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Honoring the French Film 'Rue Cases-Negres'
(The Root) — Ye krik! Ye krak! Each time I hear those four words, I get goose bumps. To this day, that strikingly evocative French Creole refrain haunts me. Popularized by its use in a sadly much-neglected and long-forgotten foreign film with subtitles, the call-and-response exchange between a little black boy and an old black…
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Quote of the Day: Martin Luther King Jr. on Black People in America
Read the entire “I Have a Dream” speech 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.
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Lamar Odom Arrested on Suspicion of DUI
What a week it’s been for Lamar Odom, the NBA player and TV personality. It started off with rumors that he was addicted to pain medication, CNN reports. On Friday morning, he was arrested for driving under the influence of alcohol. Police say Odom, who refused all chemical tests, had been driving in a “serpentine…
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Time to Redefine Millennials
Millennial Maya K. Francis writes in a refreshing piece at xoJane about, well, her generation. Instead of casting wild-eyed glances at the “me, me, me” generation, older folks should borrow a page from some of these, yes, industrious and tech-savvy youths. They could actually teach older folks some life lessons. My first job out of…
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The Veil Between Obama and Black America
In a hard-hitting piece at The Atlantic, Ta-Nehisi Coates looks at President Obama’s relationship with the black community in terms of his remarks on the 50th anniversary of the March on Washington. He compares Obama’s speech to “The Conservation of Races” by W.E.B. Du Bois, a speech that Du Bois is said to have come…
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Why Obama's March on Washington Speech Was Remarkable
President Barack Obama delivered a strong performance at the 50th anniversary of the March on Washington, writes Washington Post columnist Eugene Robinson. Given the no-win situation of trying to compete with Martin Luther King Jr.’s poeticism, Robinson argues, it was wise for Obama to focus on social and economic issues despite mounting concerns about strife in…
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Obama Takes Baby Steps on Marijuana
(The Root) — Although polls show that the majority of Americans have evolved on the issue of marijuana and now support legalization, the Obama administration so far has not demonstrated a similar evolution. As noted previously on The Root, a White House spokesman recently said the president does not support changes to marijuana laws “at…
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Can Eric Holder Summon Season 6 of 'The Wire'?
(The Root) — David Simon, the creator and lead writer of the HBO drama series The Wire, may owe viewers a sixth season of the critically acclaimed show in order to fulfill an offer he extended to Attorney General Eric Holder a few years back. As many may know, Holder, like President Obama, is a…
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Romeo Miller Instagrams Car Crash
Hearts across the Internet sank at the thought that this talented man, so full of promise and light, could have been so much as scratched. But we can relax. He’s OK. He’s OK, guys. He’s OK. Tracy Clayton is a writer, humorist and blogger from Louisville, Ky.
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Rumors of Dave Chappelle 'Meltdown' Go Viral
(The Root) — Late last night, tweets began to fly from audience members of a Dave Chappelle show in Hartford, Conn. Though all tweets confirm that Chappelle did, in fact, walk offstage — there is video of him walking off as Kanye’s “New Slaves” plays — details vary among those who claim they were in…
Black News and Black Views with a Whole Lotta Attitude
