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Why US Virgin Islanders Say They Feel Like America’s ‘Bastard Stepchildren’ After Hurricane Irma
Although the U.S. Virgin Islands, which include St. John, St. Croix and St. Thomas, are part of the United States, many in the islands felt nonexistent as mainstream media covered Hurricane Irma’s trajectory with nary a mention of the territories where many Americans gladly sun-and-fun sans passport. There was talk of how Irma was affecting…
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Interview: Mother of 8-Year-Old Nearly Hanged in NH Speaks Out on Moving Forward With Her Son
Most of us were saddened and disgusted by the graphic photo of the little boy from Claremont, N.H., who was nearly hanged from a tree. If that wasn’t bad enough, the town’s police chief went on record shortly thereafter, saying of the kids who assaulted the biracial 8-year-old: “Mistakes they make as a young child…
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The Root 100 No. 1s: Beyoncé Will Forever Be Bey-ond. She’s So Fly, They Named a Fly After Her
What can be said about Queen Bey that hasn’t already been said, done, sung, texted, tweeted, explicated, unpacked, imagined? In an age when there are very few true superstars, she stands alone; one of a few black women, one of a few of her generation. Who else but a few aging rock stars is able…
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The Cleveland Browns’ Message on ‘Unity’ Is About as Bad as That Punt Attempt
The Cleveland Browns, the one NFL team that have been the most demonstrably vocal in support of Colin Kaepernick’s principled stance against racial bias in U.S. policing, played a video before the start of the national anthem in their first game of the season Sunday. And it was … interesting. Against a backdrop of patriotic…
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Fringe Media Outlets Smear Heather Heyer, Alleging She Died by Heart Attack, Not a Raging White Supremacist
It’s easy to dismiss “fringe” media like Alex Jones or Breitbart News or other decidedly racist, anti-Semitic or “alt-right” blogs as the rantings of kooks and those outside the mainstream, except we now have a man in the White House who exploited and stoked the fires of these outlets all the way there. And so,…
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NH Police Refuse to Release Information in Case of 8-Year-Old Biracial Boy Who Was Nearly Lynched
Welcome to Donald Trump’s America. Say what you want, but when the U.S. president defends avowed white supremacists, one can’t be surprised when bullying takes on a decidedly racist tone, as it did with an 8-year-old biracial boy who was hanged from a tree in the year 2017. The climate has been set. Yes, there…
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Ousted Fox Host Confirms That His 19-Year-Old Son Has Died
Updated Saturday, Sept. 9, 2017, 6:05 p.m. EDT: Eric Bolling, the 10-year veteran of the Fox News Network, confirmed Saturday that his 19-year-old son, Eric Chase, has died, hours after Bolling’s dismissal over sexual harassment claims. Bolling tweeted that he and his wife are “devastated” by the loss of their only son. At this point,…
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Spike Lee and Jordan Peele Collaborate on Black Klansman, the True Story of a Black Man Who Infiltrated the KKK
Legendary black Hollywood stalwart Spike Lee is collaborating with upstart Jordan Peele on Black Klansman, a true-life account of a black police detective who infiltrated the Ku Klux Klan. Lee will direct and produce, while Peele will also produce. According to the Hollywood Reporter, Ron Stallworth answered a 1978 newspaper ad in Colorado Springs, Colo.,…
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Beyoncé Cries With Hurricane Harvey Victims at Her Childhood Church
Queen Bey continues to spread her magnificence throughout the realm. The Houston native went back to her childhood church this week to be with victims of Hurricane Harvey, including the family of The Root’s very own Kirsten West Savali, who wrote about their horrific ordeal on the site. The Carter women—including Beyoncé’s mother, Tina Knowles,…
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Charlottesville, Va., City Council Votes to Remove That Other Confederate Statue, Stonewall Jackson’s
Legislators in Charlottesville, Va., voted Tuesday night to remove a statue of yet another Confederate general, Thomas “Stonewall” Jackson. The City Council voted after 11 p.m., asking a design firm to redesign Justice Park (formerly Jackson Park), where the statue now stands—effectively ordering its removal once all court cases appealing the decision are concluded. NBC…
