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Quote of the Day: The Rev. Otis Moss Jr. on Liberty
Read more about the Rev. Otis Moss Jr. 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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Martin Family's Legal Team Speaks Out
(The Root) — A black teenage boy in the South, who did nothing wrong, was attacked in the dark of night by a stranger. He was beaten and murdered, in cold blood, but an all-white jury fully acquitted the perpetrator — under the guise that reasonable doubt existed and the prosecution had failed to prove…
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Slave Trade in Unblinking Detail
(The Root) — This image is part of a weekly series that The Root is presenting in conjunction with the Image of the Black in Western Art Archive at Harvard University’s W.E.B. Du Bois Institute for African and African American Research. In a scene scarcely imaginable if not for its all-too-common occurrence in reality, an incident of the 19th-century slave…
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'We Are Not Trayvon Martin'
(The Root) — “I am Trayvon Martin” has become the rallying cry since anger over the teen’s death arose, and even more so in the wake of the devastating verdict in the George Zimmerman trial. But some insist that not everyone is Trayvon; that some are more like George Zimmerman because they share the same…
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Judge Stays Warren Hill's Execution
Updated 5:39 p.m. EDT: A Fulton County, Ga., judge granted Hill a temporary stay of execution to give her more more time to consider a new state law that shields the identities of those who make and supply Georgia’s lethal-injection drugs, the Atlanta Journal-Constitution reports. Earlier: A man convicted of killing two people is scheduled…
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Tacky: Trayvoning 'Trend' Returns
In the wake of news outlets airing the photo of Trayvon Martin’s dead body during George Zimmerman’s trial, disturbingly, teenagers are once again taking it upon themselves to re-enact that frightening image. According to the Daily Mail, the social media trend, known as “Trayvoning,” consists of people (mainly white teens) “lying motionless on the ground…
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The History of Confusing Verdicts From Florida Juries
Though many people worldwide were shocked at the not-guilty verdict handed down in the George Zimmerman trial, it’s just one of many Florida trials with verdicts that made us wonder, “What was that jury thinking?” Slate explores other cases in Florida that had frustrating outcomes. A lot of people are having a hard time accepting…
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Twitter Examines White Privilege
(The Root) — Much of the nation is still reeling from the not-guilty verdict handed down to George Zimmerman over the weekend. Though Zimmerman is half Latino, many rightly name white privilege as a factor in his acquittal. Since the verdict was announced, white Twitterers have used their own stories to illustrate the way white…
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Obama's Response to the Verdict Was Right
(The Root) — Though it’s compellingly argued and passionately felt, I disagree with the assessment of my colleague at The Root, Keli Goff, that President Barack Obama’s statement about Saturday’s George Zimmerman verdict was disappointing or somehow offensive. After all, everyone has a part to play in this tragedy, and Obama’s is unlike anyone else’s.…
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What My White Daughter Now Knows About Racism
In a piece on his website, white anti-racism activist Tim Wise gives a detailed description of how he explained America’s race relations to his 12-year-old daughter. Wise says that while his white child lives in a “nation set up for people just like her,” she feels the heartache of a system that fails minorities daily. To…
Black News and Black Views with a Whole Lotta Attitude
