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JFK’s 1963 Race Speech Made Him an African-American Icon
President John F. Kennedy’s tragic assassination 50 years ago today had a profound impact on American race relations. A president who, during his last six months in office, acknowledged that “civil rights has become everything” embraced the movement and in the process helped not only to solidify his personal legend but also to transform a…
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White Privilege Keeps Crack-Smoking Mayor in Office
In 1988 the white American feminist writer Peggy McIntosh wrote a powerful essay, “White Privilege: Unpacking the Invisible Knapsack, Based on Racial Inequality” (pdf). McIntosh argued eloquently that although racial progress had taken place, there was still a power differential between whites and people of color. McIntosh’s essay was groundbreaking because she was a white…
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Quote of the Day: Malcolm X on Humor
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. Like The Root on Facebook. Follow us on Twitter.
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Benjamin Crump: 'Zimmerman Belongs Behind Bars'
On Tuesday, an admitted killer walked free—again. And after a Florida judge set George Zimmerman’s bail at a mere $9,000, he was able to make bond—and walk away hours later—after his second arrest in connection with a domestic disturbance following his acquittal in the shooting death of Trayvon Martin. Pending trial, Seminole County Judge Fred…
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Left of Black With Public Enemy’s Chuck D
For his Web series this week, Left of Black host Mark Anthony Neal is joined by Chuck D of Public Enemy and his wife, Gaye Theresa Johnson. Professor Johnson teaches in the Department of Black Studies at the University of California, Santa Barbara.
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Watch June Ambrose’s Olivia Pope Impersonation
Here, folks, is a pitch-perfect expression of silly, illogical, unnecessarily dramatic, star-crossed faux love. Stylist June Ambrose brilliantly interprets Olivia Pope’s foolishness while shamelessly plugging her own product. Akoto Ofori-Atta is the editor of The Grapevine. Like her Facebook page and follow her on Twitter. If you want to see what’s hot on black Twitter, check…
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Black Artist Wears White Women as Accessories
Performance artist Nate Hill’s latest project, “Trophy Scarves,” is making the rounds on Instagram and Twitter. In the photo series, Hill travels to the homes of white women and asks them to strip and lifelessly drape themselves around his neck. What was the impetus for this project? “Well, there are people who see certain races…
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How a Racist Serial Killer Restored My Faith in the Death Penalty
Last month, headlines blared, “U.S. Death Penalty Support Lowest in More Than 40 Years.” Based on that pronouncement, one might assume that an overwhelming number of Americans oppose the capital punishment. That assumption would be wrong. If anyone actually read past the provocative headlines and read the actual data, 60 percent of Americans still support…
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Zappos Wins Internet Beef With Kanye
Kanye West is talking about how he’s been slighted by the nation’s most popular retailers, again. In a podcast released yesterday with screenwriter and novelist Bret Easton Ellis, West made it clear that he was not happy with the advice Zappos CEO Tony Hsieh once tried to give him. “I got into this giant argument…
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Oh, SNAP! Trey Radel, Cocaine and Racial Double Standards
Rep. Trey Radel (R-FL) is now no stranger to the justice system. On Wednesday afternoon, he pled guilty to a misdemeanor cocaine possession charge and was sentenced to a year of supervised probation. And by Wednesday night, in front of TV cameras, he was saying, “I’m sorry” at a hastily called press conference to announce…
Black News and Black Views with a Whole Lotta Attitude
