culture
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Forget Lena Dunham, Let's Talk About Odell Beckham Jr., Who Is a Brilliant Troll
Yes, I’ve seen the video of Odell Beckham Jr. sitting in a hot tub filled with naked man-water singing “Sexual Healing” while teammate Dominique Rodgers-Cromartie emerges from inside the same hot tub. And yes, I’ve seen ODB and his homeboys doing choreographed dance moves. I’ve seen photos of him and friends shirtless, standing close to one…
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Georgetown University’s ‘Reparations’ Plan Is Worthless White Guilt Repackaged as Justice
Georgetown University owes the descendants of the enslaved Africans who built and sustained its institution all of its $1.5 billion endowment—and then some. On Sept. 1 the university formally announced plans to grapple with its history of being founded by slave owners and financed by slave labor, including the sale of 272 enslaved people in…
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Lena Dunham Apologizes to Odell Beckham Jr.: 'There's a Long, Violent History of White Women Lying on Black Men'
Lena Dunham has apologized for racially charged statements she made about New York Giants receiver Odell Beckham Jr. during an interview with Amy Schumer. In the apology, the Girls star acknowledges the “often violent history of the over-sexualization of black male bodies, as well as false accusations by white women toward black men.” In her…
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How 1 Black-Owned Ga. School Is Revolutionizing Education for the Gifted
Claire Anderson’s son, Caleb, started reading at 8 months. By 18 months he was in the first grade. Realizing that Caleb was gifted, Anderson, who lives in Metro Atlanta, was determined to ensure that he would have the best resources available so that he would remain intellectually stimulated and challenged. And so she went on…
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10 Reasons Odell Beckham Jr. Didn’t Speak to Lena Dunham
In the newest tale of white-woman woe, Lena Dunham projected all her insecurities onto Odell Beckham Jr. The Girls creator took all her self-loathing and placed it on the New York Giants star receiver. In an interview with comedian Amy Schumer in Dunham’s weekly newsletter, Lenny, Dunham claimed that Beckham looked her over and decided that she…
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5 Queer Black Female Authors Who Will Blow Your Mind Wide Open
Hashtags like #BrownGirlMagic, #BlackGirlsRock and #CareFreeBlackGirl represent a movement of self-definition led by black women for black women. A self-definition that seeks to motivate, push and create space for black women to stand up straight in the crooked room that is America’s commitment to distorted and backward portrayals of black women’s humanity. Similarly, stories written…
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Breast-Feeding: It's Not All It's Cracked Up to Be
I do not like breast-feeding. There, I said it. I’d been feeling like I couldn’t say it until I finally blurted it out the other night in a bout of frustration. My baby was going through her first growth spurt, which meant that she was feeding around the clock. Newborns tend to feed every one-and-a-half…
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Unique Views Podcast, Episode 9: If a Podcast Falls in Kaepernick's Afro …
It wasn’t supposed to end like this. We were supposed to be a three-person team until the end. But sadly, we lost “Meats.” That’s right, Yesha “I Like Meats” Callahan has taken her 15,000 Twitter followers and gone home. Stop crying! She’s still alive and kicking and dominating page views on The Root. And while…
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Same Violence, Different Uniform: On Kaepernick Taking a Knee to Support US Military
When I first saw San Francisco 49ers quarterback Colin Kaepernick take a knee—joined by free safety Eric Reid—during the singing of “The Star-Bangled Banner” before their game against the San Diego Chargers Thursday night, I threw up a mental black power fist. I did so because I believed it to be a show of solemn respect for…
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The Definitive Ranking of Obscure and Defunct Sneakers
It’s back-to-school time, and if you’re black and of a certain age, you know you can’t start school without a fresh pair of new shoes. Some of us mowed lawns or babysat our bad-ass cousins to save up some bread for some fresh J’s or a pair of crispy Reeboks. Others of us weren’t so…