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Zora Neale Hurston’s Barracoon Is an Epic Tale From the Last Known Survivor of the Transatlantic Slave Trade
Like gifts from the grave, the words of Zora Neale Hurston, revered mother of black literary and womanist canon, have come back to bless us. In 1931, Viking Press rejected Hurston’s manuscript for Barracoon: The Story of the Last “Black Cargo,” the not-yet-novelist and folklorist’s first-person account of 89-year-old Oluale Kossula (slave name: Cudjo Lewis),…
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We Knew When Trump Said His Numbers Doubled Among the Blacks That He Was Lying. Here’s Why
Why anyone would believe anything Donald Trump says is beyond me. I mean, it has been proved that the president has lied at least 3,000 times since he took office. But the spin—and the media’s consistent repeating of it—doesn’t stop. Recently, Trump bragged about his support “doubling” among African Americans, but many of us, including…
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Call Me ‘Master’: Ex Says Former New York Attorney General Was Into Racist Role-Playing During Sex
On Monday the New Yorker published a 6,000-plus-word exposé on now-former New York Attorney General Eric Schneiderman, in which at least four women in past relationships with him accused the Democratic operator of physical, sexual, verbal and emotional abuse. Hours later, Schneiderman denied the allegations but resigned his position. The irony for many was that…
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1 of 3 Filmmakers #BlackWhileAirbnb-ing Is Bob Marley’s Granddaughter; Plans to Sue Police Over Excessive Stop [Updated]
Updated: Tuesday, May 8, 2018, 11:15 a.m. EDT: It turns out that one of the three filmmakers who were recently stopped by a swarm of police cars for checking out of an Airbnb is the granddaughter of the late, great reggae singer and prophet Bob Marley. The woman in the photo above has been identified…
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Mother of Young Woman Killed at Tennessee Waffle House Accepts Her College Diploma
The mother of a young woman senselessly gunned down at a Tennessee Waffle House in April accepted her daughter’s posthumous college diploma this weekend. Shirl Baker, the mother of 21-year-old DeEbony Groves, walked across the stage Saturday evening to receive her daughter’s degree in social work from Belmont University. “Almost two weeks ago, our community…
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‘If God Is White, Kill God’: Why Dr. James Cone Was Once the Most Hated Theologian in America
I had just returned to New York City from delivering the 2018 Trout Lectures at Trinity Lutheran Seminary in Columbus, Ohio, when I received word that my beloved professor, now colleague and friend, Dr. James Hal Cone had died. In 2012, Dr. Cone had been invited to lecture at Trinity Lutheran but had to cancel…
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West Virginia Pol Uses the Word ‘Negro’ to Defend Racist Ad About ‘China People’
Now that it’s “Trump time” in America, it’s clear that wypipo have gone plumb loco when it comes to spewing the pent-up racial animus they’ve obviously been holding on to for so long. As such, West Virginia coal baron and Republican Don Blankenship is making up for lost time (or a lost era—or a lost…
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Cynthia Nixon Vows to Legalize Weed in New York if She Wins Governorship
Let me find out that Cynthia Nixon is serious as a heart attack when it comes to moving into that New York governor’s mansion in 2019. As reported earlier by The Root, the actress and longtime public schools activist recently hired kick-ass consultant L. Joy Williams to advise her campaign, and now she’s taking her…
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Donald Glover’s SNL Migos Parody Was Skrrt-Skrrt Perfect
It is only fitting that Donald Glover, in his first host-ship of Saturday Night Live, did a hilarious send-up of the Migos, the group he brought to a lot of folks’ attention when he won a 2017 Golden Globe for Atlanta. In the four-minute skit, the other two black guys on SNL, Kenan Thompson and…
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A Storm’s a-Coming: Porn Star’s Lawyer Says Trump ‘Will Be Forced to Resign’
It looks as if the bumbling and untruth-filled presidency of Donald Trump has met its match in an adult-film actress and her lawyer. Reason being? Media moxie. Clearly, Stormy Daniels (real name: Stephanie Clifford) and her lawyer, Michael Avenatti, are playing up their case against the president with perfect precision. Daniels alleges that she had…
