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Diversity Play? 10 Comic Book Characters Who Have Been Changed To A Person Of Color

The geek community is vehement about changing white characters into people of color. After every casting announcement, Twitter becomes a hotbed of racial epitaphs and ignorance. The intolerance over the casting of fictional characters in pieces of entertainment can be reminiscent of the worst kinds of racism in this country. To the pleasure of open-minded geeks everywhere, Marvel and, especially, DC Comics continue to add diversity anyway they see fit. Here are some white characters who are now people of color.

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Iris West (DC)

On the hit CW show The Flash (2014), Candice Patton portrays Barry Allen’s love interest. At first fans were in an uproar over the casting, but now since the show has become a hit, most fans have moved on.

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Aquaman (DC)

In the DC Comics cinematic universe, the king of the Seven Seas will be played by Jason Momoa. He became a fan favorite playing Khal Drogo on the HBO show Game of Thrones.

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5 Impressive Facts About the First Black Woman Cartoonist

Jackie Ormes was the first Black woman to create, write and draw her own syndicated comic strip in the United States. For those who read and enjoy comics, you may realize that there are not a lot of female creators working on prominent characters for DC Comics and Marvel. However, in the 1930s, Ormes (born Zelda Mavin Jackson), was making a comic strip before Batman and Superman became the cultural icons they are now. She was a pioneer who deserves the same credit as Jack Kirby, Wally Wood, C.C. Beck, Joe Kubert and many others. Ormes was ahead of her time just like Orrin C. Evans.

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Torchy Brown in ‘Dixie to Harlem’

Ormes’ first comic strip was published in the all-Black newspaper the Pittsburgh Courier from 1937-38. Above, you can see the extreme detail of her work. This strip showed the great migration of African-Americans moving to the North to escape the Jim Crow South. Torchy Brown is a teenage girl from Mississippi who goes to Harlem to find fame as a singer and dancer.

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Schools Use Drones to Spy on Cheaters

Drone technology has come a long way in just the past five years. Companies like Amazon plan to use drones to deliver packages in the near future. We already know that various armed forces around the world are using them for reconnaissance or for offensive purposes.

According to Wired writer Katie Collins, “every year in China millions of students sit a higher education access exam that is so stressful it has been linked to spates of suicides and frequently results in youngsters fainting in the examination room. Known as the ‘gaokao’, the exam is taken over two days, is based primarily on memorization and determines the course of the young students’ lives.”

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In the Chinese province of Luoyang, schools have decided to prove that they are a little smarter than cheating kids. The schools are aware that kids might try to use cellphones to find answers they just don’t know.

They plan on using drones to monitor examination rooms. This exam is essentially the SAT on steroids. It has been reported that many students have been so stressed about the test that they committed suicide to avoid shame.

In order to avoid cheating, the drones will hover 500 meters in the air over the test site. It can detect the cellphone and relay that message back to the test proctors via tablet.

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5 Crucial and Unexpected Nuggets of Information That Neil deGrasse Tyson Gave to Recent Graduates

Astrophysicist and science communicator Neil deGrasse Tyson gave a commencement speech at the University of Massachusetts Amherst last week. Tyson has risen to the forefront of the science world promoting, advocating and recruiting young minds into a new world that appreciates science, technology, engineering and mathematics. His speech was one of the best this year because he was genuinely honest about the world graduates are going into.

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Notes on the American Dream 

“It is OK to encourage others to pull themselves up by the bootstraps … just remember that some people have no boots.”

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5 Remarkable Creations That Represent Africa’s Emerging Tech Industry

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Advanced High-Performance Reconnaissance Light Aircraft

The AHRLAC is Africa’s first home-grown military aircraft, and it first took off on Aug 13, 2014, in Pretoria, South Africa. What makes this plane special is that it took three years to develop and is used for anti-poaching missions, border patrols, anti-trafficking, anti-piracy, anti-insurgent, as well as anti-terror operations. This is a major milestone in the continent’s aviation history.

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8 Amazing Black Female Directors Who Have Established A Respectable Career Behind The Camera

kasiKasi Lemmons

Notable Works: Black Nativity (2013), Eve’s Bayou (1997), Talk to Me (2007)

Impact: She has been an actress and director working in the industry since the 1990s. She has only directed five titles to date, but her film Eve’s Bayou helped launch the career of actress Jurnee Smollett. Her films have won awards on the independent film circuit.

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Sanaa Hamri

Notable Works: Elementary (2013-present), Shameless (2011-present)

Impact: Hamri is a native of Morocco who has created an impressive career as a TV and film director. She has directed the hit films Just Wright (2010), The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants 2 (2008) and Something New (2006).

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5 Futuristic and Mind Blowing Products Made of Nano-Materials

Nano technology is becoming more useful every day. The tech has been used in medicine, construction and even fashion. There is an increasing demand for nano-materials that will help produce new tech that could change people’s lives for the better. According to the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences, “nano-sized particles exist in nature and can be created from a variety of products, such as carbon or minerals like silver, but nano-materials by definition must have at least one dimension that is less than approximately 100 nanometers. Most nano-scale materials are too small to be seen with the naked eye — even with conventional lab microscopes.” These materials can help improve other organisms in the long run.

 

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Nano-Needles

In recent years, researchers have created nano-needles that act the same way larger needles do on lab mice. The tiny needles stay inside the body and then over a short period, they began to bio-degrade. This type of tech will be used to help burn victims with skin treatment, organ transplants and cell regeneration.

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10 Awesome and Successful Women in the Field of Computer Science You Should Know

 

Justin_Maddox_Rakia_Finley1Rakia Finley

Finley is the founder and CEO of Surge Assembly. The technology firm’s goal is to promote growth in terms of racial and gender diversity. Her business started in 2003-04. At that time, she was helping nonprofits in the Washington, D.C., area expand into the thriving tech world. She and her brother help these organizations with their websites and email marketing.

 

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Kimberly Bryant

In 2011, Bryant founded San Francisco-based nonprofit Black Girls Code. Her organization has been responsible for inspiring 1,500 girls to work in technology fields such as robotics, video game design, mobile phone application development and computer programming. In 2014, she received the White House Champions of Change for Tech Inclusion award for work to diversify the tech industry.

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UNCF Announces Michael Jackson and Ray Charles Scholarships

The United Negro College Fund strives to make education affordable for African-American students by providing financial resources where other scholarship organizations fall short.

On May 19, the UNCF has announced that singer, dancer and King of Pop Michael Jackson along with R&B legend Ray Charles will have scholarships in their honor. Each scholarship has different requirements. However, both scholarships are only awarded to students who attend UNCF colleges and universities.

The Michael Jackson Scholarship is available to all students who are high school seniors and college students with a minimum GPA of 3.0 on the 4.0 scale. Perspective applicants will need to complete an application on the UNCF site, write an essay and submit a transcript.

The UNCF states that “the scholarship will provide an award up to $5,000 depending on the financial need of the student as verified by the attending university or college. This is a one-time award to be disbursed in September 2015.”

The Ray Charles Endowed Scholarship is for college juniors who have a 3.0. Perspective applicants will have to complete an application and demonstrate unmet financial needs. The total amount awarded to the student is up to $4,500.

Both of these scholarships are due in June. Michael Jackson Scholarship applicants would need to complete all materials by June 13. For the Ray Charles Endowed Scholarship, the date is June 14.