culture

Friday, June 28, 2 p.m. EDT: Jonathan Good was dismissed from the witness stand after testifying earlier in the day about seeing Zimmerman and Trayvon Martin engaged in a mixed martial arts-style fight on the night of the fatal shooting, HLN reports. Prosecutors then called Jonathan Manalo, whose wife, Jeannee, testified earlier in the trial…

(The Root) — Embattled singer Lauryn Hill took to her Tumblr blog this week to address historical racism and her critics, calling the concept of reverse racism “flawed, if not absolutely ridiculous.” The screed comes on the heels of the release of her new song, “Neurotic Society,” which raised eyebrows among lesbian, gay, bisexual and…

Winnie Madikizela-Mandela, the ex-wife of former South African President Nelson Mandela, told the press on Friday that he is showing a “great improvement” in his health compared with a few days ago, according to Yahoo News. The anti-apartheid campaigner has been in the hospital with a lung infection since June 8. Since then his condition…

Food critic Michael W. Twitty writes an open letter to Paula Deen at the Huffington Post, parsing out her public relations debacle through the prism of racism in the North and South. While not defending it, he determines that her attitude is more cavalier than racist. When you said, “of course,” I wasn’t flabbergasted, I…

(The Root) — It all started with a video of three young black boys head-banging in New York City’s Times Square, playing a musical genre that, for a number of people, is a rarity for people of color. The Brooklyn, N.Y.-based sixth-graders have been performing together since 2007, the year they formed the first incarnation…

There is no middle-of-the-road opinion about 19-year-old Rachel Jeantel, writes Jason Johnson at HLN, arguing that demographics play a large role in how critics and supporters have perceived her testimony and courtroom demeanor. Jeantel, the last person to speak to Trayvon, testified as a witness for the prosecution in George Zimmerman’s second-degree-murder trial. If you…

Writing at the Huffington Post, Kevin Powell argues that the Supreme Court’s decision to strike down parts of the Voting Rights Act will reverse the progress made by civil rights leaders like Martin Luther King Jr. This historic gesture now frees nine American states, mostly in the South, to change their election laws without advance…

(The Root) — Keri Hilson gets tested for HIV/AIDS every six months, and she’s lending her name to a product that will allow you to do the same. “I make healthy decisions when it comes to my sex life, and I make really good decisions to lower my risk of HIV,” Hilson told The Root during a…

(The Root) — When Coming to America premiered 25 years ago, on June 29, 1988, it was an instant classic — and the third-highest-grossing film of the year. The Eddie Murphy comedy, about a prince from a fictional African country who comes to the U.S. to find his future queen, tops plenty of fans’ funniest-movie-of-all-time…

The Washington Post is reporting that the Obamas visited the “Door of No Return” on Senegal’s Goree Island Thursday afternoon and looked at the Atlantic Ocean from the same vantage point that African slaves once had on their way to North America. The United States’ first African American president was then joined by his wife,…