The Very Short List of Black Celebs Speaking Out Against Trump’s ICE Raids
White George Floyd Advocate and Husband ‘Target of Political Assasination’ but It Gets Worse
Fans Get Too Close to Rumi Carter at the ‘Cowboy Carter Tour’ Until They See …Jay-Z
Behind Florida’s Sheriff’s ‘We Will Kill You’ to Anti-Trump Protesters
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Blackness: A Quick and Dirty Primer
In the The New York Times last Sunday, Jill Nelson dismissed the idea that black people ever really wondered whether Sen. Barack Obama was “black enough.” My memory of how Obama was being discussed a year ago is different from Nelson’s. Today, however, black people who question Obama’s authenticity are indeed a fringe. So what’s…
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The Blackest Eye
As she observes the racial dynamics at play in the Democratic presidential contest, Toni Morrison must be somewhere biting her nails. The Pulitzer Prize-winning writer never struck me as the nervous type, but if ever there was a case for the jitters, it is now. In recent months, Morrison has had to stand back and…
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With Friends Like These …
Dear Mr. White: After reading your hypertensive response to my article, I could not help but wonder if the straw man would press assault charges. Having read your work on previous occasions, I will admit to being a bit surprised by that you took the tone of a feuding rapper at my suggestion that there…
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The Democrats' Texas Hold'em
-What is Sen. Barack Obama going to do about his Latino problem? No use pretending he doesn’t have one. The numbers don’t lie. Sen. Hillary Clinton crushed him among Hispanic voters on Super Tuesday, defeating him by 20, 30 and 40-point margins in places like Arizona, New Mexico, California and New York. Obama’s poor showing…
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Secretary of 'Soul'?
Quincy Jones, bandleader, composer, producer and Grammy-laden powerhouse of the entertainment world, was on CNN on Inauguration Day, getting personal and global at the same time. The much-traveled Jones had been back to his old stomping ground, Garfield High School in Seattle. There, he chatted up a group of students and discovered, to his dismay, that they…
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Strip Mall Medicine
Tucked away at the edge of a ramshackle strip mall on the black side of town in Montgomery, Ala., there’s an AIDS clinic. When I was last there, in 2005, the mall featured just a couple of weather-beaten shops—a dollar store, a beauty parlor—and this nondescript clinic, quietly declaring its presence without using the word…
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Break the 'Street Lit' Habit
Every black writer I know complains about it. “Street lit” has taken over as the de facto literature of our time. We’ve all seen it — the teeming shelves at Borders and Barnes & Noble full of raunchy books beckoning the generic black reader. Meanwhile, serious fiction is hidden behind come hither covers, presumably because…
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The McCain Option? Pul-eeze.
Memo to William Jelani Cobb.Re: Your proposal that “if Hillary Clinton receives the Democratic Party nomination, African Americans should consider voting for John McCain.”Knee-grow, pul-eeeze! Your column on The Root ranks as the most ridiculous political idea any Negro has put forth my since my brother-in-law decided to support Clarence Thomas on the grounds that,…
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The Original Black Russian
As Americans observe Black History Month, Russians will celebrate their own link to black history. This year marks the 171st anniversary of the death of their greatest national poet, Alexander Pushkin. Yes, Pushkin, who died on Feb 10, 1837, was part black. Pushkin’s great-grandfather, Abram Gannibal, was born in Sub-Saharan Africa, probably on the territory…
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Grand Old Party Can Be Grand for Blacks
The question per what is going on in the Republican Party can be summed up succinctly: the conservative base – in particular the evangelical Christian contingent of same – has no viable candidate left in the presidential nominee selection contest – but they do have a choice to which they strenuously object. Accordingly, for Republicans…