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They Continue to Disparage Harriet Tubman, but There’s a Remedy for That
Not enough can be said about the queen Harriet Tubman. She is our black Moses. Freedom fighter. Union spy. Brilliant strategist. Abolitionist. God-fearing woman. Conductor of the Underground Railroad. Gangsta in the way that gangsta should be: warring against those who seek to oppress. So of course, Donald Trump and his ball-less, soulless Treasury Secretary…
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Autopsy Shows Pregnant, Mentally Ill Woman Charleena Lyles Shot 7 Times by Police
Recently, Damon Young of VSB wrote a tongue-in-cheek piece about why black folk should never, ever, ever, ever, ever call the police. And though—as black folk are wont to do—Young used humor to explicate a tragic reality, it is cases like Charleena Lyles’ that drive this home. Lyles was a 30-year-old black woman and mother…
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How a Family Tragedy for Newark, N.J., Mayor Ras Baraka Inspired a Haven for Domestic Violence Survivors
On a balmy summer night in 2003, 31-year-old Shani Baraka and her partner, Rayshon Holmes, 30, went to Baraka’s older sister’s house to retrieve some of her belongings. Her sister, Wanda Pasha, was separating from her increasingly violent and erratic husband, who lay in wait at her Piscataway, N.J., home. He shot and killed Baraka…
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The Root 100 No. 1s: Ta-Nehisi Coates Wanted to Be ‘the Baddest Motherfucking Writer on the Planet’
It is a rare piece of long-form journalism that breaks the internet. But that’s exactly what happened when Ta-Nehisi Coates’ keen, decisive reportage, “The Case for Reparations,” dropped in June 2014, compelling the editors at The Root to give him that year’s No. 1 spot. Part of his The Root 100 bio read: Two years…
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Black Beauty Is a Real Crowd-Pleaser: Best Pics From Afropunk 2017
Melanin. Color. Texture. Funk. Freedom. Afropunk, the annual music and arts festival going since 2005, is not free anymore, but with all this gorgeousness and headliners like Raphael Saadiq and Solange, SZA and Soul II Soul, Anderson Paak and ThunderCat, any money paid is worth way more than two assholes in a ring. Back in…
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Before You Give Up on Humanity … Read This
Looks like there is still good in this going-to-hell-in-a-handbasket-early world we now find ourselves in. The New York Daily News reports that a random man climbed across an elevated girder in a New York City subway station to talk a suicidal woman down on Saturday. Witnesses say that the man followed the young woman in…
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5 Things Someone Who Didn’t Watch the Fight but Had to Report on the Fight Found Interesting About the Fight
I didn’t have $100 for this so-called fight, and I kinda forbade asked my husband not to order it. Therefore, I got my Floyd Mayweather-Conor McGregor fight moments from social media. Here are the five things this reporter found the most interesting: 1. Mayweather came out in some Desus Nice-glittery-ski-mask-rob-a-bank contraption. I guess. 2. The…
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Netflix Jumps Into the Weed Game With Strains Based on Popular Shows
Netflix and chill? More like Netflix and bake, now that the company has introduced a new line of cannabis strains based on its original programming. The on-fire streaming service introduced the Netflix Collection, a line of boutique strains of that goody good being sold only at the Alternative Herbal Health Services in West Hollywood, Calif.,…
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Awesome Teacher Breaks Down Geography With Cardi B’s ‘Bodak Yellow’
Hands down, the sure-shot hit of the summer is “Bodak Yellow,” by Bronx, N.Y., rapper Cardi B, now officially in the classroom via the genius of one creative teacher. Erica Buddington, a self-described arts educator, recently posted a video on Twitter, rapping the “map version” of the hit song as her class goes awf in…
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10 Disgusting Things Joe Arpaio Did as Sheriff of Maricopa County, Ariz.
Recently, Sheriff Joe Arpaio was crowned some kind of racist folk hero, keeper of the Barack Obama Birther theory and all-around example of an abusive cop. So of course, our president thought him a man deserving of a pardon. Whether you believe Donald Trump pardoned Arpaio because he wanted to divert attention from the umpteenth…
