A Peek Inside Travis Hunter’s New Jacksonville Mansion
In Minnesota Assassination Attempt, Wife’s Split-Second Decision is a Testament to a Mother’s Love
KWN, ‘The Female Version of Chris Brown’ Got Black Men Worried And For Good Reason
Oklahoma Black Man Hit By Patrol Car During Jaywalking Arrest, and That’s Not Even the Most Infuriating Part
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I Can't Wait To Quit This Job!
Happy Monday to you folks! Then again, some of you probably just looked at that sentence and proceeded to suck your teeth and roll your eyes at me as if I were your annoying alarm clock. How many of you are sick of your jobs and can’t wait until a better one becomes available? Judging…
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The Root's Do the Right Thing Trivia Challenge
By now you’ve seen Do the Right Thing more times than you can count. But are you really “Bed-stuy Do or Die”? How well do you know Da Mayor, Sal, Buggin’ Out and Pino, Tina and Mother Sister? One way to find out. Take The Root’s trivia challenge and relive your favorite DTRT moments. Only…
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Do the Right Thing Party Kit
Yep, it’s been 20 years since we all headed to theaters to check out Do the Right Thing. Back then Spike Lee movies were Events, almost sacred rituals that united all corners of the black community. On June 30, 1989, whether you lived in a big city or small one, down South or in the…
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Why Mookie Did the Wrong Thing
When Do the Right Thing was released 20 years ago, a generation of black writers and intellectuals became instantly radicalized by Spike Lee and Public Enemy’s vision of black America. Their fist-pumping black nationalist slingshots, along with The Autobiography of Malcolm X, were the perfect antidote for the isolation and alienation many black youth felt…
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European Soccer’s Racist Present
Soccer teams from all over the world are playing right now in South Africa in the Confederations Cup—the group of matches leading up to next year’s World Cup in South Africa. But as teams prepare for 2010’s historic World Cup, the first on the African continent, an important legal case is unfolding in a courtroom…
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The Music in Spike’s Message
“1989, a number, another summer, sound of the funky drummer” —Public Enemy, “Fight the Power” One of the most unforgettable images from the summer of 1989 was the video for “Fight the Power,” the theme song for Spike Lee’s classic film Do the Right Thing, which is celebrating its 20th anniversary this month. Spike Lee…
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Will You Read Books By Obama's Kin? And Other Lit-Related Questions
Have You Experienced The Ecstatic(s)? I think it’s pretty dope that Mos Def named his latest CD after Victor LaValle’s 2002 acclaimed novel, “The Ecstatic,” which explores mental illness from a fresh vantage point. Regarding his decision, Mos told USA Today, “The term was used in the 17th and 18th centuries to describe people who…
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Black Men And Baseball
My father went home to his glory months before the election of Barack Obama as the first black president. In the difficult days before his death, there was little opportunity to even consider such a possibility, but I have vivid memories of his reaction to another black first. It was the fall of 1974, when…
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A Day For Fathers–and Father Figures
Father’s day is one of those occasions that puzzles a lot of us: What do you give your dad this year when he still hasn’t used that after-shave you gave him in 2008? There are only so many grill accessories, frightful ties and gag gifts you can pile on him. So consider this: consider saying…
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Quiet On Iran
If you’ve staked out a position on Iran that’s roughly midway between Jonah Goldberg and Ayatollah Khamenei, then you’re probably on the right track. And that’s pretty much where President Barack Obama stands. Obama’s reaction to the “results” of Iran’s June 12th election and the subsequent uprising have been judicious: “We in the United States…