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The Root Goes Mobile
You can access The Root from any mobile phone that has a Web browser. Now there’s no reason to miss reading the latest black news and your favorite articles from The Root. Just go to: mobile.theroot.com using your smart phone’s Web browser. Bookmark us for easy access. Become a fan of The Root on Facebook.…
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Getting Smoked at the Gym by a Senior Citizen
Thought of Morjorie Newlin this morning. A picture of her at age 86 is attached. Yes, age 86. I’ve received this same photo from friends a number of times over the years, and the woman who tightens my locs keeps the Jet magazine photo of Ms. Newlin on her refrigerator, as a reminder of what’s…
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Nearly Half of Black Women Have Herpes
The latest news out of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention is very troubling, to say the least. A jaw-dropping 48 percent of black women between ages 14 and 49 have the virus which causes genital herpes, says the federal agency. Blacks in general are more than three times as likely as whites to…
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The Root Interview: The Former President of Ghana Speaks Bluntly
Jerry John Rawlings is addicted to politics. Son of a Scotsman and a Ghanaian, he twice led coups against what he saw as corrupt governments and he acknowledges that his regime committed “a few punishments here and there,” during 19 years as head of state of Ghana. Yet, he gave up power in 2001, after…
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The Oscars and Why We Can’t All Be Sidney Poitier
Writers don’t give prescriptions. They give headaches! —Chinua Achebe Sidney Poitier is the doctor who saves the life of the racist who wants him dead. Sidney Poitier is the teacher who becomes the Great Black Hope for bratty white students that British society has written off. Sidney Poitier is the dignified handyman who builds a…
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Marion Barry Stripped of Chairmanship
Marion Barry, the grassroots hero who overcame a cocaine bust to resume his political career, has been stripped of his power on the Washington, DC City Council. The former mayor lost his chairmanship in a 12-0 vote by the council, the most serious rebuke of Barry in his long up-and-down career. The Washington Post reported: In a stinging…
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What Do the Taliban and Our Youth Have in Common?
For those checking in on the conflict in Afghanistan, the latest buzzword on the war isn’t “surge” any longer, it’s “population-centric.” Despite the recent civilian fatalities of Operation Moshtarak, U.S. officials continue to emphasize a strategy of reduced combat and increased reconciliation with the Afghan community. This includes supporting President Hamid Karzai’s overarching plan to…
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Julianna Smoot To Replace Desiree Rogers as Social Secretary
The White House has decided it’s time for the kind of social secretary who will stand by the door with a guest list in hand to keep out party crashers. Desiree Rogers’ replacement as White House social secretary will be Julianna Smoot, a veteran fundraiser who served as national finance director for the Obama campaign…
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The Root’s Gates Among Winners of NAACP Image Awards
We had a lot of advice for the NAACP before their 41st annual Image Awards ceremony Friday. In at least one case, they did listen and passed up on giving the award for literary non-fiction to Al Gore. Instead, the winner in that category was The Root’s editor-in-chief, Henry Louis Gates Jr. for his book, “In…
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NEWS STAND: Noose Leads Students to Storm Office, Pro-Life Blacks
Latest in “Compton Cookout” Controversy Black students at University of California in San Diego have finally had enough. First there was the off-campus “Compton Cookout” party parodying black stereotypes. When black students complained, the campus TV station mocked them with a racist broadcast. Black students and others protested that, after which a noose was found dangling in a…
Black News and Black Views with a Whole Lotta Attitude
