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Marriage Equality: How Blacks Paved the Way
The debate over same-sex marriage has proved a controversial topic among African Americans — a conflict that reflects the myriad and contrasting opinions across the community. Because of an entrenched religious history and struggle for equality, blacks remain sensitive to the needs of those denied basic human rights but extremely conservative in applying a Christian-values…
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Queen Latifah Says Gay Is the New Black
Queen Latifah, the Hollywood star born and bred in Newark, N.J., is a Renaissance woman. Brilliantly transformed from a young 1990s rapper and hip-hop artist into an Academy Award-nominated actress and iconic cosmetics CoverGirl, Latifah embodies full-figured beauty and style. Her confidence and strength are fundamental: From her lyrics and lyricism to her elegant, on-screen…
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Can the Constitution Solve the Debt Crisis?
President Obama is engaged in an intellectual civil war with Congressional Republican leadership and their Tea Party Caucus. Unlike the battles being fought in the deserts of Iraq and the mountains of Afghanistan, the standoff between Republicans and President Obama is not a war of religious ideology and weapons of steel, but a politically manufactured…
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Latest Salvo in Attack on Poor in America
James Baldwin, the acclaimed African-American novelist and poet, famously wrote, “Anyone who has ever struggled with poverty knows how extremely expensive it is to be poor.” Baldwin was speaking of the psychological complexity of socioeconomic disparities. His observations were specifically of the African-American community at the height of segregation in the 1960s, but the concept…
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Who Is Michele Norris' Husband?
Broderick Johnson came to national attention when his wife, Michele Norris, a prominent National Public Radio anchor, announced that she was taking a leave from her anchor role at the network’s flagship show, All Things Considered. Norris stepped aside to avoid a potential conflict of interest after Johnson, a successful Washington lawyer and entrepreneur, signed…
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There's a Funny Thing About Democracy
The Arab Spring became the Arab fall, and in this Arab winter the people’s voices are being heard at the ballot box. The Egyptian Revolution that began in January captured international attention, not just because of the nation’s historical significance as the great cradle of African civilization, but largely because of the fact that it…
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The Food Stamp Fallacy
The leaders of today’s Republican Party are expert storytellers. When it comes to manipulating racial stereotypes for political gain, they are akin to animation artists of the 1920s: coloring the lines in black and white. Last Thursday Newt Gingrich told a crowd of senior citizens in New Hampshire, “The African-American community should demand paychecks and…
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Colorblind Racism: The New Norm
Colorblind racism is the new normal in American conservative political thought. Well after the election of the nation’s first African-American president, in 2012 Republican candidates are using egregious signals and dog whistles to incite racial divisiveness as an effective tool for political gain. But when confronted about the nature of their offensive rhetoric, the answer…
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The Mogul Who Buys Black-History Treasures
Billionaire financier David Rubenstein has become an ambassador for championing the importance of preserving the African-American experience and introducing it to a global audience for generations to come. His recent purchases of an original copy of the Emancipation Proclamation and the 13th Amendment to the Constitution, which formally abolished slavery, reflect his belief that black-American…
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How the Right Invented 'Barack X'
Have you met Barack X? He’s the candidate that the political right has invented in a bid to win back the White House: a fictional president with no decipherable religion and questionable loyalties. According to their dogma, Barack X is raising taxes, destroying the military, apologizing for America, waging war on religion and creating death…
Black News and Black Views with a Whole Lotta Attitude
