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Clarence Thomas' Wife Calls Anita Hill
Clarence Thomas’ wife has been increasingly visible as a conservative activist, but this latest move puts her squarely in the spotlight. Virginia “Ginny” Thomas reportedly left a message on the phone of Anita Hill, asking that she apologize to her husband. At Thomas’ confirmation hearing in 1991, Hill accused Thomas of sexual harassment. The New…
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Obama Reaches Out to African-American Voters
By Joel Dreyfuss As the clock ticks down to the crucial midterm elections, the Obama administration and the Democratic Party are paying attention to a group of voters who often feel neglected. Black voters are getting love from the president and party they haven’t seen since 2008. Blacks have remained the president’s most loyal supporters, registering…
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Meet The Root 100, 2010 Edition
Click here to go directly to The Root 100 list for 2010. For the second year in a row, we have put together a list of 100 people who we believe represent the ideals of The Root. These individuals are impactful, creative, iconoclastic, innovative, committed to community and, in many instances, defiant of any restrictive definitions…
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The Empty Seat Next to a Famous Writer
He’s an award-winning writer with a body of work that has been praised around the globe. Yet John Edgar Wideman notes that when he rides the train between New York and his home in Providence, R.I., the seat next to him stays empty until his fellow passengers have no other choice. Is it racism? Over…
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Charlayne Hunter-Gault Remembers a Great Teacher
When the young Charlayne Hunter arrived at the University of Georgia in 1960, there were riots to protest the desegregation of the university. But she was offered an oasis by a member of the English department, who defied convention and custom to welcome her into her home. When I got the sad news that Francis Wallis had…
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White People Have Lost Their Minds
Puzzled about how the country has gotten into the state it is, with Sarah Palin setting the agenda, a guy who e-mails bestiality and racist jokes challenging for governor of New York, and the Tea Party scaring the Republican Party more than the Democrats? This article by Steven Thrasher might be the best explanation yet.…
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The Root Interview: Ed Gordon on Coming Home
Ed Gordon has come home again to Black Entertainment Television. The one-time BET anchor relaunched his career on the black-oriented cable network last Sunday with an incisive interview of comedian Steve Harvey. During the Conversations With Ed Gordon segment, one of two shows he is committed to doing on BET, Harvey proved to be vulnerable,…
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Preaching Against Homosexuality Can Be the Ultimate Denial
The allegations of sexual misconduct made by four young men against Bishop Eddie Long, pastor of the New Birth Missionary Baptist Church outside Atlanta, are especially poignant because of the minister’s long-standing public hostility toward homosexuality. Long has preached vehemently against homosexuality and even led a march in 2004 to oppose same-sex marriage. If these…
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New York Gov. Paterson Does Saturday Night Live
Gov. David Paterson showed he could punch and counterpunch Saturday on the show that has often made fun of his poor eyesight. The New York governor chided the show’s hosts for making light of the disabled, who can’t fight back. He called such jokes “sophomoric and stupid.” Obviously, the governor has not checked out the…
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Bishop Eddie Long Video: 'This Thing, I'm Going to Fight'
Bishop Eddie Long’s much anticipated Sunday news conference after four days of silence turned out to be anticlimactic. A spokesman came out with Long to declare that the minister would not answer questions. Standing before some 40 reporters and camera operators at New Birth Missionary Baptist Church in Lithonia, Ga., he declared that “on the…
Black News and Black Views with a Whole Lotta Attitude
