culture
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Integration Plaintiff Gets High School Diploma 54 Years Late
More than half a century after she was a plaintiff in a lawsuit to integrate Virginia’s Charlottesville City Schools, 71-year-old Olivia Ferguson McQueen received her high school diploma on Saturday. The civil rights lawsuit was successful, the Huffington Post reports, but McQueen still spent her senior year sequestered from her peers and tutored in the…
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A Father's Undying Love on Memorial Day
As Stephen Rusiniak stood at the Vietnam Veterans Memorial in Washington, D.C., he saw a man in a wheelchair running his fingers over a name. In the New Jersey Record, Rusiniak writes that watching the man remember his son made him cry a bit himself. He dabbed the tears that were running down his cheeks…
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How Muslims Should Respond to Terror
When two men hacked a British soldier to death on a London street last week, one declared that he’d acted in the name of Islam. CNN host Fareed Zakaria writes that when such violent acts occur, Muslims must say, loud and clear, that they do not condone the incidents. I understand the feeling that some…
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Racing Pioneer: 'I Don't Let These Guys Punk Me'
(The Root) — In March, professional race-car driver Nicole Lyons became the first African-American woman to finish a NASCAR Whelen Series race. “Most people don’t even know that,” she said at the NAACP’s Leadership 500 Summit in Naples, Fla., on Friday. “But I bet we all know about Danica Patrick.” Lyons, who got her start…
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Man Dies After Being Beaten by Sacramento Cops
A Sacramento, Calif., man died in custody earlier this week after he was repeatedly struck by police. Local CBS News station CBS 13 reports that the man stopped breathing in custody and was taken to a local hospital, where he expired. The suspect’s name has yet to be released by authorities. Video … shows a…
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Kanye West's 'New Slaves' Screenings Shut Down in Houston
On Friday, Kanye West’s Houston screenings for the visual companion to the new single from his upcoming album, Yeezus, “New Slaves,” were a bust, according to the Houston Chronicle. It’s unclear why the screenings didn’t proceed as planned. Houston police shut down the Yeezus revival at Rothko. Despite an upbeat, respectful crowd, they pulled several…
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Brazil to 'Write Off' $900M in African Debt
At the recent African Union summit in Ethiopia, Brazil’s President Dilma Rousseff announced that she would write off or restructure $900 million in African debt to her country. BBC News reports that Rousseff hopes this move will further open business deals between Brazil and the resource-rich continent. Congo-Brazzaville owes the most to Brazil – $352m…
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15 Obscure Facts About 'Menace II Society'
(The Root) — It’s been 20 years since Allen and Albert Hughes’ directorial debut, Menace II Society, premiered in theaters across America. Hailed by Roger Ebert as “powerful” and “impressive,” the 1993 film dives into the complexities of street violence in Los Angeles’ Watts neighborhood. At this point, if you’re a fan, you’ve seen the…
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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…