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Olympic 'Black Power' Salute Occurred 45 Years Ago Today
U.S. sprinters Tommie Smith and John Carlos ignited controversy when they bowed their heads and raised black-gloved fists in the “black power” salute during the Olympic medal ceremony Oct. 16, 1968, in Mexico City. While some viewed them as heroes, in the eyes of some they represented a scourge on America. The men were suspended…
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Sandberg Launches 'Lean In' Program at Howard
(The Root) — In a notable choice by an executive and author whose message about leadership has largely skirted challenges specific to women of color, Facebook Chief Operating Officer Sheryl Sandberg chose Washington, D.C.’s Howard University as the site of the launch of her LeanIn.org campus initiative. Sandberg, author of the best-seller Lean In: Women,…
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Utah Station Hires State's 1st Black Anchor
At a time when diversity among broadcast and cable news anchors appears to be on the wane, or barely exists in places like, say, um, Utah, 27-year-old Nadia Crow’s recent move represents a bit of good news. She became the first regular African-American anchor at Utah’s KTVX-Channel 4 and in the state, according to the…
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Why Harry Belafonte Is Suing the Heirs of MLK
Eighty-six-year-old singer, actor and activist Harry Belafonte has moved on to a different battle, following his high-profile intergenerational beef with Jay Z this summer. Saying that at his age it’s time to get his affairs in order, he filed a lawsuit Tuesday in a New York City federal court against the three surviving children of…
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Are College Sports a Modern-Day Plantation?
(The Root) — When 2012 Heisman Trophy winner and Texas A&M quarterback Johnny Manziel was reprimanded for allegedly taking payment for signing autographs, the ensuing controversy reignited an age-old debate: Should college athletes be compensated? Manziel appeared on the cover of Time magazine under the headline “It’s Time to Pay College Athletes.” But the way…
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Quote of the Day: Malcolm X on Self-Hate
Read The Root’s coverage of Malcolm X 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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Why Kendrick Lamar Is a Sensitive Rapper
(The Root) — While the federal government hangs by the hair of its chinny chin chin, hip-hop MC Kendrick Lamar is playing the big, bad wolf, challenging rappers during Tuesday night’s broadcast of the 2013 BET Hip Hop Awards cypher to step up their art and performance in respect for the culture’s battle tradition. Surrounded…
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Man Paralyzed by Cops Faces 20 Years
(The Root) — On Nov. 11, 2012, just before 10 p.m., Leon Ford Jr. looked in his rearview mirror and saw flashing lights. Ford pulled to the side of the road. Almost everything that happened next — whether Ford should have been stopped, what happened when Pittsburgh police officers approached Ford’s car, what Ford and…
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Why Do Italian Men Love Black Women?
(The Root) — “I went to Italy, where Italian men love black women. My male friends here in the U.S. seem to think I’m exaggerating this when I bring it up, or act offended when I rave about the great time I had there and how much I enjoyed the unusual amount of attention and praise (yeah, I’ll…
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Sen. Cory Booker's Rich Friends Will Win
(The Root) — Cory Booker’s inevitable election to the U.S. Senate on Wednesday will prove, for large segments of the black community, both historic and bittersweet. Booker’s meteoric rise since being elected mayor of Newark, N.J., in 2006 has been assisted by a well-crafted media persona. Booker first burst onto Newark’s political scene in 2002,…
Black News and Black Views with a Whole Lotta Attitude
