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More Fans Should Be Outraged by R. Kelly’s New Album Cover
By now you’ve seen the cover photo for R. Kelly’s latest, dubiously titled album, Black Panties. Unfortunately, I’ve seen it, too, and as a father of two daughters, I find it extremely difficult to look at that image, knowing his history: accounts from people like his former manager, Barry Hankerson, about Kelly’s proclivity for underage…
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Why Oprah Would Make a Better Parent Than Most People
Oprah Winfrey is known for succeeding at just about everything she tries: talk show host, actor and, despite a somewhat bumpy start, now as a network owner. But she might just deserve her greatest credit for the one feat she has not tried yet: parenthood. In a revealing interview with the Hollywood Reporter, Winfrey said,…
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SNL May Have a New Black Female Comedian by January
The producers of Saturday Night Live responded to the lack of diversity in the show’s cast by holding a secret audition for black female comedians only, according to The Gothamist. The showcase, held at Los Angeles’ Groundings theater last Sunday, featured some of our favorite black female comedians, including Simone Shepherd, Tiffany Haddish, LaKendra Tookes…
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How Black Women Are Saving Planned Parenthood
The women’s health organization Planned Parenthood has found itself under assault in recent years. Laws passed in states like Texas, which recently became one of 13 states to ban abortion after 20 weeks, will now shutter many local Planned Parenthood clinics. But as the nearly 100-year-old organization struggles to keep its doors open, it has…
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Guilt Over Sleeping With Best Friend’s Man Is the Least of Your Problems
“I slept with my best friend’s boyfriend. The guilt is tripping me out. The boyfriend is acting so normal about it, too. Today he proposed to her! I don’t know what to do. I can’t let her marry him knowing what happened between us. How should I go about fixing this? “She and I are…
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Quote of the Day: Bruce M. Wright on Voting
Read about the judge’s life 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 the editor-in-chief of The Root. Follow him on Twitter and Facebook.
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Whisk: The Eatery Where Ex-Offenders Are Starting Over
At Whisk, a great bistro in Boston’s North End, chef Jeremy Kean is helping ex-offenders get their lives back on track through a re-entry program that offers both food and food for the soul. I paid my first visit to Whisk after it was recommended to me by The Root’s editor-in-chief, Henry Louis Gates Jr.,…
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10 New Foods We Loved in 2013
Beyoncé and Jay-Z’s choice to go vegan may spark the next culinary trend, but for black America, 2013 was already an interesting food year. Here are some nontraditional foods that sashayed their way into the African-American diet, because who says black people can’t be foodies? 1. The Cronut Questlove was so excited about this croissant-doughnut…
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Scandal’s Torture Porn: Easy to Turn Away, Hard to Ignore
For me, 30 years was way too long to wait for a smart, competent, beautiful and powerful black woman as the main character in a TV drama. So I’m about to go into Scandal withdrawal again after the last episode of the year airs tonight. The show has so many things to savor: a Republican…
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Meet the Best Beyoncé Impersonator Ever
Buzzfeed and Jezebel posted Skye Townsend’s hilarious Beyoncé impersonation from Vine. It’s pretty spot on. Jezebel commenter Fighting Polish wondered why Beyoncé impersonations are not yet an Internet thing, but they are, and Townsend has been executing them brilliantly for some time on her YouTube channel, AngeliqueandSkye. Here’s Townsend as Bey, expounding on her pregnancy…
Black News and Black Views with a Whole Lotta Attitude
