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The (Not So) New World Order
Yinka Shonibare MBE’s career retrospective at the Smithsonian just goes to show how strange things get when the empire strikes black.
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Maybe Your Great-Grandmother Really Was Cherokee
A new exhibit at the National Museum of the American Indian traces black-Native American relations from the 1500s to the present.
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Is the USDA Still the Last Plantation?
During the Bush administration, 13,999 racial discrimination cases were swept under the rug at the Agriculture Department. What will Secretary Tom Vilsack do about it?
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Rakim's Back
Def Jam is 25. "Rapper’s Delight" is 30. And Rakim is 41. But with his latest album, The Seventh Seal, hip-hop heads can remember the best of the golden age.
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Spike Lee Speaks About 'Do the Right Thing' 20 Years later
VIDEO: Spike Lee, in a conversation with Henry Louis Gates Jr., The Root's Editor-in-Chief, calls out the critics who predicted violence at the release of his groundbreaking 1989 film and clarifies what the "right thing" really was.
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BOOKMARK: Walter Mosley
In our ongoing video series Bookmark, The Root talks to authors to find out the personal stories behind their talked-about books. Here, Walter Mosley talks about life after Easy Rawlins, the critically acclaimed hero of his noirish crime series. The novelist talks about the shift from looking at the black-and-white 1950s-era Los Angeles to the murkier present state of American race relations.
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Tavis Smiley: Holding Barack Obama 'Accountable'
In our ongoing video series Bookmark, The Root talks to authors to find out the personal stories behind their talked-about books. Here, Tavis Smiley reveals the nail-biting process of preparing completely different versions of his new book, Accountable: Making America As Good As Its Promise. And of course, he promises to hold President Obama's feet to the fire and make sure other Americans do, too.
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Color Clash?
Sammy Sosa is not the first celebrity to change his complexion. The Root takes a look at other celebrities who have had drastic, ahem, makeovers.
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Who Ever Said Jazz Had To Be Drab?
Distinguished alto saxophonist Greg Osby and noted trumpeter Sean Jones recently posted a blog entry and a Facebook discussion board thread, respectively, bemoaning the decline of fashion, or more pointedly just looking presentable, on the bandstand. In a response to that, The Root contributor John Murph has compiled this list of 15 fashion-forward jazz musicians who rock the stage in decidedly 21st-century mode.
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Actin' Up
A Rogue's Gallery: The Root looks back at a year's worth of scandal and skullduggery. The President's had one heck of a year, no thanks to these folks.
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The Confab -- Nov. 13, 2009
This week on The Confab: The humanity of Precious and Hollywood's same, tired treatment of color. Plus, the reality of Ft. Hood and the D.C. sniper's execution. Why should the Muslim community have to answer for Muslim terrorists? Join The Root's Associate Editor Natalie Hopkinson as she talks with senior culture writer Teresa Wiltz and contributors to The Root, Stanley Crouch and Adam Serwer.
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The Confab -- Oct. 30, 2009
This week on The Confab: Why Cathy Hughes' Reality Radio is anything but. Plus, the secret science to the MacArthur fellows: How do white judges decide on black genius? Join The Root's Associate Editor Natalie Hopkinson as she talks with Ethelbert Miller Director of Howard University's African American Resource Center and media critic Amy Alexander.
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The Confab -- Oct. 23, 2009
This week on The Confab -- The magic and myths surrounding HBCUs. Do black students really play lacrosse? Should the non-black Miss Hampton be dethroned? And why "you will always be historically black." Join The Root's Associate Editor Natalie Hopkinson as she talks with Copy Editor Erin Evans and The Root interns Eboni Farmer and Jada F. Smith.
* Podcast production by Abdullah Rufus.
* Podcast theme music by Timothy Morrison.
