PoC News in America

We’re fully immersed in holiday spirit but that won’t stop us from reality checking with a quick look at the news.

On Friday, in a radio interview, St. Louis County prosecutor Bob McCulloch admitted that he knew some witnesses lied before the Grand Jury in the Mike Brown case. 

Catherine Crump, a woman in Illinois, has applied to trademark “I can’t breathe,” which were Eric Garner’s last words, and which protestors have chanted during marches and demonstrations nationwide.

Pro-NYPD supporters came out mocking demonstrators wearing “I can breathe” shirts and holding signs of solidarity. One guess as to what race the supporters were.

The Department of Justice is suing NYC over civil rights violations at the famed prison, Rikers Island.

The nation’s largest immigrant detention center was opened in Texas, specifically for women and children, in case you wanted a reminded on how poorly-handed US-Mexico border relations are.

NPR’s Codeswitch traces the history and continued power of the walkout as a resistance and protest tactic.

This weekend, a disturbed individual shot and killed two cops, and his ex-girlfriend. People are already trying to frame it as if he was a part of the #BlackLivesMatter movement because he expressed a hatred towards cop. Unfortunately, most news outlets have left out his ex-girlfriend, whom he also shot and who is now in critical condition, from the story.

Cops and other officials are blaming Mayor deBlasio for this terrible event.

Nas has something to say about America and Apartheid South Africa. (Video autoplays at link.)

There’s a great piece on BET about the new face of black leadership.

President Obama and the First Lady have spoken regarding their own experiences with racism during the Obama presidency.

Maybe we shouldn’t blame Obama for not fixing the racism in this country like Fox News has done.

The Department of the Treasury calls for more women and minority-led businesses, particularly black and latino-led.

With Cuba-US relationships on the mend, some worry about extradition of exiles on both sides, including black activist Assata Shakur. New Jersey hopes it will, and they are offering $1 million, adding on the the FBI’s $1 million, to aid in her capture. It seems that extradition won’t be possible.

Azealia Banks gave an emotional interview to Hot 97 and criticized Iggy Azalea and the problems with the appropriation of black music and what she calls “cultural smudging.”  The following video contains profanity.

Some artists, like Solange, have come out in support of Azealia Banks, while others, like Q-Tip, break down hip-hop history for Iggy Azalea.

Azealia then went on to further show the problem with the media’s framing of the feud between her and Iggy Azalea through Twitter.

https://twitter.com/AZEALIABANKS/status/546018643931578368

https://twitter.com/AZEALIABANKS/status/546018818947293184

This list about the most iconic Feminist moments includes a lot of great women of color with Malala Yousafzai being number one. In case you want a list of great woman of color for this year, you can check out this list over at Colorlines.

Detroit’s youngest entrepreneur Asia Newson was featured on 20/20.

Job cuts and buyouts at the New York Times means an almost all white Culture reporting staff.

Bill Cosby is now trying to deflect and put blame on black journalists for not staying neutral.

Mohammed Ali was hospitalized this weekend with pneumonia. 

Following the horrifying attack on a school in Peshawar, Pakistan, Bollywood shows solidarity with their neighbor.

With all the news about The Interview not being released and issues of free speech, Film Antidote has a short response about why they don’t care about the movie.

The Sony email leaks debacle keeps getting worse and worse, with recent news that Sony discouraged movies with black leads, specifically Denzel Washington, for fear of low profits.

You should tell it to these movies who are adding black actors and black creative teams to tell black stories:

• Anthony Mackie has been cast in the next movie from Dear White People’s Justin Simien.
• Here’s a first look at the Bessie Smith HBO biopic with Queen Latifah.
• The Rocky spinoff, Creed, has added Tessa Thompson beside Michael B. Jordan.
• DC is adding to their diverse casts by reportedly adding Viola Davis to their Suicide Squad movie alongside Will Smith and Tom Hardy.
• Selma’s David Oyelowo and Lupita Nyong’o are set to star in Americanah, based on the Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie novel. 

It’s okay though, Sony also wants Idris Elba as James Bond (so does EVERYONE) so I’m sure this makes up for all the other racism.

Over at the Root, we take a look at black actors in traditionally white roles, while at Film Drunk they call out some of the worse defenses of whitewashing. 

Activist, actor, and internet crush Jesse Williams is getting compared to Harry Belafonte.

A Queer Woman of Color streaming site is coming to the internet!

 Comic books are super diverse now!

Have you hit Serial fatigue? No? We’ve already covered our own issues with race and Serial but the Aerogram points to how the podcast failed all people of color with its failings to properly address their stereotypes of black men.

Queen Uzo Aduba from Orange Is The New Black was on Late Night with Seth Meyers and discussed the time she wanted to change her name. What her mother told her was powerful and great.

Here’s Kendrick Lamar performing a new song in the final days of The Colbert Report.

Jane the Virgin’s precious sunshine lead Gina Rodgriguez was asked if she was a feminist on twitter, and after a quick no, with some followers stepping in, she quickly changed her mind.

https://twitter.com/HereIsGina/status/545010398563299328

Congratulations on the engagement, Janet Mock!

Lauryn Hill performed in Ghana last week, for the first time ever.

Happy holidays to all our P-Mag readers and we’ll see you in the new year! We’ll leave you with our favorite ladies from Litchfield.