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March on Washington: The Young Leaders
As we celebrate the 50th anniversary of the March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom, it’s clear that while we’ve made strides, Americans have much more work to do in realizing Martin Luther King Jr.’s dream. From fighting social injustice and repealing “Stand your ground” to protecting the rights of women and the LGBT community,…
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Is There Room for a Race Man Today?
(The Root) — August 28, 1963, Martin Luther King Jr. delivered his famous “I Have a Dream” speech on the steps of the Lincoln Memorial with activist and entertainer Harry Belafonte not far away. It was one of the many moments in which Belafonte, throughout his career as an actor and singer, used his star…
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How Data Took Down NYC's Stop and Frisk
(The Root) — On Monday, federal Judge Shira A. Scheindlin ruled that the New York City Police Department’s stop-and-frisk practices were unconstitutional, but to thousands of the city’s black and Latino men, that wasn’t news. The real headline for many in New York’s black and brown communities was how attorneys convinced a federal judge that…
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Rising Star Tries Finding Her Voice
(The Root) — Many film fans were introduced to actress Adepero Oduye through the 2011 independent film Pariah. Playing lesbian teen Alike, the Nigerian American grappled with sexuality and Christianity in such an honest way that she earned a shout-out from multi-Academy Award winner Meryl Streep. Since then, Oduye has appeared in Lifetime’s Steel Magnolias…
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Standing Up to 'Stand Your Ground'
(The Root) — “It’s time to question laws that senselessly expand the concept of self-defense and sow dangerous conflict in our neighborhoods,” U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder said at the 2013 NAACP convention on Tuesday in Orlando, Fla., referring to the “Stand your ground” laws in place in more than 30 states. In reaction to…
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'Fruitvale Station' Star on Playing Oscar Grant
(The Root) — Fruitvale Station — a film chronicling the final day of Oscar Grant III, a 22-year-old Oakland, Calif., native who was shot and killed by a transit-police officer on New Year’s Day in 2009 — opens on Friday. Originally slated for an October release, distributor the Weinstein Co. and Executive Producer Forest Whitaker’s…
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Black American Pride: Marcia Anderson
(The Root) — A lot has changed since 1903, when W.E.B. Du Bois described black Americans as possessing what he called a “double consciousness,” caught between a self-conception as Americans and as people of African descent. As he put it in The Souls of Black Folk: “The Negro ever feels his two-ness-an American, a Negro;…
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Black American Pride: Mayor Cory Booker
(The Root) — A lot has changed since 1903, when W.E.B. Du Bois described black Americans as possessing what he called a “double consciousness,” caught between a self-conception as Americans and as people of African descent. As he put it in The Souls of Black Folk: “The Negro ever feels his two-ness-an American, a Negro;…
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'Enter the Dragon' Actor Jim Kelly Dead at 67
On Saturday, Enter the Dragon actor and martial arts man James “Jim” Kelly lost his battle with cancer. He was 67 years old, reports the Associated Press. Sporting an Afro hairstyle and sideburns, Kelly made a splash with his one-liners and fight scenes in the 1973 martial arts classic. His later films included “Three the…
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Obama Encourages Students to Follow Mandela's Legacy
During a speech at the University of Cape Town on Sunday, President Obama spoke about his personal introduction to politics, working against apartheid in college. He challenged students in the audience to fight for what they believe, reports CNN. Speaking at the University of Cape Town, Obama recounted how American college campaigns against investment in…
Black News and Black Views with a Whole Lotta Attitude
