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King of Pain: 20 Years Later, Tupac Shakur’s Problematic Genius Still Haunts Us
The aphorism goes, “Stars are born, not made.” I understood this twice in childhood: the first time I saw Magic Johnson on television, and the moment in Digital Underground’s “Same Song” video when a resplendent Tupac Shakur burst into the public consciousness on a chariot, wearing a dashiki and kufi, and holding a scepter that…
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Black Solidarity With First Nations Is Complicated, Sacred and Necessary
I was born and raised as a descendant of enslaved Africans on Ute, Cheyenne and Arapaho land. I was born on the front range of the Rocky Mountains where Pike’s Peak’s massive snowcapped summit caused the sun to set 20 minutes earlier. Raised on a small family ranch with pigs, sheep and llamas, I grew…
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Hey, Michael Rapaport: Liking Hip-Hop Doesn’t Mean You Get to Tell Black People How to Feel
You know how this goes. You’re chilling, waiting for the bread and circuses that are the start of the NFL season, when your homie forwards you a link on Twitter, along with his own commentary: “Did you read this b.s.?” You know in your gut that some white person just said something dumb because ……
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Md. Woman Pleads Guilty to Killing Her 2 Youngest Children
On Monday, Zakieya Avery, 31, admitted in a Montgomery County, Md., courtroom that she killed her two youngest children during what she thought was an exorcism. She also admitted to attempting to kill her two other children, according to the Washington Post. Self-described as the “demon assassin,” Avery, along with her roommate, Monifa Sanford, 24,…
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#Root4BlackFathers: Celebrating Black Fathers 365
After photos that Eric Owens posted on Facebook of him with his son recently began trending, there were many comments about the “emasculation” of black men from people who apparently weren’t held or hugged enough as children. So, just as we celebrated #BlackBoyJoy and dispelled dangerous myths about black fathers, The Root is keeping the party…
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Watch: Steve Harvey Faces His ‘Twin’ on Family Feud
How does it feel to stand in front of someone who looks just like you (no relation)? Well, Steve Harvey knows all about that. The cold part is that it might sting just a little bit when, as the Family Feud host noted, your twinsie “looks a little better than you” do.
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Diddy Tops Forbes ‘Cash Kings’ List Once Again
For the second year in a row, Sean “Diddy” Combs has hit the top of the Forbes 2016 “Cash Kings” list, raking in $62 million in 2016. It is his fifth time taking the top spot. The Forbes Hip-Hop Ranking is now in its 10th year and has been referenced in numerous rap songs, including…
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Kenya Barris Sued for $1,000,000 Over Credit for Black-ish
Kenya Barris, creator of our favorite primetime sitcom, Black-ish, has been sued for $1 million by a former collaborator, a director who says he stole the show idea from him, Deadline reports. Music video director Bryan Barber, who helmed the 2006 film Idlewild, says he met Barris at Clark Atlanta University in 1996 and formed…
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Watch: NFL Commentator Shannon Sharpe Says to White Folks, ‘Don’t Tell Us What to Grieve For’
It’s almost as if Colin Kaepernick has given those in the sports realm the green light to express the frustration they may feel at the relentless (and avoidable) death of black people at the hands of police. To wit, on Thursday evening, NFL commentator Shannon Sharpe passionately told his co-worker about his take on Kaepernick’s…
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#DeEscalateDontKill: Black Man Fatally Shot by Fla. Cops in His Own Backyard
In the last year, there has been a hashtag directed toward law enforcement all over the nation: #DeEscalateDontKill. But the police in Broward County, Fla., must have missed the memo. The Broward Palm Beach New Times reports that police responded to a domestic disturbance call Friday night and shot and killed a man who was…
Black News and Black Views with a Whole Lotta Attitude
