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‘Free From Their Chains,’ Says the Marvin Gaye Estate. But What About All Those Samples Robin Thicke Already Cleared?
Soul singer Johnnie Taylor recorded a disco hit in 1976 called “Disco Lady.” Another artist of the era liked the song so much that he felt compelled to compose his own version. It was constructed as an answer, so to speak, to Taylor’s smash hit. And the other artist’s rendition also had listeners crooning about a…
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US Diplomat Detained in the Congo During Raid
A U.S. diplomat is one of several people who were detained Sunday during a raid by security forces in the Democratic Republic of Congo, the Associated Press reports. The raid targeted journalists and pro-democracy activists thought to be agitating the Congolese government by “posting a threat to stability,” a DRC government spokesman said. The diplomat…
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Some Brotherly Love for Clergyman and Freemason Absalom Jones
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. Among the multitude of tributes made to the renowned African-American clergyman Absalom Jones, few capture his life and times in…
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Protesting a Bishop Because She’s a Lesbian Is Moral Hypocrisy on the Part of Black Ministers
Within the last several days, a coalition of African-American pastors initiated a public protest against the president of American Baptist College in Nashville, Tenn., urging him to disinvite Bishop Yvette Flunder from speaking at an upcoming ABC lecture series because she is a lesbian and married to a woman. In a press release, they called…
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4 San Francisco Cops Investigated for Sending Racist Text Messages
The conviction against San Francisco Police Officer Ian Furminger was supposed to end there, with him serving jail time for robbing drug dealers during his tenure as a supervisor in his bureau’s plainsclothes unit, CBS SF reports. But during a court filing, federal prosecutors came across racist and homophobic texts sent between Furminger and three…
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If Republicans Believed in a Meritocracy, They’d Confirm Loretta Lynch Now
The U.S. Senate had been expected this week to take up the nomination of Loretta Lynch to replace Eric H. Holder Jr. as attorney general, but the vote has been delayed, yet again, by the Republican majority as part of an attempt to force Democrats to relent on an unrelated bill. The nomination, which would…
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The 1st Successful American-Born Magician Was a Black Man
Who was America’s first successful stage magician? He swallowed swords and molten lead. He danced on eggs without cracking their shells. He threw knives; he threw his voice. He was Richard Potter, the first American-born stage magician and ventriloquist, black or white. Prior to Potter’s career in the early 19th century, the performance of magic…
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Watch: 20-Year-Old Man Arrested in Shooting of 2 Cops in Ferguson
A 20-year-old man was arrested in connection with the shooting of two police officers in front of the Ferguson Police Department in Missouri early Thursday morning, reports the New York Times. The man, Jeffrey Williams, was charged with first-degree assault, the Times says, quoting Robert P. McCulloch, the prosecuting attorney for St. Louis County, who…
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Watch: Girl Fight at Miami Middle School Has Family Demanding Answers
Parents of students at a Miami middle school are demanding action from administrators after video footage emerged of a violent fight involving three girls that occurred steps away from the building, according to CBS 4 Miami. The video comes on the heels of a violent fight at a McDonald’s in New York City that has…
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Iowa Woman Delivers Baby ‘Miracle’ in Shower
A 24-year-old Des Moines, Iowa, woman received the surprise of a lifetime this week when she stepped into the shower to ease stomach pains and stepped out holding a newborn girl, according to the De Moines Register. Brittany Young told the news outlet that she may have misunderstood a hospital worker in January. Instead of…
Black News and Black Views with a Whole Lotta Attitude
