Free Republic

BLM co-founder Patrisse Cullors has made a rare public appearance in a performance art piece that involves a parade of women in white dresses bound together by their hair. The California-born creator of the BlackLivesMatter hashtag led a procession of nine women as they walked from the UCLA Mildred E. Mathias Botanical Garden to the Fowler Museum in a Los Angeles spectacle watched by thousands of people. Known as Ori Whispers, the performance marked the opening of the museum's exhibition centering on the Yoruba diaspora - people from Nigeria, Benin, and Togo in West Africa who have moved across the...

First, they defied the male dominion over the Afro-Cuban Santeria religion by being secretly ordained. Then, they shocked the patriarchy by performing a ritual long considered the exclusive preserve of men. Twenty years after first breaking the glass ceiling, Cuba's Santeria priestesses are still battling to claim their place. The Santeria religion is hundreds of years old -- a mix of beliefs brought to Cuba by Yoruba slaves from West Africa, and Catholicism. Experts say about 70 percent of Cubans are followers of Santeria.

California has settled litigation against its inclusion of prayers to Aztec and Yoruba gods that were approved in the state's ethnic studies "model curriculum" this spring. The lawsuit alleged that children were expected to participate in these prayers or "face the social implications of declining to participate," a violation of their free exercise. The plaintiffs claim the California Constitution is stricter than the U.S. Constitution on separation of church and state. The settlement requires California to remove the “In Lak Ech Affirmation” and “Ashe Affirmation” from the online ESMC and notify "all school districts, charter schools and county offices of...

An ancient coronavirus, or a closely related pathogen, triggered an epidemic among ancestors of present-day East Asians roughly 25,000 years ago, a new study indicates.Analysis of DNA from more than 2,000 people shows that genetic changes in response to that persistent epidemic accumulated over the next 20,000 years or so, David Enard, an evolutionary geneticist at the University of Arizona in Tucson, reported April 8 at the virtual annual meeting of the American Association of Physical Anthropologists. The finding raises the possibility that some East Asians today have inherited biological adaptations to coronaviruses or closely related viruses.The discovery opens the...

Ancient artifacts from the Nigerian city of Ife can give observers insight into the history of its culture, dynasties and many deities. Art objects from the once-powerful Yoruba kingdom are prized by collectors and considered cultural treasures of the African nation, but a bronze sculpture that recently had been reported as stolen from the area proved to be something else. On Feb. 25 Mexico seized what was thought to be an ancient bronze sculpture from the southwestern Nigerian city after a buyer, whose identity was not revealed, attempted to smuggle it into the country via Mexico CityÂ’s main airport, Mexican...

In a series of histograms (graphs showing the distribution of genome and population data), Hawks shows that Asian and European genomes have significantly more Neanderthal DNA than African genomes. The averages for Asian and European samples are around 3% higher than the average for African samples. Whatever gave Africans some degree of similarity to Neanderthals, non-Africans seem to have received around 3% more of it. Europeans average a bit more Neanderthal DNA than Asians, showing that Europeans probably mixed with Neanderthals as they moved into Europe, adding a secondary mix of Neanderthal DNA into their genome beyond the primary mix...

The University of PennsylvaniaSarah Tishkoff, professor in the departments of genetics and biology at University of Pennsylvania, is collecting samples in Africa. Collaboration by University of Pennsylvania and Cornell University PHILADELPHIA –- People who identify as African-American may be as little as 1 percent West African or as much as 99 percent, just one finding of a large-scale, genome-wide study of African and African-American ancestry released today. An international research team led by scientists from the University of Pennsylvania and Cornell University has collected and analyzed genotype data from 365 African-Americans, 203 people from 12 West African populations and...

Johnny DelValle, a pensive, cigar-smoking 35-year-old, takes regular baths in herbal leaves to cleanse himself of "negative vibes" from his 18 months in Iraq as an Army reservist. "You can't wipe out your memory," he said. "But there are things I've done to help." -snip- Many go to botanicas for the "natural" remedies favored by immigrants who lack health insurance or don't trust doctors. Others are seeking health and life advice from an espiritista, or spiritual leader. Because Latinos often view emotional, spiritual and physical health as interconnected, it makes sense for their health providers to address multiple aspects of...

The African Lion Roars in the Western ChurchAnglican liberals are fretting, conservatives rejoicing, and all are scrambling to their history books: whence this new evangelical force on the world scene?By Chris Armstrong | posted 06/27/2003 Five summers ago, the lion of African Anglicanism roared. This week, it has bared its claws.The summer of 1998 saw the every-ten-years Lambeth Conference of the worldwide Anglican communion absorbed with issues of human sexuality. At its meetings, African Anglicans led a campaign against the liberalizing of the church's teachings on homosexuality.Joining in the African "roar" was Bishop John Rucyahana of Shyira, Rwanda, who issued...