Karen Grigsby Bates

Ebony Magazine held a beloved place in black households for more than seven decades. But like a lot of magazines, it was feeling pinched between rising costs and falling subscriptions. Ebony was sold last year to a black private equity firm that was very slow to pay its writers what they were owed. Some responded with a scathing social media campaign, EbonyOwes.

An exhibit at the Huntington Library shows visitors how famed science fiction writer Octavia Butler created a career for herself in a genre that had few women and even fewer African-Americans.

Bill Maher crosses a line, Kevin Hart takes a pass on Trump, and a Cosby Kid stands up for Dr. Huxtable. Let's get to it.

Ramadan Mubarak to all. This weekend, whether or not you observe Ramadan, try to break bread with people who mean something to you.

A new biography celebrates the life and legacy of Pulitzer Prize-winning poet Gwendolyn Brooks, who wrote about ordinary black life using extraordinary language.

All sorts of people coming and going this week — out of Chicago, out of college, but not to the U.S.

Has there ever been such a week?

In this edition: posers, pretenders and passers.

Sometimes, the arc of the moral universe does bend toward justice. Even if it takes time, as was the case in South Carolina involving a white police officer and an unarmed black man.

The 1992 Los Angeles riots left more than 50 people dead and destroyed an estimated $1 billion in property all over the city. NPR explores how people in LA think of the riots 25 years later and why the event is still relevant.

A racial discrimination suit is filed against Fox. Is an Alabama school district getting around integration? Shea Moisture apologizes for a commercial. And, there's a new philanthropist in town.

In the past five years, the issue of policing — how it's done, whether it's equitable, what happens when deadly confrontations occur — has become more urgent than ever.

This week 25 years ago, policemen were acquitted in the savage beating of African-American Rodney King. Five days of riots, arson and looting ensued, fueled by deep-rooted tensions that persist today.

Karma, man.

California's Senate votes to limit the cooperation police can give immigration authorities, while research shows fear of deportation can make people sick. And Pepsi's unity message backfires.

Busy week per always: resistance to deportations, black women get spicy with the White House press secretary, and Muslim Latinas. Yeah, really.

While much of the focus has been on deportations of Latinx, other groups have been under increased scrutiny.

"When a show is well-written, when it has good actors, people want to watch," says Courtney Jones of Nielsen.

It's a tricky thing, casting. Directors have a vision for their lines — but what if that vision doesn't include a more inclusive palette?

Cities in several states have honored "comfort women" who were forced into sex work during World War II. Memorials have appeared in New Jersey, Michigan, Virginia and California, with more on the way.