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Senate Aide: It’s ‘Impossible’ to Get Obama’s Black Nominees Past Senate Republicans
On Wednesday the U.S. Senate voted 47-52 to reject President Barack Obama’s nomination of former NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund attorney Debo Adegbile to head the Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division—with seven Democrats joining Republicans to prevent the president’s pick from moving forward. Obama called it a “travesty based on wildly unfair character attacks.”…
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A Letter From Death Row
What would you write if you knew those words might be your last? Ray Jasper is a death row inmate in Texas. His execution is scheduled for March 19. According to Gawker, at the age of 19 Jasper was convicted of the 1998 robbery and murder of recording studio owner David Alejandro. He wrote a…
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The History of Attacks by the Right on Civil Rights Defenders
It’s true that some U.S senators voted to kill the confirmation of Debo Adegbile as assistant attorney general for civil rights because they were concerned about the representation provided by Adegbile as a lawyer with the NAACP Legal Defense & Educational Fund to a man convicted of killing a Philadelphia police officer. Even though LDF’s…
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6 Times Privilege Went Wrong for White Families
Most times, the people who suffer as the result of entitled attitudes are the ones who, because of race and class, don’t have them. But lately, privilege seems to be coming back to bite the wealthy parents who provided it, in the form of everything from court costs to hassles to humiliation. A New Jersey…
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Quote of the Day: Ralph Ellison on Ancestors
You can read this quote by Ralph Ellison, from his book of essays Shadow and Act (1964), in Bartlett’s Familiar Black Quotations. Read the quote in its full context here. Henry Louis Gates Jr. is the Alphonse Fletcher University Professor and founding director of the Hutchins Center for African and African American Research at Harvard University. He is also editor-in-chief…
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I’m Black, but I Want to Join the DAR. Help!
I have reason to believe that I can connect myself to the Daughters of the American Revolution. I am just having the toughest time making the provable connection. My great-great-grandfather Nicholas Jackson Jr. (born around 1865 in Howard County, Md.) was married to Nettie Derrickson (born around July 1872). Derrickson’s mother was Nellie A. Shockley…
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Black, Gay, Southern Men Embodied in Sweet Tea
Left of Black host Mark Anthony Neal sits down with professor E. Patrick Johnson to talk about his play Sweet Tea. Professor Johnson is the Carlos Montezuma Professor of Performance Studies and African American Studies at Northwestern University. Sweet Tea was published as a book in 2011. At the time, Amazon described it this way:…
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17 Black Women in Science and Tech You Should Know
In honor of Women’s History Month, The Root pays tribute to African-American women working in the fastest growing field around the globe. While their numbers may be relatively few (pdf), they are making great strides, using their science, math and engineering degrees to amass impressive digital portfolios. Jobs in science, technology, engineering and math (STEM)…
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How the Kapor Center Serves as Our Brothers’ and Sisters’ Keeper
Cedric Brown sat three chairs down from President Barack Obama as he announced his My Brother’s Keeper initiative last week. But more importantly, moving forward, is that Brown has a seat at the table as the White House tackles the persistent crisis of young men of color in America. Brown and his colleague Nicole Sanchez…
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An Ex Can’t Be a ‘Friend’ If He’s Trying to Get Back With You
My ex and I remained friends after our breakup. He has a girlfriend now, but he’s constantly telling me he wants to be with me and the only reason he’s with her is because we’re not together. I think he told me he’s thinking about marrying her to get a reaction from me. How do…
Black News and Black Views with a Whole Lotta Attitude
