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’Tis the Season to Be Food-Insecure
It is a strange and ironic truth that in the world’s richest democracy, many Americans are going to work in the morning, but they and their families are going to bed hungry at night. As Christmas fast approaches, and the warming memories of Thanksgiving dinner give way to yet another work week, it is a…
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Quote of the Day: Mary McLeod Bethune on Black Wealth
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 the editor-in-chief of The Root. Follow him on Twitter and Facebook.
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What to Expect From NYC’s New First Lady, Chirlane McCray
Fadwa Mutasser is thrilled about New York City’s incoming first lady, Chirlane McCray. “For once,” she told The Root at a postelection party last month, “someone who is the face of New York City” will reside in Gracie Mansion. McCray’s family, she exclaimed, “are what we actually look like!” And, indeed, on Nov. 5, New…
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Black Friend Paranoid About Racism? No, You Shouldn’t Tell Him
In her final Reddit Ask Me Anything for 2013, our Race Manners columnist, Jenée Desmond-Harris, took readers’ questions about racial etiquette (and a couple on her own experience doling out advice). Should a white friend tell a black friend he’s a little paranoid about racism? And what’s the best way to deal with the drain that…
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Lupe Fiasco Pens New Novel on Twitter
Lupe Fiasco is writing a novel. On Twitter. He’s calling it Teriyaki Joe: Neo Harlem Detective. The rapper is calling the project an “Afro-Futurist novel that will be written entirely on twitter” and “published in chapters.” Sounds exciting. HotNewHipHop.com cobbled together all of his tweets so far and posted a transcript of the first chapter,…
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Woman Killed After Posting Eerie Facebook Message
On Nov. 25, Michelle Rowling of East St. Louis posted a cryptic Facebook status. “If anything happens to me tonight just let my kids know I loved them dearly and tell my momma I love her.” Rowland was stabbed to death less than one week later. The post, according to the St. Clair County State’s…
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The Root Exclusive: Shot, Paralyzed by Cops, Leon Ford Tells His Story
In an extraordinary exclusive interview with The Root, Leon Ford speaks publicly about his life since the shooting on a Pittsburgh street a year ago that left him paralyzed from the waist down. As reported by The Root’s Janell Ross: On Nov. 11, 2012, just before 10 p.m., Leon Ford Jr. looked in his rearview…
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‘Sharkeisha’ Video: The Real Tragedy Is How Many Enjoyed Watching
It took me most of last Wednesday to figure out who or what a “Sharkeisha” was and why it was the leading trending topic on Twitter. I mistakenly guessed that it was a jab at the infamous Sharknado movie on the Syfy Channel, where an unprecedented number of people unexpectedly tuned in to watch sharks…
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An Early Glimpse of Philadelphia’s Black Entrepreneurs
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. Before a fixed symbol of the financial might of early Philadelphia,…
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Perfect Gifts for the Gardener in Your Life
Beware of a woman bringing gifts for the garden—not! Really, if you are a gardener or pretend to be a gardener or just know someone who is a gardener, gifts in the general direction of that sacred entity are more than welcome. They are a pleasure, and more often than not, they are a necessity.…
Black News and Black Views with a Whole Lotta Attitude
