Freedom Riders reflect on 50th anniversary: Fifty years ago, a small group boarded a bus in Washington, D.C., to challenge racial segregation in the deep South. They were nearly burned alive in Alabama. Then hundreds of activists joined the movement to keep the rides going. NPR host Michel Martin talked about this historic episode with two Freedom Riders today. Listen to the interview with Rep. Bob Filner and the Rev. Reginald Green, who were college students when they joined the effort and were jailed for their participation. Oprah also paid tribute to the civil rights heroes on her show today.
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Video: Paula Patton hopes her son gets blacker: "He's gotta get blacker. I put baby oil on him in the sun … everything!" Patton joked (we hope?) in a recent interview about her infant son. If there is any truth behind her commentary, maybe we should take a moment to acknowledge this counter to the popular culture's predominant "white is right" attitude. But you know what? No. It's ridiculous. Note to Paula: The baby oil-and-sun solution is not a good one. First of all, have you heard of skin cancer? Second, the tan will be temporary, but the effects of superficial, complexion-obsessed parenting could last a lifetime.
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Video: 50 Cent and Hot Rod release "the worst hip-hop response to bin Laden's death": The BX says that the track, which samples LMFAO's "Party Rock Anthem," is "something you'd readily hear in an Ibiza or Miami club, with trance-dance synths that are strictly Pauly D playlist material. But it's Hot Rod's inane lyrics that really make most sane people cringe." In our opinion, the hook alone ("Osama was killed tonight/so everybody come and have a good time/the great news made me lose my mind/So tonight I'm gonna have a good time") pretty much screams, “I was written in less than two days." The Charlie Sheen shout-out at the end was just the icing on the "They sure don't make music like they used to" cake.
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RB Mendenhall's bin Laden tweets cause a stir: The Pittsburgh Steelers running back tweeted on Monday, "What kind of person celebrates death? It's amazing how people can HATE a man they have never even heard speak. We've only heard one side … " But it really got interesting when the self-proclaimed "conversationalist" (that's part of his Twitter profile) tried to start a dialogue with his 13,631 followers about what was really behind the Sept. 11 attacks. "We'll never know what really happened. I just have a hard time believing a plane could take a skyscraper down demolition style," he wrote. The Steelers tried to distance themselves from the statement, but it seems they'll have their work cut out for them. As long as the Internet is up and running, we don't think we've seen the last of this prolific tweeter's controversial commentary.
In other news: Interview: Biggie's Son, the Actor.
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