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Twitter Is on the Case of the ‘Fake’ Sign Language Interpreter at Mandela’s Memorial
Take a look at this sign language interpreter from Nelson Mandela’s televised memorial service: Now take a closer look: He’s using very few facial expressions—an important component of sign language—and he’s repeating the same hand gestures over and over again. In other words: During the broadcast, Bruno Druchen, the national director of DeafSA, tweeted: And…
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Racism Linked to Infant Mortality and Learning Disabilities
On the long list of health disparities that vex and disproportionately affect the lives of African Americans—diabetes, cancer and obesity among them—one of the earliest and, it turns out, most significant, may be just when a black child is born. A pair of Emory University studies released this year have connected the large share of…
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Small Biz Lady Brings Business Expertise to The Root
Editor’s note: How many times in your life have you heard some version of the words “go get a job” from well-meaning parents, teachers, friends or spouses? But has anyone ever told you to “go start your own company”? Does that seem too scary, too tough or impractical? Yes, it can be hard. And yes,…
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Quote of the Day: Diana Ross on the Future
Read more quotes from Diana Ross 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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Mandela’s Challenge for South Africa’s Black Intellectuals
Some years ago I initiated a research program on African identity at the Human Sciences Research Council, which is the largest government-funded social science research institution in South Africa. The highlight of the program was a series of lectures by author and playwright Wole Soyinka, professor and The Root Editor-in-Chief Henry Louis Gates Jr. and…
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Malcolm-Jamal Warner Tackles a Classic Sidney Poitier Role
There’s a moment (or 10) in Todd Kreidler’s adaptation of Guess Who’s Coming to Dinner when Malcolm-Jamal Warner forces you to forget all about Sidney Poitier. The thought is blasphemous, of course—heretical, even—but true nonetheless. Warner takes Dr. John Prentice, the character originated by Poitier, and makes him his own. “I definitely watched the film…
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He Asked for It: R. Kelly Gets Dragged on Twitter
To promote the release of his latest project, Black Panties, R. Kelly took to Twitter to indulge his ego and engage the masses. He urged his followers to ask him questions using the hashtag #AskRKelly. And for every one question tweeted about his music and career, there were a gazillion about his sordid sexual history…
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A Homeless Girl’s Story Highlights Family Planning and Poverty
This week the New York Times landed in the news in a way the paper probably wishes it had not. A reporter teased a story she was working on, and another outlet promptly published a link to said story before the New York Times did. But the good news to come from the so-called media…
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Conservative Lobbying Group Loses Support, Switches Tactics
Last weekend, faithful Tea Partiers were surely thrilled to see Sen. Ted Cruz and Rep. Paul Ryan strut their stuff at the Washington, D.C., summit of the American Legislative Exchange Council. But the conservative pressure group, which has sponsored startlingly reactionary legislation around the country to loosen gun restrictions and clamp down on voting rights,…
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Michelle Obama Side-Eyes President Obama’s Selfie
At Nelson Mandela’s memorial service Tuesday morning, President Obama and first lady Michelle Obama sat next to Denmark’s Prime Minister Helle Thorning Schmidt. And it’s 2013, so the president did what most would: He leaned in to join his neighbor in a selfie. A series of photos making rounds on the Internet appear to suggest…
Black News and Black Views with a Whole Lotta Attitude
