culture
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Pepsi Pulls Ad by Controversial Rapper
Those familiar with the music of Tyler, the Creator and his group Odd Future are more than familiar with the controversy caused by his lyrics and songs. Hate-ridden songs filled with homophobic slurs, misogyny and violence are common in his catalog, yet PepsiCo still called on him to lend a hand in creating unique advertisements…
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Who Said Blacks Don't Support Immigration Reform?
(The Root) — In findings released Wednesday, the Leadership Conference on Civil and Human Rights presented poll results that the organization says counter myths about negative African-American attitudes toward immigration reform. The national poll of more than 800 African-American likely voters, conducted by Lake Research Partners, found 66 percent support for an immigration-reform proposal that…
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After Chris Dorner, Other Fired Officers Step Forward
When former Los Angeles Police Department Officer Christopher Dorner went on his violent rampage — during which he killed his former attorney’s daughter and two police officers and injured three others, and which ended in his own death from a self-inflicted gun wound — his intent was to be a martyr for honest officers who…
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Children's March 1963: A Defiant Moment
(The Root) — Defying your parents’ orders not to march in Birmingham, Ala., in the 1960s could have meant a whipping for teens. Defying the police commissioner’s order not to march protesting segregation could have meant attacks by dogs, blasts from fire hoses and a lockup in jail. Fifty years ago in the spring of…
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Lil Wayne Apologizes to Emmett Till's Family
We’re not going to get all snarky over this apology just because we can’t figure out why Lil Wayne didn’t know better in the first place. And we are not going to scoff at his statement about how his ultimate goal is to “uplift rather than degrade our community” (OK, maybe just a teeny little…
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50 Years Late, a Prom Comes to Birmingham
(The Root) — Earnestine Thomas didn’t attend her senior prom before graduating in 1963 from Birmingham, Ala.’s A.H. Parker High School — there wasn’t one. She had planned on attending with friends and wearing a fancy, neon-hued dress that glittered in the lights. Senior proms and other end-of-school-year activities in Birmingham’s “colored” schools were canceled…
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Ignorant Things People Say About My Black Kids
Writing at xoJane, Chantal Rich says that she didn’t mind living in rural Tennessee, until strangers started to comment on her adopted children. “So, how much did she cost?” The person asking me this, about my daughter, was an older woman and a complete stranger to me. As I pulled my daughter closer to me, the…
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Mad at Rihanna for the N-Word? Don't Be a Hypocrite
Ernest Owens, in a piece for the Huffington Post, encourages those who are upset about the singer’s controversial Instagram post to take a look at their own online lives. Oh no, this is not to excuse Rihanna from saying a word that is unacceptable and derogatory, but as we all liked her marijuana smoke blowing images…