culture
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Charged: The DA vs. Black America and the Mass-Incarceration Movement
For Emmy-nominated producer Shoshana Guy, interrogating mass incarceration and criminal-justice reform is a calling. Under the auspices of BET, her forthcoming documentary does just that. Charged: The DA vs. Black America explores the way in which the United States criminally charges black and brown people, and the societal factors that tend to drive these people disproportionately…
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Blackface on College Campuses Isn't About Freedom of Speech; It's About White Supremacy
It’s Halloween, so put on your seat belts, brothers and sisters, and get ready for an onslaught of racist Halloween costumes coming from white college students who think your humanity is fair game for chuckles. The blackface paint will flow as white students think that smearing it on, along with a sign that says, “Black…
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How an NJ High School Student Is Paving the Way for Young Feminists
Back when I attended high school, there were tons of clubs to join, but had I known then what I know now, I would definitely have started a club that would have changed the environment of the high school. Thankfully, nowadays, there are high school students out there making a difference, like Mickeala Bland. Mickeala is a…
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Black Men Are Judged for Their Hair Texture, Too, Especially in Politics
With the natural-hair movement in full swing, there have been many productive conversations about the political and social expectations placed on black women’s natural hair. These conversations seem to center on the assumptions about black women who choose to “go natural” instead of chemically straightening their hair or wearing weaves, and their involvement in “the…
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When Will We Learn?
You have to be twice as good as them to get half of what they have! “Twice as good” is the standard set for generations of black and brown children across America (and beyond), a warning consistently administered in stern but loving tones from parental figures as dissimilar as the fictional Rowan Pope and first…
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Unique Views Podcast, Episode 16: A Beige Brotherhood, Featuring Christopher ‘Kid’ Reid
Danielle Young, aka Patti LaDanielle, aka The Root’s social-content producer, works effortlessly behind the scenes. Sure, she is a powerhouse smooth voice, but she is also a beast in the editing room and proof that prison-release programs work! She is the walking embodiment of class and excellence and online college courses. (From the office of…
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The Top 5 Panic-Inducing Moments of This Week’s How to Get Away With Murder
This week’s episode of How to Get Away With Murder took us to three weeks before the fire at Annalise’s house. The stuff they did and the tricks they pulled—it was enough to send anyone to the counseling couch. These five moves will leave you scratching your head and calling your therapist for reinforcements. Imagine…
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#FitTheDescription: The White Privilege Behind Drug Crimes [Retracted]
RETRACTED (6/12/18): This story has been removed because we have discovered it was in breach of our editorial standards. If you’d like to know more, you can read an editor’s note here. A cached version of the story is available here for transparency.
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Every Day Is Halloween for Black People
In the next few days, your news feeds and social media timelines will be peppered with reports of white people reveling at Halloween parties posing for pictures in blackface, Ku Klux Klan costumes and Nazi uniforms. This prediction is not based on inside information or anonymous tips. We know this will happen because it always…
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Thankfully, Money. Power. Respect. Is Less Love & Hip Hop and More Married to Medicine
For black professionals who do reality television, there often needs to be a middle ground in terms of entertainment value—as in, some kind of balance between Olivia Pope at a Jack and Jill banquet and Joseline Hernandez, inebriated and full of rage. Anything besides shows like The Real Housewives of Potomac, which spent far too…