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  • In Ferguson and the Entire Nation, Institutional Racism Extends Far Beyond Law Enforcement

    The tragic events unfolding in Ferguson, Mo., following the police shooting death of a young African-American man have ignited a national conversation around deeply rooted racial tensions in America. On Monday at Michael Brown’s funeral, where thousands of family, friends, civil rights leaders and residents gathered, came calls for justice and dignity for all families.…

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  • Don’t Talk About Ferguson or Michael Brown, School District Says

    Superintendent Ed Hightower of Illinois’ Edwardsville School District has told schools not to talk about Michael Brown. According to KMOX News, Hightower told the station that although current news is typically discussed in class, “this situation in Ferguson-Florissant has become a situation whereby there are so many facts that are unknown.” If students bring up…

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  • Squatters on the Rise in Cash-Strapped Detroit 

    Water is not the only thing that’s becoming hard to come by in Detroit. With joblessness on the rise in a city that has already claimed bankruptcy, squatting—or staking claim to property that has been abandoned or a former owner can no longer afford—is increasing.  According to an Al-Jazeera news report, 27-year-old John Deboer is…

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  • My Friends’ Colorism Is Affecting My Baby’s Facebook Likes!

    Saw your response to racist comments posted online, but what about this? I’m trying my best not to be petty here, while I’m aware this is going to sound petty no matter how I put it. I believe my friends’ and family’s internalized racism and colorism is affecting their responses to photos of my child.…

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  • Picture This: We Don’t All Look Alike

    The idea is this: Once you reach status—legendary-Hollywood-superstar status—the rules change. Somehow you are legitimized, devoid of disrespect, a household name. The tropes should not fit anymore, and slights should fall casually outside your perimeter. That is the black-American-success dream of assimilating without changing who you are; that somehow, in your legitimate work, you are,…

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  • Report: Audio Reveals Pause Between Gunshots When Michael Brown Was Shot 

    A new piece of audio has emerged that allegedly is a recording of the exact moment when Officer Darren Wilson fatally shot unarmed teen Michael Brown on Aug. 9. Six shots can be heard in rapid succession, followed by a brief pause before four more shots are fired.  According to the New York Daily News,…

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  • Infected American Linked to 4 Cases of Ebola in Nigeria  

    As the Ebola virus continues to wreak havoc in West Africa, and concern for foreigners who have visited the region spreads, it turns out that Patrick Sawyer, one of the three American citizens who contracted Ebola, may have infected four people while he was in Nigeria. The Washington Post, culling notes from a World Health…

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  • Did the Power of the Printed Word Truly Liberate Africa?

    This image is part of a weekly series that The Root is presenting in conjunction with the Image of the Black in Western Art Archive at Harvard University’s W.E.B. Du Bois Research Institute, part of the Hutchins Center for African and African American Research. In the lush tropical setting of Africa, two groups of well-dressed Europeans sweep…

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  • Ferguson Opened the Door to a Discussion of Black Equality

    Suddenly the nation is talking about black equality. It took Molotov cocktails in Ferguson, Mo., to forcefully penetrate our slumbering racial consciousness. Ferguson has become a metaphor for race relations in the 21st century; a signifier for the convergence of poverty, segregation, police brutality, and federal and civic neglect. Most importantly, the Ferguson crisis has…

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  • Why the 50 Cent-Floyd Mayweather Beef Is No Laughing Matter

    For the last several days, rapper 50 Cent and boxer Floyd Mayweather have engaged in the favorite pastime of any 21st-century celebrity with a Twitter account and an ego: feuding. While in the old days you might have had to stand on a street corner and shout insults at a nemesis face-to-face, with a few…

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