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Can Black Candidates Survive Sex Scandals?
(The Root) — On Sunday night the typically slow summer political news cycle was given a surprise gift. Former New York Gov. Eliot Spitzer, who resigned in disgrace after being linked to a prostitution scandal, announced that he’s running for office again. In his quest to become New York City comptroller, Spitzer is now the…
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Quote of the Day: James Baldwin on Perseverance
Read the quote in 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. Like The Root on Facebook. Follow us on Twitter.
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A New Way to Empower Black Women
(The Root) — I am not a feminist, nor do I allow others to identify me as one. (Whew! I finally got that out.) I am not a black feminist, hip-hop feminist or third-wave feminist, and I have chosen not to align my scholarship with the hybrid frameworks born out of the traditional feminisms of…
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Why Do So Many People Think Blacks Are Racist?
Blogging at the Huffington Post, Earl Ofari Hutchinson checks in on the recent Rasmussen poll, which showed that more Americans think that blacks are more racist than whites. A recent Rasmussen poll found that more Americans by a wide margin think blacks are more racist than whites. This also included a significant percent of blacks who according…
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Free Blacks Lived in the North, Right?
Editor’s note: For those who are wondering about the retro title of this black-history series, please take a moment to learn about historian Joel A. Rogers, author of the 1934 book 100 Amazing Facts About the Negro With Complete Proof, to whom these “amazing facts” are an homage. (The Root) — Amazing Fact About the…
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Why Do Catholics Canonize Popes?
Catholics believe “a saint is a holy person through whom God intervenes after his or death to aid the living,” writes David M. Perry, a history professor, at CNN, and this is is one reason Catholics want to canonize Pope John Paul II. On Friday, Pope Francis announced the canonization of two of his predecessors:…
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Can Egypt Unite?
Since the Egyptian military ousted President Mohamed Morsi, New York Times columnist Thomas L. Friedman says one way Egypt could come together is for the United States to support a unity coalition. ANYONE who has followed Middle East politics knows that this is a region where extremists tend to go all the way and moderates…
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Supreme Court: Time for a Black Woman?
The Supreme Court’s recent ruling on Shelby County v. Holder, which overturned a key prevision of the Voting Rights Act, rattled civil rights proponents who see it as a major setback in the quest for racial equality and justice. The role of the court’s lone African-American justice, Clarence Thomas, who sided with the court’s majority…
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Lolo Jones Agrees to Twitter Date
(The Root) — Lolo Jones’ Twitter life has her in the news once again. When Georgia college student Harry Lyles Jr. tweeted the Olympian to ask her out, she agreed — but only if he could get 150,000 retweets. Surprisingly, he succeeded, and true to her word, Jones agreed to go out with him. It’s…
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Poll on Black Racism Challenged
When a recent poll by Rasmussen Reports found that Americans consider blacks more likely to be racist than whites and Hispanics, the results were, well, surprising, especially in the context of the racial polarization going on in the nation right now, including New York Police Department’s stop-and-frisk program, which largely targets young black and Latino males. Now,…
Black News and Black Views with a Whole Lotta Attitude
