culture
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Kanye West's Dichotomy of Success and Righteousness
Kanye West’s lastest track, “New Slaves,” began a dialogue among hip-hop fans and black intellectuals, and Global Grind‘s Brittany Lewis says the MC’s biggest struggle, apparent in his music, is choosing which life he wants to live. And while he jostles back and forth between luxury and speaking truth to power about America’s racial strife, listeners…
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USC Doesn't Need Dr. Dre's $70 Million. An HBCU Does
Dr. Dre recently gave USC $70 million to create a new blended arts and business degree, and Walter M. Kimbrough asks in the Los Angeles Times why the Southern California hip-hop icon couldn’t have given that sum to a struggling historically black college. A hip-hop icon is now the new black higher-ed philanthropy king. We’ve…
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Black Churches Struggle as Harlem Gentrifies
As Harlem’s racial makeup changes, membership at some of the historical churches has fallen and so have the tithe amounts, reports the New York Times. The tourists often put offerings in the collection basket. But then they are gone. And so despite the draw, churches like Canaan are struggling. And at the heart of the struggle…
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What Can We Learn From Freedom Schools
(The Root) — The Children’s Defense Fund’s Cameron Van Patterson, presenting at a strategy session at the NAACP Leadership 500 Summit in Naples, Fla., on Friday, said there’s an alternative to simply pushing for reforms to a public education system that too often fails black kids. “I’m speaking in this instance in terms of the African-American community,” Van…
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Bride Sentenced for Killing Groom on Wedding Day
In Pennsylvania on Thursday, Na Cola Franklin was found guilty of stabbing her fiance, Billy Brewster, to death just hours before her wedding. The Daily News reports that Franklin was sentenced to life without parole. The couple were arguing at 2 a.m. on the day of their nuptials — Aug. 11, 2012 — after Brewster…
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How the Boy Scouts Are Still Discriminatory
Many have compared the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender struggle for equality to the African-American fight for civil rights, and after the Boy Scouts’ recent decision to admit gay Scouts but ban gay leaders, John Aravosis cites similarities on the America Blog. Whatever. I’m glad the Boy Scouts took a step towards non-discrimination, but telling…
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A Plan for Finding and Keeping Self-Love
Sometimes self-love is tough, especially when you think you might not be the right size or have the right amount of zeros in your bank account. But Jamilah Lemieux writes at Clutch magazine that happiness and security are about loving yourself, all by yourself. You have the sister who shops herself broke trying to keep…
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It's Not Your Grandmother's NAACP
(The Root) — In 2005 the NAACP took a look at its membership and, more important, the people who were not members. There was the robust Youth & College Division, but then, as National Board Chairman Roslyn Brock puts it, “After you’re 25, we lose you — you’re graduating from college, starting your family, starting…