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Myrlie Evers-Williams Leaving NAACP Board After 3 Decades
Civil rights leader Myrlie Evers-Williams will step down from the board of the NAACP, marking an end to her 30 years as an official of the civil rights organization. Evers-Williams, who will retain the honorary title of chair emeritus, had hoped to be in New York for the NAACP’s board meeting on Friday to officially make the…
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How Obama Became Black
By David Maraniss He was too dark in Indonesia. A hapa child — half and half — in Hawaii. Multicultural in Los Angeles. An “Invisible Man” in New York. And finally, Barack Obama was black on the South Side of Chicago. This journey of racial self-discovery and reinvention is chronicled in David Maraniss’s biography, Barack…
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DC Insider Inspired 'Scandal'
By Neely Tucker Judy Smith, D.C.-based crisis manager extraordinaire, is the inspiration, if not the subject, of the ABC drama series Scandal, debuting April 5. She’s played by L.A. babe Kerry Washington. Smith is the show’s co-executive producer. Her first book, Good Self, Bad Self, debuts this week, too. This is almost beyond belief. For…
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2 Black Leaders' Family Roots Revealed
By Vanessa Williams It wasn’t a question of whether his ancestors had been slaves. Rep. John Lewis (D-Ga.), a son of the Old South and one of the country’s leading civil rights pioneers, knew that to be true. But what he learned about one of his enslaved ancestors, guided by Harvard professor Henry Louis Gates…
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'Fear of a Black Republican': GOP and Race
By Vanessa Williams Kevin Williams, an earnest young white Republican living in Trenton, N.J., couldn’t believe the response he got a few years back from a county party chairman when he went to get door hangers for a presidential election. The chairman refused, saying that there were no votes to be had in majority-black Trenton…
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Book: Colonialism in Africa Aided HIV Spread
By Craig Timberg and Daniel Halperin We are unlikely to ever know all the details of the birth of the AIDS epidemic. But a series of recent genetic discoveries have shed new light on it, starting with the moment when a connection from chimp to human changed the course of history. We now know where…
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Calif. Same-Sex Marriage Ban Ruled Unconstitutional
Written by Robert Barnes A federal appeals panel in San Francisco ruled Tuesday that California’s Proposition 8 banning same-sex marriage is unconstitutional, a decision that could lead to the Supreme Court’s consideration of the controversial social issue. By a 2-1 vote, the panel overturned the proposition, which was approved by 52 percent of the state’s…
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The 2 Strains on Black Women's Finances
Written by Ylan Q. Mui and Chris L. Jenkins The Great Recession carried special pain for black women like Jane Ladson. She had always been the one her family turned to when they needed help, and she didn’t hesitate to give it. She helped pay for weddings and rent. She made room for her nephew…
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Memorial Service Honors Etta James as Triumphant Trailblazer
Via Associated Press GARDENA, Calif. — Etta James was remembered at a service Saturday attended by hundreds of friends, family and fans as a woman who triumphed against all odds to break down cultural and musical barriers in a style that was unfailingly honest. The Rev. Al Sharpton eulogized James in a rousing speech, describing…
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South Sudan Enters the World Stage
Written by Emily Wax It’s 9 p.m. and Sarah Chan’s high heels are clacking at top speed across this Woodley Park hotel lobby. She’s rushing hundreds of her South Sudanese brethren into cabs so they won’t miss President Salva Kiir, who’s speaking at a hotel a mile away. With the birth of a nation comes…
Black News and Black Views with a Whole Lotta Attitude
