like many others, believes that the fading presence of the black nuclear family places black children at a social disadvantage and creates a burden on…
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BET Apologizes Not Really to B. Scott
We wouldn’t quite call it an apology, but two days after the BET Awards aired, the network has responded to fashion blogger B. Scott, who said the network made him tone down his feminine look before he made his appearance on the pre-awards show. A BET representative called the incident (in which Scott, who is…
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'Reading Rainbow' Host's New Lesson: How to Avoid Being Shot by Police
Depressing (but not surprising) statement of the week: LeVar Burton told CNN on Monday that he has a whole routine every time he’s stopped by police, designed to avoid the potentially deadly confrontation that could result from racial profiling. He removes his hat and sunglasses, rolls down his window and puts out his hands to…
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Zimmerman Tapes: Facts Don't Add Up
(The Root) — For the first time in the second-degree-murder trial of George Zimmerman, jurors Monday heard a gripping narrative in the defendant’s own words about his fatal shooting of unarmed teen Trayvon Martin. But much of what was presented in audio and video recordings of his statements to police investigators didn’t quite add up.…