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In Defense of Tiny Harris’ New Eye Color
Was I the only one who had absolutely no idea that people could permanently change their eye color with surgery? Apparently I was stuck in the ’90s, thinking that colored contacts, which never look real, were the only option. Who knew? Apparently Tameka “Tiny” Harris—celeb mom, wife of rapper Clifford “T.I.” Harris and reality-TV star—did.…
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6 Reasons Down-Ballot Races Are Just as Important as the Top of the Ticket
Oh, OK. You’re not too concerned about the upcoming midterm elections on Nov. 4. You don’t mind sitting this cycle out because you’ve convinced yourself that presidential elections are what matters the most. Think again. In addition to a slate of U.S. Senate races that could determine which party controls Congress for the next two…
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Saa’s Story: How She Escaped After Being Kidnapped by Boko Haram
She came up onstage wearing a wig and sunglasses. I sat there stunned, slightly shivering, because the 18-year-old girl in front of us could have been anywhere but here at that moment had she not made one of the most fearless decisions anyone could ever make. Her name is Saa (changed for her safety), and…
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Divorce: How to Keep the Lawyers From Getting All Your Money
There is no denying the emotional and financial toll that divorce can take on a family. But once the decision has been made to end a marriage, there are steps that can be taken to prevent the destructive toll on each spouse’s financial future. In this Wednesday’s episode of The Root Live: Bring It to…
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Boko Haram’s Recent Abductions Suggest That Negotiations Have Failed
Boko Haram keeps abducting more and more civilians, leading people to believe that the settlement reached between the insurgent group and the Nigerian government to return the more than 200 schoolgirls the group abducted in April will not happen, Al-Jazeera reports. The cease-fire was reached on Oct. 17, but then just one day later, there…
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Nurse Threatens to Sue Over ‘Inhumane’ Ebola Quarantine
The nurse who was confined in a New Jersey hospital because of concerns that she might have contracted Ebola while treating patients in West Africa said that her quarantine was inhumane, and she’s considering filing a lawsuit against the state, Al-Jazeera reports. Kaci Hickox, a nurse from Maine who landed in Newark, N.J., after her…
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Poll: Do You Uber?
So, we noticed that Uber‘s home page features a picture of a black woman getting out of a cab. Which means, presumably, we can catch a ride with Uber, too, right? Not so quietly, the on-demand, taxi-service smartphone app that has upgraded so many folks’ crosstown commutes is being hailed as a game changer for black folks who are tired…
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Artemis of Ephesus: A Goddess Who Represented an Ideal View of Blackness
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 pantheon of deities worshipped by the ancient Greeks, Artemis of Ephesus stands out as one of the most…
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James Brown: New Documentary Traces the Soul of the Godfather
The two-hour documentary premiering Monday on HBO, Mr. Dynamite: The Rise of James Brown, chronicles the career of the Godfather of Soul, from his ascension in music at the height of the social revolution of the 1960s through his impact on hip-hop and pop music. Filmmaker Alex Gibney begins and ends this fine documentary with an iconic…
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Which Black Actor Was Paid to Be White?
Editor’s note: For those who are wondering about the retro title of this black-history series, please take a moment to learn about historian Joel A. Rogers, author of the 1934 book 100 Amazing Facts About the Negro With Complete Proof, to whom these “amazing facts” are an homage. Amazing Fact About the Negro No. 97: Which 20th-century black…
Black News and Black Views with a Whole Lotta Attitude
