• Quote of the Day: Michael Jordan on Expectations

    Read The Root’s coverage of Michael Jordan 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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  • Don't Assume Blacks Will Riot If Zimmerman's Acquitted

    Pointing out that the last major race riot in the U.S. occurred 21 years ago in Los Angeles, Marc W. Polite writes at Time magazine that early calls for calm before a verdict is rendered in George Zimmerman’s second-degree-murder trial run “counter to recent history, and may be akin to racial fear mongering.” As the trial…

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  • South Carolina GOP's 'Dead Voters' Story Debunked

    The GOP’s allegations of voter fraud in South Carolina, including claims of “zombie” voting, were debunked by findings in a recent report, ColorLines‘ Brentin Mock reports. As reported by Corey Hutchins in the Columbia Free Times, state Rep. Alan Clemmons, a Horry County Republican, ran with Shwedo’s unsubstantiated claim, telling the public, “We must have certainty in…

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  • White Juries and Black Victims

    (The Root) — Gavel-to-gavel news coverage with a promise that viewers “won’t miss a moment.” A televised re-enactment of deadly events. A virtual army of lawyers, writers and jury consultants, analyzing every comment, every witness and nearly every moment of the George Zimmerman trial. The courtroom scene in Sanford, Fla., where Zimmerman faces second-degree-murder and…

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  • 11 Racial Events From Zimmerman Trial

    In the early days of the Zimmerman trial, several analysts remarked that there was an intentional effort to keep conversations about race off the table in the courtroom. And indeed, the race and ethnicity of Trayvon Martin and George Zimmerman were never overtly mentioned in the court proceedings. But anyone who’s been following the details…

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  • 11 Racial Events From Zimmerman Trial

    In the early days of the Zimmerman trial, several analysts remarked that there was an intentional effort to keep conversations about race off the table in the courtroom. And indeed, the race and ethnicity of Trayvon Martin and George Zimmerman were never overtly mentioned in the court proceedings. But anyone who’s been following the details…

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  • Twitter Explains Why White People Riot

    (The Root) — There’s lots of buzz and fear out there about black people rioting in the streets if a verdict other than “guilty” is handed down in the George Zimmerman case. As the trial winds down, there’s no shortage of fearmongering in the media, from radio and TV to print and online. But black…

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  • Obama to Jay-Z: 'Just Give Me the Ball'

    We all know that rapper Jay-Z is in pretty well with President Obama. You’ve seen the pictures that he and his wife, Beyoncé, have taken with Obama. The president has even gone on record to say he’s a fan of Jay-Z’s music. And earlier this week, Jay-Z revealed in a Hot 97 interview with Angie…

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  • Poll: Gawker Wrong to Show Trayvon's Body?

    If you thought you couldn’t be any more sickened than you already were at the idea that George Zimmerman might actually get away with going out of his way to stalk and then kill an unarmed black teenager who was guilty of nothing more than, well, being an unarmed black teenager, don’t go to Gawker…

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