culture

For MSNBC‘s Touré, host of The Cycle, the Supreme Court’s upcoming decision on marriage equality may not be enough, despite strong voices from the LGBT community.  If gay Americans were as powerful as he imagines we would not be debating their rights at all, they would have them. But in the real world gay rights…

Many jazz fans and local New Yorkers were saddened when Harlem’s famous Lenox Lounge closed late last year, but the historical location may reopen. However, it’s complicated, reports the New York Times. The Lenox Lounge shut down on Dec. 31 after a bitter lease dispute between the club’s owner and his landlord. The space was supposed to…

It’s no secret that President Obama is a basketball fan, and on Saturday night, he stopped by one of the final March Madness college basketball games, between Syracuse and Marquette, reports ABC News. The basketball-loving president didn’t pick Marquette or Syracuse to make it to the Elite 8 in his bracket, but instead, thought Miami…

With Easter comes new beginnings and new TV shows. On March 31, HBO’s medieval fantasy drama Game of Thrones returns, and actors Jacob Anderson and Nathalie Emmanuel join the list of the series’ black faces, like past characters played by Nonso Anozie and Lucian Msamati, writes Shadow and Act. First, Nathalie Emmanuel, a British actress…

On Thursday, Bob Teague, one of the first black broadcast journalists in New York City, died in New Brunswick, N.J. He had been fighting lymphoma, and he was 84, reports the Daily News. A football star and military veteran turned newspaperman and finally TV reporter and anchorman, Teague was a fixture for years on WNBC/Ch.…

This week was rough for Republican Rep. Don Young of Alaska, who used the racial slur “wetback” while trying to identify with the working class, writes New York Times columnist Charles M. Blow.  The question must be asked: Why do so many insensitive comments come from these Republicans? One reason may well be their proximity…

For Huffington Post contributor Danielle Moodie-Mills, Time magazine’s recent cover, featuring two white gay couples kissing, is more than provocative; it’s regressive in the fight for legitimizing marriage equality.  For decades, our allies and those of us within the gay and transgender community have tried desperately to move the conversation about LGBT equality out of…

For a person of color, finding a job may be harder, thanks to white folks doing favors for each other, writes Janell Ross on the Huffington Post. The reality: racism and racial inequality aren’t just supported by old ideas, unfounded group esteem or intentional efforts to mistreat others, said Nancy DiTomaso, author of the new…

Beverly L. Hall, a retired Atlanta superintendent, was among a group of educators indicted on Friday as part of a testing scandal, in which police say teachers were changing the test answers of their students, reports the New York Times. In the two and a half years since, the state’s investigation reached from Ms. Parks’s…

The tensions between North Korea and the United States are increasing, reports the Washington Post. Following blustery warnings by Kim Jong Un, North Korea’s 30-year-old leader, and videos depicting North Korean attacks on the United States, the Obama administration took the unprecedented step this week of sending two stealth bombers to South Korea as part…