culture
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I'm Pregnant, and I Have a Mother-in-Law From Hell
An expectant mother has concerns about bringing a child into the world while a war with her overbearing mother-in-law rages on. She describes her battle to writer Danielle T. Pointdujour at Ebony. From the minute I walked through the door she was on me. She attacked everything from my hair to my major at the…
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Michael Steele 'Looking at' a Run for Governor
A role as an MSNBC contributor evidently isn’t enough to satisfy former (and first African-American) Republican National Committee Chairman Michael Steele’s appetite for politics. Plus, he says, he loves his home state of Maryland. Steele, who has recently had his share of blunt commentary about his party’s relationship with minority voters, told Chuck Todd that…
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Supreme Court OKs Warrantless DNA Collection
In a 5-4 decision announced on Monday that created what the American Civil Liberties Union called “a gaping new exception to the Fourth Amendment,” the Supreme Court ruled that police can use cheek swabs to take DNA from people they arrest, the Washington Post reports. It’s “like fingerprinting and photographing, a legitimate police booking procedure that…
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Report: Push to Expel Dark-Skinned Malians From Kidal
Black residents of the northern-Malian city of Kidal say that rebels from the lighter-skinned Taureg ethnic group are attempting to expel dark-skinned residents, the Associated Press reports. A spokesman for the rebel National Movement for the Liberation of Azawad, which is accused of pushing for the expulsion, told the AP, “It’s not a matter of…
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Cornel West: They Say I'm Un-American
In an interview with The Guardian that covered everything from Britain’s future, to the ways in which he says white supremacy operates in America, Cornel West was characteristically blunt in his criticism of the Obama administration, announcing that he and “Team Obama” no longer speak because “They say I’m un-American.” Despite having campaigned for…
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The Black Film Renaissance of 2013
It looks like people will have to stop complaining about the lack of African-American stories on screen as 2013 ushers in as many as 10 new black films between summer and the end of the year, writes Michael Cieply in the New York Times. Black filmmakers say the wave of 2013 releases was built in…
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Stereotypes, Gender Bending and Gay Acceptance
As America becomes more accepting of homosexuality, old stereotypes die hard. Maya Dusenbery writes in the Atlantic that in sports, men who have come out like Jason Collins are shielded by their gender conformity and the outward stereotypical masculinity of playing sports. However, for gay people who don’t conform to gender stereotypes, like baller Britney…
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MHP: The Politics Behind the Female Sex Drug
MSNBC host Melissa Harris-Perry and her guests talk about why the new sexual-enhancement drugs for women, which may be available as early as 2014 if approved by the FDA, are so controversial. Watch Harris-Perry discuss the drugs and the cultural blowback around women’s sexuality below: Visit NBCNews.com for breaking news, world news, and news about…
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Noise Complaints to Police for Spike Lee's Jazz-Legend Dad
It’s no secret that Brooklyn, N.Y., is gentrifying, and as new residents move in, they don’t always mesh with the community. Case in point: A Fort Greene resident has repeatedly called the police on Bill Lee, father to filmmaker Spike Lee and the man behind the scores of your favorite 40 Acres and a Mule…
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Bruno Mars' Mother Dies at 55
The mother of singer Bruno Mars passed away on Saturday. She was 55, according to the Associated Press. Bernadette Hernandez died Saturday of a brain aneurysm, according to a publicist for Mars’ label, Atlantic Records, who spoke to The Associated Press on condition of anonymity because the person was not authorized to speak on the…