30 Moments That Made Us Proud in 2012From Gabby's win to a teen's MIT honor to cute presidential PDA, these were highlights of our year. |
Obamas (Getty); Kelvin Doe (Thnkr); Gabby Douglas (Getty)
Feel-Good Moments of 2012: The Top 30
From Gabby's win to a teen's MIT honor to cute presidential PDA, these were highlights of our year.
From Gabby's win to a teen's MIT honor to cute presidential PDA, these were highlights of our year.
From Gabby's win to a teen's MIT honor to cute presidential PDA, these were highlights of our year.
12/20/2012 - 13:54
(The Root) -- Despite ubiquitous headlines about ongoing racial disparities, humiliating reality-television antics and hateful attacks against the first African-American president, black news is not always bad news.
Need a reminder of that? How about 30? These were the first that came to mind when we recalled 2012's most touching, inspiring, tear-jerking and otherwise awesome memories starring Olympians, politicians, activists and everyday people from our community. We saw awe-inducing athletic achievements, brave acts of self-determination, sweet sneak peeks of romance and undeniable signs of compassion and progress. What did all these moments have in common? Every single one made us proud.
1. When the first couple was caught on the 'Kiss Cam' at a basketball game ...
Getty Images Sports2. ... and gave the people what they wanted.
White House/Getty Images Sports3. When Gabby Douglas became the first black woman to win an all-around gymnastics gold at the Olympics ...
Bronze medalist Aliya Mustafina, Gabrielle Douglas and silver medalist Victoria Komova (Getty Images)4. ... and moved former Olympic gymnast Dominique Dawes to tears ...
Dominique Dawes interview (Fox Sports)5. ... and gave a gold-medal response to anyone who had criticized her hair on Twitter.
Getty Images6. When we learned that Rochelle Ballantyne planned to become the first black female chess master.
Rochelle Ballantyne (Steve Kastenbaum/CNN)7. When these little girls learned how to be 'the next Steve Jobs' (or better).
Black Girls Code participants (Julianne Hing)8. When the Americans set a world record in the women's 4x100 in London ...
Allyson Felix, Bianca Knight, Carmelita Jeter and Tianna Madison (Getty Images)9. ... and Venus and Serena made Olympic tennis history ...
Venus and Serena after winning Olympic gold in doubles tennis (Getty Images)10. ... and 400-meter star Kirani James embraced and swapped numbers with double amputee Oscar Pistorius, who finished last.
Grenadian Kirani James and South African Oscar Pistorius embrace after their semi-final heat (Getty Images)11. When 'Grey's Anatomy' show runner Shonda Rhimes hit pay dirt again with 'Scandal.'
Shonda Rhimes, Scandal star Kerry Washington and co-executive producer Judy Smith (Getty Images)12. When Los Angeles-area Tuskegee Airmen made it out to a special screening of 'Red Tails' ...
Tuskegee Airmen at Red Tails screening (Kathleen Miles)13. ... and one of their comrades paid a visit to an unlikely fan.
A birthday surprise in Idaho (KMTV)14. When the National Museum of African American History and Culture broke ground on the National Mall ...
The museum's director, Lonnie Bunch, surrounded by artifacts (Washington Post)15. ... and young black philanthropists jumped in to raise money for it.
Philanthropists at the first ambassadors reception on June 20, 2012. (Michael Barnes/Smithsonian)16. When people across the country wore hoodies to protest racial profiling after Trayvon Martin's death ...
The Million Hoodie March in New York's Union Square on March 21, 2012 (Mario Tama/Getty Images)17. ... even on the House floor.
Rep. Bobby Rush (D-Ill.) in a hoodie on the House floor (Washington Post)18. When black leaders came together to fight attacks on voting rights from every angle ...
Rep. John Lewis (D-Ga.) (Getty Images)19. ... and people braved ridiculously long lines to cast a ballot.
Early-voting lines in north Miami, Fla., on Nov. 1, 2012 (Getty Images)20. When the NAACP endorsed marriage equality 10 days after Obama did ...
NAACP President Ben Jealous (Getty Images)21. ... and this brave Queens, N.Y., fifth-grader agreed and wrote a speech about it.
Kameron Slade (NY1)22. When Obama responded to a fan letter from a bullied girl with two dads.
Facebook23. When thousands packed the streets of New York for a march against the NYPD's stop-and-frisk policy.
The Rev. Al Sharpton leads the way at the NYC rally (The Root)24. When Jet magazine featured a gay male couple in its wedding section for the first time.
Ravi Perry and Paris Prince (Jet)25. When Newark, N.J., Mayor Cory Booker saved a woman from a burning building.
Mayor Cory Booker (Getty Images)26. When Shreveport, La., meteorologist Rhonda Lee gave a pitch-perfect response to a viewer who criticized her short hair.
Rhonda Lee (Facebook)27. When Eric LeGrand, who was paralyzed during a college football game, was 'symbolically drafted' by the Tampa Bay Buccaneers.
Eric LeGrand with his Rutgers teammates (Getty Images)28. When this self-taught teen from Sierra Leone wowed the scholars at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.
Kelvin Doe (Thnkr)29. When we learned the touching backstory of this classic White House photo.
Pete Souza/Official White House Photo30. And when this picture, along with the words 'four more years,' became the most retweeted of all time.
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