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More Than 870 Dead in Haiti After Hurricane Matthew
The island nation of Haiti has been hit by yet another natural disaster, this time Hurricane Matthew, which at press time has claimed 877 lives, according to The Independent. The death toll is unfortunately expected to rise as numbers from rural and mountainous areas continue to come in and waters recede. Most of the damage…
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Clown Gets Beat Up When He Tries to Scare A Group of Friends
A creepy clown received a bad beating after he tried to scare a group of friends in their car, as reported by Daily Mail. Video footage was released of the incident where the the clown approaches the car holding balloons. One of the men in the car yells, “Get away!” at the clown, yet the clown…
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Watch: Insecure Is Lit
To let Issa Rae tell it, her new HBO series, Insecure, is lit AF. We’d have to agree. Similar to her breakout web series, The Misadventures of Awkward Black Girl, Insecure explores themes familiar to millennials, but from the black perspective. And note that there is no singular black experience. “This is not going to be…
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The Man Behind the Viral Letter to His White Neighbors Speaks Out
On Thursday a Harlem-based resident, Richard Brookshire, 29, became an internet hero when he delivered the clapback to a pair of neighbors who complained that he was too loud in his own apartment. An excerpt: This letter serves a formal response to a note left by you expressing, in no uncertain terms, your intent to…
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Police Search for 15-Year-Old Mom and Infant Son Who Vanished From NYC Group Home
Early Wednesday morning, Shantay Howington, 15, and her 2-month-old son, Demontae, vanished from a Brooklyn, N.Y., group home, the New York Daily News reports. Police say that mother and son were last seen around 3:15 a.m. Wednesday at the group home in the New York City borough’s Crown Heights neighborhood. Authorities say the mother has…
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The Birth of a Nation Is an Important Film Worth Seeing Despite Its Flaws
When Nate Parker’s The Birth of a Nation won both the Audience Award and Grand Jury Prize at Sundance in January, Parker thanked God and Sundance when accepting the awards. The realization that audiences were ready for a story about Nat Turner, a black man from Virginia at the center of a slave revolt that…
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CEO of Backpage Arrested on Sex-Trafficking Charges
Carl Ferrer, CEO of Backpage.com, was arrested after he arrived in Houston from Amsterdam on Thursday. “Backpage.com seems to have knowingly and willingly allowed women and children to be exploited for its own financial gain,” said Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton, CBSDFW reports. A money-laundering search warrant was executed Thursday afternoon at the company’s headquarters in…
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Am I Related to President Andrew Jackson?
I just discovered an interview with my ancestor in the Aug. 10, 1935, edition of the Chicago Defender, which states my ancestor Burrell Jackson was the grandson of President Andrew Jackson. It described him as an anti-lynching activist who barely escaped lynching himself. According to history, Andrew Jackson did not have children, but this interview…
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The Root’s Young Futurists, Where Are They Now: Jordan Williams
Some might say that Jordan Williams is a natural-born entrepreneur. The Atlanta native started his first business at 10 years of age with Kids Toys Inc. Years later, the resourceful teen and his friend Brandon Iverson founded a clothing line, Young Moguls Brand. The 2015 Young Futurist has since gone on to be selected for…
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Update: Hurricane Matthew Leaves at Least 283 Dead in Haiti, Heads Toward Fla.
Updated Thursday, Oct. 6, 9 p.m. EDT: The New York Times is reporting that the death toll in Haiti is at least 283, after officials there drastically raised the number following lower initial reports. They say the number of deaths is likely to rise as international organizations begin to reach the worst-affected areas of the country. Earlier:…
Black News and Black Views with a Whole Lotta Attitude
