15 Incidents That Remind Us How Close We Still Are To Jim Crow America
Legal Experts: How U.S. Supreme Court’s Ruling on ‘Reverse Discrimination’ Will Make Things Worse For Black Americans
If You Thought You Knew Everything About Prince, Here Are Some Things That Will Shock You
A Fan Wanted a Photo With One of His Favorite Rappers, Who Instead Takes Him Hostage
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Gitmo Report Delayed for Six Months
From Al Jazeera: “A panel ordered by Barack Obama to develop new US policy on the detention of so-called terrorism suspects as part of his effort to shut the Guantanamo prison, has delayed its report to the president by six months. Aides to Obama said the task force would miss the administration’s own Tuesday deadline…
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Art in Transit
In the spring of 1978, a few months before I left Dallas to move to New York City, my senior English teacher, Jim Lloyd, took me aside to warn me of the dangers that lurked up north. Most of what he told me was the familiar claptrap about how the insidious racism of the North…
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Mommy and Daddy Are Fat
Dear Mommy, I don’t want to be like you and daddy. Sure, there are lots of good things you guys do really well. But what I am trying to say is that when I am all grown up, I don’t want to be your size. I heard this report last week about black folks and…
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The Education of Dr. Henry Louis Gates Jr.
The arrest of Harvard Professor Henry Louis “Skip” Gates Jr., at a minimum, quashes any talk of a post-racial America. It may not be the best example of racial injustice I’ve ever seen, but it’s a great example of how life for black people is often complicated by class and race. If a mild-mannered, bespectacled…
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Has The Economy Helped Gang Recruitment?
According to a new national survey released late last week, most Americans believe that the economy has resulted in more gang violence. Of the adults interviewed by Harris Interactive, 71 percent said gang violence among youth is increasing as a result of the current economic climate. Harris Interactive interviewed 1,022 adults ages 18 and above…
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Lawyer's Statement on the Arrest of Henry Louis Gates Jr.
UPDATE: The disorderly conduct charges against Henry Louis Gates Jr. were dropped on Tuesday. Statement on Behalf of Henry Louis Gates, Jr. — by Charles Ogletree This brief statement is being submitted on behalf of my client, friend, and colleague, Professor Henry Louis Gates, Jr. This is a statement concerning the arrest of Professor Gates.…
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The Root's Editor-in-Chief Arrested
Henry Louis Gates Jr., the nation’s pre-eminent black scholar, is accusing Cambridge police of racism after he was arrested while trying to force open the locked front door of his home near Harvard University. Cambridge police were called to the home Thursday afternoon after a woman reported seeing a man “wedging his shoulder into the…
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Calling a Stall a Stall in Health Reform
It was a busy weekend in the intensifying political brawl over health care reform. Most notably, Obama’s budget guru (and health care secret weapon) Peter Orszag caused a stir by pointing out just how naked some “centrist” Senators are in their effort to kill reform. The administration is cajoling lawmakers to vote on a bill…
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Buying Time on the Economy
Barack Obama has been president for exactly six months, and we’ll have to wait a while to find out whether all the frenetic activity in these opening rounds of his presidency will amount to anything over the long haul. There is no argument that the administration and the president have both been busy and ambitious;…
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Cashing in on Michael J
I’m a skeptic when it comes to people and their good intentions. With that said, what’s up with folks cashing in on Michael Jackson two weeks after his overdose? First, Daddy Joe was promoting his new record label at the BET Awards a few days after his celebrity-son dies. Then there were articles written everywhere…