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North Carolina Names Highway for Groundbreaking Black Historian and Civil Rights Advocate
A stretch of Interstate 85 in Durham, N.C., has been named for the trailblazing black historian John H. Franklin, who directly confronted America’s racist history and helped shaped the discourse around America’s legacy of slavery. The stretch of road was dedicated to the influential scholar Monday afternoon at the Hayti Heritage Center. As the Raleigh…
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She’s Your Princess-to-Be: Prince Harry Puts a Ring on Meghan Markle
American actress and gender-equality advocate Meghan Markle is now engaged to the Obamas’ favorite redhead, Prince Harry of Wales. The news was released through a statement from Blackingham Palace the Clarence House, one of the royal residences in London. Apparently, Markle and Prince Harry have been engaged since earlier this month. Their wedding is set…
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The New York Times Whitesplains Its Awful Neo-Nazi Profile
The New York Times responded to its readers Sunday after a “puff piece” about a neo-Nazi that ran over the weekend garnered a swift and ferocious backlash. The piece, titled “A Voice of Hate in America’s Heartland” and written by the Times’ Richard Fausset, strives to paint Nazi sympathizer Tony Hovater and his wife, Maria,…
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Today in Obama: Turkey With a Side of Dad Jokes
In which we reflect on simpler times. If you wanted a side of nostalgia on your Thanksgiving plate, we at The Root are here to serve. Let’s go back to 2015—when the first family served Thanksgiving meals to homeless and at-risk veterans in Washington, D.C. If this picture looks familiar, it may be because the…
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Trump’s Top Pick to Head Census Is Pro-Gerrymandering Professor Who Thinks Black People Are Overcounted
Voting and immigration-rights advocates are alarmed over Donald Trump’s leading pick to head the U.S. Census Bureau: a conservative college professor with no government experience who literally wrote a book expounding on the dangers of competitive elections. According to Politico, Trump wants to tap Thomas Brunell, a political science professor at the University of Texas…
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Justice Department Threatens to Sue Harvard Over Race-Based Admissions Practices
The Trump administration is squaring up for its first major legal challenge over affirmative action, as documents obtained by CNN indicate. The news network, which shared copies of the documents on its site, confirms that the Department of Justice is actively investigating Harvard’s use of race in its admissions decisions. The letters, which come from…
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Bank Better Have My Money: Armed 86-Year-Old Woman Demands That Tellers Pay Her What They Owe Her
Do not play with Grandmama’s money. A Philadelphia senior, armed with a .38-caliber revolver and pushing a walker, went into a TD Bank on Tuesday afternoon to demand the cash she thought she had been shorted the day before. WTXF Fox 29 reports that the 86-year-old woman had made a withdrawal Monday, only to come…
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Tennessee Judge Who Offered Freedom in Exchange for Sterilization Receives Mild Reprimand
A Tennessee judge who drew widespread condemnation this past summer for offering vasectomies in exchange for lighter jail sentences has been formally reprimanded. Judge Sam Benningfield of White County told repeat drug offenders in his court that he would cut their sentences by 30 days if they would sign up for sterilization. For male inmates,…
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I Tried It: A Night at the Opera
If I had to guess about my first real introduction to opera, it was back in the Napster days. I was in high school, and like many other kids who knew how to use the internet at that time, I was frequently solicited with musical requests once my parents got wind that there was a…
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Boston-Area College Will Name School After Trailblazing Journalist Gwen Ifill
For decades, journalist Gwen Ifill served as a role model for reporting with integrity, clarity and fierce intelligence. Now students at one Boston-area college will be able to study in a school that bears her name. According to the Boston Herald, Simmons College announced the Gwen Ifill College of Media, Arts and Humanities on Tuesday…
Black News and Black Views with a Whole Lotta Attitude
