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Michelle Obama Uses Hip-Hop to Fight Obesity
Partnership for a Healthy America, a nonprofit affiliated with Michelle Obama’s Let’s Move campaign, is launching a hip-hop album, Songs for a Healthier America, complete with music videos, to help fight obesity at schools across the country, according to U.S. News & World Report. The first lady — along with rapper Doug E. Fresh, singer-songwriter…
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Ebony Magazine September Issue: 'We Are Trayvon'
In an effort to continue the conversation about race in America and to explore “Stand your ground” laws, Ebony magazine has released a special edition of its September issue, according to the Huffington Post. The publication is rolling out four separate covers with the headline “We Are Trayvon,” featuring the slain teenager’s family, Sybrina Fulton…
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Time to Rethink Black Homeownership?
(The Root) — Yesterday in Phoenix, President Obama delivered a major speech on his solutions for addressing America’s housing crisis in his second term. In addition to announcing plans to target Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, he summarized his primary solutions as follows: “Helping more Americans refinance. Helping qualified families get a mortgage. Reforming our…
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Is Hair Care Oppressing My Black Daughter?
(The Root) — “I’m (white) Latina and my husband is African American. We have little girls the same age from previous relationships. His daughter is with us for the summer, and we are not seeing eye-to-eye on her hair. He and his mother think she should sit to have her hair braided, which hurts her…
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Quote of the Day: Mary Church Terrell on Morality
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.
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The Many Faces of Idris Elba
(The Root) — For nearly 10 years, Idris Elba has been nothing short of an international star. From his deep baritone as the drug kingpin Russell “Stringer” Bell in HBO’s The Wire to his recent success on the Hollywood circuit, he has become one of today’s most versatile actors. Later this year he’ll star as…
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Issa Rae to Star in HBO Comedy Series
According to Deadline, Internet star Issa Rae and Larry Wilmore, creator of The Bernie Mac Show, have teamed up to co-write a comedy series for HBO. The project focuses on the awkward experiences and racy tribulations of a modern day African-American woman. These are also themes Rae has tackled in her successful webseries, The Misadventures Of…
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Is Chris Brown Quitting Music?
(The Root) — It looks like Chris Brown has had enough. The embattled singer tweeted today that his next album may be his last before leaving the world of music. He prefaced the announcement with “Don’t worry, mainstream America,” apparently tired of his bad-boy reputation overshadowing his musical talent. Don’t worry mainstream America.After this X…
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Black Girls Need Empowering, Too
There has been much talk about empowering black boys in the wake of Trayvon Martin’s death. Bernardine Watson at the Washington Post encourages a similar effort for young black girls, particularly given how many of them end up in the juvenile-justice system. Certainly a national focus on young African American males is overdue, particularly given…
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Obama and Jay Z Prefer to Inspire Than Work
Brittney Cooper, writing at Salon, describes how Jay Z and President Barack Obama rely too heavily on their ability to inspire black Americans instead of taking a more proactive role in carrying out measurable deeds that will help black culture. Yet when it comes to thinking about the political potential of hip-hop, Jay becomes mucked and…
Black News and Black Views with a Whole Lotta Attitude
