• NFL Player Jovan Belcher’s Body Exhumed for Brain Exam

    In an effort to find signs of brain damage from repeated concussions, the family of former Kansas City Chiefs linebacker Jovan Belcher has requested the exhumation of his body a year after he killed his girlfriend and himself, USA Today reports. The family’s attorney, Dirk Vandever, said that Belcher’s body was exhumed Friday at North…

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  • Jameis Winston Scores Heisman Trophy

    Florida State quarterback Jameis Winston reportedly called it a “blessing” when he learned that he had become the youngest player to win the Heisman Trophy on Saturday. “It’s a blessing,” he told an audience during the presentation in New York, CNN reports. “I don’t even know what’s going on right now, honestly. I’m just so…

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  • Nelson Mandela Laid to Rest 

    Nelson Mandela was buried in his childhood village of Qunu, South Africa, on Sunday, ending the journey of the singular man who went from prisoner to president and revolutionized South Africa. A military escort accompanied his coffin to the burial site and removed the national flag that draped his coffin, CNN reports. His widow, Graça…

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  • Nominate the 2014 Young Futurists!

    Who are the young black trailblazers in your community? The Root is putting the spotlight on the young African-American leaders and innovators of the future, and we want your help. We are now accepting nominations for The Root 2014 Young Futurists list, to be unveiled in February. Young Futurists are between the ages of 16 and 22 and committed…

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  • Quote of the Day: Malcolm X on Anger

    Read this quote from his speech at the Harlem rally for Fannie Lou Hamer (1964), and additional quotes by Malcolm X, in Bartlett’s Familiar Black Quotations. 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…

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  • Police: Pastor Raped Girl to ‘Take the Demons Out’

    A 61-year-old Minnesota pastor has been charged with raping two teenaged girls for nearly a decade, the Huffington Post reports. The man, Jacoby Kindred, pastor of One Accord Ministries, has been accused of sexually abusing the daughters of his son’s girlfriend, according to a criminal complaint obtained by the Pioneer Press, telling one victim that…

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  • Trayvon Martin’s Parents to Pen a Book

    Trayvon Martin’s parents, Sybrina Fulton and Tracy Martin, plan to write a book about the life of their son, the unarmed teenager who was shot and killed in Florida in 2012,  the New York Times reports. They reportedly met with publishers this week to pitch the book, the Times says. They hope the story will…

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  • Donald Trump, Birthers Exploit Loretta Fuddy’s Death

    Just as the Obamas are likely preparing to spend their annual winter vacation in Hawaii, the birther movement is peddling yet another outrageous conspiracy theory about the authenticity of the president’s birth certificate, the Huffington Post reports. Loretta Fuddy, the director of Hawaii’s Department of Health, died Wednesday in a small, commercial plane crash off…

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  • Why Dennis Rodman's North Korea Trip Is Still On

    Former NBA player Dennis Rodman plans to head to North Korea next week to train the country’s basketball team, an excursion unchanged by the execution of leader Kim Jong Un’s uncle, the Associated Press reports. “Yes, I’m going to North Korea to train the basketball team,” he told the AP by phone. “I’m going to…

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  • Desmond Tutu Will Attend Mandela’s Funeral

    Updated: Saturday, Dec. 14, 7:33 p.m. ET: The Associated Press is reporting that retired Archbishop Desmond Tutu announced late Saturday that he plans to attend the funeral of his long-time friend and anti-apartheid hero Nelson Mandela. A spokesman did not explain Tutu’s reversal, but said he would catch an early flight and arrive on time…

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