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The soon-to-be-opened Smithsonian National Museum of African American History and Culture is seen during early morning hours on Sept. 1, 2016, in Washington, D.C. The museum was established by Act of Congress in 2003. It is the only national museum devoted exclusively to the documentation of African-American life, history and culture. A dedication ceremony will be held to mark the grand opening of the museum on Sept. 24. Alex Wong/Getty Images
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Daily Dose: 9/15/16

America’s black history museum is ready for its close-up

Clinton Yates @clintonyates
Topics:
Daily Dose National Museum of African American History and Culture Emmys Social Activism Harambe Black Lives Matter All Day

Up Next From Culture

    2:01 PMIf you’ve ever been in a spelling bee, you know it’s stressful. For whatever reason, I’ve signed up to do another one next week at the National Press Club. Maybe I’ll win this time.

    Another day, another black kid gets killed by police in Ohio. This time it was in Columbus, Ohio, where a kid was carrying a BB gun that apparently is a replica of a police weapon. He’s alleged to have been involved in an armed robbery, which means that if you’re black, you deserve to die, apparently. Unsurprisingly, the mayor of the city came out and said we of course need to have “patience.” Funny how in this scenario the authorities never seem to say that we need to find, say, “justice” or “peace.” ABC News reports on Tyree King’s death.

    The Emmys are coming up on Sunday. You can prepare yourself for a night full of white people walking on stage to accept their trophies. Oh, wait, what’s that? The voting mechanism was changed up, and there’s now a lot more shows with people of color involved? Yippee. I guess that means we’re really not sure who’s going to win anything. Meanwhile, we’ve got newspapers asking us if “diverse TV” is here to stay. Anyway, FiveThirtyEight’s Walt Hickey breaks down the strongest Emmy categories of all time.

    I went to the National Museum of African American History and Culture on Wednesday. The place is incredible. It’s got just about everything you could want and, if we’re being honest, is probably the best pound-for-pound museum that the Smithsonian has. The food was solid, too. It officially opens up next week and I imagined that it’ll basically be jam-packed for the better part of an entire calendar year. Which means, if you want tickets, you better sign up now. ABC News took a look inside of the facility.

    My thoughts on Harambe jokes are well-known. They are basically all funny to me. College GameDay is awash in signs commemorating the slain gorilla and the meme has people making up fake stories about Chinese zoos and colleges handing out stuffed animals to remember the former Cincinnati Zoo resident. Harambe is the meme of 2016. So, of course, people want to get jerseys with his name on it. For whatever reason, someone thought this would be a good thing to ban. ESPN reports that said ban has now been reversed.

    Free Food

    Coffee Break: If you’re wondering why NFL teams spend so much energy showing love to the troops, now we know why. It’s not because of their love of the military, or the flag, or the national anthem. It’s because the Department of Defense paid them. With tax dollars. Think of this the next time you worry about what San Francisco 49ers quarterback Colin Kaepernick does.

    Snack Time: The family of Sandra Bland has settled for $1.9 million in a wrongful death lawsuit. She died in a Texas jail cell after she was pulled over for failing to use a turn signal. The video of her arrest is heartbreaking.

    Dessert: There’s new music from Play Action and Hit Boy. Dope track.

    Clinton Yates is a tastemaker at Andscape. He likes rap, rock, reggae, R&B and remixes — in that order.