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Everyone’s Watching Baltimore: So, Now What?
Baltimoreans are a bit touchy about the attention their city is receiving from “outsiders”—everyone from a rainbow of volunteers from faith-based or social-justice-oriented groups around the nation who see Baltimore as their next mission, to the U.S. attorney general to national figures like the Rev. Al Sharpton, Cornel West and even Prince, who performed a peace…
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81-Year-Old Chicago Woman Among 36 Wounded in Weekend Shootings
An 81-year-old grandmother was set to bid farewell to her daughter at her funeral Saturday. Instead, Iola Burress nearly became a casualty herself when she was among 36 people injured in shootings across the city this weekend, according to CBS Chicago. Burress was listed in critical but stable condition at Advocate Christ Hospital after the…
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Ariz. Mom Who Left Kids in Hot Car Sentenced to 18 Years’ Probation
A Phoenix woman who attained national notoriety last year after leaving her children in a hot car during a job interview was sentenced Friday to 18 years’ supervised probation by a Maricopa County, Ariz., judge, according to the Arizona Republic. Shanesha Taylor, 35, may apply for interstate travel in a case that achieved widespread attention…
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Watch: Louis C.K. Speaks Ebonics for 5 Years to Keep Job in SNL Sketch
Never one to shy away from controversy, comedian Louis C.K. served up a steady stream of edgy jokes Saturday as host of the 40th-season finale of Saturday Night Live. His monologue cannot be unheard. The Emmy Award-winning star and Boston native joked about so-called mild racism and, um, pedophiles. “I grew up in the ’70s,…
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Janet Jackson Returns With New Music and a Tour
Borrowing a page from Madonna, who is still performing at 56, pop star Janet Jackson announced plans to release new music and embark on a world tour this year. The multiplatinum singer and ’90s superstar made the announcement on social media Saturday—her 49th birthday, surprising followers and garnering 4,700 retweets and 4,100 favorites. It’s her…
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Coming of Age in the Time of the Hoodie
Earlier this year I decided to read Joe Brainard’s cult classic, I Remember. The book had long intrigued me for I had heard that it was widely taught in creative writing courses and was a favorite of many authors, including several well-known authors whose work I admire. I was immediately drawn to Brainard’s style, each…
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Why Greek Goddesses Appear as Black Women on an Ancient Ceramic Cup
This image is part of a weekly series that The Root is presenting in conjunction with the Image of the Black Archive & Library at Harvard University’s Hutchins Center for African and African American Research. The skyphos is a large ceramic cup used by the ancient Greeks for the consumption of large quantities of wine.…
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Man Accused of Shooting at George Zimmerman Is Arrested
A Florida man was arrested Friday on charges of attacking George Zimmerman, the man acquitted of second-degree murder and manslaughter in the 2012 shooting death of unarmed teen Trayvon Martin, Reuters reports. Matthew Apperson was charged with aggravated assault and battery with a deadly weapon, as well as with firing a deadly missile into an…
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NJ Teacher Fired for Allowing Students to Write ‘Get Well’ Letters to Mumia Abu-Jamal
A third-grade teacher at an Orange, N.J., elementary school was fired this week for allowing her class to write “get well” letters last month to Mumia Abu-Jamal, according to the Daily Mail. Orange Schools Superintendent Ronald Lee on Wednesday confirmed the board’s decision, taken during a heated board meeting Tuesday, to fire Marylin Zuniga, the…
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Watch: Baltimore Cop Sentenced in Attack on Unarmed Man During Arrest
A Baltimore police officer on Friday was sentenced to six months in jail for beating an unarmed man at a bus stop in June, an attack that was captured on surveillance video, reports the Baltimore Sun. The sentence comes just weeks after a national furor erupted over the death of Freddie Gray, 25, from spinal…
Black News and Black Views with a Whole Lotta Attitude
