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Quote of the Day: Joel Augustus Rogers on Black Music
Read more of The Root’s coverage of Joel Augustus Rogers 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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40 Percent of Whites: No Friends of Color
An estimated 40 percent of white Americans and about 25 percent of nonwhites have friends only of their own race, according to the Raw Story, which cites a recent ongoing poll conducted by Reuters/Ipsos. The figures highlight how segregated the United States remains in the wake of a debate on race sparked by last month’s…
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Twitter Suspends Desmond Tutu's Account
(The Root) — It doesn’t matter how legendary you are; if Twitter thinks you’ve broken the rules, it will give you the boot. Desmond Tutu found this out today when his account was briefly suspended for “aggressive following,” although he didn’t actually break any rules. The human rights activist had just joined Twitter and followed…
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Oprah Among 4 Blacks to Receive Medal of Freedom
(The Root) — Four African Americans are among 16 recipients of the Presidential Medal of Freedom, the nation’s highest civilian honor, according to a statement released by the White House on Thursday. This year marks the 50th anniversary of the award established by President John F. Kennedy. “The Presidential Medal of Freedom goes to men and women who have dedicated their…
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Beyoncé Gets a Haircut, Internet Explodes
(The Root) — If Beyoncé makes some kind of infinitesimal change in her daily life or appearance and her fans aren’t around to see it, will it still make the news? That’s a trick question. Thanks to social media, everything Beyoncé does will always captivate the Internet, and people will devote an entire day, at…
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Is the Obama Administration Snooping Through Our Data?
MSNBC‘s Adam Serwer analyzes President Obama’s recent “assurances” on The Tonight Show With Jay Leno that the government isn’t spying on Americans, in light of information revealed by National Security Agency leaker Edward Snowden about the agency’s worldwide data-gathering networks. President Obama said the U.S. government is not spying on American citizens during an appearance…
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Why It's Time for Tavis and Cornel to Stop
Tavis Smiley and Cornel West are raking in major profits while making wildly inflammatory statements about President Barack Obama, Eric L. Wattree writes at his blog, the Wattree Chronicle. These comments, in turn, are damaging the black community. … And please keep this in mind — the worse the Black community is doing, the more…
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The Correlation Between Violence and Racism
In a piece for the New York Times, author Jesmyn Ward explores the close connection between violence and racism by casting a decades-long lens at what it was like for members of her family to be black growing up in Mississippi. There are moments from childhood that attract heat in our memories, some for their…
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Beyoncé's Hair Might Not Change the World
(The Root) — The only thing that might have possibly caused more black hair buzz than this would have been if Oprah decided to go all the way natural and appear on her magazine cover post “big chop.” You’ve certainly heard by now: Beyoncé has ditched her weave for either a brand-new pixie cut or…
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Henrietta Lacks: Family Consents to Her Medical Gift
Sixty-two years after Henrietta Lacks died of cervical cancer and doctors removed tumor cells from her body, her family is now being brought into the decision-making process concerning research with those cells. The study of her cells has netted profound medical and biological discoveries, the New York Times reports. Henrietta Lacks was only 31 when…
Black News and Black Views with a Whole Lotta Attitude
