-
Brother of Would-Be School Shooter Upset About Obama Call
Timothy Hill, the brother of Michael Brandon Hill, who was armed when he entered a Georgia school last week, says President Barack Obama should be more focused on preventing such incidents rather than calling to thank the bookkeeper at the school who thwarted a potential mass shooting, according to Clutch magazine. Antoinette Tuff has likely been…
-
Zimmerman Wants Florida to Pay Legal Bills
Aside from his lawyers’ fees, state law requires Florida to cover George Zimmerman’s legal costs because he was acquitted in the shooting death of Trayvon Martin, the Orlando Sentinel reports. That includes the cost of expert witnesses, travel, depositions, photocopies, even that animated 3-D video that defense attorneys showed jurors during closing argument that depicts…
-
Cornel West Hits Leaders: 'Wall Street Criminality'
Controversial scholar Cornel West has taken aim at civil rights leaders again. This time he hits them for ignoring “Wall Street criminality,” saying that money has corrupted American culture, according to the Raw Story. At book launching event on August 24 following the 50th Anniversary March on Washington, West condemned mainstream civil rights leaders for…
-
A Good Week for Equality and Justice
(The Root) — While the nation’s attention was riveted on last Saturday’s massive March on Washington demonstration, the pursuit of racial justice quietly continued in two remarkable instances. The day before the NAACP-organized demonstration that featured 70 speakers and a keynote from MSNBC host and National Action Network leader the Rev. Al Sharpton, President Barack…
-
Other Cool Stuff From MLK's 'Dream' Speech
(The Root) — It’s inevitable. Every January as we prepare to celebrate Martin Luther King Jr. Day, our Facebook and Twitter feeds become cluttered with obligatory links to King’s other famous quotes — gathered from various seminal texts, like the Letter From a Birmingham Jail and the Eulogy for the Martyred Children. (Jay Smooth gives…
-
Dealing With Black Boys Who Deal Drugs
(The Root) — In a March 2012 article for Baton Rouge, La.’s The Advocate, reporter Naomi Martin wrote, referring to me, “While some of his childhood friends still sell drugs on the streets of Baton Rouge, Toldson has a much different life as a professor at Howard University.” This statement confused me and made me…
-
MLK III: Father's Dream Still Unfulfilled
(The Root) — On Aug. 28, 2008, 45 years to the day of Martin Luther King Jr.’s iconic “I Have a Dream” speech, the slain leader’s eldest son, Martin Luther King III, spoke at the Democratic National Convention and celebrated the ascendance of then-presidential candidate Barack Obama. King said that his father would be “proud…
-
Quote of the Day: Frederick Douglass on Systemic Oppression
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.
-
My Black Friend Can't Swim: Funny?
(The Root) — In the latest in a series of Reddit Ask Me Anything sessions, our Race Manners columnist, Jenée Desmond-Harris, opened herself up to more of your burning questions about race. Check out the conversation here. Jenée Desmond-Harris: Hi, I’m Jenée Desmond-Harris. I write The Root’s Race Manners advice and etiquette column, where I do…
-
Twitter Shouts Out Its Smart Black Women
(The Root) — Not long ago, women of color started the trending topic #SolidarityIsForWhiteWomen to discuss the ways in which women of color are often left out of feminism. Today, Fast Company reminded us why the hashtag is needed when it published its list of 25 of the smartest women on Twitter — which noticeably…
Black News and Black Views with a Whole Lotta Attitude
