culture

(The Root) — Today, Monday, is the beginning of jury selection for the second-degree-murder trial of 29-year-old George Zimmerman in the shooting death of 17-year-old high school student Trayvon Martin. The trial comes just ahead of Father’s Day, and The Root spoke with Tracy Martin, Trayvon’s father, to ask him about the son he knew…

(The Root) — Having never won one in her legendary career, Cicely Tyson was a sentimental favorite to take home a Tony, American theater’s highest honor, this year for her critically acclaimed performance in The Trip to Bountiful. So when Tyson’s name was announced for best actress in a play, it was not a total…

(The Root) — The Trayvon Martin case doesn’t involve a white-Bronco car chase, an NFL legend and a pretty blonde — just a black, unarmed teenage boy in a hoodie and a neighborhood-watch captain with a gun named George Zimmerman. But the second-degree-murder case against Zimmerman — who says he killed Trayvon in a gated…

Earl Ofari Hutchinson writes at the Huffington Post that based on census records, the jury pool for George Zimmerman’s trial, which starts on Monday, will likely consist largely of older, white Republicans. The type of jury that George Zimmerman will get in Seminole County, Fla., has been a hot item of speculation and debate. But…

Arguing that Clarence Thomas has benefited from two pillars of the civil rights movement — the Voting Rights Act and affirmative action — CNN‘s John Blake asks why the justice is poised to help the Supreme Court bury them. He wore a black beret and army fatigues, warned people that a revolution was coming and…

New York magazine‘s Maureen O’Connor says that Michelle Obama may be smart in not meeting with China’s first lady, Peng Liyuan, who is visiting the U.S. this week with her husband, Xi Jinping. The military-propaganda singer reportedly sang in praise of the Chinese army after its crackdown in Tiananmen Square in 1989.  “Michelle Obama of…

The Daily News is reporting that a Connecticut man enraged that his pregnant girlfriend wouldn’t get an abortion allegedly hired a hitman to kill her, according to court documents. Carlton Bryan, 21, was riding with Shamari Jenkins, who was four months pregnant, when she was fatally shot April 29 while driving in Hartford’s North End,…

Updated Sunday, June 9, 1:30 p.m. EDT: Family visits Nelson Mandela while South Africans pray for his health, according to the Associated Press. There was no official update on the 94-year-old former president and anti-apartheid leader after his second night in the hospital. His condition was described as “serious but stable” on Saturday. Earlier: Former…

The Philadelphia crane operator, who was wanted in connection with a building collapse that killed six people last week, has turned himself in to police, according to The Inquirer. Sean Benschop, 43, who surrendered on Saturday, refused to give a statement on his role in Wednesday’s collapse, according to The Inquirer. He is scheduled to…

Updated Sunday, June, 9, 11:15 a.m. EDT: The Santa Monica gunman’s first victims were family, according to USA Today. The man accused of killing four people during a rampage before being killed by police was identified by multiple media outlets on Sunday as John Zawahri, whose victims included his father and brother. Additional reports show…