culture
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Proof That the War on Marijuana Is Racially Biased?
Whereas black and white Americans smoke marijuana at about the same rates, blacks are nearly four times more likely to be arrested for possession. The disparity isn’t limited to inner cities. And it’s widened even further over the past decade. Those are just a few of the conclusions reached in “The War on Marijuana in…
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Paris Jackson Reportedly Hospitalized
TMZ is reporting that Paris Jackson, the late Michael Jackson 15-year-old daughter, is OK after what unnamed sources allege was a possible suicide attempt. She was reportedly rushed from her family home in Calabasas, Calif., to the hospital Wednesday morning. An attorney for Katherine Jackson, Paris’ grandmother, told the website that “Paris is physically fine…
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Video Captures Police Brutally Beating Woman
In Jasper, Texas, a town with a history of racial unrest, two white police officers have been fired after they were captured on video slamming a black woman’s head into a countertop and wrestling her to the ground at the police headquarters, <a href=Yahoo reports. Keyarika “Shea” Diggles, 25, was brought to the jail on…
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Susan Rice to Be New National Security Adviser
Susan Rice rises again. The United Nations ambassador has been tapped to replace Tom Donilon, who is resigning, as President Obama’s national security adviser, according to the Washington Post. In December of 2012, she withdrew her name from consideration for secretary of state after Obama’s opponents accused her of misleading the public in the aftermath…
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Bradley Manning Needs a Plea Deal — Not Life in Jail
Washington Post columnist Eugene Robinson argues that Army Pfc. Bradley Manning deserves to be punished — but not too severely. The treatment of Army Pfc. Bradley Manning has been excessively harsh, as far as I can tell. If he is found guilty of leaking more than 700,000 classified documents, he deserves some punishment — probably — but…
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My Kid Insists That I'm White, but I'm Not
(The Root) — “My 5-year-old daughter is convinced that I’m white. “I’m originally from the Dominican Republic and identify as black and Latina. Her biological father is from the Central African Republic, and she sees herself as black. “Just last weekend, we were at the Bed-Stuy fish fry and she said, ‘Mami, you know you…
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Maintaining My Natural Hair Has Taken Over My Life!
In a piece for xoJane.com, Janday Wilson discusses how her need to perfect her curls and twists consumes major parts of her life. Taking care of my natural hair has made me so obsessed I often struggle with balancing my hair regimen with life’s demands like sleep, spending time with my loved ones, personal time,…
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Young, Black, Gifted and Underemployed
(The Root) — President Ronald Reagan’s 1984 re-election campaign is notably remembered for a political television commercial with the opening line, “It’s morning again in America.” The optimism expressed in the narration suggested that improvements to the U.S. economy since the recession of the late 1970s were due to Reagan’s policies. It was a winning…
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Why I Am Not a 'Strong Black Woman'
In a piece for Clutch magazine, Jamilah Lemieux describes why she does not approve of the term “strong black woman.” I never wanted to be a “strong Black woman”; in fact, I bristle when people call me one. I’m Black and I’m a woman and I happen to have a number of things about me…
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From Miss America to Republican Congresswoman?
Erika Harold reportedly ran for Miss America (and won) in 2003 as a “dry run” for a political race. Now the Harvard Law School graduate, who has spoken at the Republican National Convention and who combined abstinence-only education with an anti-bullying message (she says she was “racially and sexually harassed” as a child) in her…