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The Struggle Over R&B Singers' Images
(The Root) — In recent months, three of the most admired contemporary black female musical artists have come under fire. “The queen of hip-hop soul,” Mary J. Blige; the artiste commonly known as Erykah Badu; and perhaps the most celebrated female rapper of all time, Lauryn Hill, have been taken to task in the media…
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'Black Folk Don't' Make Web Series?
(The Root) — Have you ever been talking to someone about an activity you’re into and been told, “Black people don’t do that”? This common experience is the impetus for director-producer Angela Tucker’s popular Web series, Black Folk Don’t. “Being a black person,” she told The Root, “everyone has heard something that black folk aren’t…
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'Game of Thrones' Season 2 Finale Recap
(The Root) — Can you say “gangsta”? The HBO series Game of Thrones, based on the first book in George R.R. Martin’s fantasy novel series, A Song of Ice and Fire, has come to an end after a second season criticized for storyline bloat and moments where the small-screen adaptation strayed far from the book.…
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Beyoncé Lost 60 Pounds: Really?
(The Root) — Fresh from my “Give me a break” file: Superstar Beyoncé recently announced that she’s lost 60 pounds since giving birth to her baby girl, Blue Ivy, with music-mogul husband Jay-Z. My initial thought upon reading this announcement was “Who cares?” followed quickly by “Please stop the lies.” Typically, I don’t get invested…
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Prison Rape at Tutwiler: A Disgrace!
(The Root) — Tutwiler Prison for Women in Wetumpka, Ala., is in the news again. You may recall that this is the same prison where, in the mid-1980s, prisoners with HIV were segregated from the general-population inmates. Until 2007 they were not allowed to eat in the dining halls, have access to educational classes, hold…
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Cops Using Tasers on Pregnant Women: OK?
Next week the U.S. Supreme Court will be meeting to decide whether to hear an appeal from three Seattle police officers on the future of “a useful pain technique,” commonly known as the use of a Taser.You may recall the case of Malaika Brooks, a woman in the third trimester of her pregnancy, who had…
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Celebrate Mothers? Yeah, Right
This weekend is Mother’s Day, when people will be celebrating mothers across the globe. How is it that the very same week that we celebrate mothers, North Carolinians voted for legislation like Amendment One, which disenfranchises a whole lot of mothers? What about Kansas, where a Republican-sponsored anti-abortion bill allows doctors to withhold medical information…
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NC to Vote on Banning Gay and Straight Unions
On Tuesday, voters in North Carolina will go to the polls to vote on Amendment One, which will amend the state’s constitution to ban any relationship recognition for unmarried couples, same sex or otherwise. If Amendment One passes, then partners whose unions are recognized as civil unions will lose all legal protections provided by law,…
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Oprah's Saving Grace
Look up in the sky. It’s a bird, it’s a plane, it’s Oprah Winfrey, television’s super-shero — the woman who dragged talk television out of the abyss of daytime tomfoolery and crafted a talk show so spirited and engaging that the free world bought into a kinder, gentler talk-show model in which change was, in…
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HBO's 'Girls' Uses TV's Success Model
HBO’s latest hit, Girls, has come under fire for showing yet one more version of New York as a white world where people of color don’t exist. Writer Rebecca Carroll of the Daily Beast talks about feeling left out of the show as a black girl. I’m more inclined to agree with the article “What’s…
Black News and Black Views with a Whole Lotta Attitude
