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It's Complicated: Black Mothers and Daughters on Film
Dee Roberts (Nicole Beharie) is a 24-year-old single mother of four in this 2009 based-on-a-true-story film. Dee is charged as a drug dealer after the local police sweep her house — even though she has no record and no drugs were found in the raid. Her mother, Alma (Alfre Woodard), later tries to convince Dee…
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Treme: On The Verge of a Faster Pace?
So I’m still slow-moving on the Treme bandwagon. (Hence, the lateness of this post.) But I haven’t given up quite yet. Last night’s episode had some interesting moments. Of course, the music was great. Even Wendell Pierce’s “singing” of “St. James’ Infirmary.” And then, there was a split second of New Orleans bounce music, courtesy…
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Red, Black and Greens: 10 Essential Plants for Black Gardeners
It’s the king of greens. Yeah, I know about turnip greens, mustard greens and kale. I even know about upland cress, the pungent green known as creasy salad in North Carolina and Virginia. But collards rule. Why not? Dig a hole about 3 inches deep. Throw in a handful of composted manure and/or a slow-growth…
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Why Can't I Get Into Treme?
At The Root, we want this blog to be your source for summaries, commentary and critiques of David Simon’s new HBO show, Treme. But I’m feeling really uninspired to write a glowing—or scathing—review. Is it that there are too many characters and mini-plot lines? Maybe. Is it that life in New Orleans after Katrina can’t…
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In Living Color 2010: A Dream Cast
-Heavy D, In Living Color theme song “Sit down and be still,” my mother would say as I jumped around the living room, Heavy D’s lyrics flowing out of my mouth verbatim. I remember watching In Living Color every Sunday, laughing feverishly at the Buttmans, a hardworking West Indian family named the Hedleys, Homey D.…
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Down in the 'Treme': Ain't Nothin' Goin' On … Yet
It was torture watching the first episode of Treme. It was like sitting through a one-hour-too-long movie, with no real plot line and too many characters. I hate that I didn’t like the first episode. But I can’t say I’m surprised (or that I wasn’t warned by Natalie Hopkinson’s review). I didn’t like The Wire…
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'Freaknik: The Musical': Bourgies, Beware
“There’s some bad in the best of us. A little good in the worst of us. A little freak in all of us.” —T-Pain as Freaknizzle, the Ghost of Freakniks Past, remixes the words of Martin Luther King Jr. in Freaknik: The Musical. For much of the multicultural millennial generation, pop—and hip-hop—culture opened our often-small…
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The Best Gabourey Sidibe Interview So Far
I can’t get enough of cub reporter Damon Weaver. Last year I got a chance to interview him just after he sat down with President Barack Obama for an exclusive interview. He was at it again this weekend at the NAACP Image Awards, interviewing Morgan Freeman, Ben Jealous, Gabourey Sidibe, and Quinton Aaron on the…
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(Your) Black History Month Photos
Aug. 13, 1960. Press talking with Alton Yates (left), first vice president of Jacksonville, Fla.’s NAACP Youth Council, and Rodney Hurst, 16-year-old president of the Youth Council. After two weeks of demonstrating, youth council members were attacked on Aug. 27 by about 200 white males wielding ax handles and baseball bats in an underreported event called “Ax Handle Saturday.”…
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Would You Let Serena Williams Do Your Nails?
I know it sounds like an outlandish question, but apparently Serena Williams is one of Palm Beach, Fla.’s budding nail technicians. This, ladies and gents, is not a game for Ms. Williams. “Don’t be surprised if you hear about a part-time job I’ve picked up at a local nail salon,” she wrote on the celebrity…
Black News and Black Views with a Whole Lotta Attitude
