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We Have Fergusons in France—but the French Media Looks Away
Police violence, like the killing of Michael Brown in Ferguson, Mo., also happens routinely in France, but the political and media treatment that these incidents receive isn’t the same. The French press is willing to see the injustice in Ferguson but rarely acknowledges that injustice in its own country. Le Monde decried “the persistence of…
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My White Husband Does Not Define Me
Unless you really know me, don’t assume you do based on what you think you see. What I mean by that is this: My white husband does not define me. Even after 22 years, our union is still often questioned. We still get stares. We still get asked if we are together in restaurants. And…
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In Whose Garden Did the Harlem Renaissance Grow?
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. 91: Which black female poet…
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What Makes a TV Show ‘Black’?
Earlier this year I called Orange Is the New Black the best black show currently on TV. The point was that even though the show’s lead character was white, the series unearthed both powerful stories of black characters and a shining showcase of black talent. Laverne Cox, Danielle Brooks, Samira Wiley and Uzo Aduba, in…
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The 50 Greatest Black TV Shows of All Time
Last month, The Root asked readers to vote for their favorite black TV shows. We started with a list of 60 and used your votes to whittle the list down to the top 50. Here are the results. To read about the top 10 shows and see the complete list, go here.
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Idris Elba and Taraji Henson’s No Good Deed Is a Box Office Hit
No Good Deed, starring Idris Elba and Taraji P. Henson, topped the box office Friday and could beat earnings expectations by at least $7 million, according to Entertainment Weekly. The crime thriller from British director Sam Miller and producer (and The Root 100 honoree) Will Packer raked in an estimated $8.8 million Friday from 2,175 locations,…
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Tavis Smiley Knocks President Obama Again
Tavis Smiley, known for his unrelenting criticism of Barack Obama, recently told the Huffington Post that his commentary is rooted in holding the president accountable as the nation’s leader. “As Cornel West and I said many years ago; I respect the president; I will protect the president against white supremacist attacks or anything else he’s…
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Ray Rice Welcomed at HS Alma Mater Football Game
Ray Rice and his family made their first public appearance Saturday after a video was released last week of the Baltimore Ravens Star striking his then-fiancé in a hotel elevator in Atlantic City, N.J. last February, The Journal News reports. Rice, who was suspended from the Ravens and banned indefinitely from the NFL after the…
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LAPD Mistakes Black Actress for Prostitute
Actress Danièle Watts took to social media last week to condemn the Los Angeles Police Department after she was allegedly mistaken for a prostitute after kissing her white husband, Identites.mic reports. According to Facebook posts by Watts and her husband, Brian James Lucas, two police officers mistook the couple for a prostitute and client Thursday when they…
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Lawyer for Michael Brown’s Family Slams St. Louis Paper for ‘Racist Speculation’
Benjamin Crump, the lawyer for the family of slain Ferguson, Mo., teen Michael Brown, blasted the St. Louis Post-Dispatch Friday for reporting “gossip and racist speculation,” according to CNN. Crump accused the paper of failing to apply the same zeal to obtaining background information about Darren Wilson, the Ferguson police officer who shot Brown, that…
Black News and Black Views with a Whole Lotta Attitude
