-
'Sleepy Hollow': A New Day for Race on TV?
(The Root) — Of course, back in 1820, when Washington Irving penned The Legend of Sleepy Hollow, most black folks were in chains, women were little more than decorative chattel and a headless horseman turned out to be a practical joke formed out of a pumpkin. Clearly, a black detective — free and female —…
-
Quote of the Day: Malcolm X on Speaking the Truth
Read the quote in its full context here. Henry Louis Gates Jr. is the Alphonse Fletcher University Professor and the director of the W.E.B. Du Bois Institute 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.
-
Amid Strife, Congo's Musicians Fight to Play
(The Root) — Jean Claude “J.C.” Wenga, 24, expected to spend the last weekend of August performing in front of thousands of people from across Africa’s Great Lakes region at a historic music festival in his hometown of Goma, the capital of North Kivu province in eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo. Indeed, the week…
-
Chicago's Unsung Heroes
With all of the hand-wringing over Chicago’s failure to respond to exploding youth-gang violence, it would seem that no one is doing anything to help. But there are people who are quietly working to help combat the problem, whether it’s through charitable donations or toiling on the frontlines in communities. The Root has put together…
-
Who Was Napoleon's 'Black Devil'?
Editor’s note: For those who are wondering about the retro title of this black-history series, please take a moment to learn about historian Joel A. Rogers, author of the 1934 book 100 Amazing Facts About the Negro With Complete Proof, to whom these “amazing facts” are an homage. (The Root) — Amazing Fact About the…
-
NC Cop Charged in Fatal Shooting of Unarmed Black Man
The Associated Press is reporting that a North Carolina police officer has been charged with manslaughter in the shooting death of former Florida A&M University football player Jonathan A. Ferrell, 24, who was seeking help after a car accident in Charlotte. The deadly encounter was set in motion when a former college football player survived…
-
Black Names: What's the Problem?
Jamelle Bouie, writing at the Daily Beast, concludes that the perennial debate among some whites about so-called unconventional black names says more about white ethnocentrism and racial inequality than black culture. Reddit isn’t just a clearinghouse for interviews, animal pictures, and crazy stories. It’s also a place where people ask questions and have discussions. Yesterday,…
-
The Lives They Might Have Lived, 4 Little Girls
“This is for four women who are not here,” Leonard Pitts Jr. writes at the Miami Herald in an evocative reflection on the lives of the four little girls who died in the Birmingham, Ala., church bombing. He pays homage to the accomplishments they were never able to achieve due to racial hatred. It is…
-
Why a Black Man Says No to 'The Butler' and '12 Years a Slave'
At the Guardian, black Canadian author Orville Lloyd Douglas says he won’t be seeing Lee Daniels’ The Butler or 12 Years a Slave because they were created to engender white guilt. Further, the so-called race dramas are unlikely to teach viewers anything new, he writes. Lee Daniel’s new film The Butler is a box office success, already generating…
-
O'Reilly: Trayvon Died Because He 'Looked a Certain Way'
Fox News’ Bill O’Reilly on Friday returned to the shooting death of Trayvon Martin. While blatantly ignoring the issue of racial profiling, he and his guest, former U.S. Rep. Allen West (R-Fla.), rationalized that the unarmed 17-year-old was shot by George Zimmerman, the former neighborhood-watch captain, because he “looked a certain way,” according to the…
Black News and Black Views with a Whole Lotta Attitude
