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Dispatch From Chicago: Stop the Violence, but How?
Writing at Colorlines, Jamilah King takes a closer look at the devastating violence in the city — in particular the impact on the lives of Chicago’s black youths — and the complexities of the work that’s being done to combat it. “There’s a needed coordination on the national level at this point,” Cathy Cohen, a…
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Obama's State of the Union Must-Do List
(The Root) — After President Barack Obama delivered a second inaugural address that included — in less than 20 minutes — five references to faith and God, four to risk taking and free enterprise, four to the Declaration of Independence and only one each to “Medicare and Medicaid and Social Security,” the pundits summarily proclaimed…
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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…
Black News and Black Views with a Whole Lotta Attitude
