culture
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Massachusetts Keeps a Slavery Myth Alive
(The Root) — Last week Amy S. Erickson, the master teacher and academic coordinator at New Millennium Academy in Minneapolis, sent me a link to a “nonfiction” reading comprehension test (pdf) for sixth-graders from the Massachusetts Department of Education. The “nonfiction” exercise was about quilts and the Underground Railroad. The passage, titled “Women’s Quilts as…
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Bill Clinton to Deliver Howard's Commencement Address
Former President Bill Clinton will deliver the May commencement address at Howard University, one of the nation’s oldest HBCUs. More fodder for the old “first black president” joke? Perhaps. But university President Sidney Ribeau said that Clinton was invited because his example as a leader, humanitarian and advocate and his commitment to public service will…
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White Student Union Begins Nighttime Campus Patrols
Members of Towson University’s White Student Union plan to begin patrolling the Maryland campus to protect students from would-be attackers, union founder Matthew Heinbach told the school newspaper Towerlight. He says the efforts will be colorblind, assuring the publication, “If we see a white person commit a crime against a person who is not white,…
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The Supreme Court vs. the Court of Public Opinion
In his column for the Washington Post, Eugene Robinson writes of his hopes that the U.S. Supreme Court will not halt the country’s rapid movement toward acceptance of same-sex marriage. The two big cases being argued before the court this week could turn out to be landmarks that confirm the nation’s progress toward marriage equality…
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Stop Trying to Defend Fox News
The Atlantic’s Conor Friedersdorf responds to Jonathan Tobin’s defense of Fox News, in which he wrote that the network is not uniquely biased or full of right-wing propaganda. Friedersdorf concedes that cable news overall leaves much to be desired, but when it comes to quality programming, “an hour of opinion broadcasting from the excellent Chris Hayes…
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Why Black Women Can Never Be Drama-Free on Reality TV
Writing for Clutch magazine, Danielle C. Belton argues that the new Bravo reality series Married to Medicine is the same old Atlanta reality series with a different name. The only thing different about “Married to Medicine” is that the women seem painfully aware of how black women are portrayed on reality shows, yet they all…
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Rick Ross Raps About Raping Woman
On Rick Ross’ latest song, titled “U.O.E.N.O.,” he raps, “Put molly all in her champagne/She ain’t even know it/I took her home and I enjoyed that/She ain’t even know it.” Yep. No metaphors, no guesswork and no subtlety here. Ross recorded bars about drugging a woman and then raping her. And he’s getting his fair…
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$338M Powerball Winner to 'Help a Lot of People'
What would you do with $338 million? Powerball winner Pedro Quezada of Passaic, N.J., who won the fourth-biggest prize in the lottery’s history, said “I’m going to help a lot of people, whatever they need,” according to the Daily News. According to a New York Post account, Quezada’s windfall will help a lot closer to home,…
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Is There Only 1 Black Riverkeeper?
Fred Tutman, Maryland’s Patuxent River protector, is one of 200 black riverkeepers in the world — a stat that speaks volumes about diversity within mainstream environmentalist groups. Minorities who belong to large environmental organizations said in interviews that they feel these groups have much in common with the GOP when it comes to diversity problems, despite…
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Remember This? Malcolm, Dru, Neil and Olivia on 'The Young and the Restless'
(The Root) — There’s been quite a bit of implausible drama over the four decades since The Young and the Restless came on the air, but to celebrate its birthday, we thought we’d dust off a clip featuring our favorite love square (?) on the soap opera: the iconic sisters, Olivia and Drucilla (Tonya Lee Williams…