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#ReclaimMLK Seeks to Combat the Sanitizing of Martin Luther King Jr.’s Legacy
Martin Luther King Jr. had more than “a dream,” but you might not notice that on Monday during observances for his birthday. Somewhere between his assassination and today began an MLK-neutering campaign meant to turn the famed agitator’s holiday into a national Day of Service, a generic mishmash of good feelings that contorts King’s social-justice legacy…
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Upcoming Ruling Reminds Us of the 1 Thing Hurting MLK’s Legacy: His Fighting Children
How do you solve a problem like the King kids? Since the deaths of their mother, Coretta Scott King, and eldest sibling, Yolanda King, the surviving children of civil rights icon Martin Luther King Jr. have engaged in some publicly destructive and embarrassing behavior. Lawsuits abound in this King Lear-ish plot as brothers Dexter Scott…
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‘Terrible’ Empire Is Still Good TV
Have you ever had a feeling that you knew something was terrible, but you loved it anyway? Like the extra-greasy fast-food burger that you knew wouldn’t settle well on your stomach hours later, but you’d still eat again? That’s the aftertaste of Fox’s new hip-hop drama Empire, created by film producer-director Lee Daniels and Danny…
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The Winners of 2014
For some, 2014 was made of win. Success was found both through hard work and happy accident. These beings shone the brightest. They stood out the most. They were highly tweeted on the Twitter. They lived up to the hype—or at least benefited from it. Here, the winningest people and things of 2014. Ferguson Protesters…
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The Biggest Losers of 2014
Some of us will be welcoming the new year more than others—namely those of us for whom 2014 was a complete bust. It was a very bad year if you couldn’t stop “accidentally” saying racist stuff, if you had the misfortune of being stopped by the police or if you traveled to a country with…
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Sure, Let’s Pardon Mark Wahlberg for His Violent, Racist Past
Remember that time actor Mark Wahlberg punched a man in the eye so hard, he partially blinded him forever? What about the time when he chased black schoolchildren, shouting racial slurs while throwing rocks? If you don’t, better read up on it now because Wahlberg is petitioning (pdf) Massachusetts Gov. Deval Patrick to have part of…
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What Is It Going to Take to Indict When Police Kill an Unarmed Black Man?
There was video. The move was banned and Eric Garner’s death was ruled a homicide. But in the death of Garner, a father of six from Staten Island, N.Y., these things weren’t enough for a grand jury to bring charges against the officer who killed him. Think about that again: None of the overwhelming circumstances…
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Did the Boycott Matter to Black Friday Retail Sales?
Getting in the black got a bit harder for some retailers this holiday season, thanks to everyone from the retailers themselves to nationwide protests related to Ferguson, Mo. In figures released Sunday by the National Retail Federation, sales were down 11 percent this past Thanksgiving weekend. That’s a nearly $7 billion drop in revenue since…
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The 5 Best States for Black People
America isn’t an easy country. If you fall down, you’ll mostly get a lot of people trying not to make eye contact with you as you panhandle on the street. The fall can be even harsher if you’re African American—when your time on the street probably came with a stint in prison. But it’s not…
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Want to Improve Voter Turnout? Abolish Voter Registration. No, Really!
It’s your right to vote. So why does our society seem not to want you to use it? Two-thirds of eligible voters did not vote in this year’s midterm elections. It was the lowest electoral turnout since World War II—a time when most black people couldn’t even vote because of Jim Crow laws and because…
Black News and Black Views with a Whole Lotta Attitude
