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Prom and Prejudice: 5 Facts
(The Root) — A group of teens in Rochelle, Ga., are fighting to break a very bad local tradition of holding privately funded segregated proms for the students of Wilcox County High School. Yes, that would be a white prom for white kids and a black prom for black kids. As crazy as it seems…
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Is 'Malcolm X' the Best Black Film of All Time?
(The Root) — In the end, Coming to America didn’t stand a chance. Malcolm X, Spike Lee’s critically acclaimed biopic, beat the beloved Eddie Murphy comedy with nearly 70 percent of the vote to win our March Movie Madness challenge, which started out last month with 64 films that voters slowly whittled down to one.…
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Must-See: '42' Revisits Important History
(The Root) — The story coming out of Georgia about separate proms for black and white high school students is just the latest example of the ugly history of racial segregation and the ways in which its residue hasn’t been fully erased. It seems that 42, the film about baseball legend Jackie Robinson’s life, is…
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Margaret Thatcher Dead at 87
Former British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher, the first woman to become the United Kingdom’s prime minister, has died of a stroke at the age of 87, CNN reports. The leader of her country’s Conservative Party from 1979 to 1990 and a strong supporter and confidante of Ronald Reagan, she had suffered several strokes since her…
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Listeners Still Mourning Baisden's Departure
A week after he was locked out of his WDAS-FM station after failed contract negotiations, and days after he bid fans goodbye in a Facebook post, talk-radio host Michael Baisden’s departure from the airwaves is still causing a buzz. That announcement he posted on the program’s last day on the air has nearly 1,000…
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Race Advice Column Coming Soon to The Root
(The Root) — We’re excited to announce the April launch of Race Manners, an advice column that Staff Writer Jenée Desmond-Harris will be writing for The Root. Once a week, she’ll take on your toughest questions about the ethics and etiquette of racial interactions in a changing America. She’ll settle debates, provide explanations and address those concerns you’d never discuss in public for fear…
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Black Leaders Not New to Marriage-Equality 'Bandwagon'
There been a lot of talk this week about the “bandwagon effect” kicking in when it comes to support for marriage equality. As MSNBC’s the Maddow Blog put it, politicians “see their colleagues do the right thing, and they hurry to join the club before it’s too late.” Consider the last week in Democratic politics.…
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The Blackest White Folks We Know 2.0
Some of these white men and women stand with us in solidarity, and the others do when it’s convenient. Either way, this list is full of black allies and black imitators, as well as those who relish the title but are also really happy to go to sleep at night knowing that it’s not actually…
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Rick Ross Raps About Raping Woman
On Rick Ross’ latest song, titled “U.O.E.N.O.,” he raps, “Put molly all in her champagne/She ain’t even know it/I took her home and I enjoyed that/She ain’t even know it.” Yep. No metaphors, no guesswork and no subtlety here. Ross recorded bars about drugging a woman and then raping her. And he’s getting his fair…
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$338M Powerball Winner to 'Help a Lot of People'
What would you do with $338 million? Powerball winner Pedro Quezada of Passaic, N.J., who won the fourth-biggest prize in the lottery’s history, said “I’m going to help a lot of people, whatever they need,” according to the Daily News. According to a New York Post account, Quezada’s windfall will help a lot closer to home,…
Black News and Black Views with a Whole Lotta Attitude
