• Are African Americans More Vulnerable to Climate Change?

    Inspired by a recent storm, Dr. J. Marshall Shepherd explains in a piece for Ebony why this generation’s greatest environmental challenge is even more serious for black people. … But why is climate change affecting African Americans disproportionately? For a few reasons: Where We Live: 2012 was possibly the warmest year in the U.S. record,…

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  • An App to Help With Small Talk?

    (The Root) — I am a lot of things, but shy has never been one of them. Introducing myself to someone or making conversation is not something that makes me melt into a puddle of social anxiety. But for many people, the thought of coming up with interesting small talk is the same as standing…

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  • The Black Wife of Moses

    (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 an artistic period known for its overpowering assertion of religious orthodoxy, certain works stand out for their simplicity…

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  • How Fashion Saved President Obama

    (The Root) — If you were to ask just about anyone in Washington to name the most important event taking place in America this week, he or she would likely say the State of the Union — the president’s address, the GOP’s official response and all of the pundit chatter about it before and after.…

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  • Don't Get Too Excited About the 1st Black Pope

    Don’t get too excited about the first black Pope: It didn’t take long after Pope Benedict XVI announced his impending resignation on Monday for people to start speculating about two black cardinals — Ghana’s Peter Turkson and Nigeria’s Francis Arinze — as the front-runners to replace him. But don’t make firm plans to celebrate the…

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  • KKK to Show 'Devotion of True White Patriot' With Massive Rally

    On the eve of the State of the Union address, a reminder that we’re not all that united: Raw Story is reporting that the Ku Klux Klan is planning a rally in Memphis, Tenn., that it hopes will be the largest the city has ever seen.  A leader of the hate group who goes by…

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  • Why a Man Who Executed 62 People Is Now Against the Death Penalty

    In Monday’s Washington Post, read the story of Jerry Givens. He was Virginia’s chief executioner for 17 years, at a time when the commonwealth was surpassed only by Texas when it came to putting people to death. “From the 62 lives I took, I learned a lot,” Givens said. When carrying out his duties, he’d…

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  • 2 Dead, 2 Wounded in Courthouse Shooting

    The shooter’s estranged wife is reportedly one of two people fatally wounded in a shooting this morning at Wilmington, Del.’s New Castle County Courthouse, the Associated Press reports. The shooter, who authorities say is also dead, opened fire at 8 a.m. in the lobby of the building. Check back for updates on this developing story.…

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  • Obama Complicit in Economic Woes

    Perhaps President Obama isn’t as much of a economically empowering friend to minority Americans as we think he is? Colorlines editor Imara Jones writes that the POTUS is complicit in some of the Republicans’ financially tough policies. To be sure, the House GOP and their Senate allies have displayed a frightening and gleeful zeal in…

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