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Racial Anxiety Limits Racial Progress
(The Root) — There are moments in which tension surrounding discussion of America’s racial history and resistance to acknowledging racism couldn’t be clearer. Criticizing Saturday’s commemoration of the 50th anniversary of the March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom, Laura Ingraham scoffed at the issues addressed by the speakers, accused participants of attempting “to co-opt…
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MLK's Family in Accident After March Celebration
TMZ and CNN are reporting that several of Martin Luther King Jr.’s siblings and grandchildren were in a vehicle accident when the driver of their charter bus hit the brakes to avoid striking a van that had run a red light. The incident occurred as the family finished observing the 50th anniversary of the March on…
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Macklemore Accused on Twitter of Ripping Off Gay Rapper's Song
(The Root) — Macklemore had a great night at the MTV Video Music Awards this past Sunday. He took home home two awards, one for his song “Can’t Hold Us,” and another for “Same Love,” a song calling for gay rights. Although he was lauded during the awards show, his win found a much colder…
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Nice Speech, Obama, but What About Policy?
(The Root) — President Barack Obama’s speech commemorating the 50th anniversary of the March on Washington forcefully articulated an expansive vision of economic justice and racial equality but stopped short of concrete policy proposals needed to turn words into deeds. “Five decades ago today, Americans came to this honored place to lay claim to a…
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The President's Speech: Full Transcript
Remarks by the President at the “Let Freedom Ring” Ceremony Commemorating the 50th Anniversary of the March on Washington Lincoln Memorial Aug. 28, 20133:07 P.M. EDT THE PRESIDENT: To the King family, who have sacrificed and inspired so much; to President Clinton; President Carter; Vice President Biden and Jill; fellow Americans. Five decades ago today,…
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Can You Really Be a 'White Woman of Color'?
At Clutch magazine, Britni Danielle challenges cultural appropriation in a piece about a woman who grew up white in Mexico but was seen as a woman of color when she moved to the U.S. But “being white excludes her from being a woman of color. Period,” she writes. I recently stumbled across an interesting essay by…
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Miley Cyrus' Twerking: The Joke Is on Black Women
Citing the backup dancers on display during Miley Cyrus’ MTV Video Music Awards twerking debacle, Tressie McMillan Cottom argues at her blog, tressiemc.com, that whites have long viewed black women as freak show attractions. She frames the spectacle against the backdrop of anti-black-female themes in American culture. Cyrus’ dancers look more like me than they do Rihanna…
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MLK Would Be Shocked by Crime and Weak Family Values
Ben S. Carson, a professor emeritus of neurosurgery at Johns Hopkins, writes at the Washington Times that although blacks have made tremendous strides since Martin Luther King Jr.’s “I Have a Dream” speech, the civil rights leader would be disheartened by the epidemic of “black-on-black violent crime” and the erosion of family values in the…
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Thousands Commemorate March on Washington 2013
Nearly 50 years after the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. delivered his call for justice from the steps of the Lincoln Memorial, “tens of thousands reconvened near that spot Wednesday, under cloudy skies and amid hope and frustration about the current state of race relations in America,” the Washington Post reports. At 3 p.m.,…
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Memories From the March
(The Root) — For much of the last month, dozens of media outlets have told the story of the 1963 March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom, where Martin Luther King Jr gave his iconic “I Have a Dream” speech. We know of the major organizers — Bayard Rustin, A. Philip Randolph and others —…
Black News and Black Views with a Whole Lotta Attitude
