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Henrietta Lacks’ Family Reaches Deal
Some 60 years ago, a doctor in Baltimore removed cancer cells from a poor black patient named Henrietta Lacks without her knowledge or consent. Those cells eventually helped lead to a multitude of medical treatments and lay the groundwork for the multibillion-dollar biotech industry. Now, for the first time, the Lacks family has been given a say over at least some research involving her cells.
PBS Documentary Explores Black History
After a tragedy like the Trayvon Martin killing, calls routinely arise for a conversation about race. But Henry Louis Gates thinks the more direct way for structural change is through schools and their curriculum. That’s what he’s hoping will happen with “The African Americans: Many Rivers to Cross,” a six-hour PBS documentary series that traces 500 years of black history.
Sure, we’d all like to think we’ve moved well past segregation in 2013, but it doesn’t sound like that’s the case, according to a new Reuters poll. The ongoing poll reveals that “about 40 percent of white Americans and about 25 percent of non-white Americans are surrounded exclusively by friends of their own race.”
NYPD officer Richard Haste will not be jailed for the shooting death of 18-year-old Ramarley Graham. The jury believed there was not enough evidence to re-indict the policeman. His indictment by another grand jury last year was thrown out.
You probably took a double take when hit with the image Beyonce posted of her new drastic blonde hair-do. The singer chopped it all off and is now rocking a cut that some might call a mix between Rihanna and Halle Berry, with that Nicki Minaj flavor. Getting her hair stuck in that fan a couple of weeks ago probably made the bold decision even easier. She’s not taking any risks!
Usher has broken his silence since his son’s near-fatal pool accident on Monday. The singer says 5 year-old Usher Raymond V, is “doing well and is recovering” after getting his arm stuck in a drain and nearly drowning in the pool at his Atlanta home. Meanwhile, Usher’s ex-wife Tameka Foster Raymond has reportedly asked a judge for custody of their two children following the incident.
Mariah Carey Recalls Racist Experience
Looking at Mariah Carey’s life today, it’s hard to imagine she dealt with such blatant racism growing up. The biracial singer shared in an interview with Yahoo Movies that she was riding a school bus when another student spit on her because of her skin color. She says acting in “The Butler” brought those memories back.
Sean Sasser, a former cast member on MTV’s “Real World,” died Thursday from mesothelioma. He was 44. Sasser had been HIV positive for 25 years. His commitment ceremony to cast-mate Pedro Zamora in 1994 was a first for U.S. television. Zamora died shortly after the episode was broadcast.
Nelson Mandela’s story isn’t the only one being told. While Idris Elba is playing the apartheid legend in a biopic due in November, Jennifer Hudson is playing Winnie Mandela, the political leader’s ex-wife who stood by his side, in another movie.
