culture
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Just Wondering Why Wonder Woman's a UN Ambassador, but Real Women of Color Are Not
The first 20 times I saw Rocky III (the one with Mr. T as Clubber Lang, that bad n-word that sullied the championship so bad, the “respectable” black, retired champion Apollo Creed joined forces with Rocky to take him down), I didn’t know that the Rocky Balboa statue in that 1982 film actually existed in…
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NBA Veteran and Drug-Policy Advocate Al Harrington: 'Marijuana Healed My Grandmother' [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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Media Mogul Cathy Hughes Is in It for the Long Run
Media icon Cathy Hughes is always looking on the bright side. As a 16-year-old teen mom, married at 17 and eventually divorced, she saw her son as a blessing and an inspiration to work harder. In the early ’80s she purchased Washington, D.C., station WOL-AM with the help of a Chemical Bank loan at a 28…
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Hate Rising: Jorge Ramos Delves Deep Into Racial Hatred in America
Univision anchor Jorge Ramos has been thinking a lot about hate recently. Ever since Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump ejected the Mexican immigrant, who is also an American citizen, from a press conference in August 2015 with a dismissive “Go back to Univision,” the experience has been on his mind. “Just a few seconds later,…
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Where Are All the Black Atheists?
I am black. I am also an atheist. It’s understandable if that surprises you. You’ve probably heard that the number of religiously unaffiliated people is rising. According to the Pew Research Center’s Religious Landscape Study, the percentage of Americans who identify as “unaffiliated,” or “religious nones,” is currently 22.8 percent. That’s a huge increase from…
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9 Things to Consider When Starting Therapy
OK, so, look: I am not a mental-health professional yet. I am, however, starting my journey toward becoming a therapist next spring and am developing an ultradope mental-health nonprofit to address the unique mental-wellness needs of black folks. I am but a humble, grits-loving chile who loves some therapy, writes about mental health, and loves…
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Unique Views Podcast, Episode 15: Nasty Woman Featuring Sexpert Michelle Hope
I am not a bragger. That’s not my thing. One of my awesome-est traits is how humble I am. I totally whooped my podcast partner, The Root’s social-content producer, Danielle Young, aka Ms. Patti Patti, in sex trivia!!! It wasn’t even close. I know that Patti LaDanielle knows a lot of stuff, but she doesn’t…
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Black People, Please Stop Saying Straightening Our Hair Is Appropriation
Appropriation is definitely a buzzword of the moment. Seems like every few weeks, we get the chance to start pointing fingers at one celeb or another. And with Halloween around the corner, you know the culture vultures won’t disappoint in turning various cultures into costumes for their amusement. The more I write and speak on…
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New Prince Album Coming in November
It has been exactly seven months since the world lost the Purple One, otherwise known as Prince. In memoriam, his music, both classic and unreleased, is being repackaged and reissued to a nation of fans still in disbelief. According to the Los Angeles Times, Warner Bros. and NPG Records have announced a 2017 release of…