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When a Breakdown Is Public (or, That Time My Mom Was on WorldStarHipHop)
Theodora Marie is my mother. She is one-half of an identical twinship forged in Grandmother’s womb some 66 years ago. Teddie is a fiery Sagittarius, an old-school nationalist and my very first love. My mother is a slight woman, 5 feet 7 inches tall and 110 pounds, but her mouth? Gargantuan. Her heart? Titan. If…
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GOP Ala. Senate Candidate Roy Moore Faces Pressure to Drop Out After Being Accused of Sexually Abusing 14-Year-Old
A banner week for Democrats just got better, now that a Republican candidate for Senate in Alabama has been accused of pursuing a sexual relationship with a 14-year-old girl when he was in his 30s, and national Republican leadership is asking him to drop out of a special election to replace Jeff Sessions. Sorry to…
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Nicki Minaj’s Brother Found Guilty of Child Rape, Faces 25 to Life
In one of the most disturbing stories of the year, Jelani Maraj, older brother of rapper Nicki Minaj, was found guilty Thursday of predatory sexual assault and endangering the welfare of a child in a nearly three-week-long rape case. As previously reported by The Root, Maraj, 38, stood accused of repeatedly raping his stepdaughter starting…
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Rooting for All the Black Folk: 7 Cities in America Elected Their 1st Black Mayors Tuesday Night
In what is being termed a watershed referendum against “Trumpism”—just as the 2016 presidential election was about tapping into the racist tendencies of America, pushback against the political status quo—black people showed up and showed out in Tuesday night’s elections, giving Democrats several sweeping electoral victories. This is not to say that only black people…
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Texas Mass Shooter Devin Kelley Escaped From a Mental Hospital in 2012
The gunman who killed 26 people on Saturday in Sutherland Springs, Texas, escaped from a psychiatric hospital in 2012. Such evidence may indeed feed the beast in the “gun control vs. mental-health care” debate that inevitably arrises after a mass shooting. The New York Times reports that while Devin P. Kelley was in the Air…
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‘Cry-Rese’ Gets $5,000,000 From Will and Jada Pinkett Smith After Emotional Video Plea
Even if the Rock thinks that Tyrese Gibson (and his music) is baby shit, Will and Jada Pinkett Smith are here for the increasingly emotional celeb. After the acting singer/singing actor made a video earning him the name “Cry-rese,” in which he sobbed over several minutes talking about his money woes and ongoing custody battle…
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Devin Patrick Kelley Identified as Gunman in Texas Church Mass Shooting
Updated Sunday, Nov. 5, 2017, 9:10 p.m. EST: Several reports have identified the man who fired numerous times inside the First Baptist Church in Sutherland Springs, Texas, as 26-year-old Devin Patrick Kelley. The New York Times confirms that at least two anonymous law-enforcement sources told the outlet that Kelley, who lived in New Braunfels, Texas,…
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La. Court Rules That Man Who Said ‘Give Me a Lawyer, Dog’ Wasn’t Asking for Counsel
In the latest round of #Facts that prove the court system does not work for black people—especially those who lack resources—a Louisiana high court ruled that a man who said, “Give me a lawyer, dog” was asking for a “lawyer dog.” That’s right—the Louisiana Supreme Court recently ruled that when Warren Demesme, 22 at the…
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Diddy Changes His Name to ‘Brotherly Love’ Cuz Hey, It’s Scorpio Season
Sean Combs might have ’em all beat when it comes to reinvention. The man who has been known as “Puff Daddy,” “Sean,” “Puffy” “P. Diddy” and most recently “Diddy” has done it again. In a video posted to Twitter on Saturday, he announced that in honor of his 48th birthday, he was changing his name…
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‘It’s Okay to Be White’ Signs Papered All Over the Country Because Everyone Knows White People Are Oppressed
A favorite book of both of my children (they’re 11 years apart) is It’s Okay to Be Different by Todd Parr, a colorful text that gently teaches tolerance. From the mundane (“It’s okay to wear glasses”) to the profound (“It’s okay to have different moms”) to the silly (“It’s okay to eat macaroni and cheese…
