culture
-
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…
-
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…
-
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…
-
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…
-
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:…
-
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…
-
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…
-
Ending the School-to-Prison Pipeline?
(The Root) — Federal mediators and public school administrators in Meridian, Miss., have reached a landmark agreement to launch a rewards-based disciplinary plan, aimed at keeping in the classroom more black students who routinely received harsher disciplinary action when accused of relatively minor infractions. The March 22 consent decree outlined by the U.S. Department of…
-
Listeners Still Mourning Baisden's Departure
A week after he was locked out of his WDAS-FM station after failed contract negotiations, and days after he bid fans goodbye in a Facebook post, talk-radio host Michael Baisden’s departure from the airwaves is still causing a buzz. That announcement he posted on the program’s last day on the air has nearly 1,000…
-
Diversity at the Descent From the Cross
(The Root) — This image is part of a weekly series that The Root is presenting in conjunction with the Image of the Black in Western Art Archive at Harvard University’s W.E.B. Du Bois Institute for African and African American Research. The Deposition of Christ is a theme often commissioned for altars, and one that is especially appropriate for Easter…