culture
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Sale of 1st and Only Black-Owned Public TV Station a Wake-Up Call on Media Diversity
The possible loss of Howard University’s PBS affiliate could be a tipping point toward the extinction of black-owned broadcast media, but the Federal Communications Commission has no sense of urgency to fix the problem. That’s not hyperbole. For years, the FCC has watched female and minority ownership of broadcast stations dwindle without much concern for…
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#PulseTragedy: Homophobic Blood-Donation Ban Puts Lives at Risk
After the terrorist attack at Orlando, Fla.’s Pulse nightclub Sunday morning, media outlets encouraged those living in Florida to donate blood. But when federal policy prohibits this from happening, then no matter how much we can rightfully blame Omar Mateen for these heinous acts of violence, we can also place some blame on institutions like…
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‘All I Could Do Was Cry’: LGBTQ Muslims React to the Orlando, Fla., Massacre
“All I could do was cry,” says Sadiya Abjani. “Cry for my dead community members, cry for the future of my Muslim community, cry for my friends and chosen family who are about to live the next few months constantly looking over their shoulders.” Abjani, a queer Ismaili Muslim in New York, is describing her…
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Jam Master Jay’s Brother Says His Death May Be a Cold Case, but It’s Far From Closed
If you don’t know his name, you know the legendary hip-hop group from which he hailed: Run-DMC. Jam Master Jay was the famed DJ who literally became the band for Run (now known as Rev. Run) and DMC. Jay had an innovative way of reworking riffs from classic guitar records and making them sound unique,…
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Cedric Robinson, Author of Black Marxism, Died This Month to Little Fanfare, but Not Before He Changed My Life
I know that many are given to hyperbole upon learning that a person they revere has gone to be with the ancestors, but it is not an overstatement to say that Cedric Robinson, who passed away on June 5, truly changed my life. I was a graduate student in 2006 when I came across a…
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Andre Williams, No. 44 of NY Giants, Tackles Fatherhood and Serves Food for Thought
Andre Williams is a running back for the New York Giants, but none of the hard knocks on the football field could have prepared him for perhaps his most challenging matchup yet: fatherhood. In February, Williams and his wife welcomed their firstborn, Barron Zavier Williams. On the cusp of his third pro-football season, The Root caught…
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Adios, House of Lies. Thanks for All the Good Times!
It’s been a good run for Don Cheadle as the cool yet complicated management consultant Marty Kaan on Showtime’s hit series House of Lies. Marty helped Cheadle pick up four NAACP Image Award nominations, including two wins (2013, 2016); three Golden Globe nominations, including one win (2013); and four Emmy nominations. That’s in addition to…
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How One Woman Created a Safe Haven for Multicultural Women in Business
When it comes to certain jobs and areas of business, women are still grossly underrepresented—doubly so for women of color. As a result, oftentimes, when we interact in these spaces, we tend to put on a different face: always on, always on point, always showing up 110 percent. That, admittedly, becomes exhausting. So the next…
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The ‘Ghost’ of O.J. Simpson Still Haunts Us
Every single time O.J. Simpson appears on the television screen, I wind up remembering that he is still alive. That after all he has gone through, O.J. is not yet at the point where white people are spitting and urinating on his grave. The latest time this happened was just Friday, the day of Muhammad…