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Owner of D.C.'s Famous Ben's Chili Bowl Dies at 82.
“He lived a full life and put a lot into the business,” says one member of the family. Ben Ali, the man who put the Ben in Ben’s Chili Bowl, died Wednesday night at the age of 82. He and his wife of 50 years, Virginia, established Ben’s Chili Bowl in 1958 on the U…
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10 Kinda Fun Facts About 'The Cosby Show'
Think you know everything about The Cosby Show? As the show celebrates its 25th anniversary, here are some facts you may find surprising: 1. Phylicia Rashad is only 10 years older than Sabrina Le Beauf, who played her daughter, Sondra. 2. Speaking of Sondra, a 21-year-old Whitney Houston was in the early running for the…
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MySpace to Facebook = White Flight?
MySpace is no longer cool. As a matter of fact, its number of users is now one-half the size of rival Facebook. Is this because MySpace is too black for the rest of America? Teenage Internet users may hold the answer. High-schoolers report their use of the social-networking giants along racial lines—MySpace is seen as…
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What Birthers Believe: Republicans in a 9/12 America
On the heels of Friday’s remembrance of the September 11th attacks on the United States, a throng of conservative Americans gathered for a “9/12” rally on the national mall in Washington this weekend. There is a decent bit of controversy over crowd size—estimated between 60,000 and over 1 million—but the tone of the protest, a…
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Michael Jackson's Birthday Bash!
UPDATE: Click here for the flyer and information about the 2010 bash! You could say that Spike Lee always had a special connection to Michael Jackson: They were born a year apart, both to musical families. Back in the day, every Saturday morning, Lee, like many other black kids across the country, sat down in…
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Happy Birthday, Mr. President!
This year, Barack Obama celebrates his birthday in the White House as president of the United States. But, Michelle Obama and the first kids will be hard-pressed to find the right present for the commander in chief who has everything. The Root readers recommend a few gift ideas for the POTUS as he turns the…
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The Gates Case Roundup
Mistaken identity? The woman’s statement — corroborated by the police commissioner — means that much of the media commentary over the last week about the incident has been based on a faulty premise: that the police report is accurate. Moreover, tapes of the 911 call were released midday Monday. “One thing the tapes didn’t show:…
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'Unknown on Race'
Listen here. The Transcript Dispatcher: Respond to 17 Ware Street for a possible B and E in progress. Two SPs (suspicious persons) barged their way into the home, they have suitcases. R-P 5 – SP. Stand by, trying to get further. Officer 52 (Crowley): 52. Ware Street right now, 17? Dispatcher: 17 Ware Street ……
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Gates Says 'Yes' to Beer With Crowley
Statement from Henry Louis Gates, Jr. “It was very kind of the President to phone me today. Vernon Jordan is absolutely correct: my unfortunate experience will only have a larger meaning if we can all use this to diminish racial profiling and to enhance fairness and equity in the criminal justice system for poor people and…
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President Obama's Statement on the Henry Louis Gates Jr. Arrest
THE PRESIDENT: Hey, it’s a cameo appearance. Sit down, sit down. I need to help Gibbs out a little bit here. Q Are you the new press secretary? THE PRESIDENT: If you got to do a job, do it yourself. (Laughter.) I wanted to address you guys directly because over the last day and a…
Black News and Black Views with a Whole Lotta Attitude
