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Bucking a National Trend, Suicide Rates Decline for Black Men in US
A recently released study from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has found that suicide in the United States has surged to the highest levels in 30 years, with increases in every age group except older adults and black men, reports the New York Times. The good news for black men is especially heartening…
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Va. Restores Voting Rights to More Than 200,000 Felons
The Democratic governor of Virginia announced Friday that more than 206,000 people convicted of felonies will now be eligible to vote in the state. Gov. Terry McAuliffe signed an executive order Friday restoring the civil rights of both nonviolent and violent former offenders after they complete their sentence and all other requirements, such s supervised probation or…
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Prince Remembered as Tech Advocate for Black Youth
No matter what the circumstances of his death, those who honor, revere and love Prince know that the contributions of his masterful life are what truly matter. And though he was not always vocal about it, Prince loved blackness and black people, and this especially extended to young people. Pundit and advocate Van Jones remembers…
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Ga. Man Kills 5 After Wife Wanted Divorce
In yet another tragic mass shooting, a 50-year-old Georgia man took the lives of five people before turning the gun on himself Friday. Local station WRDW reports that Wayne Anthony Hawes was discovered dead at his home in Appling, Ga, a town that is part of the Augusta, Ga., metropolitan area. Police say that Hawes…
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Afrofuturism: What Does a Black Future Look Like?
In part 2 of The Root’s four-part video series on Afrofuturism, we get the perspective of Stacey Robinson, an adjunct professor at the State University of New York at Buffalo. Robinson is a visual artist who does work around Afrofuturism and black sci-fi. He repurposes cultural images, historical events and futuristic ideologies and then adds…
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I’m Not Happy That My Boyfriend Wants to Celebrate My Birthday on the Cheap
Dude asked me what I wanted to do for my birthday. I said, “Simple dinner.” He said “Fine, as long as it’s not pricey.” I was a little turned off by this. It’s not my intention to run through anyone’s money, but at the same time, I felt like a child being told I can…
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Why Was My Southern Ancestor Adopted?
My maternal grandfather is Grover Cleveland Ryman Jr. He was adopted sometime after age 7. His birth mother was white, and his father was Indian. We have been told by my mother that my grandfather’s parents were married in Virginia, when this was illegal. My great-grandfather Grover Cleveland Ryman Sr. was run off, and my…
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32 Photos of Prince We Love
To say that Prince Rogers Nelson was a musical genius would be a gross understatement. Prince was incomparable. A legend. A cultural icon. And the world lost him on Thursday morning. As we mourn the passing of one of the greatest performers of our time, we also honor and respect his legacy. Here is The Root’s…
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5 Greatest Prince Performances
When it comes to greatest performances, Prince owns the throne. His live shows became mythical; even if you’d seen him in concert before, you always felt like you missed out the next time you heard about one of his secret shows. And his TV performances were always among the most-talked-about moments of whatever show he…
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Watch: What Is Afrofuturism?
Afrofuturism is not black sci-fi. It’s not black fantasy. It’s not an easily definable artistic genre but, rather, a sweeping, cultural aesthetic that examines issues around black representation, the black future and black agency using music, novels, visual media, history and myth to create something else entirely. The Root’s new four-part Web series on Afrofuturism…
Black News and Black Views with a Whole Lotta Attitude
