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Racist Hurls Bananas at Italy's First Black Minister
Since becoming Italy’s first black minister in April, Cecile Kyenge has had to put up with a welter of racist remarks from citizens and colleagues alike. The latest came on Friday when a heckler threw a banana at her while she was making a speech, Reuters reports. Integration Minister Cecile Kyenge, who is originally from…
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Obama: Income Gap Tearing at Communities Across US
President Barack Obama told the New York Times that he was worried that years of widening income inequality and the enduring effects of the financial crisis had torn the nation’s social fabric and undercut Americans’ faith in greater opportunity. Upward mobility, Mr. Obama said in a 40-minute interview with The New York Times, “was part and parcel…
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Don Lemon Backs Bill O'Reilly in Criticism of Blacks
CNN anchor Don Lemon on Saturday defended Fox News host Bill O’Reilly’s highly contentious remarks about crime in the African-American community and the disintegration of family. Lemon says the conservative pundit did not go far enough, which drew fire from critics on the left, according to the Raw Story. “In my estimation, he doesn’t go…
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Rising Star Tries Finding Her Voice
(The Root) — Many film fans were introduced to actress Adepero Oduye through the 2011 independent film Pariah. Playing lesbian teen Alike, the Nigerian American grappled with sexuality and Christianity in such an honest way that she earned a shout-out from multi-Academy Award winner Meryl Streep. Since then, Oduye has appeared in Lifetime’s Steel Magnolias…
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Quote of the Day: James Baldwin on Black Men's Swagger
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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'American Idol' Hit With Racial Discrimination Suit
Entertainment Weekly is reporting that 10 former American Idol contestants have filed a racial discrimination lawsuit against the show, claiming they were mistreated and unfairly disqualified from the competition due to their race. Each plaintiff seeks $25 million, minimum, in damages. Former American Idol contestant Corey Clark is suing Fox again… and this time, he’s not alone. EW…
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KKK Distributes Neighborhood-Watch Fliers in Missouri
The Ku Klux Klan has been distributing neighborhood-watch fliers in Springfield, Mo., in an effort to recruit potential members, according to KY3 News. Residents woke last week to find recruitment fliers from the Traditionalist American Knights of the Ku Klux Klan in their yards, Salon reports. The flier, which features an array of bold text in different…
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America's Food Debates Ignore Black Urban Farms
America’s food rhetoricians ignore what low-income African-American communities are already doing to gain access to healthier food choices, including cultivating urban farms, Erika Nicole Kendall writes at Salon. “When the grassroots efforts of hard working people have to be downplayed or outright ignored for you to make your point … it’s time to change your…
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Tim Allen and the N-Word
(The Root) — Tim Allen can now be added to the list of white people who really, really want to be able to use the n-word. In an interview with the Tampa Bay Times, Allen talks about his distaste for the euphemism “the n-word,” saying that the phrase is more offensive than the actual word…
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Does Jay Z Want to Be This Generation's Harry Belafonte?
The kerfuffle between Jay Z and Harry Belafonte over the rapper’s so-called failed activism represents the gulf between the civil rights and hip-hop generations, writes Rahiel Tesfamariam in the Washington Post. “When, if ever,” she asks, “will the two meet?” This past weekend, Jay-Z and Beyoncé attended a Trayvon Martin rally in New York City, standing…
Black News and Black Views with a Whole Lotta Attitude
