The incredibly popular South by Southwest festival, made even more so by President Barack Obama’s address there this week, made an unfortunate misstep when it asked African-American Muslim and Rio-bound Olympian Ibthihaj Muhammad to remove her head covering for a press photo Saturday. To add insult to injury, when Muhammad—who will be the first U.S.…

Bowie State University will offer a new academic minor program in hip-hop studies and visual culture in the fall 2016 semester, according to BSYou, a weekly newsletter from the school. The program’s curriculum will draw on the arts, technology, media, history and literature to expand opportunities for critical discussion, collaborative research and creative projects. Students will…

Octavia Butler, one of the finest science fiction writers ever, is being celebrated by her hometown with “Radio Imagination,” a yearlong series of cultural events honoring her legacy throughout the greater Los Angeles area. Butler, who authored 12 novels and short stories, including Wild Seed, Clay’s Ark, Parable of the Sower, Lilith’s Brood and Parable of the Talents, is especially…

He certainly made a splash when he appeared on the scene. Clad in a fatigue jacket and American flag draped on his head, he definitely stood out amid the sea of somber faces and mourners dressed in black. But still, actor Mr. T came to pay his respects to former first lady Nancy Reagan at…

President Barack Obama is down to three finalists for the open seat on the Supreme Court and is expected to make a decision as soon as next week, according to a report by the Washington Post. The Post says that the three—all male—are Merrick Garland, chief judge of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the…

After altercations in several cities on the campaign trail, Republican front-runner Donald Trump canceled his rally in Chicago Friday night, saying that he “didn’t want to see anybody hurt.” Trump was slated to speak at the University of Illinois at Chicago just west of downtown Chicago, but thousands of protesters gathered inside and outside the…

A heinous massacre in a suburb of Pittsburgh left six dead Wednesday. The Allegheny County prosecutor has described it as execution-style. “The murders were planned, calculated, brutal,” said District Attorney Stephen Zappala to NBC News of the shootings, which happened in Wilkinsburg, a town of about 15,000 just east of Pittsburgh. “They were all head shots,”…

Ben Carson plans to endorse Donald Trump on Friday morning, according to a report by the Washington Post, citing two anonymous sources. The outlet reports that the endorsement was finalized Thursday morning when Carson met with Trump at Mar-a-Lago, the Palm Beach, Fla., luxury club owned by the Republican front-runner. According to sources, Carson has…

Attorney General Loretta Lynch has asked the White House to withdraw her name for consideration regarding the open Supreme Court seat, according to a spokesperson from the Department of Justice Tuesday.  The seat has been open since Associate Justice Antonin Scalia’s sudden death in mid-February. “As the conversation around the Supreme Court vacancy progressed, the…

On Tuesday evening, the White House released the results of President Barack Obama’s latest physical—and reports that the president’s health is “excellent.” He currently takes no medications and maintains a regimen of preventive care that has decreased his weight and cholesterol levels. The memo, entitled, “The President’s Periodic Physical Exam,” was written by POTUS’s personal…