Samhita Mukhopadhyay writes at the Nation that even though the racist reaction to the selection of Nina Davuluri, who is of South Asian descent, as Miss America has been shameful, the pageant itself is the real problem. During my Tuesday morning subway commute, I encountered a man who felt the need to stare at me…

(The Root) — “They need to stop, they need to stop,” Semecha Nunn told the Chicago Tribune after her 3-year-old grandson was shot late Thursday as neighbors played basketball at a park on Chicago’s South Side. Police are investigating the shooting, which left 13 people wounded after two men in a gray sedan reportedly pulled…

(The Root) — “My cousin on my mom’s side of the family has done extensive research on our family background. From what she has obtained thus far, it appears as if my mom’s family are descendants of Gen. Braxton Bragg (Fort Bragg is named after him). There have been a few challenges trying to see…

UPDATED Saturday, Sept. 21, 9:55 a.m. EDT: Chicago Police Superintendent Garry F. McCarthy on Friday called for a ban assault weapons and high-capacity magazines, a day after gunmen opened fire at a South Side park, wounding 13, including a 3-year-old boy, CNN reports. “An assault-style rifle with a high-capacity magazine was used in the shooting,…

(Special to The Root) — The Bondwoman’s Narrative is believed to be the first novel ever written by an African-American woman. The book was purchased at auction by Harvard professor Henry Louis Gates Jr. in 2001 and published in 2002, becoming a best-seller. New research has uncovered the identity of the mystery author. She was…

Dominique Hazzard writes in a piece at Disrupting Dinner Parties that it’s important to integrate white sororities because after graduation, most of the members go on to become involved in organizations in larger society. Whether or not we like “this inherently flawed system,” she writes, opening it up “to students of color will lead to…

Chicago native Joshua Adams writes in a piece at Ebony that the media need to change the conversation about his hometown. Although the city frequently makes headlines because of its spiraling crime rate, media talking points never include the impact of institutional racism on the lives of residents, he says. Conservatives will bring up violence…

ln light of intractable racist attitudes that are repeatedly expressed in heinous encounters across the nation, Brittney Cooper writes at Salon that America is a long ways away from becoming postracial, despite accomplishments by blacks like President Obama and Oprah Winfrey. The 50th anniversary of the 16th Street church bombing in Birmingham, Ala., was sandwiched…