culture
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White Fragility Leads to White Violence: Why Conversations About Race With White People Fall Apart
Why do conversations about race fall apart when we have them with white people? I have been thinking about this for the last few weeks, ever since I attempted to speak with Grey’s Anatomy actress Ellen Pompeo about it on Twitter. As with many conversations I’ve had on race with white people, that one quickly…
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Eddie Long’s Death and Homophobic Theological Legacy
Eddie L. Long, senior pastor of New Birth Missionary Baptist Church, has gone to be with the ancestors. He was 63. His church released the following statement Sunday morning: New Birth Missionary Baptist Church celebrates the life and legacy of Bishop Eddie L. Long who is now spiritually healed and home with the Lord. Bishop…
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Meet Gloria Allen, Trans Icon Who Led Charm School for Transgender Youths of Color
Gloria Allen, 71, is a transgender African-American woman who is seen as an icon by many in her community. She volunteered for years teaching a charm-school class at Chicago’s Center on Halsted, trying to teach transgender and gender nonconforming youths how to survive and to believe in themselves. “If we were all the same way…
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Michael Jackson, Urban Myths and the Grease From Jermaine Jackson’s Fade
For many, Michael Jackson is personal. I, Michael Joseph Arceneaux, born in 1984, am a testament to this trait among longtime fans of Michael Joseph Jackson. I’m named after him. I grew up with him. Many of the positive memories from my childhood are directly connected to events related to his art. Still, quite a…
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Unique Views, Episode 26: We Thought Obama Was Here Forever … but #TrafficBae Is Here to Stay
We try our best not to have too much sadness when we talk about the issues we face each week, but we couldn’t really help it this week! President Barack Obama gave his farewell address, and eyes everywhere are filling up with tears. (Senior Editor Stephen A. Crockett here: I didn’t cry during the farewell,…
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Please Allow Us to Reintroduce Ourselves
Hello. We’re The Root. Once a gleam in a noted professor’s eye, nurtured and carefully tended to by a tireless warrior woman and a bevy of brilliant bosses, we have been through the fire and walk among you the unburnt, First of Our Names, Blog of Unapologetic Blackness, Snatcher of Wigs, Bane of Bigots, #TeamRoot,…
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The Art Speaks for Itself
Every year, our congressional representatives hold an art contest for students in their districts, with the prize being a yearlong exhibition at the U.S. Capitol in Washington, D.C. It typically does not cause a murmur. This year’s unanimous winner in Missouri’s 1st District was my friend David Pulphus, a quiet, gentle, unassuming student. David’s painting…
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Racial Justice Cannot Happen Without Gender Equality
For most of my adult life I’ve been a journalist and writer blessed, or possibly cursed, to witness some of the worst things imaginable done by human beings to one another—particularly women—in places that most people can conjure only in their imaginations, including the Democratic Republic of Congo, post-genocide Rwanda, Colombia, Afghanistan and Sri Lanka.…
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The Trouble With Jimmy Fallon
All in all, he wasn’t a bad choice to host the Golden Globes. He had the requisite clever and colorful opening number, an affable demeanor and the ability to improvise. He even started off strong with some postelection shade—though it didn’t erase our memory of his pre-election playfulness with the now-PEOTUS. And it certainly couldn’t…