culture
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What '42' Might Forget About Jackie Robinson
The Nation‘s Dave Zirin says that he’ll watch the Jackie Robinson film with an open mind, but he worries about the aspects of the legendary black baseball player’s life that might have been left on the cutting-room floor: … However, here in advance are five aspects of Jackie Robinson’s tumultuous, politically complicated life story I…
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Moynihan Revisited and the Ongoing Black-Poverty Debate
African Americans are still impoverished nearly 30 years after a controversial report inspired the phrase “blaming the victim,” Kenneth Braswell writes at Ebony. A few weeks ago, Fathers Incorporated, Open Society Foundations Campaign for Black Male Achievement and the Urban Institute held a research forum to reexamine a controversial report by the Department of Labor’s…
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White Man to Sisters: Bring Back the 'Fro!
(The Root) — Ladies, I know we haven’t had this conversation, but it’s time. We really need to talk about this. We really don’t talk about it as much as we should. We no longer have to conform to European standards of beauty. We don’t have to shellac wads of chemical straightening cream on our…
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On Karen Finney and Why We Don't Take Race Polls on Twitter
(The Root) — Welcome to America, where we have a long and complicated history with race, racial mixing, racism and racial identity. Here, we understand that race is a social construct without a biological basis. But we also understand that that social construct has real-life relevance, and we let people make their own decisions about…
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Report: Mandela Still Experiencing Fluid Buildup in Lungs
Updated Tuesday, April 2, 11:47 a.m. EDT: According to a tweet this morning from NBC News, Nelson Mandela continues to experience a problem with fluid buildup in his lungs and is receiving treatment, after having been hospitalized nearly a week ago with a recurring lung infection. Earlier: In a statement released on Friday, South African…
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White Supremacist Prison Gangs Targeting Officials?
After the recent murders of a state corrections official in Colorado and a district attorney and his assistant in Texas — all of whom were making it their mission to break up white supremacist prison gangs — Slate‘s Justin Peters wonders whether the killings were payback. Plus, he explains how the Aryan brotherhood operates well…
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The GOP's Apology Tour: The Party Has Problems
Dr. Ben Carson and Alaska’s Rep. Don Young are two examples of how out of touch the GOP is with a country that has moved well beyond the casual acceptance of bigotry, Jonathan Capehart writes in a blog post at the Washington Post. The Republican Party and some of its acolytes on the right have…
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How to Get a Black Woman Fired
In a piece inspired by Adria Richards, the black technologist who was fired for tweeting a photo of two white male colleagues she overheard making lewd jokes during a conference co-sponsored by her employer, Colorlines‘ Channing Kennedy explains the tactics that cause similar tragedies to happen to black women from all walks of life. Step 1:…
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Gender and Hip-Hop: Ripe for a Breakthrough?
Clutch magazine‘s Zettler Clay argues that “unless there is heightened demand for artistic honesty in dealing with life’s issues, particularly qualms with the opposite sex, hip-hop will plateau and thus fall far short of its rich potential.” Misogyny is bigger than hip hop. The word literally means “woman hater” and society’s marginalization of women came…
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Is the Worst of Reality TV Over?
(The Root) — By now, surely you’ve been privy to the many discussions, petitions and open complaining over the image of black women on reality TV. There’s been an ongoing discussion about this topic ever since Omarosa Manigault stiletto-heel-clicked into Donald Trump’s boardroom for The Apprentice in 2004. Either she, the producers or both milked…