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White Folks Riot, Too
In light of the assumption that black people would riot after the not-guilty verdict in the George Zimmerman trial, Edward Wyckoff Williams writes in Salon, it’s important to remember that whites have their own history of violent rioting. If there is no justice, there can be no peace. But in the American South it seems…
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Martin Family's Legal Team Speaks Out
(The Root) — A black teenage boy in the South, who did nothing wrong, was attacked in the dark of night by a stranger. He was beaten and murdered, in cold blood, but an all-white jury fully acquitted the perpetrator — under the guise that reasonable doubt existed and the prosecution had failed to prove…
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Black and Transgender: Still on the Margins
(The Root) — Following the recent Supreme Court decision declaring the Defense of Marriage Act unconstitutional, President Barack Obama’s embrace of marriage equality and the repeal of “Don’t ask, don’t tell,” gay Americans are experiencing their very own civil rights era. But the struggle isn’t over, and there are forgotten faces among the jubilant crowds:…
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It's Not Independence Day for Everyone
He loves the Fourth of July, writes The Root contributor Edward Wyckoff Williams in a blog post at Salon, but what is independence if full freedom still doesn’t exist for everyone in this nation? Comedian Chris Rock sparked a debate a year ago today, when he tweeted: “Happy white people’s independence day! The slaves weren’t free…
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Gay, Black, Married and Still Unequal
(The Root) — America has become a nation in which gay black men and women can serve openly in the U.S. military, marry each other and have their bond recognized by the federal government. But ironically, those same gay black people may not be able to vote. Last week the U.S. Supreme Court made two…
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America: More Diverse yet Less Equal?
(The Root) — There is a strange dichotomy occurring in 21st-century America: The country is becoming more diverse and less equal. Last week the U.S. Census Bureau released data revealing that the majority of children under age 5 were from racial- and ethnic-minority backgrounds and predicted that white Americans will officially become a minority by…
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Trayvon's Dad: 'My Kid Was Perfect to Me'
(The Root) — Today, Monday, is the beginning of jury selection for the second-degree-murder trial of 29-year-old George Zimmerman in the shooting death of 17-year-old high school student Trayvon Martin. The trial comes just ahead of Father’s Day, and The Root spoke with Tracy Martin, Trayvon’s father, to ask him about the son he knew…
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Young, Black, Gifted and Underemployed
(The Root) — President Ronald Reagan’s 1984 re-election campaign is notably remembered for a political television commercial with the opening line, “It’s morning again in America.” The optimism expressed in the narration suggested that improvements to the U.S. economy since the recession of the late 1970s were due to Reagan’s policies. It was a winning…
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What's at Stake for Obama in 2014
(The Root) — It is no surprise that President Barack Obama, who has already faced improbable odds and still managed to do the impossible, will soon face one of his greatest challenges yet. The 2014 midterms are perhaps the most important election of Obama’s presidency, offering the last opportunity to circumvent an obstinate GOP selfishly committed…
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Oklahoma and Defense of Big Government
(The Root) — The tornado that devastated Oklahoma this week requires significant government aid to support recovery. This presents a unique problem for the Republican Party writ large — both in the state and in Washington, D.C. — as requests for aid, and approval thereof, undercut its meme of “self-reliance” and the dangers of “big…
Black News and Black Views with a Whole Lotta Attitude
